Khonsuemheb and the Ghost
Welcome to the second week of August Chills 2021!
(scroll down for giveaway instructions)
This week, we go back in time to ancient Egypt, and one of the oldest known ghost stories, to meet Khonsuemhep, high priest of Amun-ra, and (of course) a ghost.
I always had a soft spot for ancient Egyptian culture, the art, the mythology, I love it all. So I was thrilled to find that one of the oldest ghost stories known to us was Egyptian, and of course - I had to include it in this project!
The Turin fragment with the beginning of the story, Museo Egizio, S.6619 (Wikimedia license)
As I mention in the video, the story was written on a pottery vessel, which was broken and some of its parts are lost. The five existing pieces were discovered in different excavations and are now in scattered four different museums around Europe (in Turin, Vienna, Paris and Florence). Translations of the story exist since the late 19th century, but the fifth fragment was only found in 1905 and gave us the current known version (click here for a translation of the text). The text is still incomplete, missing both beginning and end, but the story is there, and the spirit of Nebusemekh, woken by the wreckage of his tomb, is now forever remembered.
For this story I decided to recreate the ruined tomb of Nebusemekh and, using lighting, to create the feeling that the tomb has been found and, perhaps, his owner will soon be taken to a new home.
Scholars suggest that this story is not just about religious beliefs, that it also points to the existence of tomb raiders and the concern that they disturb the dead. We all heard stories of cursed tombs, meant to frighten away thieves, this story seems to take a different approach, and appeal to the listeners’ empathy for the ghost who was doomed to suffering because of the destruction of its afterlife home.
What I built is essentially a miniature set, and I really enjoyed placing all the little elements for the photoshoot. I took several photos (and will probably do more sessions in the future), but this photo seems to encapsulate what I wanted to convey best, from the lighting to the tiny details of half buried broken reliefs and forgotten beads, and of course, the mummy’s stare…
The sarcophagus is the main object in the photo (and definitely took the longest to make). I sculpted it in polymer clay, and removed a section of the front to give the impression that the coffin was broken to expose the mummified corpse.
I painted the sarcophagus following images I found online that seem to fit the period of the story, in what’s called a Rishi design. It emulates wings on the coffin, which connects to the belief that the dead could move between the world of the dead and the world of the living like birds fly between different places.
The shattered sarcophagus mask is one of my favorite details. It was made from the sections I removed from the coffin to “break” it and carefully painted to recreate a face. There’s something compelling (if slightly creepy) about the gaze coming from this shattered face.
I was lucky enough to come across a Spanish company called Green Stuff World that creates tools and equipment for miniature making. They’re mainly aimed for roll playing games miniatures, but no one said you can’t use them for other things ;)
I fell in love with their Egyptian rolling pin at first sight and it made the tomb building a whole lot easier! I wanted to give the impression of a once magnificent tomb, decorated with detailed reliefs that are now damaged, broken of the walls by thieves, with only a few fragments left behind.
The walls themselves I made by covering the chipboard base with joint compound. I figured that if it’s good enough to close cracks in my wall, it’s good enough for mini-wall texture.
My little set was completed with more relief fragments on the floor, tiny turquoise beads from a broken necklace and bits of gold left behind.
These are two more photos from the photoshoot, honestly, I had a hard time deciding which photo to use for the giveaway, but in the end I went with the one I thought had best conveyed my imagined scene of finding Nebusemekh’s tomb. I still really like these ones as well though… 😅
As a curious side note, a tomb of a man named Khonsuemheb was discovered in 2014, beautifully decorated by paintings and sculptures. The man in the tomb was not a priest, so we can’t really connect him with this story, but I still got a bit of a thrill from seeing the name written :)
I hope you enjoyed this week’s story and video, check out the details for the giveaway bellow and I’ll see you next week!
xx
Naama
Giveaway!
For full details visit the August Chills 2021 main page
3 lucky winners will get one signed art print of the story their choice!
The giveaway will be on my YouTube, Instagram and Facebook and follow the instructions there. I collected the links to this week’s posts here, visit them all for a better chance to win!
like the video, subscribe to my channel & leave a comment
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The giveaway will close August 31, winners will be announced and contacted on the first week of September.
Good luck!