10 Statues of King Snusert I
10 Statues of King Snusert I
A-
Short Introduction:
1-
These 10 limestone statues represent king Snusert I seating on low back
thrones.
2-
The name of King “Snusert I” means the “Man of Wsert” the goddess of
power [1].
3-
King Snusert I was the second ruler in the twelfth dynasty and before
being a king he ruled as a co-regent with his father King “Amenemhat I” for
about ten years to gain experience in ruling the country.
4-
According to the famous Egyptian story of a person named Senuhi,
“Snusert” was leading a military expedition to Libya when his father “Amenemhat
I” was murdered. So “Snusert” returned back and punished the conspirators and
secured the throne under his control.
5-
He ruled Egypt for about 35 years during which he sent military
expeditions to extend the Egyptian southern borders at “Nubia” from where he
brought gold. The king also made diplomatic and commercial relations with Palestine
and Syria and exploited the golden mines in the desert.
B- Remarkable Features of the
Statues:
1-
Looking to the statues, King “Snusert I” is shown wearing the royal
headdress called nemes and upon its forepart is the cobra goddess of Lower
Egypt named Wadget who symbolized the royal power.
2-
The king is having calm facial features with fine confident smile and
he has a perfect body that reflects his power.
3-
It is noticed that on the base of three statues, there are the
representations of the nine bows under the feet of the king. These nine bows
symbolized the traditional enemies of Egypt and their positions under the feet
of the king express the full control of the king over his enemies.
4-
Looking to the sides of the thrones, there are the depictions of the “sema-tawy”
signs which were seen before on the throne of king Khaefre. The sema-tawy
symbolized the unification between Upper and Lower Egypt. This sign consists of
the lungs and the long neck which is tied with both the lotus flower symbol of
Upper Egypt and the papyrus plant symbol of Lower Egypt.
5-
In five statues, the lotus and the papyrus are tied together by the god
Hapy who was god of the Nile and fertility.
- God Hapy is shown with pendant pendent breasts and
bulging tummy to assure his fertility. He is having hair wig and false beard.
- The left image of Hapy, his head is surmounted by
the lotus flower symbol of Upper Egypt in the south while above the head of
Hapy on the right is the papyrus plant symbol of Lower Egypt in the north.
- The representations of Hapy on either side of the
“sema-tawy” expressed the idea that the Nile united upper and lower Egypt and
provided them with fertility through the Nile inundation.
6- On the other five statues; the “sema-tawy” sign is tied by gods
Horus and Seth.
- God Horus is shown with falcon head and he is
holding the papyrus plant of Lower Egypt
- God Seth is shown with animal head like a dog having
erected ear and he is holding the lotus flower of Upper Egypt.
- According to a legend, Seth killed the Osiris the
father of Horus to usurp the throne. Then Horus fought Seth to take the revenge
for his father and to restore the throne. So the purpose of the depictions of
Horus and Seth on either side of the “sematawy” sign was to symbolize that
Egypt was enjoying peace and power under the protection of the two united gods
“Horus” and “Seth”.
7-
Each “sema-tawy” is surmounted by a cartouche having two various names
of the king represented in:
· 
%A-Ra %-n-wsrt “The Son of Re the man of power”.
%A-Ra %-n-wsrt “The Son of Re the man of power”.
· 
Nsw-biti #pr-kA-Ra “King of Upper and Lower Egypt the Companion of Re
comes into being”.
Nsw-biti #pr-kA-Ra “King of Upper and Lower Egypt the Companion of Re
comes into being”.
8-
Concerning the texts on the sides of the thrones, they mentioned that
all offerings, life, stability, power and joyful as well as the thrones of
“Horus” and “Seth” are given to the king.
9-
The is having the straight royal false beard and is wearing the royal
kilt “shendut” [2].He
is holding in his right hand a folded cloth which is not clear to us. May be it
is the royal seal or the royal handkerchief.
***
Good Luck
Dr. Hesham Ezz Eldin – University of Sadat City
Appendix
Historical Background about King SnusertI :
(1)
King Snusert I is the second king of the 12th dynasty and the
son of King Amenemhat I.
(2)
He ruled for about 45 years; 10 years as a co-regent with his
father, 32 years as s sole ruler and finally 3 years with the co-regency of his
son Amenemhat II.
-
He is considered the first king who ruled as a co-regent with his father [3].
(3)
While he was leading an expedition to the western desert in Libya
(4)
King Snusert I was a great
military leader, he made many expeditions to Nubia Egypt
(5)
He also protected the Delta and the oases in the western desert from
the Lybians.
(6)
He made diplomatic and commercial relations with Syria and Palestine
(7)
He exploited the mines especially the mines of gold.
(8)
He has many important building works like :
1-
The White chapel at Karnak [5] which is
considered the oldest found building at Karnak .
2-
The Sun temple at Heliopolis
3-
He built his pyramid and mortuary temple at Lisht.
