Tomb of Aline

Last updated

The Tomb of Aline is an ancient Egyptian grave from the time of Tiberius or Hadrian, excavated at Hawara in 1892.

Contents

Find conditions, finds, date

In the second half of the 19th century, the increasing interest in Egyptian history, culture and art led to a veritable contest between various European nations, all aiming to secure ancient finds of the best possible quality (and quantity) for their national museums. In this general context, the German archaeologist Richard von Kaufmann undertook a short campaign of excavations at Hawara in March 1892; his most important find was the so-called Tomb of Aline. [1] A shaft led to a simple mud-brick-lined pit of 2.8 by 3.5 m which contained eight mummies. Three were undecorated, two had paper masks and three were adorned with mummy portraits. The grave had no superstructure.

The three mummies with painted portraits lay at the bottom; they were those of the woman Aline and of two female children. The two masked mummies lay at right angles on top of them; they were those of a man and of a somewhat older girl. The two undecorated mummies, in turn, lay on top, again at right angles. On the mummies of the man, the woman and the three girls, the wrapping had been additionally secured with clay sealings, using different sealstones. One depicted Heracles fighting the Nemean lion, the others heads. Not all sealings are preserved. The grave goods included a clay pot with a spray of flowers, as is typical for such graves. There was also a roughly hewn stele bearing the following Greek inscription:

GreekEnglish

ΑΛΙΝΗΙ
Η ΚΑΙ ΤΈΝΩϹ
ΗΡΩΔΟΥ ΧΡΉC
ΤΗ ΧΑΙΡΕ ΠΟΛΛΑ
ΕΤΟΥϹ Ι ΛΕ Λ
ΜΕΣΟΡΉ Ζ [2]

Aline
also called Tenos
daughter of Herodes
much loved
died in year 10, age 35 years
on the 7th of Mesore

The grave was named after this inscription. Scholarship assumes that Aline is the woman buried in the tomb and equipped with a mummy portrait. Further, it is believed that the man was her husband and the girls her daughters. As the ages and sexes of the undecorated mummies are not known, they cannot be similarly attributed. The separation of the date in the inscription in two parts, resulting from the insertion of Aline's age in the middle, is unusual. Since it was common in Roman Egypt to count the year from the accession of the current ruler, the grave can be dated, in conjunction with the portrait's hairstyle, quite securely to one of two possible dates. It is usually taken to be from the tenth year of the reign of Tiberius, i.e. 24 AD. The same hairstyle became popular once more a century later, so that the 10th year of Hadrian's reign (AD 107) is also a possibility, but most scholars prefer the earlier date. Further arguments in favour of the later date include the fine painting style and use of hatching, both typical of the 2nd century AD, the lilac tones of the garments, the depiction of the woman as rather well-fed, as well as the hair and beard of the man. [3] It remains unclear when the mummies were deposited and whether all died within the same generation.

Today, the finds from the Grave are at the Egyptian Museum, Berlin. Part of them is on display in the Altes Museum. [4]

Mummy portraits and masks

Aline

Portrait of Aline Portrait funeraire (Neues Museum, Berlin) (11554538765).jpg
Portrait of Aline

The portrait of Aline [5] was painted in tempera on linen, as were those of the two girls. It has a height of 40 cm and a width 32.5 cm. Below the painted cloth, scraps of linen pressed onto the mummy's face were used to provide an even surface, so that the portrait is nearly flat. Some of the portraits were painted before the death of their subject. Aline's portrait is painted directly on the end of the mummy wrapping and appears to have been produced after death, perhaps based on a previously prepared portrait. [6] Like other mummy portraits, the painting appears three-dimensional and is front-facing, features of Graeco-Roman influences on Egyptian art. Aline wears a necklace, and a white tunica or chiton , thin lilac bands ( clavus ) run across her shoulder. The wistful gaze is typical of mummy portraits.

