Relief from the Tomb of Mentuemhat
The ancient Egyptians decorated the walls of their tombs with elaborate scenes showing the type of life they wished to live after death. This relief fragment comes from the tomb of Mentuemhat, a governor of Thebes. One of the most powerful men of his time, Mentuemhat was able to employ the best artists to carve and paint scenes of abundance that would satisfy his every need in the afterlife.
In the relief above, oarsmen paddle small boats made of papyrus bundles through waters teeming with fish. The first boat contains two oarsmen and a third figure, perhaps identified as an overseer by his staff (?) and gesture, sitting between wicker baskets piled high with fruit.
Predynastic Jar
Most striking of the painted designs on this pot are the boats, which carry banks of oars, cabins or shrines, and standards. Other decorations include a large bird, probably an ostrich, and images evocative of the hills and water of Upper Egypt, where this vessel was made. Strings probably were passed through the four pierced beak-shaped lugs near the rim and used to tie a lid securely in place. Handmade pots with painted decorations like these were characteristic of the Gerzean period.
Assyrian Soldiers Towing a Boat
Archaeologists from the Oriental Institute discovered this relief fragment in the debris of the throne room of King Sargon II. The fragment shows naked Assyrian soldiers towing a boat through a shallow river, perhaps during one of Sargon's campaigns against Marduk-apla-iddina II, king of Babylon, whose name is inscribed in the text above the scene. According to the Biblical account, that same Babylonian king (referred to as Merodach Baladan) sent envoys with presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, upon his recovery from illness (cf. II Kings 20; Isaiah 39).
