Children of the tomb owner appear in a variety of stances in scenes on chapel walls. The analysis of these stances provides a better understanding of family relations and the role of children in a funerary context, such as family ties and the relationship between the parents and their children, and the duties of children in the funerary cult. Children, for instance, may be represented touching the tomb owner and the wife in a variety of ways. They may also appear as youths, standing or kneeling at the foot of their parents. Depicted in different stances, they sometimes accompany the tomb owner when
180 Bárta, “Kings, Viziers, and Courtiers: Executive Power in the Third Millennium BC,” 169. Brovarski, The
Senedjemib Complex I, 23-35.
181 A usual example occurs in the tomb of %wjat Qubbet el-Hawa (de Morgan A5), where a daughter bears the title
he oversees the activities of the funerary estate, or engages in activities such as spear- fishing and fowling. They also appear on false doors with their parents and siblings.
1.3.1 Typology
To examine the postures and positions of relatives of the tomb owner, this study divides the gestures represented on tomb scenes into seven major types, each consisting of several sub-types. Because of the complexity and diversity of the depiction of stances, this typology takes into consideration both the location of the relatives in reference to a major figure (i.e., the tomb owner or his wife) and the stances of the relatives themselves. Table 5 summarizes the criteria employed in creating the typology in this thesis.
Stance Type A includes gestures that lead to physical contact with a major figure, such as extending the hand to touch the major figure when standing, seated, or kneeling beside him or her. Family members in this stance may appear at the same scale as the major figure, or at a smaller scale. The typology further divides this stance into two sub- types according to whether the family member appears standing or sitting/kneeling while touching a major figure.
Children, siblings, grandchildren, and even mothers sometimes appear near the tomb owner (or the wife) at a much-reduced scale at his or her foot. In this case, their foot may overlap with that of the major figure.This unique artistic expression of overlapping represents a close relationship.182 The overlapping feet occur only in the two-dimensional
182 Myśliwiec suggests that the overlapping feet between the father and the eldest son reflects the concept that the eldest
son emerges from the body of his father and is his living Ka, see Myśliwiec, “Father’s and Eldest Son’s Overlapping Feet: An Iconographic Message,” 306, 309. However, examples from our dataset reveals that not only the eldest son but also other sons stand at the foot of the tomb owner with their feet overlapping that of the father.
representation because their feet can hardly have any physical contact in statuary or in reality.183 Reliefs and wall paintings thus utilize this unique representation to visualize and symbolize the close relationship between the major figure and those who accompany him. For this reason, this study categorizes this type of position and its associated stances as Stance Type AS. When appearing at the foot of the father, children are often depicted grasping the lower part of the staff of the father. Holding the same staff then indirectly expresses the contact between the children and the father. Family members depicted in this stance and the major figure with whom they are associated usually stand on the same ground line. However, they sometimes appear on superposed short ground lines that are floating above the ground line of the major figure, or they simply stand without any ground line. This arrangement occurs more often in early tombs, and those tombs at the end of the Old Kingdom utilize this stance as a reminiscence of earlier forms.184 Stance Type AS consists of six sub-typs.
This study classifies standing (not at the foot of a major figure) while carrying scepters, offerings, or lotus flowers as Stance Type B. Unlike Stance Type A and Stance Type AS, Type B tends to be a more independent depiction of family members in the scene or on the false door, though they may still appear near major figures. Family members may also appear individually or in a sequence among non-family members in Stance Type B. This stance type contains seven sub-types. Stance B-1, standing with one hand or two hands on the chest, and Stance B-2, standing with arms pendent, are gestures
183 It is different from Schäfer’s discussion on overlapping figures of the same scale, see Heinrich Schäfer, Principles of
Egyptian Art (Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1986), 177-189.
