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The 26th Dynasty, also known as the
Saite
Period, is traditionally placed by
scholars at the
end of the Third Intermediate Period or
at the
beginning of the Late Dynastic Period.
In either
case, the Saite Period rose from the
ashes of a
decentralized Egyptian state that had
been
ravaged by foreign occupation. Supported
by the
assistance of a powerful family centered
in the
Delta town of Sais, the Assyrians
finally drove
the Nubians out of Egypt. At the close
of this
campaign, Ashurbanipal’s kingdom was at
the
height of its power; however, due to
civil strife
back east, he was forced to withdraw his
forces
from Egypt. Psamtik I, a member of the
family
from Sais, seized this opportunity to
assert his
authority over the entire Nile Valley
and found
his own dynasty, the 26th of Egyptian
history.
Known as the Saite Period due to the
importance
of the capital city Sais, the 26th
Dynasty, like
many before it, sought to emulate the
artistic
styles of past pharaohs in order to
bolster their
own claims to power and legitimize their
authority.
Yet despite that artist sought to
replicate models
of the past, Egyptian art of this era
was infused
with a heightened sense of naturalism.
This fact
is likely due to the influx of Greek
culture. The
Saite rulers recognized that Egypt had
fallen
behind the rest of the Mediterranean
world in
terms of military technology. Thus, they
were
forced to rely upon foreign mercenaries,
many of
whom were Greek. With ties between these
two
cultures firmly established during the
7th
Century B.C., commercial trading quickly
blossomed. Special entrepots for foreign
traders
were established, including the famed
center of
Naucratis, a Delta town in which Greek
merchants were permitted access. During
the
Saite Period, two great powers of the
Mediterranean world became intimately
linked,
commercially and culturally. As the
exchange of
ideas flowed across the sea, the Greeks
began to
experiment on a monumental scale while
the
Egyptians began to approach art with an
enhanced sense of realism.
The sacred Apis bull was considered the
living
manifestation of the creator god Ptah.
In the
temple of Ptah at Memphis, the Apis bull
resided,
serving as an intermediary allowing
mankind to
communicate with this mighty deity
through
oracles. From dedicatory sculptures and
the
writings of Greek historian Herodotus,
we are
familiar with the special physical
attributes that
differentiate the Apis from any other
bull. The
bull is colored black, save for a small
white
triangular patch on its forehead.
Sometimes a
solar disk crowns its head, revealing
the divine
nature of the animal. On its back, it
features the
wings of a vulture goddess. Here, the
wings
have been carefully engraved along the
top of
the bulls body. As well, the tail is
typically
divided into two stands, perhaps
reflecting the
original two kingdoms of Upper and Lower
Egypt.
As a representative of Ptah, the Apis
bull was
naturally pampered, residing close to
the temple
of Ptah in Memphis in a palatial
structure
befitting for a pharaoh. The average
lifespan of
the Apis was fourteen years during which
time
the upper echelons of Memphis society
were
able to view the creature at certain
annual
ceremonies in the temple of Ptah. After
the Apis
passed away, it was mourned as if the
pharaoh
himself had died. The bull would be
mummified,
and the embalmed and bejeweled carcass
would
be paraded through the city on route to
the
burial plot in Saqqara. Like Ptah
himself, the
origin of the Apis dates back from the
earliest
days of Egyptian history, well before
the Dynastic
era. After Greek occupation, during the
Ptolemaic Period, the Apis bull would
survive in
the form of the composite deity Sarapis.
- (X.0347)
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