Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt:...over-riding power of the King. But they are probably the grooms running beside their charges, or figures which serve only to fill an unsightly blank. The fiirure of the King driving his chariot and pair is represented on a scale corresponding to his importance; and, but for the mutilation it has undergone, would present a fine example of Egyptian art, both for spirit of outline and for minute decoration in colour. The latter is пow almost invisible. Akhenaten is dressed in tunic and mantle, and wears the khepemh helmet on his head; from beneath this red ribbons flutter. The tunic is secured at the waist by a richly patterned and fringed sash, and the hem of its hanging flap is decorated with uraei.1 Sash, skirts, and ribbons, streaming in the wind behind, serve to give an aspect of motion to the scene. The king holds a pair of reins in each hand and in the right also grasps a whip. The chariot is of very light construction, corresponding in this to the examples found. Its body is formed by a framework of bent wood, which is sometimes left quite open (as in Tomb о here and the example in Florence Museum), and sometimes covered in with elaborately embossed and painted leather, to judge by the example lately found in the tomb of Thothmes IV. Even when this was done, it was customary to leave the upper part under the rail open, no doubt in order to enable the occupant to grip the side and steady himself in the vehicle, which even on the swept desertroads of Akhetaten must have swayed and jolted most uncomfortably. Even when this opening was reduced to a small round hole, as in the Queen's chariot, the original design regulated the decoration. This consisted chiefly 1 For the front aspect of the tunic and sash sec Wilkinson, Manners ami Customs, ii....