Ahhoteps Silver Ship Model: The Minoan Context Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The tomb of Ahhotep (I) contained two metal ship modelsone gold, the other silverand a four-wheeled carriage. The models are anomalous in time and material. While the gold model represents a typical papyriform wood- planked Nile vessel, the silver model finds its closest parallels with a contemporaneous Minoan/Cycladic vessel crewed by ten rowers, exemplified by the rowed ship in the Miniature Frieze from the West House in Akrotiri on Thera. This conclusion is further supported by a long tradition of metal ship models in the Aegean. The silver model may be a copy of an actual ship or of a model of a ship. Ahhoteps models and carriage may represent booty captured by either Kamose or Ahmose during their battles against Avaris (Tell el-Daba) and subsequently interred with their mother. If this interpretation is correct, it could indicate a Minoan presence at Tell el-Daba during the Hyksos period.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections

altmetric score

  • 3

author list (cited authors)

  • Wachsmann, S.

citation count

  • 1

complete list of authors

  • Wachsmann, Shelley

publication date

  • 2010