Why Do So Many Egyptian Statues Have Broken Noses?

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 14, 2019, 4:07 PM UTC

novacole wrote: post #51

danans wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This theory doesn't hold up not the least because the surviving representations of noses in statuary don't look particularly "black" (interpreted very narrowly as the west sub-saharan facial phenotype), which is the image of Africans around which most Eurocentric racism is built. Look the statue in the article with an intact nose, and also the statues of the seated pharoahs at Abu Simbel. To my eyes, they just look a…

> the surviving representations of noses in statuary don't look particularly "black" I think this says the exact opposite of what you want it to say. The fact that they survived, may be that they were sufficiently non-"black" looking to leave them alone. Phenotypes come in ranges especially for black people, so a "black" nose is anything from the nose of a random Scandinavian to that of a Sudanese persons.

Post by danans » Thu, Mar 14, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

novacole wrote: post #51

danans wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This theory doesn't hold up not the least because the surviving representations of noses in statuary don't look particularly "black" (interpreted very narrowly as the west sub-saharan facial phenotype), which is the image of Africans around which most Eurocentric racism is built. Look the statue in the article with an intact nose, and also the statues of the seated pharoahs at Abu Simbel. To my eyes, they just look a…

> the surviving representations of noses in statuary don't look particularly "black" I think this says the exact opposite of what you want it to say. The fact that they survived, may be that they were sufficiently non-"black" looking to leave them alone. Phenotypes come in ranges especially for black people, so a "black" nose is anything from the nose of a random Scandinavian to that of a Sudanese persons.

Post by mcnesium » Thu, Mar 14, 2019, 4:13 PM UTC

naibafo wrote: post #54

fwip wrote: post #32

I'm surprised that the article didn't mention another popular theory: that many of the Egyptian statues taken by Europeans had their noses deliberately broken to obscure their blackness. As the theory goes, in order to make the statues seem like high art, it was necessary to make the culture seem more like the ancient Greeks and Romans. Removing their noses made it so the viewer could more easily read the statues as…

The only information I have on Egyptian noses is that, according to Asterix and Obelix, Cleopatra was famous for her nose.

Post by atomical » Thu, Mar 14, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC

pathseeker wrote: post #61

NelsonMinar wrote: post #40

The computer geniuses here at Hacker News have decided the main argument of this article are wrong. But among archaeologists ritual defacement is understood to be a regular thing that happens to art all over the world. Roman coins defaced: https://www.coinsweekly.com/en/Defacing-the-past-damnation-a... Teotihuacan icons demolished and destroyed by fire: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/24/teotihu...

>The computer geniuses here at Hacker News have decided Don't do this

Post by atomical » Thu, Mar 14, 2019, 4:14 PM UTC

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…