…a model for a tomb carving in Memphis.

Posted December 3, 2020 by Dana

Hatshepsut’s obelisk at Karnak. Her nephew Thutmoses III chiseled her cartouche from everything he could following her death, but the obelisk was too sacred to destroy. So he had a wall of stone built surrounding the obelisk so no one could see it.

With the result that its carvings are the best preserved from that time.

General Thales, known as the new Theodotos, stood at parade rest with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in a simple linen tunic with a leather belt, wrist guards and sandals, and no jewelry whatever. He had a square, rugged face, currently looking as if it had been used as a model for a tomb carving in Memphis. His expression didn’t change when their eyes met and she made sure that neither did hers, but she did breathe a little easier when she saw him. — Death of an Eye, 2018