The reliefs of the chapel of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep at Gebelein (CGT 7003/1-277)

In 1910 Ernesto Schiaparelli, along with the Italian Archaeological Mission on behalf of the Regio Museo di Antichità Egizie, excavated the area where, during the Eleventh Dynasty, King Nebhepetre Mentuhotep erected a chapel to the goddess Hathor at the site of Gebelein. Some of the blocks belonging to this chapel had already been moved to the Cairo Museum during the nineteenth century, and finds during Schiaparelli's campaign were taken to the Egyptian Museum at Turin. In this work, Elisa Fiore Marochetti presents documents from these two museums and gives an architectonic and decorative reconstitution of an unknown monument. The mostly unpublished blocks and fragments, presented here as the General Catalogue of the Turin Museum, follow a general introduction to the geographical, religious, and historical setting of Gebelein and of the chapel before Mentuhotep's reunification of the land. The dating of the chapel is formulated on the basis of the iconographical style of the reliefs and of the titulary borne by Mentuhotep.'The publication therefore not only presents a valuable reference to the Egyptian antiquities housed in Turin's EgyptianMuseum. It also presents a valuable addition to literature on Egyptian temple decoration and development, royal iconography,kingship and the course of events on the verge of the Middle Kingdom.'Nico Staring, Macquarie University Title ......Page 4 Contents ......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 List of Figures......Page 10 List of Plates......Page 12 Investigations on the Southern Hill......Page 16 Site Toponymy......Page 21 The Gods of Gebelein......Page 23 Historical Events at Gebelein during the First Intermediate Period and the Advent of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep......Page 24 Style......Page 32 The Titulary of Mentuhotep......Page 35 III. THE CULT OF HATHOR, LADY OF DENDEREH, AND THE PANTHEON OF MENTUHOTEP......Page 38 Architecture......Page 42 Restitution of the Cornice......Page 43 Restitution of the Layout and Elevation......Page 45 1. Corner Columns......Page 48 2. Frieze Components with Cavetto Cornice......Page 54 1. Scene of Smiting the Enemy with Procession of Subjgated Peoples and Personifications......Page 65 2. Scene of Smiting the Enemy and Temple Foundation Ceremony......Page 72 3. Procession of the Provinces......Page 77 4. Personifications or Fecundity Figures......Page 81 C. Wall Decoration: Median and Upper Registers......Page 86 D. Wall Decoration: Lower Registers with No Context......Page 132 E. Wall Decoration: Documents without Context......Page 136 Bibliography......Page 158 VI.......Page 170 PLATES......Page 171 COLOR PLATES......Page 221