Children

Portrait of the middle girl Portrait of elder child of Aline.jpg
Portrait of the middle girl

The two mummies of the younger girls have not been unwrapped. In the early 1990s they were examined with modern techniques for the time. Since the portrait of the older girl is still attached to her mummy, it is less clearly visible at present; additionally, it has been attached somewhat too far to the right of the window-like opening in the wrapping. As with the other children and the man, her name is unknown. She wears valuable but simple jewellery and has a ringlet hairstyle. [7] Her mummy was CT scanned, estimating her age at death to be between two and a half and four years old. This scan revealed she had an abscess or cellulitis in her lower left leg; treatment in the form of a dressing was applied to the area, the first of its kind documented from Ancient Egypt. This dressing is suggested to contain natron, a remedy for drying an inflamed wound given in the Edwin Smith Papyrus. [8]

Portrait of the younger girl Portrait of younger child of Aline.jpg
Portrait of the younger girl

For a long time, scholarship believed the portrait of the younger child to depict a boy. Recent research proves that the child is a girl. Around her neck is a leather band with a lunula pendant, an apotropaic amulet commonly worn by women or girls. Her chiton is violet in colour, a feature exclusive to females. The depiction of it exposing her left shoulder, an attribute of the goddess Aphrodite, aimed to underline erotic attraction. It is commonly used on the mummy portraits of women and even young girls. [9] CT scanning of this child, referred to in the study as a boy, estimated an age at death of between two and three years old. This child showed evidence of septic arthritis of the right hip joint. [10]

Paper masks

In contrast to the painted portraits, the paper masks were less concerned with depicting individuals. The mask of the male mummy is gilded. The find of the masks and portraits in the tomb shows that both forms of treating the dead did not only coexist at the same time, but could indeed be used by the same family in a single grave.

Bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anubis</span> Ancient Egyptian god of funerary rites

Anubis, also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian, is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nefertiti</span> Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten

Nefertiti was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted the earliest known form of monotheism, Atenism, centered on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history. Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as the female king Neferneferuaten after her husband's death and before the ascension of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. If Nefertiti did rule as Pharaoh, her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fayum mummy portraits</span> Portraits attached to mummies in Roman Egypt

Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits are a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to upper class mummies from Roman Egypt. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of art in the Classical world. The Fayum portraits are the only large body of art from that tradition to have survived. They were formerly, and incorrectly, called Coptic portraits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramesses I</span> Founding pharaoh of 19th dynasty of Egypt

Menpehtyre Ramesses I was the founding pharaoh of ancient Egypt's 19th Dynasty. The dates for his short reign are not completely known but the timeline of late 1292–1290 BC is frequently cited as well as 1295–1294 BC. While Ramesses I was the founder of the 19th Dynasty, his brief reign mainly serves to mark the transition between the reign of Horemheb, who had stabilized Egypt in the late 18th Dynasty, and the rule of the powerful pharaohs of his own dynasty, in particular his son Seti I, and grandson Ramesses II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thutmose II</span> Egyptian Pharaoh

Thutmose II was the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, and his reign is generally dated from 1493 to 1479 BC. Little is known about him and he is overshadowed by his father Thutmose I, half-sister and wife Hatshepsut, and son Thutmose III. He died around the age of 30 and his body was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merenre Nemtyemsaf II</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Merenre Nemtyemsaf II was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth and penultimate ruler of the 6th Dynasty. He reigned for 1 year and 1 month in the first half of the 22nd century BC, at the very end of the Old Kingdom period. Nemtyemsaf II likely ascended the throne as an old man, succeeding his long-lived father Pepi II Neferkare at a time when the power of the pharaoh was crumbling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osorkon I</span> Egyptian pharaoh (c. 925 BC – c. 890 BC)

Sekhemkheperre Osorkon I was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty. Osorkon's territory included much of the Levant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death mask</span> Wax or plaster cast made of a persons face following death

A death mask is a likeness of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead or be used for creation of portraits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amenemope (pharaoh)</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Usermaatre Amenemope was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty who ruled between 1001–992 BC or 993–984 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikare</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Nikare was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighth Dynasty during the early First Intermediate Period, at a time when Egypt was possibly divided between several polities. According to the Egyptologists Kim Ryholt, Jürgen von Beckerath and Darrell Baker he was the ninth king of the Eighth Dynasty. As such, Nikare's seat of power would have been Memphis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neferkare Pepiseneb</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Neferkare VI Pepiseneb was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighth Dynasty during the early First Intermediate Period. According to the Egyptologists Kim Ryholt, Jürgen von Beckerath and Darrell Baker he was the twelfth king of the Eighth Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartonnage</span> Material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks

Cartonnage or cartonage is a type of material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman era. It was made of layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster. Some of the Fayum mummy portraits are also painted on panels made of cartonnage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TT1</span> Ancient Egyptian tomb

