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3 1162 04538735 5
ARCH/EOLOGICAL SURVEY OF EGYPT
Edited by F. L. GRIFFITH, B.A., F.S.A.
EL BERSHEH
PART II.
BY
F. L. GRIFFITH, B.A., F.S.A., and PERCY E. NEWBERRY, M.R.A.S.
WITH APPENDIX, PLANS AND MEASUREMENTS OF THE TOMBS
BY
G. WILLOUGIIBY FRASER, F.S.A.
WITH TWENTY-THREE PLATES
SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND.
I. O N L) C) N :
SOLD AT
The offices ()F THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND, 37, Great Kossell Street, W.C,
AND 15, Blagden Street, Boston, Mass., D.S.A. ;
AND BY KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Paternoster House, Chaeing Ceoss Road;
B. QUARITCH, 15, Piccadilly; A. ASHBR & Co., 13, Bedioud Street, Covent Garden.
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ARCH/EOLOGICAL SURVEY OF EGYPT
Edited by F. L. GRIFFITH, B.A., F.S.A.
EL BEKSHEH
PART II.
BY
F. L. GRIFFITH, B.A., F.S.A., and PERCY E. NEWBERRY, M.R.A.S.
WITH APPENDIX, PLANS AND MEASUREMENTS OF THE TOMBS
BY
G. WILLOUGHBY FRASER, F.S.A.
WITH TWENTY-THREE PLATES
SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND.
LONDON:
SOLD AT
The offices OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND, 37, Great Russell Street, W.C,
AND 15, Blagdkx Street, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.;
AND BY KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Pateenosteh House, Chaiung Cross Road;
B. QUARITCH, 15, PiccAUii.i.y ; A. ASHER k Co., 1:5, Bedford Street, Covenc Gardex.
EGYPT EXPLOEATION FUND.
prestOent. SIR JOHN FOWLER, Baht., K.C.M.G.
Wicc=iprc6i0cnts.
Sir E. Maunde Thompson, K.C.B.,D.C.L., LL.D. Charles Dudlhy AVarner, Esq., L.II.D., LL.D.
(U.S.A.). TuE Rev. W. C. Winslow, D.I)., D.C.L.
{Hon. Treas. and Hun. Sec, U.S.A.). The Hon. Edward G. Mason (U.S.A.).
The Hon. John Geo. Bourinot, (Canada).
PuoF. G. IMaspero, D.C.L. (Franco).
Prop. Ad. Erman, Ph.D. (Germany).
JosiAU Mullens, Esq. (Australia).
M. Charles Hentsch (Switzerland).
D.C.L.
Iboii. JTccaaurers. H. A. Gruebeb, Esq., F.S.A. The Rev. VV. C. Win.slow, D.D., D.C.L. (Boston, U.S.A.).
Clarence H. Clark, Esq. (Penn. U.S.A.).
/iBcmbcrs of T. H. Baylis, i:sq., M.A., QC. Miss Bradbury. J. S. Cotton, Esq., M.A. W. E. Crum, Esq., M.A. M. J. DE Morgan (Directeur General des Anti-
quiies de I'Eijypte). Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D. Aethur John Evans, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. W. Fowler, Es<j. Major - General Sir Francis Grknfell,
G.C.M.G., K.C.B. F. L. Griffith, Esq., B.A., F.S.A. T. Farmer Uall, Esq. Prof. T. Hayter Lewis, F.S.A. Mrs. IMcClcre.
Committee.
The Rev. W. MAuGuEaoR, M.A.
J. H. MiDDLETON, Esq., M.A., Litt.D., D.C.L.
A. S. Murray, Esq., LL.D., F.S.A.
D. Parrisii, Esq. (U.S.A.).
Francis Wm. Percival, Esq., F.S.A.
Lieut. -Col. J. C. Ross, R.E., C.M.G.
The Rev. Prof. A. H. Sayob, M.A., LL.D.
n. Villiers Stuart, Esq.
Mrs. Tiraru.
The Rev. H. G. Tomkins, M.A.
The Rt. Rev. The Lord Bishop of Truro.
Prof. E. B. Tylor, D.O.L.
Hermann Weber, Esq., M.D.
Major-General Sir Charles Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S.
CONTENTS.
Preface
FAOE
i
PLjiTE
I. Introduction
II. Detailed Description of the Tombs —
Tomb No. 1 [Tomb No. 2] Tomb No. 3 Tomb No. 4 Tomb No. 5 Tomb No. 6 Tomb No. 7 Tomb No. 8 Tomb No. 9 Tomb No. 10
III. Selected Inscriptions from the Quarry op Hbt-Nub
Appendix. Mr. G. Willoughby Fraser's Report on the Survey op the Wady D£r en-Nakhleh ....
|
17 |
L, IV.-IX |
|
27 |
|
|
27 |
X |
|
29 |
X., XI |
|
30 |
XII.-XVII |
|
36 |
|
|
37 |
XVIIL, XIX |
|
38 |
XX., XXI |
|
42 |
XX |
|
43 |
XX |
47 XXII.-XXIII.
Index
55
07
II.
List of Plates (with references to the pages on wliicli they
are described) . . - . . . . . . . 71
PEEFACE.
The present volume completes the survey of the momiments of the Middle Kingdom at El Bcrsheh. It contains the description of nine inscribed tombs, that of Tehutihetep (Tomb No. 2) having formed the subject of Part I. of the Memoir.
None of the tombs described in this volume approach that of Tehutihetep either in general elegance or in delicacy of detail ; but, to illustrate the style of painting some fragments from Tomb No. 1 (Tehutinekht) have been reproduced in colour : for the drawings of these, executed with the greatest fidelity to the originals, Ave have to thank Miss Paget. Tavo samples of architectural colouring from the same tomb (in jdI. v.) are from fac-similes by Mr. Blackden. The outline plates are the work of Mr. NcAvberr}- ; the j^lans and survey are chiefly due to Mr. Fraser, whose report on the El Bersheh valley (the Wady Der en-Nakhleh) is printed as an Appendix to the Memoir.
The scenes and inscriptions from these tombs are almost entirely unpul)lished, and the graffiti of Het-nub, dealt with here by way of illustration, have not before been transliterated or translated. The texts being extremely difficult, the translations are only tentative. The descrijitions are the joint work of Mr. Griffith and Mr. Newberry ; for the Introduction Mr. Griffith alone is responsible.
EL BEESHBH.
:f^i^t II.
I. INTRODUCTION.
A OAREFDL survey of any ancient site in Egypt is generally rewai'ded with plenty of new dis- coveries, and the work of the Archasological Survey at El Bersheh has been no exception to the rule. One painted scene, that of the Colossus on the Sledge,^ had made the place famous early in the century, but its context and the remainder of the scenes in the tomb of Tehutihetep were almost wholly unknown, while only one of the other inscribed tombs was on record, having been described by Prof. Sayce in 1890.^ It was even difficult to discover the situation of the tombs on any map.
We now offer to our subscribers a detailed map of the tomb-valley at El Bersheh (called by the natives Wady Der en-Nakhleh),^ and a complete view of the tombs of the Middle Kingdom contained in it, while only a few less important monuments of other periods are reserved to accompany similar matter from various sites in a future volume. Nor must
we omit to mention here the discovery of the quarries of Het-nub as a direct result of the Society's survey, since their inscriptious have afforded us the most welcome light on the history ot the personages dealt with in the following pages.
Like the tombs at Beni Hasan, those of El Bersheh are chiefly of nomarchs who lived under the Middle Kingdom. Their province
was known as the Hare nome, ;:^^ Unt in
~[ j r I 1
Egyptian, and their capital was called Khmenu ZZ^, Unu ^, or n ;^ Per-Tehuti (house
of Thoth), names that are, however, not quite convertible.* By the Greeks this city was called Hermopolis, from the god Thoth or Hermes, whose principal shrine was there. The site of Khmenu is easily recognisable in the extensive mounds of Eshmuncn, lying in the middle of the Nile valley, a little north of the latitude of Bl Bersheh. The limits .of the
' £1 Bersheh, Pt. I., pi. xv. * Khmenu is tlic commonest nanio, being frequently found
' Prof. Maspero added to this publication some inscrip- in the titles of Thoth : rcT-Tcliuli often occurs in a priestly
tions copied by Xestor de I'llotc in a third tomb, but title. Unu is perhaps a " profane " name, as oi)i)osed to
believed them to belong to the same. j the " sacred " name Khmenu, but the latter is the origin
' There is no need to change the well-known name of of the Coptic and Arabic names : both occur together in
this group of tombs, El Bersheh being in the immediate | the graffiti of Ilct-nub, i. and viii. (see pi. .x.'cii. and
neighbourhood. I pp. 48 and 52).
6
EL BERSHEH.
nome are uncertain, but at least we know that while the tombs of Sheikh Sa'id and El Bersheh lay within it, those of Beni Hasan and Mer belons: to its neio^hbours on the north and south. Both of its cemeteries are in the eastern cliffs, but the nome must have stretched right across the valley, for in Ptolemy's Geography we find it reduced to a territory on the west side, the eastern portion having been taken from it by Hadi'iau to form the new nome of Antinoe. That a division of it into East and West existed in early times, for certain purposes, is shown by the inscrip- tions accompanying the scene of the colossus in Tomb No. 2, in which the troops of the East and those of the West of the Hare nome are mentioned separately.^ Its northern limit we may perhaps place at the corner of the East cliff, between Sheikh Timay and Sheikh Abadeh ; its southern near Bawit. It would thus have comprised a length of about thirty miles of the valley.
The inscriptions of our nomarchs constantly refer to Khmenu under its various names. Another place-name is \'\® Thereta, be-
lieved to be identical with the modern Deriit. It is found only once, as the town or village to which the colossal statue of Tehutihetep was dragged ; in or near it was the palace (?) of Tehutihetep, called " Tehutihetep firm in favour," with the information that it was "in the Hare nome."^
We know not what other towns or villages existed in the province : with Antinoe and Akhenaten's capital at Tell el Amarna we have no concern at this period. But the nomarchs drew wealth also from the desert. There they hunted wild animals on a grand scale, and thence the Bedawin brought in supplies of precious frankincense and of kohl
El Bersheh, Pt. I., p. 21.
Thereta, I.e. p. 22 ; the palace,. p. 23.
for the eyes ;^ above all, far away in the desert behind Tell el Amarna, the princes of the Hare nome commanded a most plentiful source of the finest oriental alabaster or arragonite. The fame of the quarries of Het-nub [1 ^^ was spread throughout Egypt from the earliest times. Una tells us that he obtained thence the alabaster altar for the pyramid of King Merenra at Memphis,* and in the XVIIIth Dynasty Thothmes III. dedicated an altar " of
clear shes-stone 0 i of Het-nub " to Amen in
I I
his great temple at Karnak.^ The inscriptions in the quarries themselves, and in the tombs of El Bersheh, indicate how frequent were the expeditions for alabaster sent thither during the Middle Kingdom.
The nomarchs of the Old Kingdom were buried at Sheikh Sa'id, almost directly oppo- site to the city of Khmenu ; those of the Middle Kingdom, distinguishable at once by the peculiar title of " great chief f '^® j of the nome," went somewhat further south, and in course of time their tombs adorned the north side of the valley of Der en-Nakhleh in pro- fusion. The ruin of these monuments is grievous to see. Before Egypt became a Greek kingdom, the quarrymen had cut away their facades and pierced deep into the solid hill behind.^ Thus undermined, the upper strata could not resist the shocks of earth- quake, and, shifting many inches down the slope, ground and shattered the walls beneath them. The tombs remained in this condition
3 Hunting, I.e. pi. vii., p. 13 ; frankincense and kohl, below, p. 46. Compare the famous scene of bringing kohl to Khuemhetep in Beni Hasan, Part I., pi. xxx. (associated with a hunting scene).
* Petric, History, p. 95 ; E.E.F. Archceological Report, 1893-4, p. 17.
° Brugsch, Thesaurtis, v., p. 1187, compare Champollion, Monuments, iv., pi. cccxvii., where, however, the inscription on the figure of the altar is omitted ; see also Brugsch, Did. Geog., pp. 319, 320.
* See Mr. Eraser's Report, below, p. 60.
TOMBS OF- THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
for many centuries, until tbeir re-discovery in 1817 by a party of Europeans, amongst whom was the indefatigable Bankes ; and for many years later, during which they were visited by numerous artists and savants — Eicci, Bonomi, Arundale, Nestor de I'Hote, Lepsius, Wil- kinson, Sayce, and Major Brown — all of whom took notes of great value. It was not until 1890 that the destroying hand again came upon them — this time in the shape of a native prospector for antiquities, who did not scruple to cut out many square feet of scenes or in- scriptions in order to secure a few inches for sale, or simply to hack what he did not care to take away. The same scourge visited many neighbouring localities, and the memory of it will never be effaced from the minds of Egyptolo- gists and lovers of antiquity. Two years later our surveyors arrived at the spot, cleared the tombs so far as they could without risk of causing further collapses, and by sorting the debris recovered the fragments that the early quarrymen had spared but the earthquake had thrown down. To their collections we have added all the information we could glean from the older copies, whether published or in manuscript. It will be observed that the copies of what remain are not exhaustive throughout, but we now have a record more or less complete of almost everything that can exist there in the way of scenes and inscrip- tions : as to the older collections, we may, perhaps, hope for some further light from the MSS. of Lepsius and of Rosellini, the pub- lication of which may be looked for shortly under the auspices of the German and Italian Governments.^
' For details of work done at various times at El Ueislich see Part I., pp. 3-5. With regard to the tombs described in this volume, we have only to record that Nestor de THote copied one scene and the inscription on the lintel of Tomb No. 5 (below, p. 31 ff'.), that Prof. Sayce copied many of the inscriptions in Tomb No. 8, and that Major Brown took photographs of an important inscription in the latter.
