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ref.: August 16, "Smenkhkare image"
Below a scene called "MERYRA REWARDED BY KING SE-AA-KA-RA" (which was deGaries' rendering of the Smenkhkare nomen, as the glyphs in Lepsius' Denkmaeler so show), along with DeGaries' explanation of the scene. Text and figure are from: Rock Tombs of el Amarna, Vol.2, N. DeGaries Davies, (London: 1903-1908) Pl. 43 f. pp. 133-135. Figure 46 is shown below. Katherine Griffis-Greenberg grifcon@mindspring.com ------ MERYRA REWARDED BY KING SE-AA-KA-RA North Wall: East side Plate XLI Previous copies are: Hay MSS 29847, foll, 63,64 L'Hote, Papiers, xi 14 (partial) Lepsius, Denkmaeler, III, 99 a (partial) Prisse, Monuments Egyptiens, p. 3 (cartouches) The unfinished picture on this wall seems to reflect the troubles which gathered round the new capital in later years of the reign or upon the death of Akhenaten. Hastily executed, or left in the rough ink-sketch, the figures of the King and Queen, with the familiar cartouches of Akhenaten and Nefertiti replaced by those of Merytaten their daughter, and her husband, Ankh-kheperu-ra [*], the interrupted project speaks of events, actual or menacing, in which leisured art could have no place. It is somewhat difficult to decide whether the design as well as the cartouches belong to Se-aa-ka-ra's reign, and whether, therefore, those figures represent Akhenaten and his wife or their successors on the throne. In the absence of sufficient grounds of suspicion, we must assume that the whole belongs to the reign, or at least to the co-regency of the new King. Yet it is not obvious why not even one small design should be completed by him, or why the sun and the royal pair should be left untouched. The cartouches seem somewhat large and clumsy in comparison to the rest of the inscription, but the execution of the whole also is very different from that of the other walls. (We cannot object to there being two scenes of the rewarding of Meryra because that occurs in the neighbouring tomb, and there is, therefore, a presumption in favour of it). It might be put forward as a plausible theory that the King's sculptors were called away to work in the tomb of Meketaten, and returned later to complete the scenes. But the execution of the work coincided with an illness of the King [Akhenaten -KG], which threatened to prove fatal, and under the circumstances the royal cartouches and figures were not proceeded with; then, when the apprehension concerning the King was justified, the cartouches of his successor were hastily inserted as a date; though events, or the disinclination of the new King, stopped any further progress with the tomb. The burial shafts were never made, and Meryra's hopes of a splendid interment here shared the general ruin. The roughly sketched figures of the King and Queen, the ink of which is now almost invisible, stand under the radiating sun in the centre of the picture. Behind them is the palace and before them their faithful palace official, with his friends and attendants. A part of the group has been removed by the formation of recess here at a later date. Meryra is standing on a stool, or upborne by his friends with officious care, to receive the guerdon of golden necklaces from the king. His breast is already covered with these marks of royal favour; and it was no doubt a wise proceeding on the part of the new monarch to make sure of the devotion of an official so influential in the royal harem." NOTES FROM TEXT: [*] The cartouches have been removed by thieves, only the Queen's cartouche remaining. For the King's we must have recourse to the four copies, which unfortunately give as many readings for the personal name. There is little doubt, however, that the reading in Lepsius, Se-aa-ka-ra -zeser-kheperu (Denkmaeler, Text, II, p. 138) must be adopted, as the others are only imperfect readings of this. A squeeze exists among the papers of L'Hote (Papiers, XVII, I), and though the third sign is broken, as is such the most satisfactory reading. It appears that the state of the cartouche was due to time and rough cutting, not to mutilation, and that it was fairly legible to a practiced eye. The two rings of the king (Petrie, Tel Amarna, Pl. XV) cannot shake this evidence, since each suggests a different hieroglyph. The cartouche of the Queen is set a little to high up in the Plate. -----
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