Libyan Palette
Encyclopedia
The Libyan Palette is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette
bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III
or Protodynastic Period of Egypt (c. 3200 to 3000 BC). The palette is unprovenanced
, but is believed to be from Abydos, Egypt
.
The Libyan Palette, like the famous Narmer Palette
, is one of the few stone palettes from this period which contain some of the earliest examples of hieroglyphs
and also show the early use of registers
(lined separators) for displaying and separating distinct subject matter.
The iconography of walking lines of animals within registers can also be seen on the ivory
handle of the Gebel el-Arak Knife
.
The palette is made of schist
, is 18.5 cm long (originally estimated to have been around 70 cm tall and 21 cm wide. Housed in Room 43 on the ground floor of the Egyptian Museum
, Cairo
, its Journal d'Entrée number is JE27434 and its Catalogue Général number is CG14238.
. The Bull Palette
contains two of ? cities, because of the missing portion. The two cities are in separate register
s, and are sized differently-(one is only a partial/broken). (see Bull Palette
, photo: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/francescoraf/hesyra/palettes/bull.htm)
can be determined.
Cosmetic palette
The cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
bearing carved decoration and writing. It dates from the Naqada III
Naqada III
Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating approximately from 3200 to 3000 BC. It is the period during which the process of state formation, which had begun to take place in Naqada II, became highly visible, with named kings heading powerful...
or Protodynastic Period of Egypt (c. 3200 to 3000 BC). The palette is unprovenanced
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
, but is believed to be from Abydos, Egypt
Abydos, Egypt
Abydos is one of the most ancient cities of Upper Egypt, and also of the eight Upper Nome, of which it was the capital city. It is located about 11 kilometres west of the Nile at latitude 26° 10' N, near the modern Egyptian towns of el-'Araba el Madfuna and al-Balyana...
.
The Libyan Palette, like the famous Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
, is one of the few stone palettes from this period which contain some of the earliest examples of hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
and also show the early use of registers
Register (sculpture)
In art and archaeology, a register is a vertical level in a work that consists of several levels, especially where the levels are clearly separated by lines; modern comic books typically use similar conventions...
(lined separators) for displaying and separating distinct subject matter.
Iconography
Animals remain to be seen by the walls of only four of the cities on the damaged palette:- a hawk (HorusHorusHorus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
); - a pair of hawks, each surmounted on a standard (the UpperUpper EgyptUpper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
Egyptian nomeNome (Egypt)A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic period. Fascinated with Egypt, Greeks created many historical records about the country...
of Herui, modern capital QiftQiftQift is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about 43 km north of Luxor, on the east bank of the Nile.-History:In ancient Egypt, Qift, known then as Gebtu, was an important center for administration, religion, and commerce, being the chief city of the fifth Upper Egyptian Nome of Harawî...
); - a scorpionScorpionScorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
; and - a lionLionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
.
The iconography of walking lines of animals within registers can also be seen on the ivory
Ivory
Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
handle of the Gebel el-Arak Knife
Gebel el-Arak Knife
The Gebel el-Arak Knife is a 25.50 cm long knife dating from circa 3300 to 3200 BC, the late pre-dynastic period in Egypt, which when it was purchased in Cairo was said to have been found at the site of Gebel el-Arak, south of Abydos....
.
The palette is made of schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
, is 18.5 cm long (originally estimated to have been around 70 cm tall and 21 cm wide. Housed in Room 43 on the ground floor of the Egyptian Museum
Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms....
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, its Journal d'Entrée number is JE27434 and its Catalogue Général number is CG14238.
Hieroglyphs on the Libyan Palette
-
- City 1–Scarab beetle-(hieroglyph)
City 2–Pair of pugilists-(the 'gemini twins'-?)
City 3–Ba-Bird
City 4–Owl (hieroglyph)Owl (hieroglyph)The Ancient Egyptian Owl hieroglyph is Gardiner sign listed no. G17 for the owl-in-profile, but the head faces the observer.The owl hieroglyph is used in the Ancient Egyptian language hieroglyphs for the alphabetic consonant letter m....
-(the later letter "m")
City 5–Sedge Plant-(the King/Kingdom)-(see offering formula)
City 6–Bread-loaf?
City 7–Ka (hieroglyph)Egyptian soulThe ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib. In addition to these components of the soul there was the human body... - Register side:
The bottom, 4th register contains two rows of four trees; the end of the second tree row has a vertical throwing stickThrowing StickThe throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...
upon a hieroglyph for "land". (A vertical double-curved throw stick (hieroglyph)Throw stick (hieroglyph)The Throw stick hieroglyph of Ancient Egypt is an old hieroglyph that dates from the Predynastic Period; it is from the assemblage of hieroglyphs used on the ornamental, or ceremonial cosmetic palettes...
upon an early form of a Hill-country (hieroglyph)Hill-country (hieroglyph)The ancient Egyptian hill-country hieroglyph is a member of the sky, earth, and water hieroglyphs. A form of the hieroglyph in color, has a green line- at the base of the hieroglyph...
-(ovate shape like the "sh", pool hieroglyph)-or the "land"-(land, as land but used as "region", not the 'region' hieroglyph), 'ta' hieroglyph-ovate form.)
- City 1–Scarab beetle-(hieroglyph)
Modern Betrò hieroglyph text: "City Plan" hieroglyph
Two other palettes in the corpus contain the "City" hieroglyph. It is partial, but obvious on the Narmer PaletteNarmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
. The Bull Palette
Bull Palette
The Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
contains two of ? cities, because of the missing portion. The two cities are in separate register
Register (sculpture)
In art and archaeology, a register is a vertical level in a work that consists of several levels, especially where the levels are clearly separated by lines; modern comic books typically use similar conventions...
s, and are sized differently-(one is only a partial/broken). (see Bull Palette
Bull Palette
The Bull Palette is an ancient Egyptian palette in the corpus of iconographic cosmetic palettes that focus on topics from the Late Predynastic Period, ca late 4th millennium BC....
, photo: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/francescoraf/hesyra/palettes/bull.htm)
City, animals from the country
With the interpretation of cities, war and peace themes, and other iconography, and the animals appearing from a 'foreign countryside', by the throw stick & land hieroglyphs, an interpretation of a similar usage of the "land" hieroglyph-ligature combination, (in front of a prisoner) upon the Battlefield PaletteBattlefield Palette
The Battlefield Palette is the earliest "battle scene" representation of the dozen or more "ceremonial" or "ornamental" cosmetic palettes of ancient Egypt...
can be determined.
See also
- Narmer PaletteNarmer PaletteThe Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
- Cosmetic paletteCosmetic paletteThe cosmetic palettes of middle to late predynastic Egypt are archaeological artifacts, originally used to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became commemorative, ornamental, and...
- Gebel el-Arak KnifeGebel el-Arak KnifeThe Gebel el-Arak Knife is a 25.50 cm long knife dating from circa 3300 to 3200 BC, the late pre-dynastic period in Egypt, which when it was purchased in Cairo was said to have been found at the site of Gebel el-Arak, south of Abydos....
- Crossroads (hieroglyph)Crossroads (hieroglyph)The Ancient Egyptian Crossroads hieroglyph is Gardiner sign listed no. O49 for the intersection of a town's streets. In some Egyptian hieroglyphs books it is called a City Plan....
External links
- The Libyan Palette (includes zoomable multimedia images of the palette's front and back, in a pop-up window).
- Back view of the palette (official website of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo)
- Large front & back view (includes a bibliography of EgyptologicalEgyptologyEgyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
papers which refer to the palette) - Photo; Article the "Arak Knife"
