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This block is one of dozens excavated by the Egypt Exploration Society at the site of the Deir el-Bahri in the early 20th century. Unlike the later, neighbouring temple of Queen Hatshepsut, for which Mentuhotep’s monument provided inspiration, blocks such as this were widely distributed, and only recently has it been possible (digitally) to reunite them.
The relief seems to recapture the confidence of the ancient Egyptian court style, after many years of monuments with a rather more parochial appearance. In bold and vividly coloured contours, it depicts one of the most influential rulers in Egypt’s long history. He wears the tall white crown of Upper (southern) Egypt and is clearly identified in the accompanying hieroglyphic inscriptions by three of his names. In one cartouche, his birth-name is given as Mentuhotep (‘Montu is satisfied’) – a Thebes-based ruler appropriately named after a Theban god. His throne name, Nebhepetra, appears in another cartouche. In a serekh-frame is written his Horus name of Sema-Tawy – literally ‘(re)uniter of the two lands’. This is a relatively rare reflection of real-world political circumstances, as archaeological evidence suggests that it was Mentuhotep Nebhepetra who unified Egypt in the Eleventh Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, after the decentralisation of the First Intermediate Period. Perhaps for this reason, he was later especially venerated as a royal ancestor.
The present example is but one block out of a wall of an immense monument backing on to the cliffs of Deir el-Bahri, a sacred mountain associated with the goddess Hathor. The goddess, wearing a distinctive sun disc between cow’s horns, follows the king. She holds a was-sceptre, a symbol of power exclusive to deities at this period. The attack on her image would seem to have been executed during the turbulent Amarna Period, when depictions of Amun and other traditional deities were persecuted in favour of the sun disc, Aten. Hathor is likely to have been restored in plaster in the post-Amarna Period, when other elements may have been touched up with paint.
This item is featured in S Boonstra and C Price, Ancient Egypt in 50 EES Discoveries, due for publication in early 2025.
Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
