WHAT DID ANCIENT EGYPT’S TOMB AND TEMPLE DECORATIONS LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY WERE NEW?

EGYPTIAN ART
With Floyd Chapman
con
Reswass t r u c t ed

The Amenhotep III Enthronement Scene

in the Tomb of Khaemhat (TT 57)

I
n ancient Egypt, “stored grain was wealth,” Barry
Kemp tells us in his book 100 Hieroglyphs, “and sacks
of it were used as a medium of exchange, in effect as a
form of money.” It also formed the central element in
the diet of the average Egyptian. Whoever controlled the
grain would wield immense influence and power, and
during the 18th-Dynasty reign of Amenhotep III, an official
named Khaemhat \ m 1 G T controlled all of it. It’s no
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wonder then, that with all that grain-fed wealth, Khaemhat
could afford a fabulously-decorated Theban tomb (TT 57)
for himself and his wife Tiyi to ensure an afterlife of privi-
lege and comfort. So fabulous was the tomb, in fact, that
while it no doubt drew pangs of envy among Khaemhat’s
elite colleagues, it also attracted the wrong sort of attention
in the modern era, some 3,000 years later. This has been
part of my motivation to recreate this particular scene.
Ancient Egyptian Art
When I was nine, I discovered ancient Egypt, which from
that time until now has become a lifelong passion. For me,

