Silsila 3D images on Sketchfab!

Dear all,
the Gebel el Silsila Team is delighted to share with you some exciting new 3D-images viewable on Sketchfab.com.

The two published models mark the beginning of a new step in the project, aiming to share with the greater audience and our wonderful, supportive followers some of the unique reproductions of various (published) monuments on site.

We hope you will enjoy as much as we do!

Model 1: Scene of Goddess Taweret suckles the king, Gebel el Silsila West Bank

The relief is situated in the rock-cut temple dating to the 18th Dynasty, and more precisely to the time of Tutankhamun/Horemheb (around 1330 BC). It shows the king as a young boy, suckling the local goddess Taweret (often shown as a hippopotamus, but here as an elegant woman), witnessed by his godly protectors Amun, King of the Gods,  Khnum, god of birth, and Sobek, the local crocodile god and companion of Taweret. Through the divine milk, the king becomes superhuman and thus has the power necessary to interact with the gods and the sacred. This ritual seems to have been part of the crowning ceremonies.

overview of the southern scene, photo: Maria Nilsson

Model 2: Horemheb presenting offerings to Amun-Ra and Mut

This relief is located in the short passage between the main hall and the sanctuary, on the northern wall of the passage, in the rock-cut temple of the West Bank. It shows King Horemheb making an offering to the Theban gods, Amun-Ra and Mut. The figures and texts are sculptured in sunken relief, usually applied for outside decoration, but then everywhere after the Amarna period.

king offering to Amun-Ra and Mut, photo: Maria Nilsson

3D Photography, Modeling and anotations: Philippe Martinez, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, philippe.martinez@upmc.fr

Digital models created with plexus, software by Kevin Cain (plexus-3d.com), kevin@insightdigital.org