Find Spot: Thebes

Date of Illustration: 1182-1151 BCE

Description: One scene of an Egyptian musical group from Thebes consists of a trumpet player, a drummer, a player of an unknown instrument and two clapper players. In scenes from Upper Nubian temples, of Kawa and Sanam processions are shown with trumpeters and drummers alongside harpists so the missing instrument could be some form of harp.

From the available literature, it is not clear where this description comes from, other than ‘Thebes’, the author providing no other indication as to the source of this scene. It is however probable that it consists of muscians in the triumphal procession of Ramses III at Medinet Habu.

Citations: Champollion 1812: Monuments, III, pl. 209 (Fig, 13b), la Description II, pl. 11; Wilkinson 1878: I, p.456, Fig. 224; Griffith 1922: pl. 29(2); Hickmann 1946: fig. 19, 20, No. 13, Figure 19; Macadam 1949: Pl. 6, cols 17, 19, pp. 8, 12 No. 55; Behn 1954: Abb. 65

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