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Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

artsy.net

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Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#21

Post by duxup »

dharmon wrote: post #18
intrasight wrote: post #9

I had the question, after visiting Rome, of why so many Roman statues lacked a penis. Found this. But I'm sure that in many cases it was just due to the fact that appendages on statues are more easily damaged - whether nose or penis. http://ourromanadventure.blogspot.com/2009/10/where-are-all-...

I remember reading Da Vinci Code (awful book) and he (the protagonist) made this claim, that there was a "Great Demasculation" to remove penises from statues. I tried looking it up but couldn't find anything to support that this was true. But this was 2003 so information on the web wasn't as plentiful or easy to find. A simpler explanation is, as you say, that they are just more easily broken.

Yeah if you're going to break a thing, internationally or not... the parts that stick out just seem easier.

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#22

Post by jfk13 »

dharmon wrote: post #18
intrasight wrote: post #9

I had the question, after visiting Rome, of why so many Roman statues lacked a penis. Found this. But I'm sure that in many cases it was just due to the fact that appendages on statues are more easily damaged - whether nose or penis. http://ourromanadventure.blogspot.com/2009/10/where-are-all-...

I remember reading Da Vinci Code (awful book) and he (the protagonist) made this claim, that there was a "Great Demasculation" to remove penises from statues. I tried looking it up but couldn't find anything to support that this was true. But this was 2003 so information on the web wasn't as plentiful or easy to find. A simpler explanation is, as you say, that they are just more easily broken.

As illustrated by the Specsavers ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqOwg0dqApY

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#23

Post by legohead »

Sounds like a lot of guessing. Apparently nothing is written in stone as to why they did this. The explanation reminds me of english teachers trying to interpret poems.

It's also odd they mention removing the left arm has significance, but show pictures of statues with the right arms removed...

My guess is it is related to some common speech, like a saying, or a gesture of some sort. Like flicking of the nose is a 'fuck you', and so people chop off the noses of things to insult or show objection to the subject. But, like the article, just a guess.

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#24

Post by simonh »

jedberg wrote: post #10
ComputerGuru wrote: post #4

I'm not sure the hypothesis stands up to scrutiny (apart from being based solely off of conjecture, that is). In the article, they link to the MOMA exhibit captioned "Yuny and his wife" [0], which depicts a male with a smashed-off nose seated next to, presumably, his wife with her nose very much intact. If robbers smashed the noses off of statues so their likenesses would not live in the afterlife to seek revenge, wh…

Edit: Apparently Egypt was more progressive than I thought. Women did have more rights than most ancient societies. Women were considered property of their husbands. If the husband is dead the wife can’t do anything because she is masterless.

There's a lot of misunderstanding of ancient Egyptian culture due to the biases of early Egyptologists. I wouldn't call Egypt a matriarchy by any stretch, but women were in no way seen as property. They could own property in their own right, institute litigation, bear witness in court and travel freely unescorted. We have plenty of court proceedings and legal documents on all of this.

Furthermore there was no legal or formal concept of marriage in an official sense. Two people were married when they moved in and lived together and declared it, and divorced when one of them left and they divided their property. As a result, women could unilaterally divorce their husband. The state had no role in it.

Like other ancient Greeks, Herodotus was scandalised: "They Egyptians, in their manners and customs, seem to have reversed the ordinary practices of mankind. For instance, women attend market and are employed in trade, while men stay at home and do the weaving."

On the other hand, the grave robbers in later eras may not have belonged to that culture, but might still have been superstitious about ancient Egyptian curses. I don't believe the theory, but it's difficult to disprove.

Undowned for the edit, very gracious of you.

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#26

Post by on_and_off »

intrasight wrote: post #9

I had the question, after visiting Rome, of why so many Roman statues lacked a penis. Found this. But I'm sure that in many cases it was just due to the fact that appendages on statues are more easily damaged - whether nose or penis. http://ourromanadventure.blogspot.com/2009/10/where-are-all-...

Damn it is sad to see old statues alterated for such a stupid reason.

On a tangent topic, if you have ever wondered why greek statues have so small penises : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8h8vvF7SDk

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#27

Post by Zelmor »

legohead wrote: post #23

Sounds like a lot of guessing. Apparently nothing is written in stone as to why they did this. The explanation reminds me of english teachers trying to interpret poems. It's also odd they mention removing the left arm has significance, but show pictures of statues with the right arms removed... My guess is it is related to some common speech, like a saying, or a gesture of some sort. Like flicking of the nose is a 'f…

Because religion is the drug of the unwashed masses, and there is a lot of those around everywhere.

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#28

Post by reaperducer »

throwaway434234 wrote: post #5

You see this in India at every temple that was raided by Muslims. The logic being that breaking the nose would make the "idol" unfit for worship. There probably are a lot of examples in the North (they are now part of some "secular" Mosque complex), but it's very apparent in some of the Hoysala temples that were partially/fully destroyed (esp. Halebidu), and in Vijayanagara. It's really quite sad. Then again, I suppo…

You see this in India at every temple that was raided by Muslims. The logic being that breaking the nose would make the "idol" unfit for worship.

I find that interesting because when I was in Turkey it was common to see the ancient depictions of Jesus Christ on church walls with the eyes scratched off. The explanation given by the locals was the same as what you state for the statues in India.

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#29

Post by Digit-Al »

legohead wrote: post #23

Sounds like a lot of guessing. Apparently nothing is written in stone as to why they did this. The explanation reminds me of english teachers trying to interpret poems. It's also odd they mention removing the left arm has significance, but show pictures of statues with the right arms removed... My guess is it is related to some common speech, like a saying, or a gesture of some sort. Like flicking of the nose is a 'f…

From the article:

> In statues intended to show human beings making offerings to gods, the left arm—most commonly used to make offerings—is cut off so the statue’s function can’t be performed (the right hand is often found axed in statues receiving offerings).

So they do actually mention the right arm as well.

Re: Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

#30

Post by lostlogin »

eu wrote: post #8

I was going to mention about Napoleon's troops shooting the nose off the Sphinx, but did a search to confirm: > ...he face of the Sphinx was vandalized in 1378 A.D. by Mohammed Sa'im al-Dahr, a "fanatical sufi of the oldest and most highly respected sufi convent of Cairo." [0] [0] https://www.napoleon-series.org/faq/c_sphinx.html

Obelix inaccurately gets the blame too sometimes. http://domenglishcorner.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-sphinxs-nos...
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