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I.E.S. bDWARDS

bodies of all thc males, except the one bchind the leader, are represented frontally, whercas the womcn and the priests who bear the shrine are shown in profile. Although there is nothing exceptional about the generał attire of the men, the way in which one itcm of elothing is worn is of particular interest in the context of this scene. Apart from a priest, who wcars only a pleated kilt, all the men wear short «slccved » tunies ticd at the throat with strings, a type of garment which is common in reliefs and paintings of the late XVIIIth and early XIXth Dynasties. This tunic is never shown without a kilt or a somewhat longer skin and sometimes both these nether garments are represented²¹. Of the four men in tunies, the foremost and the two at the back of the group wear their skirts tucked up in a fashion which is also not uncommon from the time of Tuthmosis IV and onwards into the XIXth Dynasty²². Sometimes the skirt is short, as in this instance, and, when folded double, it does not reach the knees, and sometimes it is the longer kind which in its folded form extends to wcll below thc knees²³. If the fashion were restricted to men engaged in some occupation needing freedom of movement, its purpose would be obvious, but the wearers are just as often men standing still, walking or employed on sedentary tasks, such as scribes²⁴, as they are men performing some action involving physical agility²⁵. In thc present scene, one of the four men in tunies has not tucked up his skirt, although it appears to be of the same kind as the skirts worn tucked up by the other three men and the action which he performs is very similar to that of the man at the head of the procession. Some inconsistency is also to be noticed in a funeral scene carved in relief from the tomb of Merymery²⁶ : six of the men in the cortege wear tunies and kilts, three in the upper row and three in the lower. The upper three are without over-skirts, bul those below have short skirts over their kilts, tucked up in exactly thc same way as those in the British Museum scene. In a fragment of relief from the Memphite tomb of Horemheb in the Brooklyn Museum²⁷, two of a group of eight małe mourners wear folded skirts over kilts and the remainder either kilts without skirts or skirts with long pleated panels in front. This variation in dress of małe mourners is in marked contrast with that of the female mourners who, in any single representation, are

²¹    Cf. Bonnet, Die dgyptische Tracht bis zum Ende des Neuen Reiches (Sethe, Untersuchungen, 7, Hefl 2). p. 51-8.

²²    Cf. Abdul-Qader Muhammed. The Development oj the Funerory Belie/s and Praetices dispiayed in the Priiate Tombs oj the New Kingdom at Thehes, p. 151-2.

²³ N. dc Ci. Davics discusses the longer variety in The Rock Tombs of El-A marna, I. p. 10-1.

²⁴ Cf. Erman. Life in Ancient Egypt, facing p. 442 (B.M. 37978, a tomb-painting from Thebcs which shows two scribes, one squalling and one standing. both of whom have short tucked-up skirts ovcr kilts). Nina de Garis Davies, Ancient Egyptian Paintmg. pl. 50 and 51 (seated and standing scribes and other officials in the tomb of Mcnna); Simpson. BMMA 70. no. 360. p. 72. fig. 42 (standing scribe recording quantities of grain).

²⁵    Cf. N. de G. Davies, The Tomb oj Ken-Amun at    Thebes, pl 18    (bcarers    of    furniture to thc    tomb).    Davies.

however, (p. 26) remarks: «The men seem to wear a skirt    with scalloped    hem. which.    instead of being    tucked    into the

loin-cloth. is allowcd to hang down over it and is mcrely    confined by the bcll»;    but    Abdul*Qader Muhammed, o.c..

p. 151. considers that the garment oulsidc the kilt is the tucked-up skirt.

²⁶    Sec n. 16 above. Sec also Ltiddeckens MD!AK 2. 147-53. and Bonnet, o.c. p. 58-9.

^:7 No. 32.103. Published by Fazzini, Art from the Age o/ Akhenaten. p. 23.