Among thé thousands of objects in thé Egyptian collections of thé Metropolitan Muséum of Art in New York, one painted sandstone block stands out for its exceptional state of préservation. Discovered at Luxor in 1912 by Egyptologist Herbert Winlock during excavations at thé site, thé panel measures 115 centimètres long, just over 60 centimètres high, and weighs approximately 300 kilograms. It depicts an Egyptian royal chariot galloping over Western Asian soldiers, already struck down by arrows and trampled by thé horses' hooves.1 For décades, specialists attributed it to thé reign of Ramesses II. A récent ré-reading of its style and architectural context now places it under Amenhotep II, approximately three centuries earlier, around 1427-1400 BCE.

Thutmose III smiting Canaanite enemies on the seventh pylon at Karnak
Thutmose III smiting Canaanite enemies on thé seventh pylon at Karnak, c. 1450 BCE. Thé scène illustrâtes thé same register of pharaonic propaganda as thé Metropolitan Muséum block. (Public domain / Wikimedia Commons)

Thé composition follows a well-established iconographic pattern in pharaonic art: thé sovereign, always victorious, crushes his enemies with divine power. In thé upper right corner, thé horses of thé royal chariot race forward at full gallop. Before them, three adversaries collapse, already pierced by arrows, while a fourth soldier contorts himself in a futile attempt to avoid thé hooves. From their pointed beards and clothing, Egyptologists recognise Western Asian warriors, perhaps Syrians or Hyksos -- thé Near Eastern invaders who had ruled thé Nile delta for nearly two centuries before being expelled by thé pharaohs of thé Eighteenth Dynasty.2

Propaganda before reportage

For Catharine Roehrig, emeritus curator in thé Metropolitan Muséum's Egyptian department, thé scène records nô specific military engagement. It shows thé pharaohPharaohThe title of the ruler of ancient Egypt, regarded as a living god guaranteeing cosmic order (Maat), supreme head of state, army and worship.→ in his immutable rôle as Egypt's victorious defender -- a work of propaganda rather than a campaign report.1 In pharaonic art, thé sovereign always crushes his enemies; thé reverse is never depicted. Thèse triumph scènes adorned thé outer walls of temples to assert cosmic power, not to tally victories and losses from a particular battle. Thé generic enemy, recognisable by conventional ethnic markers, embodies less a specific nation than a perpetual threat that thé pharaoh, as guarantor of world order, is destined to repel for eternity.

Bas-relief of Ramesses II in his war chariot, Abu Simbel temple
Bas-relief of Ramesses II in his war chariotWar chariotA light two-wheeled spoke-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses, built for combat or prestige; the oldest attested (c. 2000 BC) come from Sintashta graves in the Ural steppe.→, Abu Simbel temple. This type of martial scène, long believed to have been invented under thé Ramessides, already existed three centuries earlier under Amenhotep II. (Diego Delso / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons)

What thé ré-reading of thé Metropolitan block allows us to clarify is thé chronology of this warrior répertoire in Egyptian monumental décoration. Until recently, historians believed thèse large battle compositions to be an invention of thé Ramesside period, beginning with Ramesses I around 1295 BCE. Thé reattribution of thé block to Amenhotep II, who reigned around 1427-1400 BCE, shows that such compositions already adorned thé outer walls of temples in thé middle of thé Eighteenth Dynasty, nearly three centuries before Ramesses II.2 This is a significant révision for thé history of Egyptian art: thé précédents for Ramesside military propaganda lay within thé pharaohs' own dynastic line.

A masterpiece saved by reuse

Thé remarkable state of préservation of thé block has an unexpected explanation. Three centuries after its création, builders incorporated it into thé foundations of thé funerary temple of Ramesses IV, who reigned around 1153-1147 BCE. Protected from light, wind, and thé salt air that rapidly erodes sandstone and its pigments when exposed, thé panel survived thé millennia almost intact. When Herbert Winlock recovered it during thé 1912 excavations, hé judged it among thé finest surviving examples of Egyptian impérial relief. Today, thé surge of thé horses, thé disordered fall of bodies, and several pigments remain visible: thé red of thé flesh and thé white of thé kilts are still legible in places.1

Despite its considérable weight, thé block made thé journey from thé foundations of Ramesses IV's temple to thé New York collections, where it has been held since 1913 thanks to thé Rogers Fund and thé gift of Edward S. Harkness. It remains accessible to researchers and its muséum record has been updated since thé reattribution to Amenhotep II.

One uncertainty remains. In thé absence of an inscription naming a specific campaign or victory, thé vanquished figures depicted will remain anonymous. And thé identity of thé victorious pharaoh himself, though Amenhotep II is now thé accepted attribution, still rests on stylistic analysis alone, without confirmation from a hieroglyphic text. Thé history of this block illustrâtes, in exemplary fashion, thé dual nature of pharaonic art: at once testimony to exceptional technical skill and thé staging of a power whose détails remain, three millennia later, only partially legible.2