The Battlefield Palette (also known as the Vultures Palette, the Giraffes Palette, or the Lion Palette) may be the earliest battle scene representation of the dozen or more ceremonial or ornamental

cosmetic palette Cosmetic palettes are archaeological artifacts, originally used in predynastic Egypt to grind and apply ingredients for facial or body cosmetics. The decorative palettes of the late 4th millennium BCE appear to have lost this function and became c ...

s of ancient Egypt. Along with the others in this series of palettes, including the

Narmer Palette The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, belonging, at least nominally, to the category of cosmetic palettes. ...

, it includes some of the first representations of the figures, or glyphs, that became Egyptian

hieroglyph A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...

s. Most notable on the Battlefield Palette is the standard ( iat hieroglyph), and Man-prisoner hieroglyph, probably the forerunner that gave rise to the concept of the

Nine bows The Nine Bows is a visual representation in Ancient Egyptian art of foreigners or others. Besides the nine bows, there were no other generic representations of foreigners. Due to its ability to stand in for any nine enemies to Ancient Egypt, the ...

(representation of foreign tribal enemies). The palettes probably date mostly from the

Naqada III Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating from approximately 3200 to 3000 BC. It is the period during which the process of state formation, which began in Naqada II, became highly visible, w ...

(ca. 3300–3100 BC), i.e. late predynastic period, around 3100 BC. The two major pieces of the Battlefield Palette are held by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and Ashmolean Museums.

The Battlefield Palette, two fragments

The Battlefield Palette obverse contains the circular defined area for the mixing of a cosmetic substance. It contains the battlefield scene, and forerunners of hieroglyphs: ''prisoner'', tribal-territory ''wooden standard'', the '' horus-falcon'' and an ''

ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...

'' bird resting on standards. The fractured lower half of the prisoner on the obverse right may have a hieroglyph at his front (the rectangle, as rounded for land) with suspected papyrus plants attached on top. The reverse of the palette has dramatically stylized versions of a bird, two antelope-like mammals, a vertical palm-tree trunk, a partial top with fruits, and short horizontal palm fronds.

Robed individual and defeated enemies

An individual in robe appears fragmentarily behind naked prisoners. He may be wearing a full-length dress made of leopard skin, and is probably a representative of the victorious Pharaoh standing behind one of the naked prisoner (naked, but for a penile sheath). The fragment in front of the prisoner may possibly be part of the ancient sign for "

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

", an early enemy of pre-Dynastic Egyptian kings. The character would consist in the throwing stick on top of an oval, meaning "region", "place", "island", a toponym of Libya or Western Delta pronounced ''THnw'', ''Tjehenw'', as seen on the Libyan Palette. File:Man in patterned and fringed dress, behind naked prisoner, The Battlefield Palette 3100 BCE.jpg, Man in patterned and fringed dress, behind naked prisoner. File:Prisoners on the Battlefield Palette.jpg, The prisoners on the Battlefield Palette may be people of the

Buto-Maadi culture Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period (Egypt), Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh, Narmer for some Egyptologist ...

subjected by the Egyptian rulers of

References

External links

3rd fragment, and other Ancient Egypt palettes
an
Eras Edition 8, November 2006ReverseArticle, front side graphic, and Synoptic analysis of Battlefield Palette
{{British Museum 4th-millennium BC works Ancient Egyptian palettes Ancient Egyptian sculptures in the British Museum Collection of the Ashmolean Museum War art Naqada III

The Battlefield Palette, two fragments

Robed individual and defeated enemies

See also

References

External links