Youssef El Aguizi

900-13-0300
EGY 199
Dr. Mariam Ayad
Book Report
Gifts for the Gods: Images from Ancient Egyptian Temples
Hill, Marsha, and Deborah Schorsch, eds. (2007)
Price 9.95$

The Ancient Egyptians throughout their extensively long and

astonishing history created fine objects, including statuary, in gold,
silver, and copper. These fine objects created economic and aesthetic
values, which were essentials to the gods and their temples. When we
study the production of these objects and how they benefited their
society, we are gazing into the fascinating world in which the Egyptians
interacted with their gods through festivals and ceremonies. Metal
statuary offers an astonishing view of Egyptian art because the ethnic
and communal networks, from which it developed, were often different
from those that produced stone statuary. The superb statues and
statuettes illustrated in this book were made in a variety of precious
metals and copper alloys over a period of two eras. Particularly
dramatic are those from the Third Intermediate Period, an era whose
conventional name contradicts its great artistic achievement. In this
review I will mention several impressive examples of statuary that

really impressed me with the idea behind their creation and their
beauty.

The first object is the cult statue of a falcon from the 6th dynasty.
Made from hammered and unalloyed copper, the statue depicts Pepi I.
There are two other statues which were made the same way however,
one which had a falcon behind its head, probably refers to a more
youthful Pepi I, and the other discovered at Hierakonpolis is a clear cult
statue of a crouching falcon, whose head is made of thick gold sheet
raised by hammering; the head was attached with nails to the body,
which is made of hammered sheets of unalloyed copper over wood. As
mentioned, these statues show " a stylized representation of Egypt's
conquered foreign subjects
Moving on to a more complex object in its formation, the
statuette of a male figure is considered a masterwork of the early
eighteenth dynasty despite its small size. The hairstyle, whose delicate
details are carefully outlined, is represented as thick and short.
Shortest in the front, it gradually gets longer towards the ear, and is
slightly longer at the back of the head. This style clearly represented
natural hair of the peasant class unlike wigs of the elite. This style of
wearing the hair may have become suitable as a fashion at this time,
when developing classes of craftsmen, musicians, soldiers, and
servants for the high class, whether they were Egyptians or foreigners.

Reformed in antiquity by the elimination of its upright ears and

the addition of horns, the statue of Seth maintains the characteristics
of the fabulous seth-animal. The transformation of Seth possibly
relates to change in political conditions. Seth was favored by the
Hyksos kings ruling from Avaris during the 2nd intermediate period and
gained his great performance under the Ramessides, who originated in
the eastern delta. Extended and unstable, the solid figure was
balanced with its right arm; the left arm is separate and held tightly in
the shoulder by a small metal piece. The fists; however, show no
evidence of what they carried. The figure is absorbent since it is made
out of pure bronze. It was mainly a statue built out of respect and
admiration of Seth.
Two small sphinxes in the Louvre also caught my attention with
their golden crafted details. These statues proved to belong to the
class of alloy. These two statues bring us into the most hidden zones of
the temple, where cult objects like these were stored when they were
not being exhibited in demonstrations. The Sphinx of King Siamun has
human arms that present table of offerings and one of his royal names;
his royal names also appear on the animals headquarters. The
decoration visible on the back of the animal includes the kings wesekh
collar, the tail of his nemes headdress, the shock of the lion, and the
wings of the royal falcon, creating a web of decoration that completely
covers the body. Yet another massive creation.

In my opinion, I think this book offers a lot of interesting yet

important information for the audience who are interested in that field.
I didnt find in anyway difficult to understand since the wording was in
simple English. As shown in multiple websites, this book received a lot
of good reviews and ratings. In the end, I really enjoyed reading it and I
would certainly recommend it to anyone who might be interested to
know more about statues and statuettes of the ancient Egyptian times.