The inscribed tombs of the Middle Kingdom^ at El Bersheh are excavated on the north side of the Wady Der en-Nakhleh, beginning at the corner which looks south-west, and continuing eastwards on the same contour; the last three in the following list, however, are on a lower level, close together, in front of Tomb No. 5.'
Tomb No. 1. — Tomb of the nomarcli Tehutiuekht sou of Nehera; his mother's name is Satuazhetep or Satuz- lielep,^ and his wife was Hathorhetep born of Tchuti- lietep. A waxir is also mentioned, but his name is lost.
Tomb Ho. 2. — Tomb of the nomarch Tehutihetep son of Kay sou of Nehera; his mother's name is Satkheperka, his wife's Hathorhetep. A multitude of names of rela- tives aud subordinates are also given ; of these we may note Sep, Neklit, Aha aud Ahanekht amongst the males, Satuzhetep aud Uazkaus amongst the females, all bear- ing these names being subordinates (or their mothers).
Tomb No. 3. — The remains mention " a nomarch and wazir," whose name is lost, aud the " eldest sou " Sep born of Uazkaus, with his brothers Tehutihetep,
Major Brown's negative of the scene of the Colossus in Tomb No. 2 (Part I., p. T)), which we believed to be lost, is happily in the possession of Jliss Brodrick, a lady well known in England by her writings on Egypt. (See al.so p. 46.)
" This term needs definition. In the Old Kingdom we comprise the whole of the Memphite dynasties down to the Ylllth, the two last being at present mere names. The Middle Kingdom commences with two dynasties of Hera- cleopolite kings (according to Manetho), who either overcame the Memphites or rose on the ruins of the Egyptian monarchy. It appears that after a short period of compara- tive prosperity, the Heracleopolite kings found themselves in conflict with the South country ; the Xlth Dynasty of Theban kings asserted their independence, and eventually ruled the whole of Egypt. The Xlltli Dynasty, though connected with Thebes, removed its capital to a more central situation, either at Memphis or a little .south of it, and inaugurated a much more vigorous rule than had been known in Egypt since the Vlth Dynasty. The Middle Kingdom comiM'ises also the following dynasties to the end of the Hyksos period, but the inscribed tombs at Bl Bersheh end before the terniinatiun of the Xllth Dynasty.
■' See pi. iii.
< The variant of I '^ for t °^ ^ 4^^ '^ '" '"'"''^ tomb shows that wo have here to give to | and even to ot,
the value of ux instead of hex. This must also be the case in Tomb No. 2.
p 2
EL BERSHEH.
Aha and Alianekht. Sep was royal scribe and scribe of the Hare nome.
Tomb No. 4. — Fra<jments give the name of Nehera born of Kema, with those of his two eldest sons Kay and Tehutinekht.
Tomb No. 5. — Tomb of the nomarch and u-az\r Ahanc'kht son of Tehutinekht.
Tomb No. 6. — A single fragment names Tehutinekht born of Aukh.
Tomb No. 7. — Tomb of the " great «ai-priest of Thoth," Nehera.
Tomb No. 8. — The inscriptions commemorate two persons, the nomarch Ahanekht and the steward of the royal harim Aha, who " has made his tomb at the foot of his lord."
Tomb No. 9. — A fragment of the lintel gives the name Khnem(?)neklit.
Tomb No. 10. — The inscriptions commemorate the nomarch Ahanekht and a personage Tehutinekht.
Our priBcipal task in this Introduction is to determine the age or succession of the tombs, in order to estimate their historical significance.
The position of the last three immediately beneath Tomb No. 5, their diminutive size, and the prominent position accorded to Ahanekht in Tombs Nos. 8 and 10, combined with the statement in Tomb No. 8 that Aha had made his tomb at the foot of his lord, show at once that they are tombs of subordinates of the great nomarch and wazlr Ahanekht, who was buried in Tomb No. 5. This observation re- duces the problems to be solved from ten to seven.
Unfortunately, only Tomb No. 2, that of Te- hutihetep, contains royal names. Its columnar portico proclaims the Xllth Dynasty, and the cartouches within it extend from Amenemhat IT. to Usertesen III. With regard to the others, we may first lay down the rule that the nomarchs who call themselves ® ® are all of the Middle Kingdom, that title being first found under the Heracleopolite Dynasties (IX. -X.).^ This test is at once responded to
' The principal monuments known to be of the Hera- cleopolite period are certain tombs at Asyut, numbered 3, 4, and 5, in Griffith, TJie Imcriptions of Siid and Der jRifeh.
wherever it can be applied in the above list. Further, when one examines the groups of tombs that exist in the local cemeteries of Egypt, it is readily seen that in general the finest or most pretentious sepulchre in each group is also the latest, at any rate amongst those of equals in rank. Although it is not easy in their shattered condition to state much positively as to their size or style, we may perhaps learn something about the relative ages of the tombs of El Bersheh from a con- sideration of the principle just enunciated. There are no signs of a columnar portico, excepting in Tomb No. 2. The others had doubtless much plainer facades, and are there- fore probably earlier. The large tomb of Ahanekht was excavated for a man of unusual distinction, and therefore need not be later than the inferior ones around it. Its facade, indeed, can best be compared to that of the IXth or Xth Dynasty tomb of Khety at Asyut; but we know hardly anything of the differences of style in this respect during the Middle Kingdom. It is very unfortunate that at El Bersheh all the rest of the fa9ades are utterly destroyed. The absence of the kheker orna- ment from Tomb No. 5 and the related group Nos. 8-10 is a sign of early date.
Personal names often afford a clue as to age. The only personal names of the Heracleopolite dynasties that are thoroughly well ascertained are two, Khety and Tefab, the former of which must have been very prevalent then, and con- tinued to be commonly used throughout the Middle Kingdom, though hardly known at any earlier period. The prevalence of names com- pounded with neJcht at El Bersheh may be in favour of a rather later date — not before the Xlth Dynasty.
So far, then, we have but one fixed point of age, in the tomb of Tehutihetep ; the remainder of the tombs we are inclined to place earlier, but we can assert no more than that most of them, if not all, belong to the Middle
GRAFFITI OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM AT HET-NUB.
Kingdom, "We will now see what genealogies can do towards removing this vagueness. The tombs generally fm'nish ns with the name of the occupant's father or mother ; in that of Tehutihetep Ave find a record of no less than four generations, yet a reconstruction of the genealogy from the evidence of the tombs (shown above, pp. 3, 4) seems hopeless.
Besides the tombs, however, there are some other records of these princes of the Herino- polite nome in the inscriptions of the alabaster quarries of Het-nnb.^ It is easy to select from Messrs. Blackden and Eraser's important col- lection of graffiti from this place the names resemblino; or identical with those in the tombs.
The following is a list of such : —
Gr. I.— Great wa/^-priest [of Thoth] Teliutiueklit,
born of Teluitilietep. II. — [prince of the Hare nome?] Ahanekbt, his
son Khnemater (year 20 ?). VII. — Wa^h- and prince of the Hare noiue, Kay
son of Nehera son of Tehutinekht son of Kay
(year 5). VIII. — The same as the last (year 7). IX. — Prince of the Hare nome, Nehera born
of Kema (3"ear 7, with an oflicial named
Utemkhet). X. — Superintendent of priests, Amenemhat born
of Sat-uz(?)-hetep and son of Nehera son of
Kay (year 31 of Usertoseu I.). XI. — Prince of the Hare nome, Nehera born of
Kema (year 6). XII. Great woti-priest of Thoth, Tehutinekht
son of Nehera sou of Tehutinekht son of
Kay.
' These quarries, first visited by Mr. Newberry in 1891, were included in Prof. Petrie's survey of Tell el Amarna, and are briefly but instructively described in his memoir on that site. The graffiti were carefully copied by Messrs. Blackden and Fraser, to the former of whom belongs the credit of discovering the name of Het-nub in them. Mr. Fraser has also contributed some useful notes on the quarries and their inscriptions to the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arclueology (vol. xvi., p. 73, fl^.). Nearly all the inscriptions published in Messrs. Blackden and Fraser's Collection of Hieratic Graffiti from the Alabaster Quarries of Hat-nub were found in the larger quarry.
Gr. XIII. — [prince of the Hare nome] Ahanekbt (year 4?) : scribe, name uncertain. Xlir. (h) — Superintendent of the fields, Tehuti- nekht son of Kiincmater: his son Tehutinekht- ankh. XIV. — Prince of the Hare nome, Nehera born
of Kema (year 8). XV.— 8. Tehutihetep son (?) of Tehutihetep.
9. Prince of the Hare nome, Tehutinekht
son of Tehutinekht. 12. Chief artificer, Ameny son of Sep, under King Usertesen III.
We must first call attention to the remark- able way in which the filiation is indicated in the hieratic graffiti. Not only does the name of the father invariably precede that of the son, as is commonly the case in inscriptions of the Middle Kingdom, but the sign of filia- tion "^^ " son " is entirely omitted except in No. X., so that the names, even up to four in succession, are simply placed end to end. It appears from the unpublished papyri which Mr. Petrie discovered at Kahun that this again was customary in hieratic of the period.
Another phenomenon is more important. Of the long graffiti only one, No. X., the pecu- liarities of which, perhaps, indicate a difference of age, is dated in the reign of a king. All those of Kay and Nehera born of Keraa are specifically dated in years of their own nom- archship, and the two of Ahanekht are un- doubtedly dated on the same principle, though no title, or at most a very brief one, was specified. This is not the only respect in which these nomarchs emulated kings ; they also applied to themselves the phrases, "life, prosperity and health!" and " living for ever to eternity." Further, in ancient Egypt oaths were almost invariably sworn by the life of the king ; but while Amenemhat in Gr. X. invokes king Usertesen, the scribe of Gr. IX. swears to the truth of his statement by the " life of Nehera." In the graffiti bearing the name of Tehutinekht, " the great itai-priest of Thoth," royal epithets are assumed, but there is no pretence to the right of dating.
EL BERSHEH.
The style of writing in Alianeklit's grafBti approaclies that of the YIth Dynasty, and must be considei'ably earher than the others, all of which are written in one style, except that of Araenemhat. The abandonment by the last-named of all semi-royal pretensions, and his references to king Usertesen, show that a change had taken place in the relations between king and no march. It is natural that the sti'ong hand of the monarchs who founded and established the Xllth Dynasty should have made itself felt early amongst the nobles.
A faint trace of the right of dating by nomarchship is seen in the inscription on the facade of the tomb of Ameny or Amenemhat at Beni Hasan. With all loj^alty Ameny caused the date of his entombment (?) to be written according to the regnal year of Usertesen I. ; but in a second line he gives the coincident year of his nomarchship, thus showing how long he had ruled the nome. Such a record upon a tomb would be innocent enough at any period, but its occurrence in this form shows that it is a unique survival of what we now perceive to have been the practice of Ameny' s predecessors.
From the above considerations it will be seen that the graffiti of the Middle Kingdom at Het-nub fall into three groups belonging to successive periods.
(n) Ahanekht.
(&) Nehera, Kay, Tehutinekht.
(c) Amenemhat.
The genealogies can now be considered. With regard to those that are recorded in the quarry inscriptions, it is to be noted that the repetition of the same names at different points in the family history has led the scribe to identify the individuals with care, going back sometimes four generations on the father's side. At other times the mother's name alone was considered a sufficiently distinctive mark. The lines that are preserved are as follows : —
(1) From the regnally dated inscription
(Gr. X.)~
Kay
Nehera = Satuzhetep '■
Amenemhat
Tliis gives us at once the place of Tehuti- nekht in Tomb No. 1, whose familv is —
Nehera = Satuzhetep ■*
Tehutineklit
= Tehutihetep*
Hathorhetep
Tehutinekht, prince of the Hare nome, was thus brother of the high officer Amenemhat, whose inscription is dated in the thirty-first year of Usertesen I.
(2) From the inscriptions (Gr. VII. and VIII.) of the nome prince Kay and (Gr. XII.) of the great uab-'priest Tehutinekht, each having the same descent —
Kay
I Tehutinekht
I Nehera
Kay
Tehutinekht
There are reasons for doubting whether the great Mai-priest Tehutinekht born of Tehuti- hetep in Gr. I. is identical with that of Gr. XII.
Nehera "born of Kema," whose two eldest sons Kay and Tehutinekht are mentioned in his tomb, is identifiable at once in this genealogy, and we are thus further enabled to assign several quarry-inscriptions of the same Nehera (Gr. IX., XL and XIV.) to their proper place.
