Post-Classic Kemet

2nd Intermediate Period and Empire
(18th - 11th c. B.C.)

Second Intermediate Period

	1. Ivory fragment of a cult object, 1680-1580 B.C., Kemet (Paris: Louvre). Two jackel masked figures flank an ankh symbol, with hieroglyphs. The 2nd Intermediate period is marked by the emergence of vital regional cultures and local dynasties, including Hyksos, Lybian, and Nubian rulers.
	2. Ivory fragment with scenes probably associated with a cult, probably 1680-1580 B.C. (Paris: Louvre). A figure that is half animal and half human, with a crocodile on its back, approaches a bound kneeling figure. To the left is a giraffe (?), and to the right a seated figure of a man with a lion's mask and tail.

The Empire of Kemet

	1. Lower half of a sandstone statue of Turi (Ahmose), an early viceroy of Nepata (London: British Museum). 48 cm. Under Kings Khamose and Ahmose of Thebes, Kemet began to construct an empire at the expense of the Hyksos Dynasty to the North and the Kingdom of Kerma to the South. The expansion South was continued by Ahmose' son Amenhotep I, who established a military settlement at Buhen, just below the Second Cataract, as a base of operations to push toward the city of Kerma above the Third Cataract. Turi had started as a scribe, but was appointed the commander of the fortress at Buhen. Because of Nubia's linguistic, cultural and ethnic affinity, Kemet simply extended its administration to the South under a viceroy with the title, "The King's Son of Kush." One of the first these viceroys was Turi, who was promoted from his post at Buhen by Amenhotep I. The viceroy carried out construction work, led military operations, and ensured the shipment of valuable goods from Nubia and it South. Under the viceroy were deputies for the North (Wawat) and the South (Kush). Local communities were left in the hands of local chiefs.
	2. Painted limestone stela from reign of King Thutmose III, probably first set up at Buhen (London: British Museum). 61 cm. tall. The real military confrontation between Kerma and Kemet took place under Thutmose I in 1488 and resulted in the end of the royal line of Kerma and probably the destruction of its capital so that Kemet's power could be extended to the Fourth Cataract. Nevertheless, local chiefs continued to resist for a half century until Thutmose III's final pacification of Nubia in the mid-15th century. Thutmose built a provincial capital just north of the Fourth Cataract, called Napata, to administer all Nubia.
	3. Faience pottery decorated with blue lotuses, from Sesebi in Upper Nubia (London: British Museum). 14.5 cm. In second half of the 18th dynasty, because of the shift south of the military frontier, the fortresses of Lower Nubia gave way to towns and temples, and new settlements emerged such as Amara West and Sesebi. These walled towns were temple-centered and the locale of administration, mining, or military personnel.
	4. Red granite statue of a lion, one of a pair at the temple of Soleb below the Third Cataract (London: British Museum). Soleb and Sedeinga were temples set up by Amenhotep III (1402-1364 B.C.) in Lower Nubia. He dedicated Soleb to the worship of himself, and Sedeinga to the worship of his Nubian wife, Tiye (Tiy). In the 3rd c. B.C. King Amanislo of Meroe later on moved these lions to the temple Gebel Barkal near Napata.
	5. Wall painting from the tomb of Sebekhotep at Thebes, ca. 1400 B.C., showing Nubians bringing gold rings, ebony logs, incense and other exotics to a king of Kemet.
	6. Head of Queen Tiye (Tiy), 18th dynasty, ca. 1350. Tiy was the daughter of Yaya and Tuya, a family from Akhmim in Upper Kemet which gained prominence when Tiy became the principal wife of King Amenhotep III.
	7. Mural from Tell el-Amarna, Kemet, showing the two daughters of Akh-en-Aten (Amenhotep's new throne name) and Nefertiti. Akh-en-Aten moved from the capitol, Thebes, to new holy city, el-Amarna, dedicated to the worshop of Aten. This radical religious change was accompanied by a change in aethetics, perhaps related to Cretan influences carried by refugees from Crete. These paintings of Akhenaten's young daughters illustrate that new style. However, Akhenaten's vision lasted only about fifteen years before power was restored to Thebes, and with it the traditional culture of Kemet.
