Horemheb, which means “Horus is in Jubilation” in Ancient Egyptian, was the final pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, ruling for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC. Despite marrying Ay’s daughter Mutnedjmet, Horemheb had no blood relation to the preceding royal family and is believed to have come from a common background.

The Memphite Tomb of Horemheb is situated in the Saqqara necropolis near Memphis, Egypt. The tomb was built before Horemheb became the king, and he did not use it for his burial. Instead, he constructed the Theban tomb KV57 for this purpose. The tomb served as the resting place for Horemheb’s two wives, Mutnedjmet and Amenia.

Here is the adventurous story of the discovery of this divine Jewel, presented by adorable Marie Grillot.🙏

An earring…from Horemheb?

via égyptophile

This round earring, with a diameter of 3.9 cm, is made of gold with mostly lacunar glass paste inlays.

This round earring, with a diameter of 3.9 cm, is made of gold with mostly lacunar glass paste inlays.
In its centre, in a golden circle and erected on a golden barrette, is a sphinx. He is represented in a walking attitude, which is unusual, to say the least…

The Sphinx is a “hybrid being” described as an androcephalus when it combines an animal body, a lion, and a human head. “The Egyptian sphinx was a protective and positive entity,” generally representing the “portrait” of the pharaoh to whom it was dedicated or allied.

The body of the Sphinx, which works in openwork, is delicately chiselled to restore the details of the fur, muscles, and legs…

The royal head is wearing the “blue” crown, which is sometimes compared to a “helmet”. This “khepresh” seems to appear in royal representations in the New Kingdom and, according to Karol Mysliewiec: “the first known royal statue wearing the khepresh is one of Amenhotep III”. If no crown of this type has actually been discovered, we can assume that it was: “probably made of leather or ostrich skin on a rigid, bulb-shaped structure often embellished with yellow gold or white polka dots “. This notion was also very well rendered by the goldsmith who created it…

The face is both emaciated and prognathous, an impression accentuated by the artificial beard, which lengthens the profile. The long and carried forward neck is decorated with a large ousekh necklace with several rows very cleverly rendered by incisions.
This central element is surrounded by two larger and nicely crafted concentric circles. They are composed of large gold chevrons, regularly spaced, in the intervals of which blue glass paste was encrusted, perhaps in several shades. Unfortunately, this colourful decoration has, for the most part, disappeared.

The outer circle is bordered by a lovely twist of gold, which is welded into small rings made up of a series of small shots welded two by two. “The edges of the pendant are decorated with small rings obtained by granulation, some of which had originally been inlaid with tiny cylinders of glass paste. Pendants were undoubtedly suspended from the five rings of the lower register. A sheet of gold shaped like an ousekh necklace was welded to the top of the Jewel,” specifies Daniella Comand (The Illustrated Guide to the Egyptian Museum).

The suspension system is incomplete: in fact, only one of the two rings remains, which were placed on either side of the lobe and in which the tube slid, which, passing through it, ensured fixation.

This unique earring was discovered in the tomb General Horemheb built in Saqqara long before he became pharaoh and ordered the digging of a new hypogeum in the Valley of the Kings.

His tomb in the Memphite necropolis, unearthed in the 19th century and then lost, was “rediscovered” in 1975 by an Anglo-Dutch mission. Led by Geoffrey Martin, he and his team devoted four seasons of excavations… During the 1977 mission, this Jewel was found “in a room in the well in the outer courtyard”.

The Sphinx’s countenance typically reveals Amarna features if its provenance “de facto” associates it with Horemheb. Thus, in “The Wonders of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo”, Francesco Tiradritti presents it as “a pendant representing Akhenaten as a sphinx”. An idea echoed by Nigel Fletcher-Jones who, in “Ancient Egyptian Jewelry”, believes that: “It was probably made during the reign of Akhenaten (around 1352-1336 BC) or his son Tutankhamun ( circa 1336-1327). Furthermore, in “The Great Discoveries of Ancient Egypt”, Nicholas Reeves considers that it “probably comes from a later burial, from the Ramesside period, that of Princess Bentânat”.

This earring was registered in the Journal of Entries of the Cairo Museum under the reference JE 97864.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Samy Salah, The Illustrated Guide To The Egyptian Museum, Guide National Geographic https://archive.org/details/TheIllustratedGuideToTheEgyptianMuseumBySamySalah/page/n267/mode/2up

Fletcher-Jones, N, Ancient Egyptian Jewelry: 50 Masterpieces of Art and Design, 2019, The American University in Cairo Press
Francesco Tiradritti, Trésors d’Egypte – Les merveilles du musée égyptien du Caire
The Memphite tomb of Horemheb: the central chapel revisited, in: J. van Dijk (ed.), Another mouthful of dust, Egyptological studies in honour of Geoffrey Thorndike Martin (OLA 246, Leuven, 2016), 421-434., M. Raven https://www.academia.edu/37852972/The_Memphite_tomb_of_Horemheb_the_central_chapel_revisited_in_J_van_Dijk_ed_Another_mouthful_of_dust_Egyptological_studies_in_honour_of_Geoffrey_Thorndike_Martin_OLA_246_Leuven_2016_421_434 Orientalia: Vol. 47 https://books.google.co.uk/booksid=6tikRiQ1y0QC&pg=PR20&lpg=PR20&dq=Boucle%20d%27oreille%20Horemheb&source=bl&ots=Ds7UgBXNQZ&sig=ACfU3U3LgGzlurFYP7XKEP73RLCXbJWs0w&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjr8PLpp6_3AhXkg_0HHVbjB6oQ6AF6BAgzEAM&fbclid=IwAR0nSUs-R9O8DiZcHzWZqO3qCfjomrru_Fz0xPBj_fzFgmaoy76zSJ8pd5o#v=onepage&q=Horemheb&f=false

Nicholas Reeves, Ancient Egypt. The great discoveries, Thames & Hudson, 2002, Les Grandes découvertes de l’Egypte ancienne, Editions du Rocher, 2001
Tombe d’Horemheb à Saqqarah https://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/saqqara_nouvel_empire/horemheb_saqqara/horemheb_saqqara_01.htm

Publié il y a 29th April 2022 par Marie Grillot