Virtual Egyptian - King Horemheb as Amun-Re, Dyn. 18

King Horemheb as Amun-Re, Dyn. 18

Period:		Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, Horemheb/Djeserkheperure-Setepenre
Dating:		1321 BC–1300 BC
Origin:		Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes
Material:		Stone (undetermined)
Physical:		26.7cm. (10.4 in.) - 1530 g. (54 oz.)
Catalog:		STO.XL.00896

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This stone statue portrays King Horemheb, last king of Dynasty 18 (1321-1300 BC), as the god Amun-Re. Amun is denoted by the double plumes, rendered in a typical New Kingdom fashion, and Re is denoted by the solar disk. Beneath the purely geometrical headdress, the pharaoh’s expression exudes a sublime balance between strength and serenity. Serious, but not somber, his face is dominated by a powerful nose anchoring a penetrating stare. The mouth is suggested, rather than modeled. The chin rounds softly before yielding to the ritual false beard. The ears are much smaller than in the high period of Dynasty 18. All these personal traits are suggestive of a true portrait, rather than an abstract rendition of Egyptian classical canons—the portrait of a pharaoh with no blood tie to his dynastic predecessors, the portrait of General Horemheb.

Sporadic traces of gold on the surface reveal that the whole statue was once gilded, save for the inlaid eyes of obsidian.

Horemheb
After the complete failure of Akhenaten’s Amarnian revolution, the short restoration reign of Tutankhamun, and the even shorter reign of Ay, Egypt was left exhausted by political confusion and uncertainty. Since there was no direct descendent to the glorious blood line of Dynasty 18 kings, when King Ay’s designated successor Nakhtmin failed to garner broad support among the political class, the climate was ripe for a takeover by a strong, ambitious leader. And with the Hittite military machine threatening Egypt, General Horemheb, commander in chief of the army and former royal spokesman for foreign affairs under Tutankhamun, took over the throne with little opposition in 1323 BC.

We neither know how old Horemheb was when he was crowned, nor exactly how long he reigned. It is also unclear whether the General Paatenemheb, who served under Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, was in fact Horemheb under a different name.

Whether Horemheb reigned thirteen or thirty years, his time in power was dedicated to restoring order within Egypt. With energy and dedication, he sought to return the cult of Amun to its pre-Akhenaten glory, and to reverse the corruption and power imbalances brought about by Akhenaten’s over centralization of powers. Grimal (1994:243) indicates that "To this end Horemheb appointed judges and regional tribunes and reintroduced local religious authorities. Legal power was split between Upper and Lower Egypt, shared between the viziers of Thebes and Memphis respectively… the National Army was divided into two geographical entities, the north and the south”. Shaw (2000:293) reports that "the Great Edict, which he published on a stele in the temple of Karnak, enumerates a large number of legal measures enacted in order to stamp out abuse such as the unlawful requisitioning of boats and slaves, the theft of cattle hides, the illegal taxation of private farmland and fraud in assessing lawful taxes, and the extortion of local mayors by officials… "

Although much of Horemheb’s building activity was focused on dismantling all traces of the Amarnian revolution (he is rumored to have ordered the destruction of the city of Amarna), and restoring to Amen that which the Amarnians had usurped, he proved to be a resourceful builder in his own right. The greatest architectural achievements of his reign were centered on Karnak, where he began work on the Great Hypostyle gallery and built three pylons, filling their hollow center with stone blocks from Akhenaten’s temple of Aten.

Horemheb apparently died without child or formally appointed successor, and his tomb was left unfinished (all of which suggest that his reign may have been much shorter than the 30 years argued by some). His throne was taken over by his vizier, Ramesses I, who is conventionally seen as the first king of Dynasty 19, the Ramessid Dynasty. Ramessid kings, however, often recognized Horemheb as the founder of their dynasty.

Bibliography (for this item)

Clayton, Peter A.
1994 Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, UK. (137-138)

Khalil, Hassan M.
1976 Preliminary Studies on the Sanusret Collection. Manuscript, Musée l’Egypte et le Monde Antique, Monaco-Ville, Monaco. (Blue Book, 131)

Bibliography (on Horemheb)

Shaw, Ian
2000 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.