of adoration.185 Stance B-6, standing with one arm or two arms raised up, represents an attitude of greeting, veneration, and invocation186, or speaking, reciting, or performing rituals.187
Stance Type C consists of gestures in the spear-fishing and fowling scenes.188 Spear-fishing and bird-catching scenes usually occur in a symmetrical arrangement either on the same wall or on walls at each side of a door way.189 In the spear-fishing scenes, the tomb owner stands on a papyrus skiff, spearing fish using a long harpoon. Family
members usually appear in this scene on or near the skiff accompanying the tomb owner. One of the sons may be represented in front of the tomb owner on the prow mimicking the spearing gesture of his father. The same occurs in the fowling scene, in which the tomb owner is usually depicted hurling his throwing-stick, while his son on the prow gestures similarly. The curved shape of the skiffs and marsh plants breaks the traditional arrangement of the sub-registers on which the retinue of the tomb owner appears. Wife and children are usually represented on the boat at a reduced scale. Children and other attendants may also appear around the tomb owner on separate floating sub-registers in more passive stances compared with that of the tomb owner and his son on the prow.190 Because of the particularity of the spear-fishing and fowling scenes, this study
185 Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 5-9, Abb. 1. In Stance B-1, the
body may also bend forward. See Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 9, Abb. 7.
186 The posture of standing with one or two arms raised up already became common in the Old Kingdom, mostly
associated with the offering formula and the cult of the dead, see Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 28-30, Abb. 9. The posture of prostrating on the ground does not occur with family members in the Old Kingdom private tombs, see Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 32-35.
187 Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 77-89, Abb. 17, and Abb. 19. 188 Although family members may also appear standing or kneeling as in Stance Types B and D, Stance Type C refers
to stances occurring in the fishing and fowling scenes.
189 Harpur, Decoration in Egyptian Tombs of the Old Kingdom, 140-141. 190 Harpur, Decoration in Egyptian Tombs of the Old Kingdom, 136.
categorizes the stances of family members in these scenes separately into Type C with seven sub-types.191
Stance Type D consists of the postures of sitting or kneeling. It consists of five sub-types: sitting or kneeling while bending one arm to the chest or placing both hands down on the lap (D-1),192 sitting on a chair or kneeling on the ground before a table of offerings (D-2), kneeling while making offerings to a major figure (D-3), sitting on a chair or kneeling and holding accessories, offerings, or lotus flowers (D-4), kneeling while raising an arm (D-5).193
Stance Type E refers to postures during certain activities, such as playing an instrument (E-1), performing rituals (E-2), reading, writing and presenting a document (E-3), and slaughtering a bull (E-4). Stance E-1 consists of musical and sport activities, including playing an instrument,194 dancing,195 clapping,196 combating,197 etc.
Stance Type F includes miscellaneous stances that do not belong to any other stance types.
191 Stance Type C-6, standing or kneeling, raising an arm with the index finger pointing to forward, is not uncommon in
fowling and fishing scenes. See Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 153ß155, Abb. 56. In the fishing and fowling scenes, family members shown in this stance can be the wife or daugher of the tomb owner. This gesture is different from the protective gesture of pointing with the thumb and the index finger. Men usually appear in this gesture to point towards animals in fording and hunting scenes. See Jorge R. Ogdon, “Studies in Ancient Egyptian Magical Thought I: the Hand and the Seal,” Discussions in Egyptology 1 (1985): 27-28, and Geraldine Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt (London: British Museum Press, 1994), 83.
192 Sitting on a chair or kneeling and bending the arm(s) to the chest is a posture showing adoration. See Dominicus,
Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 5-9, Abb. 1.
193 This stance is very rare among family members in the Old Kingdom private tombs, see discussion in this chapter.
Kings may appear in this posture when adoring a god, see Dominicus, Gesten und Gebärden in Darstellungen des Alten und Mittleren Reiches, 25-26, Abb. 8.
194 Hans Hickmann, Musicologie pharaonique, Études sur l’évolution de l’art musical dans l’Égypte ancienne (Kehl
(Rhin): Librairie Heitz, 1956), 98-112.
