Human-headed Sphinx of Amen-em-hat III., usurped first by the Hyksos king Apepa, and secondly by Pasebkhanut. From Sân (Tanis). VOL. III. F B.C. 2300] SPHINXES OF AMENEMḤĀT III. 67 monuments have excited considerable interest among Egyptologists and have formed the subjects of many earnest discussions. Their finder, judging from the fact that the name of the Hyksos king Ápepȧ was cut upon their right shoulders, and noticing that their features were quite unlike any which had been found in Egypt up to that time, declared that the sphinxes must have been hewn during the period of the Hyksos domination in Egypt, and regarded them as typical examples of the sculptures of the Hyksos. The first to question seriously the accuracy of these views was M. de Rougé, who argued1 that the occurrence of the name of Apepå upon the right shoulder must be considered as a proof that the cartouche of this king was not the first which had been found upon the sphinxes. Twenty years later M. Maspero examined one of these monuments with great care, and he proved satisfactorily that the surface of the breast had been chiselled away, or rubbed down, to receive the cartouches of Pasebkhānut, a king of the XXIst Dynasty, and it was clear that the cartouches of this king had been inserted in the places formerly occupied by those of the king who made the monument. The views of Mariette, however, were accepted on all sides, and his hypothesis was regarded as a fact. In 1893 the matter was again discussed by M. Golénischeff," who proved that the results of M. Maspero's examina 1 Revue Archéologique, 1861, p. 250 ff. tion of the Sân sphinx supported M. de Rougé's doubts, and showed with singular clearness that the maker of the sphinxes was Amenemḥāt III. If, as he says, we may not consider the Hyksos king Apepa to be the maker of the monuments which he usurped, there is nothing left of Mariette's hypothesis except the foreign type of features which, he says, the sphinxes exhibit. Moreover, it is useless to urge the similarity of their features with those of the men who live in the northeast of the Delta and round about Lake Menzâleh at the present day, because men possessing such features have lived there from time immemorial, and when the Hyksos arrived in Egypt they naturally found such there. As a matter of fact, the inhabitants of the Delta have always differed greatly in respect of physical characteristics from the dwellers in Upper Egypt. They have been and are of larger stature, their physical strength is greater, and the conditions under which they have lived for thousands of years have made them more accustomed to the practices of war than to the occupations of peace. Taking as a standard for comparison the black granite statue inscribed with the names and titles of Amenemḥāt III., which is now preserved in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg,1 M. Golénischeff goes on to show that the features of this statue are identical with those which are found on the sphinxes from Șân, and on a statuette in his own possession. Moreover, an examination of the statue of 1 Golénischeff, Inventaire, p. 84. B.C. 2300] THE PEOPLE OF THE DELTA 69 Åmenemḥāt III. at Berlin, which was usurped by Meren-Ptaḥ, shows that certain features, e.g., the muscles at the corners of the mouth, were altered by hammering in order to make them to resemble those of the usurper.1 In Upper Egypt M. Grébaut discovered at El-Kab the fragments of a sphinx in white calcareous stone in the foundations of a temple of Rameses II., and these showed that when it was complete the monument closely resembled in face and features the famous sphinxes of Sân; it is well nigh impossible that a sphinx of the Hyksos king Apepå should be found so far south in Egypt, but for a sphinx of Amenemḥāt III. to be discovered in this place seems to be only natural. Finally, M. Golénischeff argues with great justness that it is impossible to imagine Amenemḥāt would leave the sanctuary at Sân or Tanis without statues of himself, especially as it contained, in his time, statues of his predecessors, Amenemḥāt I., Usertsen I., Amenemḥāt II., Usertsen II., etc. We may then with safety assign the Tanis sphinxes to the reign of Amenemḥāt III., and in their features we probably see good representations of those of the maker of Lake Moeris and of one of the greatest kings who 1 "En les examinant (i.e., les martelages) nous arrivons facilement à constater que les pommettes et les muscles aux coins de la bouche ont dû à l'origine être aussi plus ou moins saillants, car Merenptaḥ, qui, plus tard, usurpa cette statue, fit marteler le visage justement aux pommettes et aux environs de la bouche, afin de rendre les traits du visage de la statue usurpée plus ressemblants aux siens. Recueil, tom. xv. p. 135. |