Fragment of a Ptolemaic Limestone Temple Wall Panel Depicting Khnum, 332 BCE - 30 BCE
Limestone
95.3 x 48.3 cm
37 1/2 x 19 in
37 1/2 x 19 in
X.0510
Khnum, the creator god, represented as a ram headed man, is one of the oldest deities in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. His name means: “to create.” He was the creator...
Khnum, the creator god, represented as a ram headed man, is one of the oldest deities in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon. His name means: “to create.” He was the creator of all things that are and all things that shall be. He created the gods and he fashioned mankind on a potter’s wheel. A water god, he was closely associated with the annual flooding of the Nile, and thus intimately interlinked with the life-nourishing harvest that made the desert terrain habitable.
The hieroglyphic inscription located on the top right of this panel can be translated as: “Khnum, the Lord of Semenuhor, the Great God who reigns over the back Oleander-district."
Traditionally, the hieroglyph depicting three Nile geese (as identified by Charles Kuentz in his article "L’oie du Nil" published by the Archives du Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon, tome 14. Lyon, 1926 ; p. 57.) portrays these creatures all facing the same direction. Here, however, one goose faces left while the other two geese face to the right. This extremely rare glyph is a component of the location name: Semenuhor. The crowned falcon in the top of the second register of text (the left column) symbolizes the god Horus and corresponds to the “hor” that completes the location title.
There are a few well known examples of this derivation of the standard three geese glyph. The oldest example comes from a statue of Psammetik I, a king of the 26 Dynasty who ruled from 664-610 B.C., that is now located in Alexandria (statues 17.533 and 17.534 in the museum of Alexandria [ASAE VIII, 65]). The latest example comes from a sculpture dated roughly 30 B.C. that is today housed in Cherchel, Algeria, and was featured at the Numids-Exhibition in Bonn. This wall panel, dated to the Ptolemic Period, falls in between these two bookend dates.
The ancient city of Semenuhor (sometimes also referred to as Shenakhen) was the provincial capital of the 21 Nome (Province) of Upper Egypt. Known as Akanthon to the Greeks, Semenuhor roughly corresponds to the modern city of Kafr Ammar. Texts relating to the 21 Nome reveal that Khnum was the sacred deity of this region. Therefore, it is almost certain that a major cult dedicated to Khnum was once located in Semenuhor. This spectacular wall panel depicting Khnum may have come from one of the major temples dedicated to this cult.
This panel is part of a larger decorative scheme that would have once covered the walls of a temple. However, judging from the unadorned band that frames the bottom and sides, in addition to the starry border on the top, we can assume that the work was meant to stand on its own. This assumption is further reinforced by the substantial size of the piece. Perhaps it was the centerpiece of a narrow niche or shrine. The temple walls were constructed from large limestone bricks, onto which the images were carved in low relief. The thin gaps between the large blocks have been filled in during restoration in order to make the entire work more aesthetically pleasing.
The hieroglyphic inscription located on the top right of this panel can be translated as: “Khnum, the Lord of Semenuhor, the Great God who reigns over the back Oleander-district."
Traditionally, the hieroglyph depicting three Nile geese (as identified by Charles Kuentz in his article "L’oie du Nil" published by the Archives du Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Lyon, tome 14. Lyon, 1926 ; p. 57.) portrays these creatures all facing the same direction. Here, however, one goose faces left while the other two geese face to the right. This extremely rare glyph is a component of the location name: Semenuhor. The crowned falcon in the top of the second register of text (the left column) symbolizes the god Horus and corresponds to the “hor” that completes the location title.
There are a few well known examples of this derivation of the standard three geese glyph. The oldest example comes from a statue of Psammetik I, a king of the 26 Dynasty who ruled from 664-610 B.C., that is now located in Alexandria (statues 17.533 and 17.534 in the museum of Alexandria [ASAE VIII, 65]). The latest example comes from a sculpture dated roughly 30 B.C. that is today housed in Cherchel, Algeria, and was featured at the Numids-Exhibition in Bonn. This wall panel, dated to the Ptolemic Period, falls in between these two bookend dates.
The ancient city of Semenuhor (sometimes also referred to as Shenakhen) was the provincial capital of the 21 Nome (Province) of Upper Egypt. Known as Akanthon to the Greeks, Semenuhor roughly corresponds to the modern city of Kafr Ammar. Texts relating to the 21 Nome reveal that Khnum was the sacred deity of this region. Therefore, it is almost certain that a major cult dedicated to Khnum was once located in Semenuhor. This spectacular wall panel depicting Khnum may have come from one of the major temples dedicated to this cult.
This panel is part of a larger decorative scheme that would have once covered the walls of a temple. However, judging from the unadorned band that frames the bottom and sides, in addition to the starry border on the top, we can assume that the work was meant to stand on its own. This assumption is further reinforced by the substantial size of the piece. Perhaps it was the centerpiece of a narrow niche or shrine. The temple walls were constructed from large limestone bricks, onto which the images were carved in low relief. The thin gaps between the large blocks have been filled in during restoration in order to make the entire work more aesthetically pleasing.