Egyptian Sculpture - Understanding Representations of Pharaoh's attire

Briefly about Egyptian sculpture. Think about this, these are 4000 years old. They are not resin poured into a mould. These are made by teams of expert sculptors. So, although there are little variations, and somebody pointed that out to me the other day, it's actually got the cartouche here, but this cartouche has been sort of carved badly and it's quite squished so it doesn't look the same. So, there's things like that that are variations, but that's pretty impressive. And everything about a statue like this is important. Everything you see means something. So what do you want to know? OK, so we start with the headdress, so you're right. So it actually makes him look like a snake. A particular kind of snake, the cobra. Right, the big, rounded head. And then he has the cobra on his head. He is the defender of Egypt. Do you know what cobras do? They sit there like that until you get close enough and then he will strike you head. OK, the defender of Egypt. Very good. Anything else? What else do you want to know? OK, so here if you look again up the way, so you'll have a dagger stuck into the top of the kilt, so if you really do get close and your guards haven't done their job, you've still got the opportunity to solve the problem. OK, well, it's partly because of his pose. You'll notice he's doing this. OK, so that's, I think, because of the way he needs to be carved as a single piece, the sort of kilt comes out to meet the hands there, but he's in a pose of worship. So probably he is set opposite a statue of his god. OK, something like that. And then the other thing to notice, because you'll see all the arms are missing, and that is because, think about it, in the 1800s-ish, our time, got all the wealthy Europeans going across to Egypt and Africa and so on, and these things, they're not in a museum, they're not in a building, they're in the sand, they're just lying around, and the locals know this. These people have come with loads of money in their pocket, and if you can hack off the pharaoh's arm, actually in most cases here they struggle because the fingers and so on would never come away in one piece, but if you can hack off the pharaoh's arm or a beard, and you'll notice lots of the beards are missing, he doesn't have one, you can sell it to these tourists and you're made for life. And I'll be honest, if I was over there, I'd buy one. There it is. So that's one thing. What else do you want to know? Loads more here still. The necklace, so that's a protective amulet, that's to ward off evil spirits, and bad karma if you like. No, it's a pattern, but what you've got, again, is two cobras at the bottom, and then you've got the rays of the sun coming across. Yes, yes. A couple of things to do with his face. So first of all, he's got enormous ears. Again, he may just have had big ears, but more likely he's just telling us something, which is whatever you are, you have a good list, and that's good and bad culture that there ever was, but he's saying to the people, when this necklace goes out to some far city, and he's hundreds of miles away up in the North Water, you know, I'm listening to your complaints, and I'm worried about you, but I'm also listening to your plotting and scheming, OK? His nose is missing in each case, probably that's deliberate damage, because this is not just his picture, his image, but it's his presence. So right now, he thinks we are stood in his presence. So what it means is, if you don't like him, what you can do is, even though he's gone into his eternity, you can still give him grief, and if you deface him, then it impacts him, wherever he is, you know, in eternity. And then the other thing to note is, you'll see his... How would you describe that look? Yeah, some people say he's frowning, but actually, if you look around, just look up through the museum, you won't see another pharaoh sculpture looking like that. They all have this smile, you know, I'm OK, you're OK, everything's OK, because that was pharaoh's job, to just say, everything's fine. But this is the only one, so if you ever see a frowning pharaoh, you can be sure it'll be this guy, because nobody else took that look. I think you're right, I think he's saying, I'm strong, you know, set fast, I've got it all in control, but nobody else did that. Oh, hang on, there's that one there, there's a pharaoh in the red, and there's a flint there, he's got a frown, who is he? He's this guy, right? OK, you've got to trust me, OK? You've got to bring up the relationship of trust today. But the interesting thing to note is, of course, Blackstone, he's the Nile pharaoh, OK? Lower Egypt, it's called, because it's lower in terms of height, he's the Nile pharaoh. Redstone, he's the desert pharaoh, OK? Also, the tall hat tells you he's the desert pharaoh as well. And if you look at it, you see this guy, the head, the massive head on the flint, he is wearing the tall hat of the desert, the short hat of the Nile. Everything's important, he's going to tell you, I'm king of everything, right? I'm not just king of one area, I'm king of the whole thing, and that's really important, so I'm going to tell you. OK? That's probably it for the moment, anything else? You've been very nice. No, other than to carry the cartouche, but this is the way, in the vast majority of cases, this is how we know who a pharaoh is. If that's not there, or he's wearing some other kind of outfit, then you look elsewhere, sometimes down the back, or, you know, there'll be some, there'll be an identifying mark, because that helps him to live, you know. The name is all important in Egyptian history. They say, particularly for the pharaohs, and nobles and so on, they say you die twice in Egypt, once when you take your last breath, the second time when people stop saying your name to you. OK? That's a really interesting idea. When people stop talking about you, you don't live anymore, which is why you get left out of historical references if they don't like you, it means no one talks about you. But the name is all important, it has to be there. Oh, there would be loads, in fact. I mean, these were found in a pit, I believe. They'd be, in a sense, mass-produced, because the king can only, physically, can only be in one place at one time, but his statue, his presence can be everywhere, and so they would churn them out and put them in different places. Now it's interesting, because they understood something that we perhaps struggle, as Christians, to understand, you know, we're told that Jesus is the very manifestation of God's presence, God being here and here, you know, but Jesus is the exact representation, the manifestation of God in the world. This is the Egyptian Google. This is the manifestation of Pharaoh in your city. So, yeah, there'd be loads. Yeah, absolutely. And again, you know, 4,000 years ago, it's all made by hand, and it's beautiful, isn't it? It's just remarkable.