36 NILE #23 | JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2020

© FLOYD R. CHAPMAN
The side of Amenhotep III’s throne is packed full of exquisite
detail. The central figure is an image of the king in the form
of a rampant sphinx, treading the traditional enemies of
Egypt underfoot. To reinforce the point, the text in front of
the sphinx, at the bottom right, reads, “Trampling all
foreign enemies.” This tough talk is despite the fact that
Amenhotep III is famous for his diplomatic approach to
foreign relations. This image, however, was more about the
king’s divine mandate to control the forces of chaos that
the most intriguing aspect of the ancient civilization has
been their art and architecture. When I looked at a picture
of ancient ruins I would think to myself, “how fantastic,
but what did these things look like when they were new?”
This has been my driving motivation to acquire the know-
ledge and skills to be able to reconstruct ancient Egyptian
monuments and art.
Although I am fascinated by all periods of Egyptian art
and architecture, the era I am inspired by most is that of
the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1069 b.c.) because of its
artistic refinement of detail and the proliferation of icono-
graphic motifs. They reach what I characterize as almost
a baroque level of complexity.
My reconstructions are not facsimiles showing the
ancient art as it is, warts and all, but as it was when first
created. Damage and missing elements are fixed or com-
pleted. I want the modern viewer to experience these mas-
terpieces in their glory without the ravages of time.
TT 57
Now, onto the subject at hand. On the west bank of the
Nile, across the river from modern Luxor, are the tombs of
the 18th Dynasty nobles. These are clustered throughout
Sheikh Abd el Qurna, a large foothill of the western Theban
mountains, just south of Queen Hatshepsut’s graceful fu-
nerary temple at Deir el-Bahari.
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prowled at Egypt’s borders—even if it was just expressed
symbolically on his throne.
The fan over the king’s back is offering him the breath of
life. Behind the king with her wings extended in protection,
hovers a cobra goddess, identified by the hieroglyphs
behind her as “Lady Wadjet”, her wings extended in
protection. Wadjet also appears as the serpent on the
king’s brow, reared up, hood extended, and ready to strike
at the king’s enemies.
The subject of this article is my reconstruction of the
Amenhotep III Enthronement Scene located in the Tomb
of Khaemhat (TT 57). This magnificent scene was carved
in fine raised relief and was originally vividly painted.
The scene emphasises Khaemhat’s reward for good ser-
vice to the king, particularly in the royal jubilee year; the
texts captioning the scene date it to the 30th year of King
Amenhotep III’s reign.
The tomb was discovered in 1842, and quickly became
renowned for the superb quality of its reliefs; they were
regarded by British Egyptologist Cyril Aldred as “the high-
water mark of the art of the Eighteenth Dynasty”.
In the days before photography became commonplace,
one of the popular ways of recording a tomb’s reliefs was
by using paper squeezes, whereby wet sheets of soft paper
were pressed against the walls. The fine detail that squee-
zes captured came at a cost: much of the colour was also
pulled from the wall. My recreations serve to restore those
hues. Then, to add insult to injury, around the turn of the
20th century, the tomb was assaulted by thieves who
removed and damaged large sections of decoration. Ironi-
cally, those squeezes now preserve long-lost details.
Who was Khaemhat?
We have two main titles for Khaemhat: “Royal Scribe” and
“Overseer of the Granaries of Upper and Lower Egypt”. As
37
 © FLOYD R. CHAPMAN
Maybe he’s born with it. Maybe it’s the shebyu collar.
Despite his mature age (by Egyptian standards) of 38 at
the time of his 30-year rejuvenation festival, the Heb-Sed,
Amenhotep III (above) appears young and fresh. The
secret is the golden collar he wears around his neck,
consisting of two strands of large gold beads.
Before Amenhotep III’s reign, this collar was shown
being worn by deceased kings who had transformed into
a manifestation of the sun god. Amenhotep III, however,
was still very much alive, and his wearing the shebyu
collar tells us that his transformation had arrived early;
Amenhotep III was now to be venerated as a living god,
beyond time and forever young.
mentioned earlier, his was a crucial role that kept the grain
supply flowing and the Egyptian economy turning.
Khaemhat oversaw the grain harvest from estates
throughout Egypt—from the measuring of the standing
crops in the fields, through to the distribution of the grain
to government and priestly officials, as well as allocating
stocks for trade. It’s easy to see how he was able to secure
the work of master artists in the decoration of his tomb.
The Enthronement Scene
Elaborately-decorated scenes like this are one of the reasons
that I love New Kingdom tomb art. This one in Khaemhat’s
tomb consists of three main design elements:
On the left, we see Amenhotep III, seated resplen-
dently on his throne within a gilded kiosk, rich in royal
and religious iconography—such as grapes. Notice the blue
38
© FLOYD R. CHAPMAN
Khaemhat wears an expensive, elaborate wig and bows
reverently before the king. Around his neck is also a
shebyu collar, given to him by the king.
The shebyu collar wasn’t only about signalling the
king’s newly-acquired divine status. When it was present-
ed by the king as a reward to one of his subjects, the
golden collar demonstrated a different kind of transfor-
mation: an elevation in that person’s social status. Here
the collar was also known as the Gold of Honour.
In the TT 57 “enthronement scene”, it appears that the
king was especially pleased with the news of a bumper
harvest and hands out shebyu collars to Khaemhat and
the officials who managed the estates.
ovals hanging below the ceiling of the kiosk and above
Amenhotep’s head. They are symbolic of hanging grape
clusters and may represent wine, the drink of the gods.
From his throne, the king receives the accounts of the grain
harvest from Khaemhat. The text in front of the king reads:
m ! : ! D!
! 7t
\ ! M
b
“The appearance of the king upon the great throne,
t t B #d b
Mh ;
n 5 ! M : 5 b :0
to reward these governors of Upper and Lower Egypt.”
In the center, larger than life, we see the handsome
Khaemhat himself, paying homage to the king. Khaem-
hat has received the Gold of Honour for delivering on a
successful grain harvest (see caption, above right). In the
NILE #23 | JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2020
 © FLOYD R. CHAPMAN
Each pharaoh was duty-bound to establish and maintain
maat, the Egyptian concept of divine order. An ever-pres-
ent threat to this state of harmony were the “Nine Bows”:
the traditional enemies of Egypt. These nine foreign cities
or territories are shown along the base of Amenhotep III’s
kiosk, their names enclosed within an oval turreted wall
(above). Surmounting each is the bust of a captive,
bearded Syrian, his arms bound behind his back. The
“bow” detailed above is the Pedjtyu-Shu, an Asiatic tribe.
There weren’t exactly nine bows of course. For the
ancient Egyptians, three was used for idea of “plural”, so
the number nine was therefore the “plural of plurals”.
Therefore, the “Nine Bows” covers all possible enemies.
hieroglyphic text before Khaemhat we learn his titles and
his important role in serving the king:
M G 6t ! b MD h
# \ d
\ 7 t 1 f M}
b b
“Noble, mayor, confidant of the king in the whole land,
< t ! P QQ Q
< 7t Q ;
the eyes of the king in the towns of Upper Egypt,
ib
X h P !w f b / Q
jX
his (the king’s) ears in the nomes of Lower Egypt,
7 - W bb :0 QQ \
m 1G T
!b
royal scribe, overseer of the granaries
of Upper and Lower Egypt, Khaemhat.”
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© FLOYD R. CHAPMAN
Built into the grille work on the side of the king’s chair are
two bound prisoners—one an Asiatic (on the right), the
other Nubian (left). Each is drawn in a stereotypical style
to emphasise their foreignness.
The arms of the Asiatic are tied behind his back by a
papyrus plant, symbolic of Lower Egypt, while the Nubian
is restrained with the heraldic plant of Upper Egypt, the
lily. These plants are entwined with, and form part of, the
sema-tawy motif, to which the captives are tied. This sign
translates as “Unifier of the Two Lands”.
What this scene represents is that Egypt and all of the
foreign lands beyond her borders to the north and south
are under Amenhotep III’s control.
There are three registers to the right of the scene. The
top register shows Khaemhat being rewarded with four
gold shebyu collars and perfume (see page 36) along with
an assemblage of other nobles likewise awarded.
Positioned above Khaemhat’s head, the body of text
tells us that because of his glowing report to the king,
highlighting that these officials had increased the harvest
throughout the land during regnal year 30—the royal jubilee
year—the king was rewarding them as well. As Scottish
writer James Baikie expressed in A History of Egypt, Vol.
II, this favourable report “won for the estate stewards of
the king the reward which they no doubt expected for
adding an extra glory to the jubilee festivities.” Accord-
ingly, the men in the bottom two registers proudly show
off their new golden shebyu collars. The hieroglyphic text
that captions the three registers reads as follows:
39
 © FLOYD R. CHAPMAN

