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I got around to listening to the life of Sinuhe and when the narrator (Sinuhe?) is telling about the new king he says "he's vengeful, a smasher of foreheads". That's oddly specific. Is that just a phrase - something that emphasises strengh? Does it have any cultural meaning? Is smashing foreheads seen as extra terrible? This just jumped out to me so I was wondering ^^

sehruncreative

thatlittleegyptologist:

‘smasher of heads’ (line 55) comes after a long section wherein Sinuhe laments the loss of the King when speaking to another. In this section he talks about how good the new King will be at ruling Egypt, and then starts listing things like 'He is the possessor of Wisdom’ or 'It was he who subjugated the foreign lands while his father was in the palace’. 'Smasher of heads’ is a very specific royal propagandistic image of strength that you see turn up in many battle reliefs, wherein the King is shown holding the hair of multiple enemies in one hand and a mace in the other:

Carved and painted relief of Rameses II holding enemies from Syria, Nubia, and Libya by the hair. These enemies are all overlapped on top of each other to give a 'group' effect. Ramesses II is shown larger than them and is holding an axe ready to beat them.ALT
Ramesses III holding enemies by the hair from the temple of Medinet Habu. Rameses III stands on the left with his arm raised as if to strike the group of enemies he holds by the hair in front of him.ALT

In one way this demonstrates the power of the King over his enemies, and on the other it falls in line with Ma'at, wherein images are said to be imbued with Heka and whatever they depict could come to fruition. By showing the enemies in the defeated position the Egyptians believed that it was more likely for their enemies to be defeated to 'balance’ Ma'at. This royal image goes all the way back to the Early Dynastic period with the Narmer palette:

Image of the Narmer Palette. The palette is spear shaped pointing down with a rounded 'point'. At the top of the palette are two stylised cow heads. The main scene shows King Narmer holding the hair of a subjugated enemy in one hand and a mace being raised in the other. In the top right corner there is a proto Horus falcon, behind Narmer on the left is a servant carrying the sandals of the king, and below the king are the bodies of defeated enemies.ALT

So this motif is one invoked again and again, so much so that it would be common knowledge for the Egyptians listening to the tale. Interestingly, the literal translation of the line is 'one who is vengeful, one who splits open the top of heads’ which is much more gruesome than 'one who smashes foreheads’!

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    I got around to listening to the life of Sinuhe and when the narrator (Sinuhe?) is telling about the new king he says...