小斯特勞斯的《埃及進行曲》- 埃及《納米爾調色板》

小斯特勞斯的《埃及進行曲》- 埃及《納米爾調色板》沒什麽關係，是我自己把他們串起來的。

最近讀了關於法國百歲老人，現代人類學家 Claude Levi - Strauss的一些文章，采訪，他老人家對人類的遠景很悲觀，我也變得己人憂地， 很鬱悶。 遠在上個世紀30年代，他放棄巴黎舒適的生活(他出生在一個藝術氣氛很濃的富裕的猶太家庭），懷揣著16世紀寫的一本關於亞馬孫的書，就隻身前往巴西，印第安人的部落與他們一起生活，他想遠離現代文明， 研究到底是什麽赤裸裸的人，人類文明又是怎麽起源的。

也可能是受孩子的影響，我也開始對Classics也感興趣了，想去追尋遠古，人類文明的嬰幼兒時期，這次回國帶回了一些關於古文明的書， 有時聽著音樂讀這些書很享受， 如果說幾千年前的古國時代是人類的嬰幼兒時期，那我們現在所處的時代又是什麽時期呢？青少年反叛時期？ 但願我們的時代不是人類文明的老年癡呆期！

我 一直在慶幸自己 能生活在文明發達的今天，物質精神享受有極大的選擇，人性解放自由， 可慢慢地我又在想，人類文明究竟要發展到什麽地步啊？人是很貪婪的，而我們腳下的土地還是那一塊， 而且正在慢慢地退色。

古埃及是古國中的古國，當我聽到小斯特勞斯的《埃及進行曲》， 我的眼前好像出現了古埃及的古戰場上的廝殺，統一上下埃及的埃及開國君王美尼斯頭頂神鷹率領千軍萬馬趾高氣揚的樣子， 這是我聽音樂自己想的，也許小斯特勞斯創作這首曲子的靈感是來自某位埃及女公主什麽的，皇宮裏翩翩起舞， 我不知道，那我就自己大膽地亂聯想。  其實我對埃及不是很懂，正因為這樣自己趁機多學多了解古文明史， 滿足自己對人類文明嬰幼時期的好奇心。

《納爾邁調色板》

作者: 不詳
創作時間：公元前3000年左右（出土於黑拉康波裏斯）       
材質與技法：石板，浮雕
規格： 高63.5cm
現藏地：埃及開羅，埃及美術館

    高63厘米，出土於黑拉康波裏斯的一塊盾形石板，兩麵雕刻著紀念荷露斯名為納爾邁的國王統治的畫麵。
左：納爾邁頭戴上埃及的白色王冠並佩帶早期君主製度的其他標誌，手持權標頭欲重擊跪著的戰俘。戰俘的頭旁有一組象形文字，表明此人叫瓦師；上方的圖案可能補充說明荷露斯國王（獵鷹）已經打敗了三角洲上的敵人，或許瓦師是敵人的首領。納爾邁身後是一個高級人物，他拿著國王的便鞋。

右：上欄和下欄是征服形象，中欄是用糾纏在一起的被俘的神獸表達的和睦主題。上欄中，納爾邁頭戴下埃及的紅色王冠，在兩個特別的高級人物陪同下，走過去查看兩行砍下首級餓被縛的敵人。這三個人的前麵是四個打著特殊形狀的旗子的人，這些旗子後來被稱作“荷露斯的追隨者”或“追隨荷露斯的神”。無論他們的起源為何，在納爾邁時代，他們顯然是一係列象征王權的符號的組成部分。無首敵人之上的符號意義不明。下欄中，由公牛象征的國王的征服力量直接向有圍牆的設防城鎮進攻。

Egyptischer-Marsch op.335 - Johann Strauss Jr

Herbert Von Karajan-Conductor
Berlin philarmonic

The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the king Narmer. On one side the king is depicted with the White crown of Upper (southern) Egypt and the other side depicts the king wearing the Red Crown of Lower (northern) Egypt. Along with the Scorpion Macehead and the Narmer Maceheads, also found together in the "Main Deposit" at Hierakonpolis, the Narmer palette provides one of the earliest known depictions of an Egyptian king, who is shown using many of the classic conventions of Egyptian art that must already have been formalized by the time of the palette's creation.^[1] The Egyptologist Bob Brier has referred to the Narmer Palette as "the first historical document in the world".^[2]

The palette, which has survived five millennia in almost perfect condition, was discovered by British archeologists James E. Quibell and Frederick W. Green in what they called the main deposit in the temple of Horus at Hierakonpolis during the dig season of 1897–1898.^[3] Also found at this dig were the Narmer Macehead and the Scorpion Macehead. The exact place and circumstances of these finds were not recorded very clearly by Quibell and Green. In fact, Green's report placed the palette in a different layer one or two yards away from the deposit, which is considered to be more accurate on the basis of the original excavation notes.^[4] It has been suggested that these objects were royal donations made to the temple.^[5] Hierakonpolis was the ancient capital of Upper Egypt during the pre-dynastic Naqada III phase of Egyptian history.

Palettes were typically used for grinding cosmetics, but this palette is too large and heavy (and elaborate) to have been created for personal use, and was likely a ritual or votive object, specifically made for donation to, or use in, a temple. One theory put forward^{[by whom?]} was that it was used to grind cosmetics to adorn the statues of the gods.

The Narmer Palette is part of the permanent collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Scholarly debate on the palette

The palette has raised considerable scholarly debate over the years. In general the arguments fall into one of two camps: scholars who believe that the palette is a record of actual events, and other academics who argue that it is an object designed to establish the mythology of united rule over Upper and Lower Egypt by the king. It had been thought that the palette either depicted the unification of Lower Egypt by the king of Upper Egypt, or recorded a recent military success over the Libyans, or the last stronghold of a Lower Egyptian dynasty based in Buto. More recently scholars such as Nicholas Millet have argued that the palette does not represent a historical event (such as the unification of Egypt), but instead represents the events of the year in which the object was dedicated to the temple. Whitney Davis has suggested that the iconography on this and other pre-dynastic palettes has more to do with establishing the king as a visual metaphor of the conquering hunter, caught in the moment of delivering a mortal blow to his enemies.John Baines has suggested that the events portrayed are "tokens of royal achievement" from the past, and that "the chief purpose of the piece is not to record an event but to assert that the king dominates the ordered world in the name of the gods and has defeated internal, and especially external, forces of disorder。