195 For the discussion of dancing in the Old Kingdom, see Hickmann, Musicologie pharaonique, 113-152, and Lesley
Kinney, Dance, Dancers and the Performance Cohort in the Old Kingdom (Oxford, England: Archaeopress, 2008), 54- 145.
196 Hickmann, Musicologie pharaonique, 54-57.
Children of the tomb owner may either appear as adults or as youths. When depicted as youth, they are usually nude, sometimes with a side lock and the index finger into the mouth. Adding letter Y to the stance type specifies the depiction of a family member as a youth. The following table lists the stances of children in each tomb with specific markers to indicate the stance types.
Table 5. Typology of stances
Stance Type
Sub-type Description
A Close to a major figure and in contact with him or her (not at the foot)
A-1 Standing and touching a major figure
A-2 Seated or kneeling, and touching a major figure
AS At a reduced scale at the foot of a major figure
AS-1 Standing at the foot of a major figure and touching him or her
AS-2 Standing at the foot of a major figure and holding his staff
AS-3 Standing at the foot of a major figure with one hand or two
hands on the chest, or with both arms pendent, or suckling the index finger
AS-4 Standing at the foot of a major figure and carrying birds, lotus
flowers, or other objects
AS-5 In contact with other individuals at the foot of a major figure
AS-6 Kneeling at the foot of a major figure
B Standing in a variety of poses (not at the foot of a major figure)
B-1 Standing with one hand or two hands on the chest
B-2 Standing with both arms pendent, not holding anything
B-3 Standing and carrying offerings
B-4 Standing and carrying accessories such as a staff, a scepter, a
papyrus scroll, or a piece of cloth
B-5 Standing and holding lotus flowers
B-6 Standing with arm(s) raised up
B-Y Standing as a youth sucking the index finger
C In the scenes of spear-fishing and fowling, or hippopotamus hunting
C-1 Standing on the skiff with the tomb owner and holding a spear
or a throwing stick
C-2 Standing on a skiff with the tomb owner or a sub-register near
C-3 Standing near the tomb owner without carrying fish or birds
C-4 Kneeling near the tomb owner
C-5 Standing on the skiff with the tomb owner and touching him
C-6 Standing or kneeling, raising an arm with the index finger
pointing forward
C-7 Standing and holding lotus flowers
D Seated or kneeling
D-1 Seated or kneeling while bending one arm to the chest or
placing both hands down on the lap
D-2 Seated on a chair or kneeling before a table of offerings
D-3 kneeling and making offerings to a major figure
D-4 Seated or kneeling and holding accessories, offerings, or lotus
flowers
D-5 Kneeling with an arm raised
E Engaging in activities
E-1 Engaging in musical and sport activities (playing an
instrument, dancing, clapping, combating, etc.)
E-2 Engaging in ritual activities: E-2-CEN (censing), E-2-LIB
(libating), E-2-LOT (presenting a lotus flower), E-2-REC (reciting spells), E-2-REM (removing the foot print)
E-3 Engaging in scribal activities
E-4 Slaughtering bulls
F Other stances
1.3.2 Discussion of Stance Types
Stance Type A: Close to a major figure and in contact with him or her (not standing at the foot)
Scenes may also show children of the tomb owner touching their parents in a variety of ways. They may stand near the tomb owner and have physical contact with the tomb owner, i.e., raising up their hands and touching the legs of the parents (Stance Type A-1). Children often stand at the foot of the tomb owner or the wife and touch him or her. This stance falls under Stance Type AS-1, a category that encompasses depictions of numerous postures of children standing at the foot of the tomb owner.
Stance Type A-1: Standing and touching a major figure
Stance Type A-1 occurs only six times in the dataset, three in Giza,198 one in Saqqara,199 and two in provincial sites.200 Five examples are sons of the tomb owner. The only case of a daughter depicted in this stance comes from the tomb of %wfw-Xo.f I(G 7130 + 7140) at Giza. The daughter stands behind the chair of the tomb owner
represented as a small nude girl, holding the arm of her father with her hand. She wears a side lock and places the index finger of the rear hand into her mouth.
