Part of an Octagonal Column from the Temple of Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahri

History

Mentuhotep II Nebhepetre built, probably around the unification (ca. 2030 B.C.), a large temple at Deir el-Bahri. Rectangular and octagonal pillars carried the roofs of this temple. The latter appeared in 3 different sizes, obviously standing in spaces of different ceiling heights, decreasing from east to west: the ambulatory, the middle court, and the hypostyle hall. According to the width of the front panel of our fragments (see below) they belonged to the largest version, the pillars of the ambulatory.

Description

The complete octagonal columns have 8 sides, carry a square abacus and stand on a flat, round, beveled base. The two fragments in New York (here a and b) fit together and originate from the front of the upper end of a pillar. The front side is best preserved and shows remains of the beginning of the king’s titulary: “The Horus Sema-tawy///,” flanked by the was-scepter. The inscription is 20.8 cm cm wide (including the was-scepters); the inscribed side was ca. 24.1 cm wide. The bluish-red sandstone is whitewashed and the incised hieroglyphs painted in blue. On both sides of the front, parts of the undecorated adjoining sides are preserved. One may assume that the decorated sides of all pillars in the ambulatory faced east, so that persons entering could see them. According to the direction of the inscription, the New York column would have been in the left (southern) half of the ambulatory.

No column from the ambulatory was found complete. But by measuring fragments and calculating the numbers aimed at by the ancient designers, one can reconstruct the following figures for a complete column:

Base 7.5 cm (1 H)
Shaft 382.5 cm (51 H)
Abacus 22.5 cm (3 H)
Architrave 60 cm (8 H)

Total height 472.5 cm (63 H = 9 E)

Dieter Arnold 2015

zmA-tA.wi

Sematawi (Uniter of the two lands)

Excavated by Edouard Naville for the Egypt Exploration Fund at Thebes. Received by the EEF from the Egyptian government in the division of finds.Acquired by the Museum from the EEF through subscription, 1907.

Naville, Edouard F., H. R. Hall, and Edward R. Ayrton 1907. The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir el-Bahari, vol. 1. Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Society, 28. London: Egypt Exploration Society, pp. 27-28, 34 (general description of the columns at Deir el-Bahri).

Naville, Edouard F. and Somers Clarke 1910. The XIth Dynasty Temple at Deir el-Bahari, vol. 2. Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Society, 30. London: Egypt Exploration Society, pls. 3–5.

Hayes, William C. 1953. Scepter of Egypt I: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge, Mass.: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 157.

Arnold, Dieter 1974. Der Tempel des Konigs Mentuhotep von Deir el-Bahari: Architektur und Deutung, vol. 1. Archäologische Veröffentlichungen, 8. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern, pp. 26, 33, 39, pls. 10, 12b, 15c,d, 16a, 18, 28, 31, 33.

Arnold, Dieter 1979. The Temple of Mentuhotep at Deir El-Bahari, vol. 1. Publications of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, 21. Egyptian Expedition of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 33, 36-37.