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The earliest representations of royal power in Egypt: the rock drawings of Nag el-Hamdulab (Aswan)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Stan Hendrickx ,
John Coleman Darnell  and
Maria Carmela Gatto
Stan Hendrickx
Affiliation:
Media, Arts & Design Faculty, Elfde Liniestraat 25, Hasselt, B-3118, Belgium (Author for correspondence, email: s.hendrickx@pandora.be)
John Coleman Darnell
Affiliation:
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University, P.O. Box 208236, New Haven, CT 06520–8236, USA (Email: john.darnell@yale.edu; maria.gatto@yale.edu)
Maria Carmela Gatto
Affiliation:
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University, P.O. Box 208236, New Haven, CT 06520–8236, USA (Email: john.darnell@yale.edu; maria.gatto@yale.edu)
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Extract

The vivid engravings on vertical rocks at the desert site of Nag el-Hamdulab west of the Nile comprise a rock art gallery of exceptional historical significance. The authors show that the images of boats with attendant prisoners, animals and the earliest representation of a pharaoh offer a window on Dynasty 0, and depict the moment that the religious procession of pre-Dynastic Egypt became the triumphant tour of a tax-collecting monarch.

Keywords

Egyptpre-Dynastic3000 BCboatsnautical processionpharaonic kingshiprock art
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 334 , December 2012 , pp. 1068 - 1083
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012

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