TT1 is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian official Sennedjem and members of his family in Deir el-Medina, on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. The funerary complex consists of three pyramid-shaped chapels dedicated to, from south to north, Sennedjem's father or brother, Sennedjem himself, and to Sennedjem's son Khonsu. Of the three shafts associated with the chapels, only the shaft in front of Sennedjem's chapel was unrobbed. It led to a series of underground rooms, including the extensively decorated burial chamber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meleager Painter</span>

The Meleager Painter was an ancient Greek vase painter of the Attic red-figure style. He was active in the first third of the 4th century BC. The Meleager Painter followed a tradition started by a group of slightly earlier artists, such as the Mikion Painter. He is probably the most important painter of his generation. He painted a wide variety of vase shapes, including even kylikes, a rarity among his contemporaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shuvalov Painter</span>

The Shuvalov Painter was an Attic vase painter of the red-figure style, active between 440 and 410 BC, i.e. in the High Classical period in Magna Graecia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hornedjitef</span>

Hornedjitef was an ancient Egyptian priest in the Temple of Amun at Karnak during the reign of Ptolemy III. He is known from his elaborate coffins, mummy mask and mummy, dating from the Early Ptolemaic Period and excavated from Asasif, Thebes, Egypt, which are all held in the British Museum. These related objects were chosen as the first of the hundred objects selected by British Museum Director Neil MacGregor in the 2010 BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stela of Akhenaten and his family</span> Altar image of a pharaoh and his family

The Stela of Akhenaten and his family is the name for an altar image in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which depicts the Pharaoh Akhenaten, his queen Nefertiti, and their three children. The limestone stela with the inventory number JE 44865 is 43.5 × 39 cm in size and was discovered by Ludwig Borchardt in Haoue Q 47 at Tell-el Amarna in 1912. When the archaeological finds from Tell-el Amarna were divided on 20 January 1913, Gustave Lefebvre chose this object on behalf of the Egyptian Superintendency for Antiquities instead of the Bust of Nefertiti.

Matthias Steinhart is a German Classical archaeologist.

Barbara Elisabeth Borg is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the Scuola Normale Superiore. She is known in particular for her work on Roman tombs, the language of classical art, and geoarchaeology.

References

  1. ↑ Details on the find, see Barbara Borg: "Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt …". Ägyptische Porträtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 17-20
  2. ↑ Barbara Borg "Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt …". Ägyptische Porträtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 20
  3. ↑ Supporting the later date: Barbara Borg, „Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt …“ Ägyptische Porträtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 20
  4. ↑ Inventory numbers: portrait of Aline: 11411; mummy of the middle daughter 11412; mummy of the youngest daughter: 11413; paper mask of the man: 11414
  5. ↑ SDescription follows Hagen/Hagen: Ägyptische Kunst, Taschen, Köln u.a. 2007, p. 94; Hannelore Kischkewitz: Mumienporträt der Aline, in Das Ägyptische Museum Berlin, von Zabern, Mainz, p. 106
  6. ↑ Hannelore Kischkewitz: Mumienporträt der Aline, in Das Ägyptische Museum Berlin, van Zabern, Mainz, p. 106
  7. ↑ Barbara Borg: „Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt …“ Ägyptische Porträtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 20, description of fig. 23
  8. ↑ Panzer, Stephanie; Treitl, Marcus; Zesch, Stephanie; Rosendahl, Wilfried; Helmbold-Doyé, Jana; Thompson, Randall C.; Zink, Albert R. (1 March 2022). "Radiological evidence of purulent infections in ancient Egyptian child mummies". International Journal of Paleopathology. 36: 30–35. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.12.002. ISSN   1879-9817. PMID   34974252. S2CID   245605393.
  9. ↑ Barbara Borg: „Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt …“ Ägyptische Porträtmumien, Mainz 1998, p. 20, description of fig. 23
  10. ↑ Panzer, Stephanie; Treitl, Marcus; Zesch, Stephanie; Rosendahl, Wilfried; Helmbold-Doyé, Jana; Thompson, Randall C.; Zink, Albert R. (1 March 2022). "Radiological evidence of purulent infections in ancient Egyptian child mummies". International Journal of Paleopathology. 36: 30–35. doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2021.12.002. ISSN   1879-9817. PMID   34974252. S2CID   245605393.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.