It is also tempting to fit in here the genea- logy of the nome-prince Tehutihetep as given in Tomb No. 2, briefly —
Nehera =
Kay = Satkheperka "
Tehutihetep
GENEALOGY.
Our two lines as expanded would then stand : —
(1) From the graffito of Amenemliat with Tomb No. 1—
Kay
Nehera = Satuzlictcp *
Hathorhetep * = Tehutineklit Amenemhat
nomarch (31st year of Usertesen I.)
(Tomb^\-.. 1)
(2) From the graffiti of Nehera born of Kema, Kay and Tehutinekht (Gr. VII., VIII., IX., XL, XII., XIV.) with Tombs Nos. 2 and 4 —
Kay
I
Tehutinekht = Kema *
I Nehera
nomarch
(Tomb Xo. 4)
Kay
Tehutinekht
Tehutihetep
nomarch (Tomb No. 2) (reigns of Amenemhat II. to Userte.?en III.)
There would then be little doubt that the Kay who heads each of these lines was a common ancestor carefully recorded, who would fall about the time of the reorganiza- tion of the country by Amenemhat I., and so would be a probable starting-point for genealogies.
Kay
Tehutinekht = Kema *
Nehera nomarch
Nehera = Satuzhetep*
Tehutinekht Amenemhat nomarch
Kay Tehutinekht
nomarch
I
Tehutihetep
nomarch
This reconstruction would be nearly satis- factoiy; it also introduces us to few personages who have no other warrant for their existence. There are, however, two weak points about it — the position of one of the nomarchs, Tehuti- nekht of Tomb No. 1, quite outside the regular succession, without any explanation ; and the assignment of all these princes to the period of the Xllth Dynasty, whereas the prima facie evidence of the monuments would indicate an earlier date for several of thein.
To piece together a long genealogy is a most interesting, but sometimes a baffling puzzle. Mr. Newberry paid great attention to the present problem from the first, and lately sent me from Egypt (without note or comment) a most ingeniously constructed table, which, with some minor modificatious, stands every genea- logical and historical test that I can bring to bear upon it. The key of this lies in boldly detaching Tehutihetep's genealogy from its apparently accui-ate " fit " in the line No. 2, and making Tehutihetep's father Kay a third son of Nehera, along with Tehutinekht and Amenemhat. "We can then place the two lines simply end to eiid, Kay, who heads No. 1, being identified with the important personage, the ipazlr Kay, who appears at the end of No. 2.
A closer examination of the quarries may possibly give us some new evidence, but I should be exceedingly surprised if it were found to favour the double-line genealogy as opposed to the straighter line, which I now adopt with confidence, and on which I shall proceed to classify the monuments. Almost the only visible objection to it is that it adds more nomarchs to the number of those whose tombs cannot be found, but this is of small weight.
The Ahanekht-Tchutinekht family was doubt- less part of the ancestry of the Kay-Neliera- Tehutinekht-Tehutihetep family, but belongs to an early period, and cannot be definitely at-
EL BERSHBH.
tached to it by genealogies. Various members of it restored the tombs "of their ancestors" who belonged to the Vlth Dynasty, so it is evident that they claimed for their family a long history in the nome.
We will now consider in detail the monu- ments and records that can be attributed to those princes of the Hare nome who belong to the Middle Kingdom.
I. Ahanekht-Tehutinekht Family.
In the absence of definite information, we may class in this vague family or group all the names that one may suspect to be early and which are not readily attached to the second family. Three quarry inscriptions (Gr. II., XIII. and XIII. &) and several tombs (Nos. 5 and 8-10, and perhaps No. 6) may be assigned here. Unfortunately little or nothing can be learnt as to the succession and identity of the persons named in the different records.
The first of the grafiiti so far as it is de- cipherable is as follows : —
" Year 29 (?) of tlie /la-prince (?) Ahanekht : his son Klinemater. Says the scrihe Khnemater : lama scribe of choice, cool of body, subduing the flame
of desire I came
along to bring by the health
of (?) Ahaneklit."
The last phrase I suppose to be an oath. Another jotting is apparently connected with the last : —
"I caused to be conveyed 600 (?) stones for the temple of Thoth, lord of Khmenu."
Gr. XIII. :—
"Year 4? (20?).
The prince, regulator of the two thrones great
chief of the Hare nome (?) of the
greatness of the love which Thoth Lord of Khmenu bore to him Aha[nckht ?].
[N ] says : " I am an excellent scribe
who goes down and sails up to every place ; when
I went down (nortliward) I reached ;
wlieu 1 returned thence, my face was prepared, I had accomplished my mission
Moreover, I was one beloved of his master, praised of his city : i did not oppress (?) any man, I did not despise (?) the miserable."
After several indistinct lines the inscription ends with the name of Ahanekht.
Gr. Xlll.i (does not this belong to the last ?) :—
" The superintendent of the corn-land Tehutinekht son of Khnemater : his son Tehutiiickht-ankh."
From these we obtain a possible genealogy : —
Ahanekht nomarch
I Khnemater scribe
I. Tehutinekht scribe of corn-land
I Tehutinekht-aiikh
and we may deduce, j^erhaps, the conclusion that two princes named Ahanekht reigned each for several years, the inscriptions being dated in their nomarchships. Unfortunately the bad condition of these graffiti renders almost every statement with regard to them doubtful.
Turning to the tombs, we have first the in- teresting group formed by the roomy sepulchre of the wazir and nomarch Ahanekht (No. 5), and the diminutive chambers of his subor- dinates (Nos. 8-10) immediately below. The turbulent times from the IXth to the Xlth Dynasties were not favourable to display, but Ahanekht's tomb must have been one of the most considerable in the whole group, as be- fitted the monument of the first officer of his time in the realm ; and it still preserves a good deal of its character, thanks to the comparative entirety of its fa9ade, though the chambers within have been most ruthlessly quarried and further ruined by the earthquake. The arrange- ment of the long inscriptions on the fa9ade reminds one of the Heracleopolite tomb of Khety at Asyiit.' Inside there is an in-
' Tomb iv. in Griffith, The Inscriptions of Siiit and Der Rifeh. pi. xiv. The door was destroyed early in this century, but a drawing from the original is shown in the Description de riSgypte, Antiquity's, Tome v., pi. 40, fig. 6.
MONUMENTS OF AHANEKHT.
dication of a remarkable architectural device in the paintings, the corners of the outer chamber liaAing been represented as supported by lotus columns, emblematic of the South; those of the inner cliamber I)}" papyrus columns, emblematic of the North. The Vhelcer ornament usually so noticeable in the Middle Kingdom and later is absent from the cornices of this early group, as it is from the tombs of the Old Kingdom. The art displayed in the decoration is of a poor order, but the frag- ments in Tomb No. 5 show that the subjects represented were varied and by no means commonplace. Here are found the earliest representations known of mythical animals.' On the front wall of the inner chamber is a remarkable scene of Ahanekht receiving (?) (a branch of?) the haq-tvee of the temple from the hands of the persons of priestly caste {uah- priests).^ This he did as the titular head of the caste in the locality, Ahanekht being described in the hieroglyphs over the scene as "great «a6-prjest of Thoth." The meaning of the ceremony we do not know, but doubtless the baq-ivee was one sacred to the local god. It seems probable that this Ahanekht may have been identical with one (or both) of the Alianekhts who have left records in the quarries. He was son of a certain Tehuti- nekht, and is generally entitled " great chief of the Hare nome," " superintendent of the priests of Thoth," &c. On the faeade of the tomb he was described at great length and with a vast number of titles, but many of these are lost in the fractures ; that of " great uab-priest of Thoth " occurs only in the scene with the baq-hranch. On the fa9ade we read that he was wazlr, and so held the first place in the realm under the king : " the South land was content with his method, the North land in his command ;" he therefore lived at
' S(;o pi. xvi.
PI. xvii.
a period when the two lands were united. " Precious minerals (metals and stones) came to him," and he was " prince of the quarry of Het-nub " ; he was " as the gate of the palace, warding off the disaffected," who doubtless were numerous enough at the time. He was also the " pillar of his city," " establishing the boundaries of the inhabitants of the Hare Mome." He set up great monuments in the temple of Thoth, and kept up its services. He boasts also of his wealth and generous living. If he had seen much of civil war, he preserves a discreet silence on the subject; but probably Ahanekht, like Khety of Tomb V. at Asyut, was enjoying the peace which followed successful warfare carried on by his fathers for the king of Heracleopolis or of Thebes. Unfortunately we cannot hei'e find any passage which will identify the royal capital. At Asyut Heracleopolis is mentioned in every tomb of the Heracleopolite period. Perhaps from this silence at El Bersheh we may conclude that Thebes was the seat of power, and that therefore the Xlth Dynasty was already well established when Ahanekht ruled the nome and administered the two lauds of Egypt. This agrees with what we have already stated in regard to the name of the prince.
In Tomb No. 8 we have a clear record of the duties of one of Ahanekht's subordinates, probably a younger brother of his, named Alia. Ahanekht being entitled " superintendent of the city," i.e. of the royal city. Aha was super- intendent of the royal harim — that is to say, the apartments in which the fenuxle relatives and the children of the king dwelt, along with a number of other noble ladies and. children. He calls Ahanekht his " master." He was a favoured friend of the king, who could enter boldly and unbidden into the royal presence ; he was superintendent of the two nesh (?), superintendent of the writing in the " House of Life," chief of the house of frankincense
10
EL BERSHBH.
sealing the precious scents or sweetmeats, conductor of the women of the harim. At the end of his days he could look back with satisfaction on his career; he had held many offices without being complained of or repri- manded : having become a royal acquaintance he was truly favoured and trusted with the in- struction of the royal children. In the midst of these honours, however, he was courteous and submissive to his superior officers. His house was built, a reservoir dug and trees planted : finally he made a tomb-chamber beneath the feet of his master, who had bestowed on him these favours in order that " the servant might not degenerate into one who worked for his own ends ! " The name of his patron Aha- nekht is visible over the entrance and at the top of each wall.
In Tomb No. 10 Ahaneklit is similarly com- memorated. Unfortunately the long inscrip- tion describing his faithful servant Tehutinekht is extremely mutilated. In wording it was very similar to that of Aha : towards the end we obtain light upon Tehutinekht's office, " I acted as chief of the desert," and on another wall we have a reference to his functions in this connection, where it is said that the "offerings of the desert dwellers, frankincense and eye-paint, are given to " Ahanekht. Te- hutinekht was of high rank in the king's court, like Aha, and doubtless held several offices : possibly lie may be the " keeper of corn-lands, Tehutinekht," who is named in a graffito of that time, quoted above, p. 8.
No. 9, the central tomb in this group, must be of the same date ; but hardly anything can be said about it, as it is plain, with only a fragment of inscription over the doorway naming a certain Khnem(?)nekht.
Whether any of the other tombs at El Bersheh are to be ascribed to this early time is uncertain. In Tomb No. 3 the names Ahanekht and Aha occur, but it appears to be later than Tomb No. 2 of the Xllth
Dynasty. A more likely one is Tomb No. 6, of Tehutinekht born of Ankh : this man might be the father of Ahanekht, but the scrap re- covered of his mouument is too slight to build any theory upon. The rest are recorded to have the Ickelcer cornice, and are therefore later. The fragment from an unknown tomb ' is per- haps of the early period, as tbe formula with which it is inscribed is met with on an Hera- cleopolite tomb at Asyut.^
In one of the tombs at Sheikh Sa'id there is an inscription recording that " this was done for himself as his monument to his fathers who were before him, by the /(« -prince, superin- tendent of the king's house. Aha."' These titles do not agree with those of Aha in Tomb No. 8 at El Bersheh, and must belong to a nomarch of whom we have no other record.
Later than this Aha, but still of an early period, is probably the Tehutinekht born of Teta, who restored the tombs of his fore- fathers dating from the Old Kingdom at Sheikh Sa'id, and perhaps at El Bersheh itself. In several of the tombs in the former necro- polis— that of Meru (called also Beba), that of Uau, and that of Pepyankh or Aemhetep, all of the Vlth Dynasty — there are inscriptions reading as follows, but more or less frag- mentary : —
" This was done for himself as his monument to his fathers who are in the necropolis (Khertneter), the possessors of this spot, making firm that which was found ruined, renewing what was de- cayed, when behold this had not been done by the ancestors who stood in former days : by the Jia- prince, regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of the priests, superintendent of the king's house, superintendent of the South country, great chief of the Hare nome, mighty in his office, great in his dignity, of advanced station in the king's house, Tehutinekht born of Teta ("^ (1) •" '
' Figured below on p. 34.
' Tomb iv., Imc G2, ff.
'■' From a copy made by myself in the winter of 188G.
* Lepsius, Denhndler, Abth. ii. Bl. 112-13.
THE KAT-NEHERA-TEHUTINEKHT FAMILY.
11
At El Bersheli, too, in an early tomb below Tomb No. 2, there is an inscription almost identical with the above, but much defaced, of a nomarch and superintendent of the king's house, whose name is unfortunately destroyed.^ The phrase, " when behold it had not been done by the ancestors," which occurs in this tomb as well as at Sheikh Sa'id, probably refers to the previous work of restoration done by Aha in other tombs.
