Ceremonial Daggers of TutankhamunDaggers (and sheaths; gold, inlaid with semi-precious stones; dagger with crystal pommel and iron blade ca. 14" in length; second, 12 3/4"). New Kingdom: XVIII Dynasty (Amarna and aftermath)
The Ancient World, Egypt, New Kingdom, XVIII. In Cairo, Egyptian Museum, Image: ARTSTOR.
Ceremonial daggers of King Tutankhamen; a) detail of inlaid floral elements (falcon with outspread wings at pommel) and granulation on hilt of dagger with gold blade; b) left, sheath of dagger with iron blade, elaborately chased with interlocking palmette pattern framed by ornamental guilloche; center left, dagger with iron blade and rock crystal pommel, hilt inlaid with semi-precious stones and decorated with granulation in geometric designs; center right, similar dagger with gold blade, its sheath bearing scene of the hunt with carnivores(lions, wild dogs and panther) attacking desert game (antelopes, calves and a bull); intricate palmette terminating design at tip of sheath; c) the gold bladed dagger and its sheath.Both Tutankhamen's daggers were found upon the mummy of the king. The dagger with blade of gold, secured within its sheath, was thrust through a girdle tied about the mummy's waist while the iron-bladed dagger lay along the left side of the king's body, within his reach. With these ceremonial weapons whose blades were rendered invulnerable by the magic of their sheaths, "...the dead man might overcome all the demons in his path." According to Desroches-Noblecourt, the decoration of the gold dagger sheath, by simply displaying the hunt of bulls and antelopes, reduced to impotence the powers of evil believed to be manifest in them.The dagger with the iron blade is a unique object. Iron in Egypt before the late New Kingdom is very rare. Iron objects of unquestioned Egyptian manufacture which have been scientifically analyzed have been shown to be meteoric. The ancient Egyptians associated iron with Set in his aspect as storm god. Iron itself was called 'metal from the sky', indicating its origin from the heavens, and was believed to possess magical properties. [--Wainwright, in JEA XVIII.] An object of the size and workmanship of the dagger blade indicates a mined and worked ore. For this reason, from its discovery the dagger has been described as an import or gift to Tutankhamen from a near eastern ruler. [--Carter.] In fact, we know that preceisely at this time during the second millennium, both the Mitanni and the Hittites possessed iron works. Among the Amarna tablets which contain lists of objects sent as doweries with foreign princesses to the Egyptian court are listed iron objects - rings, as well as daggers, and vessels. [--cf. Mercer, below.] This dagger (or rather its blade), like the objects made of "purple gold" (see 2Ak.660), were probably the gifts originally presented to the child king, perhaps upon his accession, by one of the kings of Asia.The reverse of both dagger sheaths is ornamented with a feather pattern and the tips bear representations of a frontal dog or jackal head, an apotropaic device used at least since the Middle Kingdom. [--cf. Altenmüller.]
2 ceremonial daggers of Tutankhamen; a) hilt of dagger with gold blade showing floral elements and falcon with outspread wings; b) L, sheath of dagger with palmette pattern belonging to dagger with iron blade (iron was associated with Set as storm god); R similar dagger with gold blade, its sheath bearing scene of hunt with lions, wild dogs and panthers attacking antelopes, calves and bull.
The animal combat/hunt motif which decorates the sheath of the gold dagger has been studied with regard to its near eastern and Aegean affinities by Schaeffer (in Ugaritica II ) and Schachermeyr.The blade of the gold dagger (made of an alloy of gold and copper which gives it a pinkish tinge) has been specially hardened in order to render it an effective weapon. [--JEA XXVII.]