The differring sizes of the people characterised their importance: the pharaoh appeared bigger than the official, the master of the tomb bigger than his servants. Another vital and interesting ingredient in the wall paintings of the tombs is the depiction of agrucultaral and farm scenes which had for its purpose, the symbolic offerings to the deceased. Musicians and dancers enlievened the banquet while contributing through mime and rythmic harmony to the ritual of the funeral offering. |
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Picture 4. Girl dancers and musician performing at a banquet. From left to right: double flute player, a lute-player and a harpist.
Tomb of the official Nakht, Thebes No. 52, 18th Dynasty, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1915
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Picture 3, grapes are being harvested, then trampled by foot. Bottom right depicts fishing and poultry-pluking.
Tomb of the official Nakht, Thebes No. 52, 18th Dynasty, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1915 |
| On the walls of the tombs all the requisites for fulfilling the rites were depicted first in the process of manufacture and again in their finished states - boats for pilgrimages, water tournaments or wild-fowling, chairs and coffers for the burial chambers, weapons for hunting exploits, and even the small statutes of the deceased. Considerable space was devoted to hunting scenes. |
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