II. The Kay-Nehera-Tehutinekht Family,
For this family our materials are much clearer and more abundant, their period being illustrated by five tombs at El Bersheh and numerous graflfiti in the quarries. Of the latter, the most important ones represent either four or five personages, according as we identify or distinguish between Tehutinekht " the son of Nehera, the sou of Tehutinekht, the son of Kay" and Tehutinekht "born of Tehutihetep." That there is no necessity to consider these two as distinct is shown by the inscription in wliicli Amenemhat is described in one passage as born of Satuzhetep while in another he is a " son of Nehera son of Kay." ^
First Generation. — Of Kay we know only the name from genealogies, without titles, and there are no monuments or inscriptions attri- butable to him. AVe may, however, be sure that he was a very important person, as his posterity to the fourth generation state their descent from him. Kay's wife was probably Tehuti- hetep.
Second Generation. — Tehutinekht the son of Kay is most probably the " gi-eat Ha?/-priest" Tehutinekht born of Tehutihetep, who has left us an inscription in the quarry (Gr. I.). This personage, although he does not claim the
' Copy of 1886, cf. p. 57, but is the name legible 1 ' Most of the graffiti of this family are translated below on pp. 47 ff.
nomarchship or /ai-ship, uses a very remarkable phrase, calling himself head of an ancient ruling clan, and terminates his inscription with the semi-royal epithet " living for ever to eternity." One other person, Nehera born of Kema, in his earliest graffito uses the same expressions but claims the nomarchship. It is therefore very reasonable to consider Tehuti- nekht and Nehera as father and son gradually recovering rights that had been lost in a period of internal disruption. With this Tehutinekht we therefore see a revival of the quarry inscrip- tions, which had ceased since the time of the Ahanekhts, but are now continuous for three generations.
Gr. I. In the third line Tehutinekht lays claim to ancient and noble descent, making use of the rare and remarkable word qerehet, " stock," which occurs in a similar connection at Asyut ^ at nearly the same period. He saved his " city on the day of conflict from the grievous terrors of (i.e. inflicted by ?) the royal house," &c. &c.
Third Generation. — Tehutinekht's son we believe to have been Nehera born of Kema. In the quarries he has left three inscriptions.
Gr. XL, dated in the 6th year. In the second line Nehera repeats the claim made by his father, and throughout there is much similarity of wording to Gr. I. ; but the authority won by his father is now firmly established, and at the end Nehera dwells complacently on his wealth in herds and fowl.
Gr. IX., dated in the 7th year : written by the " superintendent of the canal (?) " Utem- khet, who was a highly favoured officer of Nehera but not a close relation (son or brother). He was sent to Het-nub by Nehera to bring statues (?) for him destined for the king's house. After recounting his own merits, he takes an
' Tomb iv., IJ. 1, 8 ; Tomb v., 1. 33.
12
EL BERSHBH.
oath " by the life of Nehera " that his words are true.
Gr. XIV., dated in the Sth year : closely on the lines of the last, but written by a different official. Very ranch mutilated.
In the graffiti of the 6th and 7th years (probably also iu that of the Sth) Nehei^a was entitled " /ta-prince, regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of the priests, great chief of the Hare nome, royal relation, fore- front of the South country."
Nehera's tomb (No. 4) is in a most ruinous condition : not one of his titles is preserved in it, but the names of his two eldest sons Kay and Tehutinekht are legible, with their title " treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt."
Fourth Generation. — The tombs of the two sons of Nehera have not been found, but the inscriptions in the quarry give important in- formation about them.
Kay appears in two inscriptions, Gr. VII. and VIII. The former is dated in his fifth year, and gives the titles "/ia-prince, regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of priests, great chief of the Hare nome, superintendent of the city, ivay/ir, &c., superintendent of the South country, fore-front of the /m-princes in the king's house," also "chancellor of the king and royal acquaintance." He trained his young men for wai", and went out with his city to battle. Apparently he prides himself on having none but native troops with him ; but the reference to the Mezau and Wawat of Ethiopia, who commonly served with the Egyptian armies, is not clear — possibly Kay asserts that his personal attendants from these tribes were the only foreigners included in his ti'oop. The second inscription contains many passages identical with Gr. T. of the great «ai-priest Tehutinekht. It even has the same reference to " the grievous terrors of the king's house." It is dated in the seventh year, but shows no change of titles ; indeed, Kay in his fifth year had already risen to the highest position in the
Egyptian administration. In both inscriptions his genealogy is given reaching back to the first Kay.
Kay's younger brother Tehutinekht has left one inscription (Gr. XII.) with the same genea- logy as Kay. He was " chancellor of the king of Lower Egypt, superintendent of the priests, great ?ia5-priest of Thoth ..." Unlike his name- sake of Gr. I., he is silent about military affairs, and dwells, as might be expected, on his sacer- dotal and general virtues; but he styles himself " living for ever," as if he were the representa- tive of his clan : it is, of course, possible that Gr. I., which I have attributed to the second generation, really belongs to this Tehutinekht.
Fifth Generation. — Between the graffiti of Kay and Tehutinekht and that of Amenerahat there is such a wide difference that we must allow a certain period to have elapsed, and the change from the Xlth to the Xllth Dynasty must have taken place at this point. Amen- emhat was son of Nehera, son of Kay ; and if we identify his grandfather with Kay of the fourth generation, we obtain for the fifth a certain Nehera with his wife Satuzhetep, who must also be the parents of Tehutinekht of Tomb No. 1. It also fits well with the chronology to make Tehutihetep's father Kay the son of the same Nehera. Was this Nehera a nomarch ? In Tomb No. 7 we find a Nehera who may be identified with him. The religious texts on the ceiling, the only ones preserved, refer to him generally as "this Nehera"; but in one passage there are considerable titles, including those of /(d-prince, superintendent of priests, and great 7/«/j-priest of Thoth. The last is usually held by persons of the second rank in the Hare nome, the two first often by actual nomarchs. It is a pity that there is nothing which can clearly decide the question whether he held the nomarchship. The fifth generation should be contemporary with the reign of Amenerahat I. I cannot help think- ing that this king suppressed for a time the
THE SIXTH GENERATION.
13
peculiar title of the nomarchs, and that on the death of Kay the latter's brother Tehutinekht succeeded to the shorn authority, which was restored on /(/*• death to Kay's son Nehera, the rightful heir. After their loyalty had been well tried, the nomarch's titles may have been re-granted.
Sixth Generation. — Tehutinekht bears the full titles of a nomarch. He has left a fine tomb (No.l) consisting of two chambers and a shrine, the whole fully decorated. In the shrine are the remains of a seated statue, and amongst the representations on the walls of the tomb is one of stonemasons at work in the quarries, charac- teristic of the locality. Their work is watched by a personage to whom are ascribed the full titles of grand wazir, but unfortunately the name is lost, and it is not certain that he is Tehuti- nekht, who elsewhere appears only with the usual titles of nomarchs of the Hare nome and as " royal acquaintance, forefront of the South, forefront of the /ia-princes in tlie house of the king." These titles are assumed by Nehera born of Kema, who does not appear to have been grand wazir. Tehutinekht's importance is shown by a fragment of a funeral scene, in which his coflBn-sledge is being drawn by representatives of many parts of Egypt, and of royalty itself.
Tehutinekht's wife was Hathorhetep who was born of Tehutihetep, but no children are re- corded. Probably he died without issue.
His brother Ameuemhat is known only from the inscription (Gr. X.), dated in the 31st or jubilee year of Usertesen I. He was "erpa, ha, treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, confiden- tial friend of the king, and superintendent of priests." The first and last of these titles belong especially to nomarchs, but in this case they may be honorary distinctions conferred by the king upon a favoured officer. Amenemhat tells us that he came to Het-nub to obtain stone (?) for the king as one highly favoured, and this rather simple statement is backed by
an oath " by the Hfe of Usertesen." It is to be observed that Ameuemhat bears no local title, not even " wielder of the two tlirones," so we may believe that he did not hold the nomarchship of Hei'mopolis.
Kay the father of Tehutihetep was in all probability another brother of Tehutinekht. We know of him only from the tomb of his son, in which a very honourable place was con- secrated to his memory. The right side of the shrine was occupied by a scene of offerings brought to Kay, corresponding to Tehutihetep's banquet on the left, and father and son face each other upon the inner wall. The inscrip- tions are formal speeches of congratulation that pass between them on Kay succeeding to his (jrandfather s (not his father's) nomarchship. "With this new light we can translate Tehuti- hetep's rather involved speech with greater success than before.
" He speaks words before his father that he may [establish [se-men)'] the name of him from whom he came. Are not the honours very great that are assigned to me (? a])-tn. no) before my father and my god, that he (ray father ?) should appoint me as chief of his (the god's?) city, great prince of the Hare-nome, as inheritor of him who begat him (i.e. who hegiit my father) ? He is the staff of the old age ^ of this his father, and he has appointed me as chief of his (his father's and my grand- father's ?) city."
The confusion of pronouns here is consider- able.
Kay's titles are " /frt-prince, superintendent of priests, of the Kha (pyraraid-city) of User- tesen."
As Amenemhat wrote his inscription in the later years of Usertesen T., and Kay's son
' 7iiei/ (?) da, a not very rare phrase, liillicrto misumler- stood ; cf. statue of the arcliitect Ainenhetep, 1. 13 (Brugscli, IVie.-:, p. 1296) ; Pap. Prisse, v. 3 ; Kahuii papyri (to be published shortly), pi. xi.
14
EL BERSHEH.
Tehutilietep was born in the reign of Amenemhat II., we may here insert a magnate and perhaps nomarch of Hermopolis, who appears upon a tablet from Abydos, dated in the 20th year of Amenemhat II.; he is the Art-prince, superinten- dent of priests, great of five in the house of
Thoth, &c., fj^D^^dlP ^^5 Apu
born of Uaz.' If this man was really a nomarch, he was not in the direct line of inheritance. Perhaps he held the nomarchship only as a regent during Tehutihetep's minority.
Seventh Generation. — In this we know of the nomarch Tehutihetep,son of Kay: his exquisitely decorated tomb has been fully described in the first part of the memoir, and his relations are there given in full. He was born under Amenemhat II. and died under Usertesen III.
Eighth Generation, — Of the three sons of Tehutihetep we know only their names and order, as recorded in his tomb, namely, (1) Shemsu-em-khauf, (2) Usertsen-ankh, (3) Nehera.
It is remarkable that we can trace nothiugf further of the family. It disappears from view at the very moment that it has reached the summit of prosperity. Perhaps the tombs of Tehutihetep's successors were in the plain and have long since been destroyed, or perhaps the powerful dynasty of kings gradually found opportunities for repressing the independent power of the local princes and centralising the nobility and wealth of the whole country in their capital. The great tombs of the princes of the Oryx nome and of Menat Khufu at Beni Hasan cease with that of Khnemhetep III. in or soon after the reign of Usertesen II.,- those of the princes of the Hare nome at El Bersheh in the reign of his successor Usertesen III. If we turn to the XVIIIth Dynasty we find similar evidence of
' Mariette, Catalogue d'Ahydof, No. G37. 2 Beni Hasan, Part II., p. 14.
centralization. The princes of Nekheb have fine sepulchres in the burial hill of El Kab, but the conqueror Thothmes III. marks the limit of their grandeur, and Paheri is the last nomarch whose tomb we can now identify in that cemetery. Early in the same Dynasty, down to the joint reign of Hatshepset and Thothmes III. and even to the reign of Amenhetep II., the tombs of certain great functionaries of the Tlieban court w^ere hewn in the sandstone cliffs at Silsileh ; but when the mighty builder Amenhetep III. came to the throne, they were compelled one and all to find a last resting- place in the necropolis of the capital.^
There still remain a few individuals whom we cannot place with certainty. The most important of these are the group in Tomb No. 3, the ruinous condition of which is much to be deplored. Here are found the titles of a prince of the Hare nome and wazir, while in the shrine is a dedicatory inscription by "his son," the royal scribe Sep, with his brothers Tehutihetep, Aha and Ahanekht, all born of Uazkaus. It seems as if the second of these brothers might be the Tehutihetep son of Sep born of Uazkaus who appears as " superintendent of the treasures " in the tomb of Tehutihetep.* At any rate most of the names are to be found again in that tomb, I should therefore attri- bute Tomb No. 3 to about the same period as Tomb No. 2.
In the large quarry of Het-nub (Gr. XV.), we
have a chief of necropolis-people
Ameny son of Sep (No. 12), and a certain Tehutihetep son of Tehutihetep (?) without titles (No. 8). Probably these also are of about the same age.
We have now come to an end of our materials. The genealogy of the later family may be tabulated as follows.
' Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arclueology, xii., p. 90.
' El Bersheh, I'art 1., p. 38 and pi. xxvii.
Q O
5 a
a P
X
«l
-?
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16
EL BBRSHEH.
