Rock Temple - Historical Reliefs

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suing for mercy) and women with their children (one carrying her children in a basket held on her back by a strap round her forehead). In the upper row the tablet is set in front of the King, while the Governor of Nubia is rewarded with gold chains; here, too, are other articles presented as tribute (gold, rings, chairs, elephants' tusks, bows, shields, leopard skins, ebony, fans, etc.), and Negroes bring in cattle, gazelles and a lion. The second scene shows the King and his sons dashing in their chariots against the enemy, who flee to their village, situated among doum-paims. A wounded man is led by two comrades to his wife and children, who come to meet him, while another woman crouches over a fire cooking a meal.

The reliefs on the right hand wall depict the wars against the Syrians and Libyans. The first scene on the right shows the King standing on two prostrate enemies and holding three others (Syrians) by the hair, while a Prince leads in fettered Syrian and Libyan prisoners. In the second scene the King is depicted outside a Syrian fortress, on the battlements of which are men and women begging for mercy (note the woman holding her child by the arm); the King seizes one of the enemy (who holds a broken bow) by the hair to kill him; below, one of the royal Princes is beating in the door of the fortress with an axe. The third scene shows the King in his chariot pursuing the fleeing Syrians; he kills two of the enemy, while two others are bound to the shaft of his chariot. Fourth scene: the King smites a Libyan, while his dog bites the fallen foe. Fifth scene: the King seated on the right under a canopy, with his lion at his feet, while Prince Amenherunanf leads in Syrian prisoners.