Скачать или смотреть Amarna Tomb 4 - Meryre

A video slideshow of my photographs of Amarna Tomb 4, the rock-cut tomb of Meryre. Meryre was the high priest of the cult of the Aten under Akhenaten and, as befitting his status, his tomb is the largest and most elaborately decorated of all the nobles' tomb at Amarna. As with all the tombs at Amarna, the images of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and their cartouches, along with that of the Aten, have been systematically erased, but other than that the tomb decoration is in excellent condition and is the most spectacular tomb to visit at Amarna.

The tomb consists of four chambers: an antechamber, a columned hall, a second hall, and the shrine. Of these only the first two were completed and decorated. The picture collection starts out with a tour of the antechamber, starting at the left entrance wall, moves on to the columned hall, again starting to the left of the entrance, and finishes with the unfinished second hall and shrine.

The antechamber shows Meryre offering prayers to the Aten, and the cartouches of the king, Nefertiti and the Aten. The door jambs are inscribed with funerary prayers for Akhenaten and the Aten. The entrance from the antechamber to the outer hall is decorated with the Short Hymn to the Aten, and shows Meryre's wife, Tenre, making offerings to the Aten. She is described as "a great favourite of the Lady of the two Lands" (ie Nefertiti). The short passage connecting the antechamber to the columned hall shows Meryre in an attitude of prayer on the right wall, and Tenre on the left wall.

Rather than depicting scenes of how the tomb owner wished to live in the afterlife, as the nobles' tombs at Luxor show, the decoration of nobles' tombs at Amarna shows the royal family and the worship of the Aten. The reliefs in the Tomb of Meryra are decidedly centered upon praising Akhenaten, and Meryra himself only appears marginally, sometimes indistinguishable from other minor figures carved in the relief. Despite this, Meryra maintains a constant contextual presence in the scenes, even if not being explicitly portrayed. In one scene, Akhenaten and Nefertiti are depicted paying a visit to Meryra at the Great Aten Temple. In the immediately preceding scene, Akhenaten officially declares Meryra as the High Priest of Aten. Despite being the High Priest of Aten, Meryra was not recognized with the power to access the Aten, an exclusive ability of Akhenaten. In the text of this relief, Akhenaten addresses Meryra with the proclamation, "Behold, I am attaching you to myself, to be the Greatest of Seers of the Aten, in the House of Aten, in Ahketaten."