This drawing made by David Roberts in 1838 is of the statues which have been attributed to Ramesses II and are inside the temple at Abu Simbel. As you can see, at the time when this picture was drawn the statues were still partially buried in sand. I have an intuition that the hieroglyphs on the bodies of these statues were added later, an aggrandizement by the pharaoh of these huge enigmatic sculptures. Notice the faces of the statues which, with their distinct outlines, resemble masks. It seems as if the intention of the sculptor was meant to convey a meaning which is almost but not quite discernible to us now, hidden behind what appear to be masks which cover the faces of the figures. I wonder if the large scale of these and other such statues which have been attributed to Ramessses II because of their name tags have anything to do with the oversize stone coffers which can still be seen in the Serapeum at Saqqara.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 02:42:22 +0000
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