Position 78 - The Hunting Of The Wild Bull Depicted On The Temple Wall Of Ramses Iii, Medinet Habu, Thebes

This is one of the most spirited scenes that an Egyptian sculptor has ever wrought. The king, with reins slackened and hanging in a distinct curve from his waist, urges on his plumed horses as they dash after the great bull, plunging through the reeds in the vain endeavor to escape to the river. Poising his long lance ready for the fatal thrust, the eager Pharaoh leans far over the front of his chariot, and as he strains to reach the fleeing prey he has placed one foot out upon the chariot pole, thus disarranging his quiver, which hangs awry beneath the offending leg.

Beneath the horses we see one victim brought down upon his back, with the noose of a lasso around his hind legs, and two broken lances in his body; while further away in the thicket is another with head thrown back in the convulsions of death, and feet pawing the air. All this has been caught by the artist with a fine abandon that is admirable. The particular victim pursued by the king, has fallen at the brink of the river, his tongue hangs out in the exhaustion of a long flight, the reeds bending over him offer scant protection, and another instant will see the king's long lance in his throat.

The river itself, which occupies the lower right-hand corner, is filled with fish, and towards its curving shores marches a line of the king's archers, some of them assisting him with an occasional shaft. In such pastimes as these the warlike Pharaohs of the Empire were wont to spend their time, when war, the cares of state or the waning attractions of the harem permitted.

Now imagine the river colored blue, the waving reeds green, the bulls a mottled brown with white bellies, the horses white, the Pharaoh brown, with white linen kilt, and the chariot in all the gayest of hues, and you will gain a hint of the original effect of this sculpture. It was no common master who put this scene on the wall, for he has entered into the spirit of the hunt with a sympathy and fine feeling, which far surpass the usual conventionality of such scenes.

Upon the common people of that remote day, when the Pharaohs flourished, such temple scenes as this must have exerted a marked influence; and we can imagine the multitude of ancient Thebes standing in awed admiration before these exploits of the Pharaoh, as do these modern descendants of theirs, who insistently offer us the dubious privilege of a drink from their gullehs, or water bottles, always expecting a return in coin for their trouble.

The wall before us, you know, is the back of the first pylon (Plan 15); you see the end of the pylon here on the right, marked with its two huge cylindrical beads on the edge of the corner, as the wall slants inward. The angle on the left is formed by the side wall of the first court, of which the pylon before us forms the front. We shall now view some of the scenes outside of this same court, but on the other side. See the lines marked 79 on Plan 15.