Head of a deity

- It is made out of Terra cotta. It dates back to the pre-dynastic period. It

was discovered at Merimda Bei-salama.
- This is the oldest found sculpture in history. The pre-dynastic people of
the Delta made burnt clay heads of their Gods which were to be carried in
their processions and rituals. This is the first representation for a deity
ever known in history. This head is painted and having holes were made
for attaching hair of the head and the beard but they are missing. Big
holes are indicating the eyes, the nose and the mouth.

The Narmer Palette

- It is made out of Schist quarried from Sinai, Eastern desert and Wadi
AL- Hammamat. Was discovered at Hierakonpolis, nowadays Al-Kom
Al-Ahmar, 17 kilometers north of Edfu. It was discovered by Quibell. It
dates back to the pre dynastic period.
Introduction for Palettes
- Palettes were used from the predynastic period and also in the begging
of the dynasties. Firstly, they were used for grinding malachite to provide
them with eye paint as a kind of cosmetic and protection for the eyes
from the sunrays.
The palettes had geometrical shapes then turned to have
animal shapes.
From the beginning of the dynastic, they turned to be monumental
documents by having some relief depicting hunting or military
victories
The palette
- King Narmer the owner of the palettes is considered the first king of the
first dynasty and the unifier of both lands of Egypt. The palette has the
beginning of the official hieroglyphic writing.
- It commemorates the victory of king Narmer over Lower Egypt and the
unification of both lands, thats why Narmer is shown once wearing the
white crown of upper Egypt and again the red crown of lower Egypt.
The first side
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It is divided into 3 registers

The first register
- It represents the srx which is the faade of the royal palace, in which the
name of the king was written. It contains the name of king Narmer
inscribed with the fish Nar and the Chisel Mr. The srx is flanked by two
representations of the Cow goddess Baat
.
- The Second register
- The king her is represented large in scale than the others because he is
the king. He is wearing the white crown HDt of Upper Egypt and a false
beard. He is holding a mace head and is going to smite the enemy
kneeling in front of him. This scene became the traditional scene of
punishment in ancient Egyptian history. The king is shown with a tail of
an ox. This is because the king has to be powerful and fertile when he
ascends the throne. He has to be powerful to keep the two parts unified
and fertile which is necessary for Egypt as an agricultural land. So he is
associating himself with the ox which is the sign of power and fertility.
- Behind the king, but smaller in size is his sandal bearer holding the
sandals of the king in one hand and a jar of purified water in the other and
is if the king doing a scared action or ready to enter the temple bare- feet

- The sandal bearer is identified with the hieroglyphic sign, which can be
read as bity Hm meaning the Royal Servant.
- Then Horus with a human arm, representing the king, is grasping the
enemy from his nose as a sign of control and humiliation. The head of the
enemy comes out from the t3 sign of land, from which also 6 papyri
plants came out. Each papyrus represents 1000, which means that the
king took 6000 captives from Lower Egypt.
The third register
- Two escaping enemies are depicted under the feet of the king as a sign
of control, with two hieroglyphic signs giving their origin
The second side

It is divided into 4 registers

The first register
It is the same like the first side
-The second register
- This register commemorates the victory procession of the king. He is
shown wearing the red crown (dSrt) of lower Egypt which means that he
unified the country. He is represented with a false beard, ceremonial kilt,
a tail of a bull and holding mace head. In front of the kings head is his
name with the fish and the Chisel. Behind him is his sandal bearer
holding the sandals in one hand and a jar of water in the other hand.
Infront of the king is the kings vizier and scribe, identified with the word
Tt which is the primitive form of the word TAt which means vizier. Then
there are 4 standards bearers carrying falcon, 2 jackals and the royal
placenta.
- To the right are two figures of Horus
(1) Horus Infront of a door indicating the gate of Buto (Tell- Al Fraeen,
Desook, Kafr Al shiekh ( ) the
capital of Lower Egypt.
(2) Horus on a harpoon indicating the victory of the king in the
form of Hours over the chaos and the disorder .
- At the end are 10 decapitated enemies and their heads
placed between their legs.
The third register
- Here is the main register of the Palette. Two mythical animals
with their heads twisted together forming the depression for grinding
malachite
- This scene is from Mesopotamian origin. These two animals may
represent the two parts of Egypt while there are some opinions of their
position
1- They want to be unified but the enemies want to prevent them.
2- The two men want to9 insure the unification
3- It is just a way to form the depression for grinding malachite.
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- The Fourth register

- The king in the form of a strong bull stepping over an enemy as a
sign of control and the bull is attacking a fortress, from which some
bricks fall down.

The Libyan Palette

- It is made out of Schist quarried from Sinai, Eastern desert and Wadi
AL-Hammamat. It was discovered at Abydos, nowadays Al-araba ALMadfona ) . It dates back to
the predynastic period.
- Introduction for Palettes:The same like Narmer Palette
Description
- We have only the lower part of the Palette, which gives us no traces
for the circular depression for grinding malachite.
The First Side
- It is divided into 4 registers represented in the same order as all the
animals look to the right.
- the first register shows group of oxen looking to the right. Their bodies
are very well represented with some wrinkles and muscles can be seen.
- The second registers shows an equal number of donkeys looking to the
right
The third register contain 5 rams while the last ram is small in size and
turns its head backwards
.
We can say some opinions for this.
(1) The turned head broke the monotony of the scenes.

