80-Model Solar Boat

Solar Boat by iuegypt on Sketchfab.

This model is a solar boat with a crew and mast added in modern times. Solar boats have no human figures, means of propulsion, and a unique set of boat furniture.¹

On this solar boat, the original bow and cover are still extant. The striped shrine at the stern originally sat where the kneeling bald figure is now. The falcon on the shrine originally rested on a cylindrical object. The CT scan indicates that this falcon is in its original location but rests on the shrine instead of the cylinder. This was likely a regional variation.

The mast and crew were taken from several sailing vessels. On the Senusret boat, ten figures stand around a central mast, wearing knee-length kilts and short wigs. Their arms are outstretched to adjust the rigging of sails. At the bow and stern, crouching figures face inward, with one arm across the chest in a gesture of reverence toward the seated or mummiform image of the deceased, now lost. They may also have acted as ritual figures or helmsmen on funerary or pilgrimage vessels.

A few model solar boats survive from tombs at Deir el-Bersha, Lisht, and Meir, dating to the reigns of Kings Senwosret II and III.² The solar boats were related to royal insignia and ritual objects from private late Middle Kingdom burials and were focused on transforming the deceased into a divine ancestor. By contrast, the sailors come from sailing vessels that depicted a pilgrimage to or from Abydos or the transport of the deceased to the tomb.

EW

1. Reisner 1913, xxvi. ↩︎

2. Meyer 2016, 92–94. ↩︎