Statue of Amenhotep Son of Habu as Young Man

Statue of Amenhotep Son of Habu as Young Man

Introduction:

1-     This granite statue belongs to an important person called Amenhotep son of Habu who lived during the time of king Amenhotep III from the 18^thdynasty [1].

2-     Amenhotep son of Hapu was belonging to a humble family but he was clever person and ambitious that he was promoted from a common scribeto be the royal scribe of king Amenhotep III and to be an important person in the royal court.

3-     Among the duties of Amenhotep son of Habu he recruited soldiers in the army and designed the buildings of the king and the chief of all the royal works [2].

4-     Since Amenhotep son of Habu gained the trust of King Amenhotep III, the king allowedAmenhotep son of Habu to have his private house built beside the royal palace. Also the daughter of Amenhotep son of Habu worked in the royal house.

5-     As a man of science, Amenhotep son of Habu was a good physician. After his death he became a sacred person who cured the sick people. Therefore a chapel was dedicated to him at Deir Al-Bahari where the sick people used to visit [3].

Description of the Statue:

1-  This statue shows Amenhotep son of Habu as a young man seating with the traditional pose of the scribe with open roll of papyrus upon his legs. He is bowing his head towards the papyrus as if writing.

2-  He is having folds of fats in his body which refers to the idea that Amenhotep son of Habu was a man of wisdom and spent his life reading and writing and he was not a man of sport. He is wearing a tall hair wig.

3-  On the left shoulder, there are two ink pots as if he following his good heart in all his works.

4-  Onthe right one there are the name of king Amenhotep III as if Amenhotep son of Habu represented the right arm of the king and the king depended on him in all works.

5-  Above the right part of the chest, the name of king was written again to indicate that Amenhotep son of Habu was carrying the responsibilities of the king.

6-  The statues of Amenhotep son of Habu were placed inside the Karnak temple in order to receive the blessings of the gods. This indicates his high rank because it was not easy to put a private statue inside temple.

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Statue of Amenhotep Son of Habu as an Old Man

1-  This statue represents Amenhotep son of Habu as an old man. He is shown in the kneeling position with open hands upon his legs which gave him wise and peaceful look.

2-  He is wearing heavy hair wig that reaches the upper part of his shoulders.

3-  He is shown with signs of an aged man. These could be seen in the high eye brows, the staring eyes with depressions around them which seem tired, the flat nose, the prominent cheek bones and the thick mouth with wrinkles around them.

4-  The inscription mentioned that Amenhotep son of Habu reached the age of 80 and he wishes to live till the age of 110. This resembles the wishes of nowadays when we wish to a person in his birthday to live to the age of 100.

5-  For his body, he has prominent breasts. He is wearing long kilt to hide the weakness or the deformations of his body because of his old age.

6-  On the area of his lab between his two hands are hieroglyphic texts. They represent a short autobiography about him. They mention for example:

·        Amenhotep son of Habu was promoted to a royal scribe and high official.

·        He was responsible for the heb-sed of the king.

·        He was the supervisor of building temples for the king.

·        He was permitted to have his house beside the palace of the king.

·        His daughter worked in the royal house.

The belt of the kilt has the name and title of Amenhotep son of Habu as the royal scribe

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Statues for Amenhotep son of Habu at the site of the Karnak temple.

Appendix

Historical Background about Amenhotep Son of Habu

(1)  Amenhotep son of Habu was born to a humble family in the town of Athribes (Benha at Delta nowadays).

(2)  He started his career as a normal scribe in the court of king Amenhotep III. His main job was to recruit the youth in the army and collect workers in the building projects.

(3)  Amenhotep son of Habu was also a talented architect.

(4)  He succeeded in proving his abilities and talents so he was promoted to higher positions. He became the royal scribe in the king’s court and the chief of all the royal works.

(5)  He made several buildings for king Amenhotep III represented in :

-         The Third Pylon of the Great Temple of Amun at Karnak.

-         The Temple of Luxor [4].

-         The great Mortuary Temple of king Amenhotep III in the West Bank of Thebes. But nothing remains from this temple nowadays except two colossal statues for king Amenhotep III. These two colossal statues were called the Memnon Statues by the Greeks [5].

-         He constructed the great royal house.

(6)  In addition Amenhotep son of Habu was responsible in organizing the @b-sd for the king.

(7)  He was also the manager of the estates of princess Satamun, the eldest daughter of king Amenhotep III.

(8)  During the long life of Amenhotep son of Habu, he was good in the field of medicine and he has famous proverbs.

(9)  For the great works of Amenhotep son of Habu he gained the full trust of Amenhotep III. He was permitted by the king to have his private house built beside the royal palace. The daughter of Amenhotep son of Habu worked in the royal house.

(10)    Also, the king rewarded him through allowing him to place his private statues in sacred places like the temples of Amun and Mut at Karnak. So Amenhotep son of Habu would gain the blessing of god Amun.

(11)    Amenhotep son of Habu died in the 34^th year of the reign of king Amenhotep III. He was buried at Qurnet Mar’I in the western bank of Thebes.

(12)    After his death, king Amenhotep III honored the memory of Amenhotep son of Habu through building for him a mortuary temple at Deir Al-Madina.

(13)    In the Ptolemaic Period, he was defied as god of healing because he was famous for being a physician during his life. The Greeks identified him with their god of medicine Askelepios. He was worshipped at Deir Al-Madina and Deir Al-Bahari beside Imhotep [6] the vizier of Zoser from the 3^rd dynasty.

- At Deir Al-Bahari two sanctuaries were made for Amenhotep son of Habu and Imhotep in the upper third terrace. People who asking for healing help used to visit their places to be cured.

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[1]The statue was found by Legrain in 1901 to the north of the seventh pylon at the Great Temple of Amun in Karnak.

[2]Amenhotep son of Habu made several buildings for king Amenhotep III like the temple of Luxor and the huge mortuary temple in the western bank of Thebes. But the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III collapsed because of an earthquake and nothing remains except the two colossal statues of king Amenhotep III seating on thrones in front of the temple. When the Greeks came to Egypt and saw the two statues, they found that they resembled their Greek Hero Memnon. So the called the statues of Amenhotep III as the Colossal of Memnon.

[3]The chapel of Amenhotep son of Habu was made in the bottom of the mountain which housed the mortuary temple of queen Hatshsepsut. Amenhotep son of Habu and Imhotep the vizier of king Zoser from the 3^rd dynasty became sacred and were considered as healing gods.

[4] The Temple of Luxor was erected mainly by two kings. The first half was built by Amenhotep son of Habu during the time of king Amenhotep III from the 18^th dynasty. The second half was constructed during the time of king Ramesses II in the 19^th dynasty.

[5] The two colossal statues of king Amenhotep III represent him seating on thrones while wearing the nms headdress. These statues were placed in front of the temple but the temple was collapsed by earthquake. When the Greeks came to Egypt and saw these statues, they found that the statues look like the representations of their Greek Hero Memnon. So the called the statues of Amenhotep III, the Colossal of Memnon.

[6] The famous architect who erected the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. He was also a physician.