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Menkaure and Khamerernebty
from Giech, Dynasty IV, c. 2525-2475
slate
4' 6.5" high
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.
 
 
 
 
 
 

(click on the image to enlarge.)

This is an Old Egyptian statue of the King and Queen made in the Fourth Dynasty.  It is very solid because it is still connected into the stone it was carved into.  This is to preserve the statue which was believed to be the eternal home of the ka, the other self, which could live on after a person's death.  This couple is bound together in the timeless gesture of affection so that their souls will forever be together.  To Gilgamesh, it would be some solace in the face of inevitable death that the person he loved like his wife, Enkidu, might still live on, even if only in a statue.
 

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