With regard to the dates here assigned, the reign of Usertesen III. (38 years) was probably long enough to see the end of the nomarchship in the eighth generation. The reigns of Amenemhat II. and Usertesen II., with part of that of Usertesen III., would make perhaps seventy years : between the date of Araenemhat's inscription and the beginning of the reign of Usertesen III. there would be about seventy- five, filled probably by part of the nomarchship of Tehutinekht, that of a regent (?), and that of Tehutihetep. The forty-one years that elapsed between the foundation of the Xllth Dynasty and the date of Ameuemhat's insci'iption would be occupied by the nomai'chship of Nehera and that of Tehutineklit. It is almost certain that the dated inscriptions of Kay in the fourth generation are earlier tlian the reign of Amenemhat I. The first Kay must therefore have stretched back far into the Xlth Dynasty. What then is to be done with the Ahanekhts, between whom and this family there seems to be a considerable gulf as to the style both
of tomb-decoration and of hieratic writing? Altliough the Xltli Dynasty covered several centuries, it is difficult to see where the break can have come historically, except between the Heracleopolite and Theban supremacies. On certain grounds, therefore, it would be easiest to place the Ahanekhts in the period when the Heracleopolites were triumphant (whether over Memphites, over foreigners, or over general disorder), and before the Thebans had asserted their independence. We may hope that some day the history of these obscure times will be more clearly ascertained than it is at present.^
' Professor Petrie {History of Egypt from the earliest times to the XVIth Dynasty, ch. vi., vii.) has made a very bold and apparent!}' successful attempt to bridge the gaps between the Vlth Dynasty and the Xllth. There is nothing at El Bershi.-h to conflict with the view that tlie Xth (Heracleopo- lite) Dynasty was contemporary with the early part of the Xlth (Theban). Professor Maspero's rapid sketch of the period (The Dawn of Civilization = Histoire, Tome I., p. 440 ff.) has many points of agreement with Petrie"s detailed statements.
II. DETAILED DESCI^IPTION OF THE TOMBS.
TOMB No. 1.
Tomb of the ® '^ ^--f- "Great Chief of the Hare Nome,"
^
TBTF
Tehuti-neeht.
This tomb is mucli ruined by the earthquake and by quarrying. It consisted of a main chamber, with a small shrine at the inner end, both fully decorated with painting. In jilan the main chamber is rectangular, measuring 26 feet 2 inches by 20 feet 10 inches, and is about 12 feet in height. The facade has been quarried away, and the greater part of the two side walls thrown apart, so that they both lean outwards. Their decoration is destroyed, and the roof falling in has split and cracked much of the inner wall. The shrine is a small rectangular chamber, 4 feet 11 inches deep, 5 feet 7 inches wide, and 7 feet 4 inches high, and is entered through a doorway, the thres- hold of which is 1 foot 4 inches above the floor of the main chamber. From the inner wall projects a seated figure of Tehutinekht, over life size, now much mutilated. The floor is at the same level as the threshold, and is well finished. Across the axis of the main chamber is the opening of a large mummy-pit, 12 feet 10 inches long by 5 feet 8 inches wide (see plan in pi. iv.).
The decoration of the tomb appears to have been quite independent of sculpture, even the framing of the shrine doorway being indicated only in colour. The surface was overlaid with a thin coat of stucco, which is now ci'acking and ready to fall off. The scenes and inscriptions were lightly incised in the stucco and painted in colours, many of the inscriptions, however, being filled in with a uniform plain pale blue. There is little artistic merit in either the design or the execution of the scenes which remain (see the Frontispiece and pi. v. for examples, reduced to ^ of the original size).
The facade of the tomb has entirely dis- appeared. In the main chamber there is a dado painted to represent rose granite. No traces remain upon it of a false door. Above the dado are the scenes, surmounted by a kheker ornament painted in coloui's. The ceil- ing was richly ornamented. So far as can be ascertained from the fallen fragments, the arrangement was as follows : — A broad white band, edged with yellow and blue and inscribed
0
18
EL BERSHEH.
with blue hieroglyphs, represented a beam laid transversely across the middle. In the middle of the ceiling, and divided by this beam, was a large space filled with chequer pattern of small squares, each containing a 4-lobed ornament -=1= and forniiug diagonal lines of red, white, and yellow squares respectively. The I'emainder of the ceiling was covered with columns of a long religious text painted in green, with the dividing lines blue. (See pis. v. and vi.)
The shrine has dado, scenes, and cornice ornament similar to those of the main chamber, but on a smaller scale, and the ceiling has the
chequer pattern only, without inscriptions or beam band.
SCENES AND INSCRIPTIONS.
MAIN CHAMBER.
The only fragment likely to belong to the front wall is No. 9 in pi. ix., which cannot be attri- buted elsewhere. It is part of the formula debh hetef per kheru met with in Tomb No. 10."
KHEKER ORNAMENT
INSCRIPTION
Vertical Lines Hunting Scene
OF Hieroglyphs ■
Men Oraccinc Sledge ^
Standing Figure Funeral Barce towed by Ship
OF _ _
Tehuti-Nekht
Boating Scene
HUMTINC A Fist-tilSjC ScErNE
Hippopotamus
DADO
Left-Hand Wall.
Of the side walls a good deal can be re- covered. For the western or left-hand wall (see diagram) we have a large piece in situ at the inner end reaching from top to bottom; the rest of the wall has been thrown backwards by the earthquake, but upon it, high up near the outer end, an inscription is still visible. Besides these, the fragments Nos. 8 and 10 on pi. ix. probably came from this wall.
At the top, below the kheker ornament, ran a line of hieroglyphs, no doubt a prayer to the deities for the owner of the tomb, correspond- ing to that on the right-hand wall, of which
more is preserved (see p. 21). At the inner end is the termination of the inscription —
II
l\
^^
flip
tin
giving the name of Tehutinekht, born of Sat- heZi-hetep. The fragment No. 10 probably be- longs to this line, but it is very unintelligible.
At the outer end there must have been a large figure of Tehutinekht, looking up the tomb and dominating the rows of scenes
' See below, p. 44.
TOMB No. 1. LEFT AVALL.
19
beyond. The inscriptiou iu large and detailed hieroglyphs, already referred to as existing at this end, must have belonged to such a figure. Portions of four lines remain, describing the nomarch iu terms some of which recur in Tomb No. 5 (pi. siii., lines 25, 2(5)—
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1 2 Mart shed nek/ien 3
sehetep esut Iift-iti'ter medu cr kheru 4 -ur
uahet [d.v/ia] seteput dmakh
" the widow, educating the child
offering gifts to the shrine of the temple, speech
according to [his] voice (?) great in vegetable
produce, abounding in choice viands "
At the inner end the following scenes appear in succession from the top to the bottom : —
1. Hunting. Men with bows and arrows shooting at gazelles ; legend —
-O-VS ^^_r^ III
(?)
theJtem aut [set ?], " pursuing gazelles."
2. Funeral (?) scene. Men dragging a sledge >»— >; above them the following inscrip- tion, the two short lines being in front of the men. The top line reads backwards.
'.0'//:'"'.
^i^ofmrr^i^jt^
S\u
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... her shema, pat demd-tu em lia[t~\, ha k/ierp ncsti mer henu-neter dmakh kher Usdr neb ank/t-taui ha Zehuti-nekM
" [Human beings ?] are accompanying (?), and the whole cycle of deities is before the prince, the regulator of the two thrones, the devoted towards Osiris, Lord of Ankh-laui, the /ia-prince, Tehuti- nekht."
The first of the two short lines reads a neter uaz, "The god comes flourishing"; but the meaning of the second is doubtful.
3. A funerary barge towed by a ship in full sail »^^. Three men with arms raised, looking towards the vessels, and exclaiming —
Kemh, kemh, koii/i, " Look ! look ! look ! "
The inscriptions iu front of and above the ship and the barge are very difficult to read.
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4. Scene of boats on the water, some of which are laden with papyrus ; the inscription at the inner end is —
t;±j
VJ
n
m'-^u-
[khefcf'\ meiih day em sonieh : khetet du em dat ddhii
" Papyrus put on the canoe : gathering reeds on the islands of the papyrus marshes."
Over the boating scene are two short in- scriptions—
:t:4 t f
5. Fishing scenes. At the inner end arc
0 2
20
EL BERSHEH.
men in boats and a hippopotamus in the water. The inscription above the scene is —
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'M/(a zed-ef en Mltu (?) per a-ek uha uaz vwk it/iu (?) rermi Mcper naru em a deh : lircr Hem pa ha
Zehidi-nekht em Ment (?) dmcnti da(i\jr?]
reviijt em dtru
"The fisherman sa)s to : put forth thy hand
boldly, O flourishing- tishermau : behold, fish are caught, the silurus-fishes appear with the hippo- potamus: it is the doing of Horus. The Prince Tehutinekht in Nubia (?) "
Behind are some fishermen drawing- in a net full of fish. Above is an inscription —
ta cm uhdu remu em fa mck
" by the fishermen in the north country."
After these are men carrying fish, with a puzzling inscription (see the last figure) above them : perhaps ges-hia aid em mu, " my arms are anointed with water."
The fragment No. 8 in pi. ix. evidently belongs to rows 2 and 3. Only a few signs remain upon it from Row 3, probably reading
neter pen \_em (i]s-ef ne Khert-neter,
" laying this deity (the dead Tehutinekht as Osiris) in his chamber of Khert-neter." The upper part is important. It shows a sledge drawn by several men ; one figure carries the haunch of an animal as an offering, while another holds a scroll of the ritual. Above the figures drawing the sledge is a remarkable enumeration of the classes that they represent : —
Beth Pe, Bcfh Bep, Reth JJwu, Beth Sdp, Beth Het ur met (?), mesu tfeten, inert seten, , [se]me)-?t
" The people of Pe," the people of Dep, the jjeople of Hermopolis, the people of Sais, the people of the
house of the great , the children of the king,
the household of the king, the , the royal
friends."
From the opposite (right-hand) wall much more is recoverable (see diagram). The two
' The twin cities of Pe aud Dep (probably two sacred quarters of Bute in the Delta) are often associated ; and Pe precedes Dop, otherwise we should perhaps read this list in the opposite order from the other end.
|
KHEKER ORNAMENT |
|||
|
INSCRIPTION |
|||
|
Hieroglyphs in Vertical Lines |
? |
||
|
Seated Figure of Tehuti-Nekht |
? ! A Table and List i Offerings I |
Rows Vlll, |
Standing FiCURESOF Tehuti-Nekht AND Attendants see plate Vlll. |
|
behind him stands HIS Wife |
SEE PLATE IX. | |
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|
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Harvesting Scene much |
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Right-Hand Wall.
TOMB No. 1. RIGHT WALL.
21
ends are nearly perfect ; the middle part has been driven outwards and broken up, so that no decoration remains upon it, but a number of fragments of the scenes, chiefly from the outer half, were found amongst the rubbish on the floor.
The scenes from the outer half, with the fragments just referred to, were traced and are reproduced on pi. viii. (also No. 12 in colours in pi, V.) ; the fragments from the inner half are shown on pi. ix., Nos. 1-7, and in the Frontispiece ; the remains at tlie inner end could not be traced.
At the top was a line of large hieroglyphs (partly in pi. viii.), reading —
AV\AAA fT^ g^ AAAAAA
iio
Be hetep seten JJsdr neb Dedu \_de dtert] rest dtert mehyt de pat aat [shert dr-lsen nch khet nehf nefert uaht dehh hetep per-khcru ne dmak/iy erpa ha kherp nestl \Zehuti-nekM meg ne Sat-^uaz-hetep maa Merit
"Adoration to Osiris Lord of Busiris, and to the Atert of the South and the Atert of the North and the great and lesser Ennead of gods, that they may make for thee all good and pure things, a table of offerings and funerary meals, to the devoted, etc., Tehutineklit, born of Sat-uaz-hetep, deceased."
Beneath this inscription there was probably a row of scenes, which is now quite destroyed from end to end ; but below this at the outer end four rows of agricultural subjects are seen, dominated by a large figure of Tehutinekht standing in a seh J^, The four or five rows must have continued to the inner end of tlie wall, and here the agricultural subjects are still found in the two bottom rows ; but above these, and occupying the space of two rows, is a seated figure of Tehutinekht, looking out-
wards. He is evidently I'eceiviug offerings, and tlie fragments relating to a table of offer- ings (Frontispiece and nos. 1-5 on pi. ix.) must be placed here.
"We will take first the outer half of the wall (pi. viii.), and describe that separately from the remains of the inner half.
Commencing at the outer end, Tehutinekht stands, wearing a tunic pointed and pleated in front. On his feet are sandals, armlets are on his wrists, a broa,d collar is on his neck, and on his head is a full-bottomed wig. In his right hand is a staff, and his left hand pro- bably held a O baton. He is standing under a sell or booth of very simple construction. Before his face are his name with a few titles (including ^^ ) and the name of his mother, mutilated. Behind the seJi stood three at- tendants. One of them holds a baton ; his title is given above — sd/iu-ef, " his servant." In front of the seh is a column of inscription —
maa sekfiet [sc] ha
"seeing the meadows and the ploughing "
In the third row from the bottom a mati is seen in the attitude of presenting an account to the nomarch. Behind him two corn-sacks are on the ground between two other figures ; the corn-sacks may contain seed for sowing. Then comes a plough drawn by two oxen, in front of which is a man going in the oi^posite direction sowing the corn, which he takes from a small basket slung from his shoulder. There is a driver for the oxen, and the plough is guided by a man who bends over its double handle. Over the oxen, and probably spoken by the driver, are the words —
.■<ethu zed-ef tep nefer ne ha Zehuti-nek/d
" The sower, he says, good management for the prince Tehutinekht.'"
and
u ur ded re, de-clc Mepep-ef ne qahu ne icr-ef
" Oh (?) old man, firm of mouth, cause thou that it meets the ground at its time" (namely the seed).
