Once More Unto the Breach

Abstract

Summary: Recently, Susan Cohen composed an article entitled, “Interpretative Uses and Abuses of the Beni Hasan Tomb Painting” (JNES 74–1 (2015):19–38), in which she re-evaluated scholars’ claims derived from the famous depiction of Asiatic foreigners arriving in the Oryx Nome. Cohen persuasively argued that, although this depiction can be informative, we should be wary of constructing elaborate conclusions as it appears that there is an inherent temptation to over-emphasize this scene’s importance in reconstructing pharaonic history. In a similar vein, academics have misconstrued the siege practices involving battering ram technology and the purpose of a glacis from three tombs at Beni Hasan (Baqt (BH15), Khety (BH17), and Amenemhat (BH2)). Generally, Egyptologists and ancient Near Eastern scholars have long applied the Beni Hasan siege scenes as an example of the first Egyptian representational evidence of the battering ram. However, there have been virtually no attempts to place the Beni Hasan siege device into its Egyptian and ancient Near Eastern context. A comprehensive examination of textual and archaeological information regarding battering rams will be conducted herein to re-evaluate the siege scenes of Beni Hasan. From this, we can carefully assess if the scenes suggest the proliferation of battering-ram technology used by the pharaonic military. After discussing the Beni Hasan battering ram, we will also re-examine the sloped sides of the fortress representations misidentified by many as a “glacis” and deduced that this architecture feature was specifically designed to counter battering ram deployment.