Figure 7. Tomb of %wfw-Xo.f I (G 7130 + 7140) at Giza, Simpson, Kawab, Khafkhufu I & II, fig. 29.
A son may also stand behind the chair while touching the tomb owner. For example, in the tomb of #Xtj-Htpat Giza, the eldest son stands behind his father who is seated on a chair, raising his hand to touch him on the lower back.
198#Xtj-Htp (PM III 285), onX-wD# / JTj, and %wfw-Xo.f I(G 7130 + 7140). 199Mrrw-k#.j / Mrj.
Figure 8. Tomb of #Xtj-Htpat Giza, Hassan, Giza I, 76, fig. 133.
Children in this stance may appear either at a reduced scale or at the same scale as the tomb owner and his wife. The relative size of children may indicate their status within the wider family group. In the tomb of onX-wD# / Jtj at Giza, family members appear in a sequence headed by the tomb owner and his wife. A daughter appears at a reduced scale behind the mother, while the eldest son is in full scale, followed by his younger brother. The daughter behind the mother may have been their elder sister because she precedes the sons in the sequence, but the unique status of the eldest son in full scale differentiates him from the other children.201
Figure 9. Tomb of onX-wD# / Jtj at Giza, Junker, Giza VIII, Abb. 59.
201 There are a number of ways to differentiate the eldest son with specific iconographic features and the position in
relation with the tomb owner, i.e. appearing at the foot of the tomb owner, and wearing the same costume as that of the tomb owner. See Myśliwiec, “Father’s and Eldest Son’s Overlapping Feet: An Iconographic Message,” 308, 313,
Individuals without kinship labels may also be depicted touching the tomb owner or his wife. On the thickness of the right jamb of the tomb of W#S-PtH at Giza, a ka-priest stands behind the seated tomb owner, touching him with his hand. The excavator
considered him a son of the tomb owner because of his physical contact with the tomb
owner.202 Two sons of the tomb owner, one named W#S-PtH and the other Cpss-PtH, both
have the designation z#.f n xt.f “his son of his body” and the title sHD Hmwt wobt
“inspector of the craftsmen of the workshop.”203 This ka-priest, however, has neither the kinship designation nor similar professional titles. Therefore, it is doubtful he is a son of the tomb owner, and we are unable to label this stance exclusive to family members of the tomb owner.
Figure 10. Tomb of W#S-PtH at Giza, Hassan, Giza II, 5-14, figs. 7-12.
In most cases, physical contact between the tomb owner (or the wife) and his or her children remains unilateral—that is, children touch their parents actively, while the
202 Hassan, Excavations at Gîza II, 9.
203 Jones, An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, 946. Cpss-PtH appears with the tomb owner on the right jamb. W#S-PtH
appears on the thickness of the left jamb. They both appear at a small scales, standing at the foot of their father and holding his staff with their hand.
parents behave passively only as recipients of the action. In other words, the gesture of the major figure is either standing or seated by himself without any acknowledgement of the children’s physical contact. An exception, however, comes from the tomb of Mrrw- k#.j / Mrj at Saqqara. On the north wall of Room A13, the eldest son stands beside the tomb owner, holding his right hand. Another man appears on the other side, holding his left hand.204 An inscription before him reads tw# Hr smr woty xry-Hbt opr.f“leaning on the sole companion, the lector priest, opr.f.”205 Based on this inscription, Kanawati suggests
the scene commemorates the support from the sons when the tomb owner was sick.206
Both the inscription and the posture suggest that Mrrw-k#.j seems to place his weight upon the hands of the two men. Because Mrrw-k#.j, who appears as the recipient, and his eldest son, who appears as the agent, are both integrated parts of the action, the physical contact between Mrrw-k#.j and his son can be considered bilateral.
204 For the “hand in hand” posture in the Old Kingdom tomb decoration, see Kim McCorquodale, “‘Hand in hand’: