Why do Egyptian statues have broken noses?

[dukkha]

Bleiberg, who oversees the museum's extensive holdings of Egyptian, Classical and ancient Near Eastern art, was surprised the first few times he heard this question. He had taken for granted that the sculptures were damaged; his training in Egyptology encouraged visualizing how a statue would look if it were still intact.
It might seem inevitable that after thousands of years, an ancient artifact would show wear and tear. But this simple observation led Bleiberg to uncover a widespread pattern of deliberate destruction, which pointed to a complex set of reasons why most works of Egyptian art came to be defaced in the first place.

"Striking Power" adds a germane dimension to our understanding of one of the world's oldest and longest-lasting civilizations, whose visual culture, for the most part, remained unchanged over millennia. This stylistic continuity reflects -- and directly contributed to -- the empire's long stretches of stability. But invasions by outside forces, power struggles between dynastic rulers and other periods of upheaval left their scars.
"The consistency of the patterns where damage is found in sculpture suggests that it's purposeful," Bleiberg said, citing myriad political, religious, personal and criminal motivations for acts of vandalism. Discerning the difference between accidental damage and deliberate vandalism came down to recognizing such patterns. A protruding nose on a three-dimensional statue is easily broken, he conceded, but the plot thickens when flat reliefs also sport smashed noses.

the ancient Egyptians, it's important to note, ascribed important powers to images of the human form. They believed that the essence of a deity could inhabit an image of that deity, or, in the case of mere mortals, part of that deceased human being's soul could inhabit a statue inscribed for that particular person. These campaigns of vandalism were therefore intended to "deactivate an image's strength,"

as Bleiberg put it.
Returning looted artifacts will finally restore heritage to the brilliant cultures that made them
Tombs and temples were the repositories for most sculptures and reliefs that had a ritual purpose. "All of them have to do with the economy of offerings to the supernatural," Bleiberg said. In a tomb, they served to "feed" the deceased person in the next world with gifts of food from this one. In temples, representations of gods are shown receiving offerings from representations of kings, or other elites able to commission a statue.
"Egyptian state religion," Bleiberg explained, was seen as "an arrangement where kings on Earth provide for the deity, and in return, the deity takes care of Egypt." Statues and reliefs were "a meeting point between the supernatural and this world," he said, only inhabited, or "revivified," when the ritual is performed. And acts of iconoclasm could disrupt that power.

The damaged part of the body is no longer able to do its job," Bleiberg explained. Without a nose, the statue-spirit ceases to breathe, so that the vandal is effectively "killing" it. To hammer the ears off a statue of a god would make it unable to hear a prayer. In statues intended to show human beings making offerings to gods, the left arm -- most commonly used to make offerings -- is cut off so the statue's function can't be performed (the right hand is often found axed in statues receiving offerings).
'Gods in Color' returns antiquities to their original, colorful grandeur
"In the Pharaonic period, there was a clear understanding of what sculpture was supposed to do," Bleiberg said. Even if a petty tomb robber was mostly interested in stealing the precious objects, he was also concerned that the deceased person might take revenge if his rendered likeness wasn't mutilated.
The prevalent practice of damaging images of the human form -- and the anxiety surrounding the desecration -- dates to the beginnings of Egyptian history. Intentionally damaged mummies from the prehistoric period, for example, speak to a "very basic cultural belief that damaging the image damages the person represented," Bleiberg said. Likewise, how-to hieroglyphics provided instructions for warriors about to enter battle: Make a wax effigy of the enemy, then destroy it. Series of texts describe the anxiety of your own image becoming damaged, and pharaohs regularly issued decrees with terrible punishments for anyone who would dare threaten their likeness.

Ancient Egyptians took measures to safeguard their sculptures. Statues were placed in niches in tombs or temples to protect them on three sides. They would be secured behind a wall, their eyes lined up with two holes, before which a priest would make his offering. "They did what they could," Bleiberg said. "It really didn't work that well."

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/eg...tsy/index.html

[dukkha]

Statue of pharaoh Senwosret III, who ruled in the 2nd century BC C

uch a practice seems especially outrageous to modern viewers, considering our appreciation of Egyptian artifacts as masterful works of fine art, but Bleiberg is quick to point out that "ancient Egyptians didn't have a word for 'art.' They would have referred to these objects as 'equipment.'" When we talk about these artifacts as works of art, he said, we de-contextualize them. Still, these ideas about the power of images are not peculiar to the ancient world, he observed, referring to our own age of questioning cultural patrimony and public monuments.

[Jack]

Images of Jesus ... is that Idol Worship?

[dukkha]

Images of Jesus ... is that Idol Worship?

are you a Muslim? Otherwise no.

[cancel2 2022]

are you a Muslim? Otherwise no.

Jack believes in idle worship!! Nothing he likes better than watching football in his La-Z-Boy and drinking some foul tasting Milwaukee pisswater.

[dukkha]

Jack believes in idle worship!! Nothing he likes better than watching football in his La-Z-Boy and drinking some foul tasting Milwaukee piss.

i'm not a drinker - it makes me sick, but I can handle an occasional Mexican or German beer. US beer is the worst

[kudzu]

are you a Muslim? Otherwise no.

Remember Jeffry Hunter in King of Kings circa 1960? There was uproar at the time about showing the face of Jesus on film.

[Mott the Hoople]

Oh please. This American beer sucks shit went out the door in the 1980’s. There was a small period of time during WWII when American macro-lagers were of poor quality cause the grains needed for good beer were needed for the war effort. That ended with the war. Then in the period in the 70’s to the 80’s the gods of Wall Street decided we should drink beer made with rice and corn as it was cheaper and they could squeeze more profits even if it was a poorer quality product that was made up for by advertising.

Then the micro-brew revolution began towards the end of the 80’s and that changed everything. Now America has the best beer scene in the world with almost unlimited variety and superb quality limited by How much you are willing to pay for a good beer.

Does Budweiser suck? Do most macro lagers in the US taste like Bud? Yes but they only cost $6/6 pack. Does Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA blow Bud out of the water? Hell yea it does and it’s better than any skunky Euro beer in those god awful green bottles.

[PostmodernProphet]

Does Budweiser suck?

absolutely

[PostmodernProphet]

didn't Napoleon's army use the sphinx for target practice.......

[cancel2 2022]

Oh please. This American beer sucks shit went out the door in the 1980’s. There was a small period of time during WWII when American macro-lagers were of poor quality cause the grains needed for good beer were needed for the war effort. That ended with the war. Then in the period in the 70’s to the 80’s the gods of Wall Street decided we should drink beer made with rice and corn as it was cheaper and they could squeeze more profits even if it was a poorer quality product that was made up for by advertising.

Then the micro-brew revolution began towards the end of the 80’s and that changed everything. Now America has the best beer scene in the world with almost unlimited variety and superb quality limited by How much you are willing to pay for a good beer.

Does Budweiser suck? Do most macro lagers in the US taste like Bud? Yes but they only cost $6/6 pack. Does Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA blow Bud out of the water? Hell yea it does and it’s better than any skunky Euro beer in those god awful green bottles.

If you ever tasted Fuller's ESB you'd prostate yourself before me and demand forgiveness. I tried a few American beers but haven't found one that is even close to a classic bitter like ESB or London Pride.

I had a couple of bottles of Bud left over from something or other, and I bought some Czech Budweiser just to compare. Holy fuck, there is just no comparison. Rice has no place in any beer recipe, it is just done to save money.

[Mott the Hoople]

didn't Napoleon's army use the sphinx for target practice.......

That’s a myth. No one knows for sure but there is a 15th Century account that a Suffi Imam chiseled it off in 1378 as he was upset that people still prayed to it and he thought it idolatrous. According to that account the local Suffi’s Hanged his ass for the desecration. However that story is probably epocriphal and has not been collaborated by other accounts.

[PostmodernProphet]

If you ever tasted Fuller's ESB you'd prostate yourself before me and demand forgiveness. I tried a few American beers but haven't found one that is even close to a classic bitter like ESB or London Pride.

do you realize that if you have to give something the name "bitter" it is not a good thing?......

[Mott the Hoople]

If you ever tasted Fuller's ESB you'd prostate yourself before me and demand forgiveness. I tried a few American beers but haven't found one that is even close to a classic bitter like ESB or London Pride.

I had a couple of bottles of Bud left over from something or other, and I bought some Czech Budweiser just to compare. Holy fuck, there is just no comparison. Rice has no place in any beer recipe, it is just done to save money.

Thats one beer Tom. There are so many great brews around the US it would make your head swim. There’s no place on Earth that has such a wide choice of variety and quality. The stale old trope about American beers sucking died with the 80’s. You’re right about one thing Budweiser still sucks.

[Mott the Hoople]

do you realize that if you have to give something the name "bitter" it is not a good thing?......

I’m open minded to it as long as it’s not imported in one of damned green bottles. That’s one of the reasons Americans roll their eyes at that old trope. If Tom were to come here and drink any classic Euro beer imported in those green bottles he’d be appalled at how bad they are. I really like the Belgian lager Stella Artois. On tap that is. Drink it from a imported green bottles it taste like shit. I wouldn’t buy at any price let alone a premium price.