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207778

Armless Figures in Ancient Egypt Until The End of The New Kingdom

Article

Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

ARCHAEOLOGY
EGYPTOLOGY

Abstract

Figures with physical disabilities were rarely represented in ancient Egyptian art. The idealistic representation of the body was the customary rule followed by gods and kings. Predynastic and Dynastic exceptions suggest the intention to display disability by representing figures with bodies but without their arms. It is argued that the armless figures must have played a significant role, especially during funerary rituals. Predynastic examples discussed here include figures without arms related to funerary rituals, accompanying the funerary boats or deposited inside tombs to bless the deceased. Dynastic examples raise the possibility that these armless figures were divine and may have played a dedicated role in the deceased's funerary fate. A lack of arms may have represented the state of disability itself. The armless figures may have imitated the sun god's period of weakness during his journey through the night, perhaps playing a role that was suspended for a while, and continued in the afterlife. Their role may have been as guardians of the burial place or demons protecting the deceased. Some divine figures appear with a definite role to help the sun god in his night hours journey, as in the Amduat.

DOI

10.21608/shedet.2021.207778

Keywords

armless, Disability, decorum, Neper, stump arms, Predynastic, paralysed arms, hidden arms, Netherworld

Authors

First Name

Mona

Last Name

El Nadi

MiddleName

Abou El Maati

Affiliation

Department of Egyptology Faculty of Archeology Cairo University

Email

dr.monaelnadi@ymail.com

City

Giza

Orcid

0000-0003-1115-9693

Volume

8

Article Issue

8

Related Issue

29238

Issue Date

2021-12-01

Receive Date

2021-01-03

Publish Date

2021-12-01

Page Start

60

Page End

74

Print ISSN

2356-8704

Online ISSN

2536-9954

Link

https://shedet.journals.ekb.eg/article_207778.html

Detail API

https://shedet.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=207778

Order

5

Type

research articles

Type Code

1,264

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Shedet

Publication Link

https://shedet.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Armless Figures in Ancient Egypt Until The End of The New Kingdom

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023