Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1877-09-06
EGYPTIAN ART.
Supposed Discovery of Remarkable
Egyptian Antiquity i'm Rome.

Egyptian Antiquity in Rome.
A remarkable study of an Egyptian
antiquity in Rome has just appeared in
the latest number of the archaeological
Bulletin of Rome, written by the distin-
guished French arch@ologist, F. LIE Nor
mann. He thinks he has discovered
one of the rarest existing Egyptian
sculptures in the gallery of the Ludo-
visi villa, which occupies the sites of the
ancient gardens of Sallust. When the
land of the Pharaohs fell into the power
of the Caesars it became the custom to
transport the products of Egyptian art
to Italy as ornaments of the houses, vii
las, and palaces. The Egyptian work
men wrought the hardest substances
with wonderful skill, their art present
ing peculiar characteristics derived from
the tradition of ages long past. Greek
and Roman travellers made the tour of
Egypt to visit the wonderful temples of
Thebes and Memphis, and left their
names cut on those ancient monuments,
where they may still be seen where not
obliterated by modern travellers On
their return they brought with them
such objects as they could conveniently
carry as curiosities, and these are now
found in almost every part of the Ro-
man Empire when excavations are
made. 1t was this admiration of Egyp-
tan articles which induced the Roman
EmperOrS to transport the enormous
obelisks to Rome at great expense,
sometimes building ships expressly for
that purpose. The ship built by Cali
gula is said by Pliny to have been near
" as long as the left side of the port of
Ostia. The Emperors even ordered
some obelisks to be made in imitation
of the antiques, and one of these, dedi-
Gated by Hadrian and Sabina to their
| beloved Antinous, who was drowned
in the Nile, still exists on the Pincian
Hills.
The worship of Egyptian divinities,
which extended through the Roman
Empire, so that almost every city has
its temple to Isis and Osiris, caused the
admiration for Egyptian articles to in
were ornamented in the Egyptian style,
but often with little pictorial skill, by
Roman artists. But the attractions of
the shrine were increased by some stat
lie or column Of real Egyptian work
manship, the hieroglyphics of which
were as great mystery to the priests
as to the people. Thus, as time passed
and these temples fell into ruins, many
objects of rare Egyptian workmanship
were buried in the soil. The rich Mu-
scum of the Vatican is almost entirely
formed of objects found in Rome, the
fashion then existing explaining their
presence here.
Among the rarest Of these objects
found in Rome is bust which has
formed part of the LudOvisi collection
from its beginning.
Rome is indebted to foreigner for
having discovered the value of this i'm
portant relic, which has heretofore been
neglected, it being the only one of its
kind in Europe, and until few years
ago the only one which had been dis
covered. As there was no other bust
with a similar type Of features and az
rangement of the hair with which to
compare it, its value was not recOg-
niZed. Fifteen years ago a stir was
made in the scientific world by the dis
covery in Egypt of sphinxes and sculp-
tured groups belonging to the age of
the Shepherd Kings. These had pre-
viously been supposed to be barbarians,
during whose reign all the arts and
sciences were destroyed. They came
from Asia, and, like the hordes of At
tia, conquered the country and estab-
lished themselves here. One of these
Kings, Apepi, is supposed to be the one
under whom Joseph was Prime Minis
ter. He erected temple to the god
Suketh at Tanis, his capital, in opposi-
ton to Osiris, the national divinity of
Egyptians. This temple, like all those
of the first ORDER was Ornamented by
an avenue of sphinxes, four of which
were found at Tanis by Signor Mariette
Bey. They bear the name of Apepi,
and instead of the usual mode of dress
ing the hair, have it arranged in sixteen
curls, eight behind and four on either
side of the face the upper lip being
shaved and the long beard cut in waves
in very peculiar manner. The Inca
ments of the face are also very differ
ent from other Egyptian busts and from
the race now existing, while the very
type of these recently-found portraits is
now to be seen near the Lake Mengaleh,
IN Egypt. These people are no doubt
the descendants of the Shepherd race.
A colossal group in gray granite of two
men with the same unusual lineaments
and arrangement of the hair, a SINH
lar granite statue of a King covered
with tiger-skins, together with four
| sphinxes, were the only known relics
of the time Of the Shepherd Kings
about whom so little has heretofore
| been known to the students of ancient
Egyptian history To these may now
be added, by the important discovery of
M. LIE Normant, this bust in the Villa
Ludovisl. 1t is of the same material as
the colossal group found at Tanis, and
the dimensions, the type of features, the
attitude, and the attire are the same.
The learned archaologist supposes that
this bust formed part of a similar group
which stood near orOpposite the other
IN the temple at Tanis. He supports
this opinion also by fracture existing
in this bust where there was evidently.
at one time an extended arm, in near
ly the same position as those of the
group at Tanis, who offer each other
the fruits of the Delta, having the
arms extended and holding plates in
the hand.
Thus this almost forgotten piece of
sculpture was probably once part of
the magnificent temple built by the
patron of Joseph to his god Suketh,
deity imported into Egypt from Asia,
and similar to Baal
A TEXAS STORY You'd hardly be-
iI<y r III