Why have so many ancient Egyptian statues lost their noses? There are complex reasons behind the destruction of ancient Egyptian works, Julia Wolkoff writes for Artsy. Research by American archaeologist and Egyptologist Edward Bleiberg suggests that myriad “political, religious, personal and criminal motivations” formed the basis for those seemingly deliberate and largely consistent patterns of destruction. It certainly wasn’t all because of wear and tear, and surely Napoleon’s cannonball didn’t shoot them all. It was rather an ingrained culture of iconoclasm that resulted in their vandalism.

The vandals targeted the nose, ears, and left arm. Striking off a nose meant the statue ceases to breath, and therefore dies. Hammering away the ears meant it can no longer hear prayers. And in statues representing a human being making an offering to the gods, the left arm — which was most commonly used to make such offerings — was cut off. Other statuary was attacked for political reasons: Two powerful Egyptian queens, Hatshepsut and Nefertiti, had their legacies eroded as the vast wealth of their “imagistic and inscribed memory” posed threats to their successors. This aspect of Egypt’s history will be the main theme of a months-long exhibition, Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt, set to kick off next week at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in Missouri.