(2) The artist was skilful so he wanted to make use of this limited
space and it is an advantage to him.
(3) These cattles were taken away from their land, so they are looking to
their home.
- The last register shows a group of olive trees which were
planted in Libya. We can also see the throw stick above the t3
land sign. This inscription refers to the Tjehenu, which is a
region situated in Libya. Thats why this palette is known as the
Libyan palette.

The Second side

- The second side known as the foundation side as it represents
foundation of some cities. This side shows some animals in the top
of fortresses and holding hoes to participate in building these cities.
We can see two falcons, lion, scorpion and other animals. All of
these animals represent the royal power of the king. This side
represents the king making the ritual of founding the cities. These
cities are very hard to be known, while one of these cites may be
Buto the capital of Lower Egypt where we can see remains of two
fighting men representing Horus and Seth.
The statue of Hetep-dief
.This statue is made out of Granite quarried from Aswan .It was discovered in Memphis and dates back to the 2nd dynasty
This is the first private statue and the first statue in a kneeling position or prayer position. Hetepdief is a priest served during the time of the first
.three kings of the 2nd dynasty
- Description
This statue is made out of one block of stone and the artist filled all the gaps to prevent its destruction. He is represented wearing a curly hair wig
.and a short kilt covers him till the knees
If we look to the statue we are able to notice some defaults -

The head is larger than the whole body -1

2- There is no neck because the head is attached directly to the shoulders
There is now space between the limbs and the body especially
-3
between the arms and the body
The arms are longer then the body - 4
The knees are flat (not rounded) -5
All the fingers have no traces for the nails and four of them have the -6
same length
- Over the right shoulders of the statue there are 3 representations
of Serekh (The facade of the royal palace) having the names of the
3 first kings of the 2nd dynasty whom Hetefdief served. Thes kings
are Htep-Sekhemwy, Re-nb and Ni-neter. These names follow the
Phoenix to give them eternal life and resurrection in the after life.
This is a new way of writing hieroglyphs on a statue.
The statue of Khasekhemwy
- It is made out of schist, quarried, from Wadi al-Hammamat and Sinai.
it dates back to the 2nd dynasty and it was discovered at Hierakonopolis
about 17 Km north of Edfu.
- King Khasekhem is the last king of the second dynasty, he changed his
name from Khasekhem which means "the one power of Horus appears"
to Khasekhemwi "the two powers of Horus and Seth appear" after
overcoming a revolution in Lower Egypt.
- Description
- Although modest in size and half of the face is broken, but the rest of
the statue shows a masterpiece of art.
- It is the earliest surviving example of royal statues from Egypt.
- The king is shown seated on a low back throne, wearing the White
Crown, of Upper Egypt, and the Heb-Sed garment. Heb-Sed is a festival
was supposed to be celebrated every 30 years to insure the power of the
king to rule Egypt, but it was then celebrated according to the event of the
country such as revolutions and low flood.
- The base of the statue records a military campaign of the king against
the enemies of Lower egypt. On the right and left hand sides of the throne
are some escaping rebellions afraid of the king. The number of the
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prisoners of Lower Egypt is inscribed on the base of the throne 47209

prisoners were taken from Lower Egypt which is an exaggeration because
the enemies of Egypt were not that number at that time.
- The skill of the artist is clear in the absence of the back pillar, which can
protect the statue from destruction.

The Statue of king Zoser:

- It is made out of limestone quarried from Tura, Almasara and
Muqqattam hills. This statue was discovered inside the serdab beside the
pyramid of king Zoser. Iy dates back to the third dynasty.
- The Serdab is a small closed room except for two holes infront of the
eyes of the statue to be able to communicate with the outer world and to
receive offerings and rituals.
- King Zoser is the founder of the third dynasty. He is considered the first
semi-god king in Egypt. He is the owner of the step pyramid at Saqqara,
the first building to be erected in stone and the intermediate between the
mastaba and the true pyramid.
- His name was nTry-Xt who belongs to the divine body till the
12th dynasty when he was known as Zoser.
- This statue is considered the first life-sized statue in Egypt. It was once
painted and remains can be shown till now.
- It is the original statue and a replica is now in the Serdab.
- The king is seated on a midlle-back throne. He is wearing the Nemes
head-dress and a hair wig under it which is the first time to see them
together.
- The eyes were once inlaid to give more vivid to the statue, but it is now
missing. The king has high cheekbones and a prominent jaw (they are
innovations in the art of this statue).
- The mouse is well represented identified with a light moustache .
- He is represented wearing a false royal beard as a sign of power and
royalty.
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- There is a serene look in his face because he is considered to be a semigod.

- The king wears a Heb-Sed dress covering all the body except for parts
of the shoulders.
- the Heb-Sed is a festival was supposed to be celebrated every 30 years
to insure the power of the king to rule Egypt, but it was then celebrated
according to the event of the country such as revolutions and low flood.
- His two arms, one over the heart and the other over his thigh, which is
sign of power and mercy. His feet rest upon the pedestal of the throne.
On the pedestal of the statue we have the royal titles of the king which are Nsw bity or King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nbty or the two
ladies as Nekhbet the vulture goddess of Upper egypt and Wadjet the
cobra goddess of Lower egypt and NTry Xt his name which means the
.one who belongs to the divine body