|
|
TANIS
In Egyptian Museum
Double statue of Amenemhet 3 as Nile God. 160 cm high. Room 16, Ground Floor.
Ramses 2 as a child protected by the god Horun. 231 cm high. Room 10, Ground Floor.
Funeral mask of Psusennes 1, around 994 BCE. 48 cm high. Room 2, 1st Floor.
|
|
The treasures of Tanis are often considered to be among the central attractions of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. They have mainly been excavated for a period from the middle of the 19th century until the first decades of the 20th.
The majority of the statues, most in grey granite, belong to a period centuries before Tanis was founded. The rulers of Tanis did not possess worksmen with sufficient skills, and chose to bring statues from far away to their capital. This was not really stealing, but the creation of legitimacy for their rule; the early rulers of Tanis were Libyans.
Most exceptions are fairly small in size, like the 18 cm statue of Osorkon 3 in room 20, which is overlooked by most visitors. More appealling is clearly the gold jewelleries, of which the ones belonging to Sheshonq 2 are the finest (room 4). Also take in the cups and vases, where a distinctive style was developed at Tanis, a style that would be imitated for centuries.
The double statue above is one of many showing the 12th Dynasty pharaoh Amenemhet 3 (1831-1786 BCE). The collection also includes 7 granite sphinxes of him (see Room 16). It was Psusennes 1 who around 1000 BCE had them transported to Tanis and added his own cartouches to them.
|
|