The top register of the “Enthronement Scene’ shows
Khaemhat twice. The first image, on the left, has Khaemhat
receiving the Gold of Honour in the form of four shebyu
collars. Two are already strung around his neck and two
wait on a stand. Smelling good was a luxury in hot climes
like Egypt, and the second image sees Khaemhat receiving a
perfumed oil in the form of a cone.
These cones have, for a long time, presented a mystery
to Egyptologists. Some believed they were made of animal
fats or perfumed beeswax, which slowly melted and
released a lovely scented oil. Alternatively, the cones may
have simply been a symbol of fragrance, meaning that
when the cone was being worn the wearer was richly
perfumed. Not a single cone had ever been discovered to
settle the argument—until recently.
Two skeletons, uncovered in 2010 and 2015 by the
Amarna Project at Akhet-Aten (the centre of Akhenaten’s
Aten cult) have revealed the first material examples of head
cones. And it appears they were made from beeswax.
There’ll be more on this in the next issue of Nile Magazine.

h; t t WK! 6 ! t fully, still possesses significant amounts of original colour.

n 5 ! This has made it possible for me to undertake this type of
tt ! ! = b reconstruction easily and confidently. For example, other
! ! !! j b e
M1 1 5 instances show the king’s throne as being blue, which has
“Rewarding these stewards of helped guide my reconstruction here.
the estate of the pharaoh—life, prosperity, health, Notice also the wonderfully-detailed patterning on the
t tt B d b Q inner pillars of the kiosk which have also been informed
<\ ! M#K 5 b :0 Q by surviving sources. The capitals of these pillars, by the
together with these governors of Upper and Lower Egypt, way, are fashioned as closed lotus blossoms, while those on

P B# B the outside resemble open blossoms. Such throne kiosks

f tH W M 5
n! i
t would have been truly resplendent.
after the statement of the overseer of the granaries I hope that you will enjoy seeing this picture as much
regarding them: as I did in recreating it. All of my art can be treasured as a
fine art print, printed on non-acetic paper with archival
M B 0!K+ : | B
\ t tP t
t
5 5 b t 5 inks. Visit www.ancientworldarts.com to see more of my
work, and, of course, I’ll have another reconstructed scene
!
t $ R 44
4 for you to enjoy in the next issue of NILE Magazine.
‘They have increased the harvest
of (regnal) Year 30.’”
FLOYD CHAPMAN is a digital archaeo-
The king’s generosity may been due in part because of logical illustrator and epigrapher,
his satisfaction with the bumper grain yield, or on the oc- specializing in the art of the ancient
world in general and the art of ancient
casion of his heb-sed, the king’s 30-year festival of renewal. Egypt specifically. His specialty is doing
full-colour reconstructions of Egyptian
The Reconstruction temple and tomb scenes.
Floyd is also president of the Amarna
There are a number of New Kingdom tombs that have Research Foundation in Colorado:
enthronement scenes similar to Khaemhat’s that, thank- www.theamarnaresearchfoundation.org.

40 NILE #23 | JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2020