4-
He constructed a temple for god Osiris at Abydos
(9)
It was said that a famine happened during his time. This famine has
been mentioned is stela of a farmer called Hekanakhet and in the tomb of the
governor Amenemhat at Beni Hassan.
(10)
The birth name is Snusert (%-n-Wsrt) or " the man of Wsert or power ".
-
The throne name is Kheperkare (xpr-kA-Ra) or " the companion of Re comes into
being or the ka of Re exists ".
***
Hapy, Nile
god 
Hapy was the god
of the Nile inundation and fertility. His main center was at the first cataract.
He was
represented as a man with false beard and long hair while having pendent
breasts and bulging tummy as signs of fertility. His head used to be surmounted
by the papyrus plants of the north and he was described as “Hapymhyt or
northerner”. When the head is surmounted by the lotus flowers of Upper Egypt he was known as “Hapysmawyt or of the south”.
He was
considered the main provider of life to Egypt because he brought the water
and the fertile mud that cultivated the lands. So he was described as the one
who makes the two banks green and the lord of barely and wheat. He also
provided fish as food. In many scenes he was shown carrying table heaped with
fish, geese and plant as sign of prosperity. He was also shown tying the
sema-tamy sign of unification indicating that the Nile had united all parts of Egypt .
“Horus”
the Falcon 
“Horus” was
originally the falcon god of the sky. His Egyptian name “Hri” means the “far
one” because it used to fly high towards the sky. This made the Egyptians
consider him as “lord of the sky” who have full domination when outstretching
his wings to protect the lands. Therefore he was considered as guardian god of Egypt
and the king used to be identified with him as rulers of the country. That’s
why the falcon image of god Horus usually surmounted the so called “serekh” or
the royal façade that housed the name of the king.
Due to the
sacred regards towards the falcon, Horus numerous deities took the name of “Hr”
with defferent aspects such as for example Horus son of Isis ,
Re-Hor-akhty, Hor-m-akhet, Horus of Behdet and Horus the Elder.
Horus son of Isis
When Isis
resurrected her mudered husband “Osiris”, she got from him their child “Horus”
who was known with such epithets like 
“Hor-pa-khered” meaning “Horus the child” and
“Hr-sa-Ist” or “Horus son of Isis ”. Then she hid him in the marches of Delta to be
away from the hand of his evil uncle Seth. He was shown as naked child putting
his hand in mouth or being nursed by Isis .
“Hor-pa-khered” meaning “Horus the child” and “Hr-sa-Ist” or “Horus son of
When he
grew up he fought “Seth” and defeated him after long struggle succeeded in
taking the revenge of his father and restored his throne. So he was called
“Hr-ndj-if.f” or “Horus the avenger of his father”. Later he was considered as
protector god who prevented snakes and scorpions and healed their deadly
stings.
Seth 
He was the younger
brother of Osiris and was described as an evil god because murdering his
brother. He was considered as the god of the desert and storm. His main center
was the city of Nwbet in Upper
Egypt .
He was having other
positive aspects. He was depicted while protecting the sun bark of Re when he
speared the evil snake Apophis the enemy of the sun god. In many scenes he was
shown with Horus while purifying the king or tying the sema-tawy symbol of the
unification of Upper and Lower Egypt . Even
during the 19thdyanty his name was part from the name of king Sety
I.
In the legend of
Osiris he was usurping the throne of Horus. Then he was deceived by Isis who
was calling for the right of her son Horus. She transformed herself in the form
of a beautiful woman and met Seth while she was crying. He was fascinated with
her beauty and asked her why she was sorrow. She told him that her husband was
killed by an evil man who wanted to steal the property of his son. After hearing
the story Seth became angry and said that the killer deserved to be destroyed.
Then Isis declared her real personality as Isis the wife of Osiris and the
mother of Horus who has right for the throne usurped by Isis .
As a result the gods judged that Seth must leave the throne for Horus. Then
there were great struggle between Seth and Horus who defeated his uncle.
***
[1] For unknown reason the 10 statues were found thrown
in a pit near the mortuary temple of the king at Al-Lisht. Probably the priests
of the temple collected the statues to hide them in the pit from being
destroyed. In the hall of the Museum, the
ten statues of Snusert I are arranged around a chapel that belongs to a high
official named Herihotep who lived in the twelfth dynasty.
[2]It
is noticed that the “nemes” headdress, the false beard and the royal kilt are
striped in some statues and plain or partly striped in the others. This might
indicate that the artist did not finish his works on some statues for unknown
reason.
[3]
The tradition of the prince shares the rule with the king as a co-regent
appeared during the 12th dynasty. The purpose of this tradition was
to enable the prince to gain experience in the matters of ruling.
[4]
Some of the details of these events are mentioned in the famous story of
Senuhi.
[5]
In the New Kingdom, the stones of the white chapel were used in building the
Third Pylon of king Amonhotep III. It is now displayed in the so called
OpenAirMuseum. It is having scene of the coronation of the king.
[6]
There were two obelisks adorning the temple.
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