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| "You'll be fine" |
This stela (commemorative stone tablet) in Liverpool University’s Garstang Museum caught my eye. Two Egyptian figures lead a man in Greek dress to the afterlife. I had no idea the Egyptian and Greek civilisations overlapped. But more than that, the figure from a different culture, in between those two familiar side-on Egyptians, enlivened the piece for me.
The first Egyptian figure, with the head of Anubis, god of
death and the underworld, looks back, grasping the man’s hand reassuringly. The
figure behind seems to encourage him forward, or says goodbye.
I’m not sure why an alien figure in Greek dress should bring
this to life for me more than it would if it had three Egyptians figures. It
breaks it out of my expectations, I suppose, and makes the figures’ gestures
less a matter of artistic form and more human. The middle figure is somehow my
way in to that tableau. Were I to give it a title, I would call it The Reassurance of the Gods.
Can anyone enlighten me as to the Greek-Egyptian mix here?
+1 for wanting to know more about the meaning/context
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon! Could have researched it but didn't have time. But questions can be returned to...
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