Die Feldzugsdarstellungen des Neuen Reiches

This book treats the basreliefs of the Egyptian New Kingdom (about 1550-1070 B.C.) dealing with warfare. As this group of works has up to now been treated mainly from historical aspects, an analysis from the points of view of iconography and history of arts seems to be desirable. It includes not only the actual battle scenes, but also the surrounding subjects such as the king being commissioned by the gods to undertake war or the celebration of victory after battle. The examination of the sequence of pictures – the ”reading“ of a campaign – and the correlation between picture and architecture results from this overall view. Included are also fragmentarily preserved military sequences. This demonstrates the different relationships between basreliefs and temple walls under the various rulers. The second point of focus is on the analysis of the particular pictures – arranged and compared according to subjects, to show the dependence on or the independence of prototypes. Special attention is paid to the Egyptian canon of proportions and examination of the particualar motif of a picture, such as figures of prisoners, representation of landscape, horses or cities. The text is supported by many illustrations. An illustrated catalogue with literature references presents the material ranging from the reign of Thutmosis I to that of Ramses IV.