	8. Wall painting in tomb chapel of Huy at Thebes, which shows Heqanefer, Prince of Miam, and other Nubian chiefs submitting to King Tut'ankhamun. Hequanefer was one of the local rulers who adopted Kemet's culture. Kemet sought to Egypitanize local leadership to discourage rebellion based on ethnic identity. The fortresses established in the early 18th Dynasty, give way to temples and urban centers of mining, administration and commerce. In Lower Nubia there were a number of such Egyptianized chiefs, who adopted Kemet names and burial customs. The result of this was the submergence of C-Group culture under that of Kemet in Lower Nubia. In other parts of Nubia, traditional culture tended to survive.
	9. Painted box from the antechamber of King Tut'ankhamun's tomb. Ca. 1337 B.C.
	10. Tomb of King Tut'ankhamun. Exterior of shrine showing two representations of the king and queen. Kemet, as part of African culture in general, tended to give women unusual status and importance. The two representations of the king and queen here, for example, show the queen having a far more important presence than we would expect in the art of Western Asia, for example.
	11. Two pectorals. One of a king and the other showing Isis and Nephthys. From the tomb of King Tut'ankhamun, ca. 1337 B.C.
	12. Pectoral of King Tut'ankhamun. Gold cloisonné.
	13. Cored amphoriskos from 18th Dynasty (Ithaca: Corning Museum). 11.5 cm.
	14. Limestone relief of attendants at a festival, from the tomb of Wazir Ramose in Thebes, 18th Dynasty.
	15. Mural detail of musicians and dancers, from tomb of Neb-Amun, 18th dynasty, Thebes. In about 1305, the 18th dynasty gave way to the 19th, which lasted from about 1305 to 1186 B.C.
	16. Temple of Ra'messe II (1289-1224 B.C.) at Abu Simbel. In the mid 14th c. Kemet was driven back from its position in Palestine and southern Syria by the expanding Hittite Empire of Anatolia, until Ra'messe recovered Palestine. In the south, below the 2nd cataract, Ra'messe built a temple at Abu Simbel, carved out of a cliff. Here he sits, with his family below. The damage to the one statue was caused by an earthquake that occurred shortly after the temple was built.
	17. Wall painting in temple of Beit el-Wali, which Ra'messe II constructed in Nubia. Here the viceroy Amenemope is rewarded with gold collars at the top and accepts the delivery of exotic goods such as ebony logs, ivory tusks, ostrich eggs, feathers, gold, furniture and weapons. In the scene below, Nubians bring tribute of a giraffe, gazelle, monkeys and a leopard.
	18. A relief from Buhen that shows viceroy Setau, who was particularly active on behalf of King Ra'messe II (London: British Museum). 50 cm. Ramesse built the temples of Gerf Husein and Wadi es-Sebua. This is one of the many reliefs he left behind. It depicts him pouring a libation for the Kemet goddess Renenutet.
	19. Mural of cattle keeping. Ca. 1500 B.C.
	20. Funerary model of a plough being pulled by oxen (London: British Museum).
	21. Funerary model of women grinding grain with linear quirns, the inefficiencies of which absorbed much of the manpower resources in ancient society. In Kemet the gain was used for beer and for bread, which may have been a byproduct of beer making.
	22. Ostraca from Deir el-Medina, ca. 12th c. B.C. (Leipzig Univ.: Egyptian Museum). Behind the houses in this workers' settlement were the ovens. The text to the left of the woman indicates she is blowing into the oven, perhaps to start the fire first thing in the morning.
	23. Ostraca from Deir el-Medina, the settlement of craftsmen west of the Valley of the Kings, ca. 12th c. B.C. (Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum). A caricature of a stonecutter. As members of Kemet's political community, such workers enjoyed a relatively high status and standard of living.
	24. Ostraca from Deir el-Medina with a self-portrait of the scribe Amenhotep worshiping Thoth, ca. 12th B.C. (Cairo: Egyptian Museum). The style is that of the official political culture for the scribe enjoyed higher status than an artist.
	25. Scribal tools from Deir el-Medina, ca. 12th c. B.C. (Turin: Egyptian Museum). Brushes of various sizes, a pot of red pigment, and raw materials for making the paint.
	26. Ostraca from Deir el-Medina, ca. 12th c. B.C. (Glasgow: Hunterian Museum). It shows a student scribe's transcription of the Middle Egyptian poem, "Satire on the Trades." The scribe managed to garble the old unfamiliar script. He appended the date in red ink, "Third month of winter season, day 1."