Queries & Comments

BAR Resurrects Slain Philistine Warrior

To the Editor:

The readers of BAR may be interested to learn that the cover design for the July/August 1982 issue of BAR has “resurrected” a slain Philistine warrior by rotating the image 90 degrees from horizontal to vertical and reversing it so that he faces toward the right. The figure appears on the exterior north wall of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III as part of a large scene carved in relief to commemorate the victory of the Egyptians over the fleet of the Sea Peoples in the eighth year of the reign of Ramesses III (c. March 1175 B.C.–February 1174 B.C., according to the Wente/Van Siclen chronology of the New Kingdom). The body of the slain Philistine is represented on the wall as falling overboard from his ship; he is facing downward with his head oriented toward the viewer’s left.