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battle.jpg (88430 bytes)

Fragment of a battle scene
Thebes, Asasif, Dynasty 18, probably reign of Thutmosis IV (ca. 1400-1390 B.C.)
Painted sandstone, 24 x 45 1/4 in.
Rogers Fund, 1913
13.180.21

This stone block was once part of a large battle relief portraying the king riding in a chariot over wounded, dying, and defeated foes. The curving bellies of the two chariot horses are just visible at the top. More than that of a military victory, the scene--most probably originally on the outside of a temple--symbolized the king triumphing over the forces of chaos and helped to avert evil from the sanctuary.

The pointed beards and mustaches of the fallen men identify them as western Asiatics. As they tumble down beneath the horses' hooves, they overlap, but there is no impression of real depth. This is due in part to the lack of foreshortening and modeling. Also contributing to the sense of flatness is the fact that the paint was laid on in unshaded colors and that the relief is very shallow--the background was cut away scarcely a quarter of an inch. Everything is tangled up on the surface, which effectively expresses the confusion, terror, and fear of being trapped in hand-to-hand combat. Equally effective are the diagonal repetitions of the heads, arms, legs, torsos, arrows, and the expressive hands and gaping mouths.

Notice that even in this active scene the artists adhered to the conventions of depicting the human body with the shoulders and eyes in front view and the arms, legs, and heads in profile. The colors have remained remarkably fresh because this block, which was part of a temple wall built probably during the reign of Thutmosis IV, was reused in building the foundations of a later temple. Large-scale depictions of battles are especially well known from the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties. This striking example of Egyptian narrative art was recently recognized as one of the earliest such works extant.

Notice: action, colors, material

Discuss: how action is expressed, visual depth, symbolism, overlapping

Compare with: West wall from a chapel built by Sety I for his father, Ramesses I and Magical stela (detail)

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