22
EL BERRHEF.
Another similar plough is being drawn in the opposite direction ; it is preceded by a man with a hoe breaking the clods, and a sower (coloured in pi. v.). The inscription is un- fortunately too much mutilated to be translated. The fragment No. 13 continues this row, and shows that a third plough was depicted facing the last.
In the next row (the second from the bottom) a man faces the nomarch, with his hands to his shoulders, in an attitude of respectful attention. Behind him are four scribes seated, writing on tablets, with pens behind their ears. The upper two face towards the nomarch. The inscription over the first reads heseh, "reckoning"; that over the second, who is writing on a tablet, reads sesh Mepert, " writing the result."
The two in the lower row face each other. The first sehu, "sums iip"; the second sesh demd, "records the totals."
Behind is an overseer leaning on a staff and watching some labourers, who from their atti- tudes are evidently gathering flax. They are extremely mutilated, but the last figure is knocking off the earth from the roots, in a manner which is characteristic of this scene as often represented in Egyptian tombs. In front of the overseer is the mer ahut (?), "overseer of the fields (?)." Then comes a date, which can be completed by another fragment (not published) —
dbd IV shat hem 23 jiert er ... yt heraa an zazat net [per'] ne zet
" Fourth montli of tlie inundation, day 23. Going
forth to tlie flax by the auditors of the house
of eternity."
This refers to the picture of the scribes. Over the man cleaning the flax-stems is the technical word for it, zat, and beyond we can trace the remains of the usual inscription accompanying the ])ulling up of the flax- stems, he lievid. On the fragment No. 13 there are portions of inscription belonging to this line,
In the bottom row the first subject of the scribes was probably identical with that in the row just described, but the figures are much mutilated. Behind them are men cutting corn with sickles. We are not able to translate the inscription over them, which seems to refer to the harvest (sheniaa) of at inch, " northern corn."
Fi'om the inner half of the wall the first fragments to take are those numbered 6 and 7 on plate ix. Here we have a group of scribes, and behind them a date in the " fourth month of the inundation day 27." In the lower row, and above some water with fishes and lotuses, is a fragment of inscription referring to festivals.
At the inner end of the wall are visible in the bottom ro^v men driving oxen and scribes registering them, evidently the last of the series of registering scenes that we have already mentioned. In the row above are oxen in water, probably crossing the inun- dated space between their pasture and the village (cp. Beni Hasan, Part I., pis. xii. and xxxiv.). Above them are five lines of inscrip- tion— a portion of a longer one.
To the same row must be attributed the in- scriptions on the lower part of the fragment given in the Frontispiece with those numbered 2 and 3 on pi. ix., viz. ineh dpert etc., neshen dpert ... net hezezu, etc.
On the upper part of the wall are the remains of a seated figure of Tehutinekht, with wife or mother standing behind him ; these figures occupied the height of two rows. In front must have been a table of oflerings : the fragments Nos. 4 and 5 (pi. ix.) may belong here, showing piles of offerings and an inscrip- tion relating to the oS"ering of an oryx in the first line (of fragment No. 5), and in the thii'd line the phrase shed ab, " drawing out the heart," which shows that there was a scene of sacri- ficing an ox beneath. Possibly these fragments came from some other wall, but the piece in
TOMB No. 1. INNER WALL.
23
pi. i. and those numbered 1-3 are certainly from the upper part of the inner half of the right-hand wall. They are portions of an elaborately tabulated list of offerings, the names of -which are recorded in two rows, with figures of servants kneeling and bearing them in their hands beneath. The fragment in pi. i. joins to the left-hand edge of No. 3, and No. 1 should be moved two inches forward to join it at the top.
INNER WALL.
Left-hand Side of Shrine Entrance.
The decoration of the inner wall to the left of the entrance to the shrine consists of a large harpooning scene with inscriptions, and above it an important text in twelve columns (pi. vii.), with a small painting at the right- hand end representing collars in precious metals, &c.
At the top of the wall (pi. vii.) is a short prayer for funerary meals to the prince Tehutinekht, son of Nehera. It reads
fprkhcru iie dmakk er-ita ha kherp ueMl Ni'heru,
sa Zf'hidi-ncMt neb dmak/i mad k^eru
" Perkheru offerings to tlie devoted to [Anubis ?], the hereditary prince, tlie regulator of the two thrones, Nehera's son Tehutinekht, possessing the reward of worth, justified."
In the harpooning scene Tehutinekht stands upon a canoe in the usual attitude, grasping a harpoon, on which two fish have been speared. In front of him on the boat kneels his wife. A man stands facing her, and another man is lying down in the fore part of the canoe, ap- parently picking flowers. Over the arms of Tehutinekht is the inscription : —
1. ->
r^i^[,T,p]
-i-tfh*
■:*=*-
3f^ n '» _fl Q X ,«vv«A 1111
mil
£15 ml
1. mail, dzhu sethet mehijt cm
2. shc(h/t em ta mehu fedct (? sht'drl) hemi k/ntet menk
" (1) Seeing the papyrus marslies, harpooning fish in (2) the canal (?) in the north land, pulling up the henna (?) and plucking the mp?i//-pl:int."
Over the wife is an inscription giving her name : —
fl =^= ertet-pat neht per [Ilether-'] hetep,
V_V ^ '-' neht limaM
C3 \ Q " The hereditary princess, mistress of
I 1 -f^ a house, [Ilatlior] hetep possessing
1
the reward of worth."
Over the first man is his speech to Hathov' hetep : —
en kan-eth, " i'or thy kas."
Ui'i
Over the second man is —
D ^
1 1 m ,
0 „Y., inenh, " fl(e?Ji-i)lants."
1 ^
The long inscription above the scene reads (see pi. vii.) : —
1. Er-pli h!i k/ii'i-p nesli mer hen neter tie Zehuti iieh Khemenu her iep aa ne ITnt
2. merer u 7ieferu-es iiehii, sahu bdfi si-iner iiafl ud nr heh
3. est (ih srfen up eshi xefaii,
4. riuiu sesheta [jier^ seteii se-zeser xjieuyt
5. mdu qa .svy-r/' [.s--] ?t em est ze.sert
G est-en fuy ('m-nef nch
7. neheh cr dsu nch-en nef net-ef iiiih ne
8. aat ne mcrer-es su nefer-es
9. hen neter uah zehU n vier khene.ru
10. «/■ em deit-f aa em \sah-ef ser em /(/</]
1 1 . reklpjt dede
12. dniaMy khe-r Usdr ha kherp ncsti \Zehuti-^ue/M dr ne Ushetep
24
EL BBRSHEH.
1. " The hereditary prince, the /la-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, the superintendent of the priests of Thoth Lord of Hermopolis, Great Chief of the Hare nome.
2. Beloved of all its gods, the royal treasurer, con- fidential friend of the king, the mighty hunter,
3. the place of the heart of the king, apportioning the places of provisioning.
4. Seeing the secrets of the house of the king, digni- fying the courtiers.
5. A tall linn raising himself in the sacred place.
6
7 in return for this his city prays for him
a long life of
8. the greatness of its love for him
9. the priest pure of fingers, superintendent of the harem (?),
10. great in his office, high in [his dignity, a noble at the head of]
1 1. the relchyt
12. the devoted one towards Osiris, the /la-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, Tehutinekht, born of Uzhetep {sic)."
Right-hand Side of Entrance to Shrine.
On the other half of tlie wall to the right of the shrine the decoration is in two rows. At the bottom there is a row of stonemasons. The greater part of the area is occupied by a standing figure of an important personage, accompanied by a lady standing behind him, and receiving offerings from four men. There is a very fragmentary hue of hieroglyphs at the top, with remains of the usual formula for funerary offerings. The inscription over the figure reads : —
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JS«M Ji^SM $SS$^ SiSiSSS Si!i$$SSJ JSSS^ iSS«SS5
t
4.
PSSS SJSSi^
(1) Er-pu ha kherj) nesti mer net za (?)
(2) sah zat mer
(3) hut urt VI maa
(4) nez khener
" The hereditary prince, the /(a-prinee, the regulator of the two thrones, the wazir, the superintendent of the six great temples "
Unfortunately his name is lost : the titles of the grand wazir borne by this man are not found elsewhere in the tomb, and it must be considered doubtful whether they belonged to Tehutinekht.
The inscriptions on the lower rows read
' ' ' ^^ _
Ujit hetet itha dner « [)i s«(t (?)] ne khertiu neter tie ha Zehuti-nekht
" Opening the quarry, cutting the rock by the gangs of tomb-makers of the prince, Tehutinekht."
In front of one of the men is the inscrip- tion : —
xed-(ef dner shti thes pekher
" That which he says : dry stone or the converse (?) "
Above them we I'ead <— *« J X
^^
r-n-|
usheh sen en em zed, "They answer to iu
saying."
and- 1] ^
shu dner thes pekher, "dry the stone or the con- verse (?) "
The framing of the entrance is painted to resemble lintel and jambs (see pi. vii.). On
I
L—'^.. ../*■»
W'^- ^
i \
<f_r
Mm.
-417^
TOMB No. 1. SHRINE.
25
1
the lintel there are four lines of hieroglyphs giving prayers for funerary offerings — (1) to Osiris, Lord of Dadu, Khent Amentiu, (2) to Auubis, (3) to Osiris, and (4) to Anubis (?) for a good burial in the divine netherworld.
On the left-hand jamb are three prayers for funerary offerings — (1) to Osiris, (2) to Anubis, Lord of Tazeser, and (3) to the great and lesser Ennead of gods.
On the right-hand jamb are likewise three prayers — (1) to Osiris, Lord of Ankh-taui, (2) to Anubis, Lord of Ut, and (3) to the northern and southern Atert.^
The inscriptions upon the ceiling (pi. vi.) are too fragmentary for translation. They are of a religious character, and resemble the texts found in the Pyramids.
THE SHRINE.
On the left-hand wall of the shrine is a scene of offering to the figures of Tehutinekht and his wife, accompanied by inscriptions.
Immediately below the frieze is a line of painted hieroglyphs, containing a prayer for 2)erklieru offerings for Tehutinekht, son of Ne- hera. This inscription reads : —
AAA/V\A
3 '%
SikTlf
Pcrkheru ne ditiaMj/ ha kherp lu-sfi mer hen neter Nehem i^a Zfhuti-neMI, neb dmak/t
" Perlihent-oSerings to the devoted one, the /ia-priuce, the regulator of the two thrones, the superintendent of the priests, Nehera's son Tehutinekht, possessing the reward of worth."
' Atert seems to be the name of the combined celestial and terrestial regions. The northern and .southern '' hemi- spheres " would be the nearest equivalent in current language, but the idea of a celestial sphere is perhaps not Egyptian.
Below this, at the outer end, are four rows of nearly equal height, showing priests and servants performing ceremonies and bringing offerings to lay upon an altar before the large seated figures of Tehutinekht and his wife Hathor-hetep, Beneath the altar is the in- scription : —
U
J $8SS«
U
debhet ne hi-ef i^epsu, setep sa hena ka-cf
"A table of offerings for his noble ha, protection with his leu."
Over the figures of Tehutinekht and his wife are six lines of hieroglyphs, reading: —
=> iii ^ 1
ill
o
ill
1!
ODD
I I I
r:
D
mm-
I 1 1 1
I I 1 1
IIP
I I I
©
^
1.
3.
]
n I
ol
i"^
^ w
5. C.
I
1. Er-pa ha /{/lerp nesti, mer hen neter ne Zehuti itch
Khemenu neh 2 menu thes seiib ... er Je huu
3. her gemt-ef em sent [er] unt uasy
4. rekh seteii hat qemau halt] him cm per seten
5. dmakh \ k/ier ?] Ptah-.ieker Zehatiiiekht mes ne Sat-uz-hetep
0. dinakhijt neht per Hether-hetep med ne Zehutihetep
1. "The hereditary prince, the /tn-princo, the regulator of the two thrones, the superintendent of the priests of Thoth, lord of Hermopolis, lord of
2 doing more than
3. he found in copying what existed in a decayed state,
24
EL BBRSHBH.
1. " The hereditary prince, tlie Aa-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, the superintendent of the priests of Thoth Lord of Hermopoiis, Great Chief of the Hare nome.
2. Beloved of all its gods, the royal treasurer, con- fidential friend of the king, the mighty hunter,
S. the place of the heart of tlie king, apportioning the places of provisioning.
4. Seeing the secrets of the house of the king, digni- fying the courtiers.
5. A tall lion raising himself in the sacred place.
6
7 in return for this his city prays for him
a long life of
8. tlie greatness of its love for him
9. the priest pure of fingers, superintendent of the harem (?),
10. great in his office, high in [his dignity, a noble at the head of]
11. the rekhijt
12. the devoted one towards Osiris, the /la-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, Tehutinekht, born of Uzhetep (sic)."
