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88 art: Africa time of Christian persecution ended, Pope Athanasius of Alexandria attempted to take Menas’s body back to Phyrgia, but each camel on which he placed the body refused to move Thus Menas was buried in a wooden casket on the spot, in a desolate region southwest of Alexandria (present-day Abu Mina) The martyr’s tomb was a shrine in a basilica with underground chambers The miracles at the shrine were recorded in several languages: Greek, Latin, Ethiopic, Nubian, and Coptic The recordings portray Menas as punishing misdeeds, performing acts of healing, or saving people from disaster Pottery flasks called ampullae, which were manufactured in great quantities and transported all over the Mediterranean from the sixth through eighth centuries, were said to have miraculous powers, even at a distance, when filled with sacred oil or water On some flasks Menas, like many Egyptian saints, is portrayed on horseback prepared to fight a war against the forces of evil Other objects, such as a sixth-century ivory box (pyxis) displayed in the British Museum, portray him in a sanctuary flanked by camels or being executed Some scholars doubt Menas actually existed and believe that his cult represented a survival of Egyptian religion, incorporating the cults of the ancient gods Osiris, Horus, Anubis, and Amen Coptic fresco paintings portraying Menas are found in a room of a small temple in the enclosure wall of Medinet Habu, the Mortuary Temple of Ramses III, in the Coptic town of Jême on the west bank of the Nile The color palette is limited to black, gray, three shades of red, and white Coptic paintings tend to stylize the human figure, flattening it out and portraying enlarged, opened eyes Like the subject on the pottery flasks, Saint Menas appears on horseback, with camels, sometimes engaged in a miraculous act Northwest Africa The Soninké people built their capital city, Kumbi Saleh, on the edge of the Sahara, located in present-day Mauritania Kumbi Saleh became extremely important in the trans-Saharan trade routes The inhabitants not only were farmers but also engaged in trade connected with the salt and copper mines, which developed to the north To the south, trade routes extended into Ghana, which had extensive gold mines During the Middle Ages, Kumbi Saleh became the capital of the empire of Ghana The trade routes opened opportunities for raids from northern invaders and for the spread of Islam, which entered North Africa in the early seventh century Kumbi Saleh was pillaged by the Islamic Almoravids in 1086 A pre-Islamic presence in Kumbi Saleh is distinguished by ceramic objects, such as the fragment of a terra-cotta female figure that dates to about the sixth or seventh century The small figure fragment, which measures 4½ inches, possi- bly was used as a portable art form It portrays a slender waist and pronounced buttocks West Africa Bura is located in southwestern Niger close to the Niger River Little is known of the Bura civilization (ca the third to 11th centuries) Most of the objects excavated from the site in Niger known as Asinda-Sikka are terra-cotta heads and vessels Some stone heads and human figures also were found Whether made of terra-cotta or stone, free standing or attached to pots, all the heads at Asinda-Sikka portray similar features They are flat and round, rectangular, or arrowheadshaped forms with elongated necks Their simplified vertical noses, small circular eyes, and oval-shaped mouths (when present) are raised from the background The Bura artists created the raised features using a technique that is similar to relief but is the additive modeling technique for clay rather than the subtractive sculpture technique The heads are distinctively different from one another and characterized by varying hairstyles, scars, and head shapes It is unknown whether the different styles reflect stylistic changes that occurred over time More than 600 terra-cotta vessels were found at a burial site in Asinda-Sikka The funerary pots contained iron arrowheads, teeth, and other portions of human skulls Traditional African cultures commonly refer to the significance of the head, which is considered the location of spiritual essence, vital energy, and four of the human senses The preservation of parts of human heads in the pots at Asinda-Sikka seems to reflect spiritual empowerment The spiritual connection to the head is further emphasized in the portrayal of human elements on the funeral pots Some of the round pots are covered with depictions of facial features, while others include extensions, such as a flattened head attached to an elongated neck, that emanate from the mouths of the vessels Tall cylindrical pots support human figures, and although women are sometimes depicted, many of the figures are men on horseback Both men and horses are stylized, with raised facial features similar to those on the heads discussed earlier In addition, the clay is modeled on the surface of the figures to simulate jewelry (necklaces, pectorals, and bracelets) In African cultures this type of jewelry display indicates royal status These pots thus may mark the burial site or royalty Igbo Ukwu is the name of a culture and an excavation site located east of the Niger River The people of Igbo Ukwu, ancestors of the present-day Nri people who are part of the Igbo ethnic group, were the earliest known smiths of copper and its alloys to produce metal sculpture in West Africa The artwork found at the site is associated with a senior titled man from a specialized clan of ritual leaders known as the Eze Nri
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