Right-hand Sipe op Entrance to Shrine.
On the other half of the wall to the right of the shrine the decoration is in two rows. At the bottom there is a row of stonemasons. The greater part of the area is occupied by a standing figure of an important personage, accompanied by a lady standing behind him, and receiving offerings from four men. There is a very fragmentary line of hieroglyphs at the top, with remains of the usual formula for funerary offerings. The inscription over the figure reads : —
«S
IHL
Z3
fl
III
|
JJiiJiSiS |
^m |
Sips |
|
J«S«M |
^m |
|
|
JSi«SSSS |
^^s |
jsms |
|
$;SSiSS |
mm |
|
|
^m |
JSSSJSJ |
|
|
tl |
AAA^^N |
|
|
JJJSJS^ |
$$M!S |
|
|
V A |
JSJ^SiSS |
i«JSSSJS |
|
J;!?^^ |
^SiSSSS |
SS5§i$
(1) Er-jJa ha Merp nesti mer net za (?)
(2) f!ab zat mer
(3) hut urt VI maa
(4) nez khener
" The hereditary prince, the /m-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, the wazir, the superintendent of the six great temples "
Unfortunately his name is lost : the titles of the grand ivazir borne by this man are not found elsewhere in the tomb, and it must be considered doubtful whether they belonged to Tehutinekht.
The inscriptions on the lower rows i*ead
upt hefet nha dner d'\jisauij)'\ ne khertiu iieter ne ha Zehuti-nekht
" Opening the quarry, cutting the rock by the gangs of tomb-makers of the prince, Tehutinekht."
In front of one of the men is the inscrip- tion : —
zed-tef dner shii thes pefc/ier
" That which he says : dry stone or the converse (?) "
^^
Above them we read
^
JV A^AA/^A
i-TY-i MM ^
vsheb sen en em zed, "They answer to in
and —
^^
MM
.«/iM dner thes pekher, "dry the stone or the con- verse (?) "
The framing of the entrance is painted to resemble lintel and jambs (see pi. vii.). On
TOMB No. 1. SHRINE.
25
the lintel there are four lines of hieroglyphs giving prayers for funerary offerings — (1) to Osiris, Lord of Dadu, Khent Amentiu, (2) to Auubis, (3) to Osiris, and (4) to Anubis (?) for a good burial in the divine netherworld.
On the left-hand jamb are three prayers for funerary offerings— (1) to Osiris, (2) to Anubis, Lord of Tazeser, and (3) to the great and lesser Ennead of gods.
On the right-hand jamb are likewise three prayers — (1) to Osiris, Lord of Ankh-taui, (2) to Anubis, Lord of Ut, and (3) to the northern and southern Atert.^
The inscriptions upon the ceiling (pi. vi.) are too fragmentary for translation. They are of a religious character, and resemble the texts found in the Pyramids.
THE SHRINE.
On the left-hand wall of the shrine is a scene of offering to the figures of Tehutinekht and his wife, accompanied by inscriptions.
Immediately below the frieze is a line of painted hieroglyphs, containing a prayer for perMeru offerings for Tehutinekht, son of Ne- hera. This inscription reads : —
0^5 '%
^^^^rSSik^lf
^
fl%.^i
I
Ferkheru ne dmak/iij ha k/ierp nesti mer hen neter Neherd sa Zehuti-nekAt neb dma kh
" Pe)7t7ipru-offerings to the devoted one, the /(ti-prince, the regulator of tlio two thrones, the superintendent of the priests, Nehera's son Tehutinekht, possessing the reward of worth."
' Alert seems to be the name of the combined celestial and terrestial regions. The northern and southern '' hemi- spheres " would be the neare.st equivalent in current language, but the idea of a celestial sphere is perhaps not Egyptian.
Below this, at the outer end, are four rows of nearly equal height, showdng priests and servants performing ceremonies and bringing offerings to lay upon an altar before the large seated figures of Tehutinekht and his wife Hathor-hetep. Beneath the altar is the in- scription : —
U
j; ) I I I
U
Jebhet ne lut-ef shepsu, setep sa heiia ka-ef "A table of offerings for his noble ha, protection with his /.-«."
Over the figures of Tehutinekht and his wife are six lines of hieroglyphs, reading: —
n ^^^
III
■^ ^
m ^^
S 000
I I I
If
-^
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
O© 1.
P
J
1-
.^
^ I
IIP
Hi
a
I I I
I 5
'%^
n I
]
- offi
iti "
®
3.
^ W
'^D ^ n
5. C.
1. Er-jx'i ha kfierp nesti, mer hen neter ne Zehuti neh
Khemenu nch 2 menu fjieti sonh ... er de han
3. her fjemt-ef pm. ftput [er] unt uastj
4. rekh seten hat qcmaii, half] haw em per seten
5. dmakh [/Wer?] Ptnh-spker ZehutinckM mes ne, Sat-uz-hetrp
G. dmakhijt neht jirr Ifrther-hetep med tie Zehutihi'tep
1. "The hereditary prince, the /ia-prince, the regulator of the two throne.':, the superintendent of the priests of Thoth, lord of Hermopolis, lord of
2 doing more than
3. he found in copying what existed in a decayed state,
26
EL BERSHBH.
4. royal acquaintance, chief of the south country, prince of princes in the house of the king.
5. The devoted (towards) Ptah-socaris, Tehutinekht, born of Sat-uz-hetep.
6. The devoted one, the Lady of the house, Hather- hetep, born of Tehutihetep."
The same description applies to the other side, but the hieroglyphs above the seated figure of Tehutinekht are different. The five columns read : —
c
^ P
ID
I I I
1! = I
-IT
ij
AA/\AAA
n 1 1.
O I
ra
4.
0^ 5.
1. Er-pa ha kfmrp nesti mer hen neter ur Jua em per Zehuti
2. Nefer hems em het netrr se ne heb menj
3. ne anti semay ne [hieru nefer
4. zed medet em da ne ah ser em se-herert
5. ashat dmakh ha Zehuti- it e/cM mes ne Sat-uz-hetep
1. " The hereditary prince, the ^a-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of the priests, great of five in the house of Thoth,
2. beautiful of sitting in the temple, a man of sport,
3. loving incense, a partaker of a holiday,
4. speaking words in washing the heart (?), a noble in pleasing
5. the multitude, the devoted one, the ha-pvince Te- hutinekht, born of Sat-uz-hetep."
On the back wall of the shrine was a large seated statue of Tehutinekht. On either side of it, immediately below the kheker frieze, are two similar inscriptions, reading <— «« m—> : —
d ma Mil hii kherp nesti Zehuti-ne kht mes ne Sat-uz- hetep
"The devoted one, the /m-prince, regulator of the two thrones, Tehutinekht born of Sat-uz-hetep."
Below ai'e four rows of men bearing offer- ings, with inscriptions corresponding.
TOMB No. 3/
Tomb naming the
]
" Royal Scribe "
D®
Sep.
This tomb has apparently been partly quarried away, and the roof has since fallen in (see pi. X.). A fragment of the lintel of the en- trance doorway remains, and upon it are inscribed, in three horizontal lines, the titles of the owner. They read : —
=Sfg
n
1. Ha kherf nesii mer hen neter her tep aa ne TJnt...
2. Ha kfierp nesti mer net " znt Zehut'i em
3. Ha kherp nesti mer het neter
1. The /trt-prinee, the regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of the priests, Great Chief of the Hare nome
2. The ^a-prinee, &c., the superintendent of the city, tlie icazir,
3. The /m-prince, &c., the superintendent of the temple
' Tomb 'Ko. 2, that of Tehutihctep, has already been described in a special memoir : — £/ Derslieh, Part I.
' The sign ]j is very clearly cut, and occurs again in a similar connection, p. 24, above.
The right-hand half of the entrance is de- stroyed. To the left of the centre is a large figure of the Anubis animal on a shrine, with an inscription.
shen ne dm ut na seten Sep
"Offering (?) to him who is in Ut (namely Anubis), the royal scribe, Sep."
Probably there was a corresponding figure, with inscription, on the other half.
On the left jamb of the shrine is an inscrip- tion, reading : —
1. De helep seten neter aa neb pet de-ef kha cm ta heqt dim apdu {^per kheru'\ dm ra neb ne ka ne dmakk
2. an seten ne Tint temem . ne Uaz-kau-es maa-k/ieru
ne per seten Sep dr
1. " An offering to the great god, lord of heaven, may he give thousands of loaves of bread and jars of beer, oxen and wild-fowl with which [the ceremony of funeral banquets may be performed] each day to the hi of the devoted one,
2. the royal scribe of the Hare nome in the
house of tlie king, Sep, born of Uaz-kau-es, jus- tified."
Inside this slirine are traces of a painted scene of offerings, defaced by the fading of the colour, and incised inscriptions belonging to figures of children of Uaz-kau-es : —
28
EL BERSHBF.
2. 3.
^
fl
^
LI 'i^ 'V^v^^ V I - 1
-llli
[Ki
U
1. (ir nef sa-ef ur-rf niery-ef ne khet-ef
na seten Sep dr iie Uaz-Jcau-es viad-Meru
2. sen-ef met t Zehutihetep dr ne Uaz-lcau-es
maa-kheru
3. sen-ef Aha dr ne Uaz-Jcau-es maa-kheru
i. sen-ef Ahanekht [or] ne Uaz-hau-es maa-kheru
1. "Made (this) to him his son, his eldest, whom he
loves, of his body the royal scribe, Sep, born
of Uaz-kau-es, justified.
2. His brother, the superintendent of the treasurers, Tehutihetep, born of Uaz-kau-es, justified.
3. His brother, Aha, born of Uaz-kau-es, justified.
4. His brother, Aha-nekht, born of Uaz-kau-es, justified."
TOMB No. 4.
TdMB OF '^ n NeHEEA, BOBN OK ^ (I IVEMA.
This tomb (see pi. x.) consisted of two chambei'S, of which the inner one was ruined, and could not be cleared. The greater part of the outer chamber was destroyed ; only a ' fragment of the back and right-hand walls remain, the rest having been quarried away. It consisted probably of a rectangular chamber, with decorated walls and a large mummy-pit to the left of the axis. The entrance to the inner chamber was probably in the centre of the back wall, but the original length of this wall on the left is quite uncertain.
The front and the left-hand walls are quite destroyed.
Of the right wall we have a large fragment remaining in place at its inner end. At the top of it is the fragment of painting, No. 3 on pi. xi. On a fallen block farther out is No. 8, evidently from the base of the wall.
Of the back wall, on the left side of the doorway to the inner chamber, there is a piece perfect, but none of the decoration remains excepting insignificant fragments of a figure of Nehera standing, accompanied by a woman of equal height.
The right-hand half of the wall is completely displaced, but preserves a considerable frag- ment of a scene of wrestling, &c. (No. 7). The fragment No. 4 must belong here also. Of the other fragments on the plate, the original positions of i\os. 1 and 2 are quite uncertain. No. 5, naming animals, seemed to those on the spot to have belonged to the
right-hand wall, not far in front of the large figure on No. 3 ; and No. 6, on which the name of an animal is clearly seen, probably goes with No. 5.
There is not much to be said about these fragments. Enough remains to show the name of the owner, ^ 0 H' V ^ "Nehera, boi'u of Kema," on the fragments Nos. 1, 2 and 3, but all his titles are lost. On No. 4 we have the names of his two "eldest" sons, tlie \^S^ .<!a/?/( /^r>//, "treasurer of the king of
Lower Egypt," U\^^" Kay," ^ |^ ^ ^ S(t-ef ^ir-ef mer-ef, " his sou, bis eldest, whom
.5
he loves," and J5^ --^'^ Tehutinekht, who is '■^" © ^
described in the same way.
On fragment No. 5 we have " monkeys," gaf, and " baboons," aaii, male and female, followed by the mythical sag (a female). On fragment No. 6 we have the animal-name sef^er (cf.pl. xvi.).
The inscriptions over the wrestlers on fragment No. 7 are as difficult to interpret as those in the same connection at Beni Hasan. On fragment No. 8 there is the mer f, " superintendent of the trea- surers," *^(](] Khety, bringing offerings, and in front of him part of a harp, with the words of a song written above. It is very unfor- tunate that this scene of the harper is so much destroyed.
To judge from these fragments, the style of painting in the tomb was rough, and not unlike that of the tomb of Khety at Beni Hasan.
TOMB No. 5.
Tomb of the ¥
© ETC., Governor of the (royal) City and Wasir, and i=^ YT!?? " Great Chief of the Hare Nome," Q^ ^-^ Ahanekht.
This tomb is mucli ruiued by earthquakes and by quarrying. It apparently consisted (see pi. xii.) of two chambers, with perhaps a shrine at the inner end of the second chamber ; but the inner end of the latter and the shi'ine, if it existed, were entirely quarried away in ancient times by men working from the back of the next tomb on the right (No. 6). Both chambers were decorated with painting. In plan the outer chamber is rectangular, mea- suring 18 feet 3^ inches by 16 feet 2 inches, and is about 8 feet in height at the inner end. The front wall has been cracked by the force of the earthquake and thrown outwards, and the greater part of the roof has fallen in. A large part of the right-hand waU remains in place, but of the left-hand wall only the dado at the base. The back wall is more complete, and the roof is in place above it. The facade consisted simply of the worked face of the cliff, the front of the doorway being flush with the rest, and not, as is usual, with a raised "architrave"; but long lines of hieroglyphs were incised on either side and upon the liutcl. The entrance is 4 feet 8 inches wide, the thick- ness of the wall being 3 feet 2 inches. There are two mummy-pits in the outer chamber, one on each side of the axis ; that on the right
is the largest, and measures 10 feet 8 inches by 5 feet 3 inches at the opening in the floor.^
The dimensions of the inner chamber, which was entered by a doorway 4 feet 8 inches wide, are not known, as it was not considered safe to entirely clear the debris, owing to the large blocks from the roof which lay on the top. The width of the chamber, however, was 18 feet 2j inches, and the right-hand wall was uncovered to a distance of 19 feet 8 inches. Of this chamber the right-hand side of the front wall is fairly perfect, but all beyond is quarried away, little more than the dado re- maining in place. Some fragments of all the walls have been recovered, excepting the back wall of the inner chamber.
The decoration of the tomb consisted of scenes and inscriptions, which were all incised and roughly coloured. With one or two excep- tions, in which several colours are used, the in- scriptions are filled in with pale blue, of a tone characteristic of the early Middle Kingdom. There is little merit in either the design or execution of the scenes which remain. In both chambers there are plain dados, and in the inner one there are the remains of two false
' See Mr. Eraser's Apjiendix, below, [j. G1,
TOMB No. 5.
doors sculptured on the left-hand wall. Above the dado are the roughly executed scenes, sur- mounted by broad bands of colour, but without JiheJcer ornament.
The ceiling is yellow, ornamented with blue stars.
In one corner of tlie outer chamber (see pi. XV.) is painted a column, with its capital in the form of a full-blown lotus, and in a corner of the inner chamber a similar column with a papyrus capital (see pi. xvii.). We may confidently assert, on the strength of these remains, that each chamber was represented as upheld by four columns, those in the northern or inner chamber representing the northern plant X J those in the outer or southern the plant of the south ¥. This device is architecturally important.
SCENES AND INSCRIPTIONS.
FAgADE. — Over the doorway there were four horizontal lines of hieroglyphs (see pi. xiii.), three of which are still perfect, incised and painted blue, giving the name and titles of Ahanekht. They read : —
FACADE. 31
1. De heteii seten Anpu neb Sep se-za ef nefer her uaut-ef iiefert net Mer-neter k/iepe/pt amakkii her- es dmakky kher Anpu AhaneMt maa /c/ieru
2. Ha kherp nesti iner hen neter her tep aa ne Tint mereru neteru-eii nehu dma/c/iy kher neter uci neh 2)et AhaneMt maa kheru
3. Ila kherp nesti salno hdti semer nkti hep an
rekhut (?) mer set dmentet dmakhi/ kher
Vs-dr neh Dedu Zehuti-uekht sa Ahanekht maa kheru '
4. Hd kherp nesti hen neter
1. "May the king give au offering to Anubis, lord of Sep, making a good passage along the roads of kher-neter, on which the AmaJchu travel, the de- voted towards Anubis, Ahanekht.
2. The /(a-prinee, regulator of the two thrones, superin- tendent of the priests, the Great Chief of the Hare nome, beloved of all its gods, the devoted towards the great god, lord of Heaven, Ahanekht, justified.
3. The //a-prince, regulator of the two thrones, trea- surer of the king of Lower Egyjit, confidential
friend of the king superintendent of the
Western desert, the devoted towards Osiris, lord of Busiris, Tehutinekht's son, Ahanekht, justified.
4. The //a-prince, regulator of the two thrones, priest of "
On the left-hand side are twelve columns of hieroglyphs, reading^ : —
5. Hd kherp nesti me\_i- henu neterl
6. em dh-ef per kheru er gerg
7. dm Khemenu shems neh-ef khet hesept damn ne ds ... .ihu
8. [»ie]i/t's \_er m('\des sekher sebd ■■<hela
9. dm au Heru dm khen[t~\ em het-neht (?) Ho
her Mil [heq] men red tur aui heby em
usekht
' These three lines have been published by Maspero in Recucil dc travaux, xiii. 193, from a copy preserved amongst the papers of Nestor do I'llote in the Eibliotlieipie Nationale (Tomo iii. fo. 291).
" In 1. 1 1 occur.s the well-known phra>c
divided after the first siyn by a coiii-iderable gap. Unless tliis gap be due to a confusion in the copy, caused by the ruinous state of the original, we must attribute it to the desire of the sculptor to avoid a defect in the stone.
32
EL BERSHEH.
10. derj:) em khau asha seftet se-nezem seth het-neter iin her se-uaz se-dn se-zefa khaut neteru, dmu Unt mer net
11. ta sab zat Me uza keseput ser (?) taut neheh (?) we entet duiet semen medui (?) tashn dmu Unt hereru qemau
12. kher sekher-ef ta mehu kher uz \medu']-ef haau nefaat shepset her tep Het-neh meh db tie seten aa ha Menu khesef
13. em khahu-dh rekh seten ftahu then aru
emem uru an net-ef meter mad (?) iiak db sdr
14. pgi^M metlu ur em dat-ef aa em sah-ef khent esut em per seten neheb [^Iia]u-ef saq (?) Uut mer[er^
15. Zehuti neb Khemenu dn-ef vier-nef em se [dqrl^ aq (s« ?) ket-ef metut dr maid sepd re em her db shent zed em re-ef dr em aui-ef
16. sa dut-ef em her db heqau aq kher hat per Mer pehui sedem seh ne dlceku (?) dmak/iy Aha-nekht maa-k/iern.
5. "The /irf-piince, regulator of the two thrones, superintendent [of the priests ]
6. in his heart, perhheru oflFerings
7. in Hermopolis, following his lord over the nome
8. Sharp to the sharp, overthrowing the rehellious
9 Horus am-kheut in the house of the
sycamore firm of foot, clean of hands,
festive in the great hall
10. ofi'ering to the gods by the thousand, abounding in victims, making sweet the smell ol' the temple, revealing the face (of the god by opening the shrine), making to flouiish what was decayed, pro- visioning the altars of the gods who are in the Hare nome, superintendent of the city,
11. judge, icaz'ir, of what is and what is
not, making firm the boundaries which are in the Hare nome, the South rejoices
12. in his method, the North in his rule; precious stone comes to him, the Chief of Het-Nub, satisfy- ing the heart of the king, the door behind the palace, taking vengeance
l-'j. on the rebellious, the royal friend the
nobles, important of figure amongst the great, the pillar of his city, truly just, applying the heart, seeking
14. the end of words, great in his office, high in his rank, advanced of position in the king's house, uniting his kas (?), armouring the Hare nome, beloved of
15. Tehuti, lord of Hermopolis, bringing to him what
he desires as an excellent individual, doing
justice, of ready lip in the midst of the warriors, speaking with his mouth, acting with his two arms,
16. careful of his going in the midst of the princes, entering first, going out last, hearing the council of the devoted one, Aha-nekht, justified."
On the right-hand side are eleven columns of hieroglyphs, reading^ : —
17. ha kherp nesti mer hen neter aa reii em taui Heru mer \jiema]u du dr-nd men\u] aau cm re-per neb [ci] Zehuti du t
18. dr nd hebu du de-nd dat ne neb-es (?)
qed-nd em \_ma']t (?) en neb-d Zehuti erde nd ren-d qed nd
19. kheshij) dn nd ne merut sc-ankh ren-d her menu
dr-nd d uat sek/iemkh db em mert-nef
d Zehuti em uzd Met
20. sebau Hern Men.[_t'\ pet uab aui er hetep-ef kha
ankh nefer sa Menu Menuti za db
er est
21. net sat seshem nds er ahauef heru nefu aa
heru tep du md Heru em sektet nds
aa ne neb
22. nebu Meat er k/ientu nuk merij ne [xctcn (?)] nnk
aha ne sema em a kheperu arer-d heniu er
maat-d
23. Mepert si Mer seh(?)-d nuk gert en fek/ict ... re-
es sa ... db guau-ef neb sekher em seh ne
seru
24. hru medet qesent gerg db er se-hat be ... heru ne
medet a AhanekM ha kherp nesti mer hen
neter nuk uab .yjiu
25. em kend medic beses her seft neb heru teka
Nekhebt (?) sem ashat ur uahut asha seteput
Uab aaui em
26. neter se-hetep esut het-neter medu '" er kher-ef pat leg rekhtjt em seger aa se-her (?) hemu seten her khent ta ne sekher khen dhii
' In the plate the fragments are not quite correctly adjusted ; the top one is too close to the second (see esp. lines 18 and 19). In line 17 we must restore ^^ On the other hand, the bottom fragment should ^^ touch the third, so as to give W in line 22. vjj
\ J
* Cf . the same phrase on p. 1 9, above.
TOMB No. 5. FACADE AND MAIN CHAMBER.
33
27 ■)()•« sema ta ur dun
kherp nesti mer hen neter her tep aa ne JJnt nmafc/i Ahanekht. maa khern
17. "The Aa-prince, regulator of the two thrones, superiutendent of the priests, great of name in the two lands of Horns, superintendent of the South. I made great monuments in the temple of my lord Thoth .^
IS. I made festivals, I gave (each) oiSce to its
(rightful) owner [temple] (which) I built
anew (?) to my lord Thoth, I placed my name [upon it] I built
19 I brought in in order to make my
name live upon the monuments that I made
rejoicing the heart with what it desired
[brother of (?)] Thoth in weighing things.
20. Star of Horus in heaven, pure of hands
pleasing the heart in the place
21. of leading him who calls to his place (?)
on the day of great tempests: my chief
being like Horus in the divine sekfct-haat. Great caller of the lord of
22. lords. Foremost of the foremost, 1 was beloved of the king (?) : 1 was a warrior of close combat
23 [I found the skein in] its en- tanglement, possessor of method in the council of the officers
2 t. on the day of painful words, valiant of heart to
on the day of words Ahanekht,
the /ifi-prince, the regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of the priests, I was pure, free of
25. Ailse-swearing, great of fruits,
abounding in choice viands, pure of hands in the vessel
2G. of god. Satisfying the places of the temple, speaking according to his voice, the Pat are subdued, the Eekhyt are silenced: ... great ... wielding the rudder ; the king steered (?) the land according to my method : greedy (?) of oxen the
27 great of five regulator of
the two thrones, sujjerintendent of the priests. Great Chief of the Hare nome, the devoted one, Ahanekht, justified."
Thickness of tde Walls. — Ou cither side of the entrance passage to the outer chamber (i.e. the " thickness of the walls ") wei'e three columns of hieroglyphs giving the usual prayers and the name and titles of Ahanekht,
beneath which was a seated figure of the prince. Of the inscription on the right-hand side three fragments are preserved (see pi. xiii.). The first line gave the Dc hetej) seten formula to Osiri-s, lord of Dadu and Abydos. The second and third lines give titles of Ahanekht, among which occur k/ierp shenzet," liegulator oi
the tunic," and |) " kherp , a title which
appears also at Beni Hasan. ^
Of the corresponding inscription ou the opposite side three pieces are preserved. The first line gave the De hetep seten formula to Anubis Upon his hill, Within Ut, Lord of the Sacred Land. The second and third lines give titles of Ahanekht, and among others the fol- lowing : — 7ir res met, " noble of the Southern ten," ur ha met, "noble of the Northern ten," ur dua em per Zehuti, " Great of five in the house of Thoth," and hen neter nets (?) medn. (?) " priest of the Pronouncer of words (?)."
Front Wall : Left Side (pi. xiv.). — The prin- cipal figure is of Ahanekht seated, stretching out his rio-ht hand as if to an altar in front of him. The rows in front are extremely mutilated, but the three rows below are in better preserva- tion. The top one shows figures dancing in his presence. The dancers are in light clothing, with their hair tied by a fillet. Portions of four figures remain, with a fifth facing them and beating time. Beneath are two rows of cattle, with bull- fight, milking, and birth of a calf, &c. Near the feet of Ahanekht is an ox cut up, and over his head are three lines of hieroglyphs with his name, and in the third a funeral prayer to Anubis.
lUght Side (pi. xv.). — Of the corresponding scene on the right-hand side the large figure is lost. Some fragments remain towards the bottom corner. These show a large pond, with two clumps of blue lotus and ducks and geese of different sizes. Three men bring birds alive
Beni Ilumn, Part I., pi. vii.
34
EL BERSHEH.
or trussed. Towards the top of the wall meu are loading and driving donkeys. At the top were two lines of inscription giving prayers for Ahanekht, that in the upper one being addressed to Osiris, Ment Amentiu, lord of Abydos. It is probable that above the duck- pond there was a large seated figure, to which the attendants were bringing the birds, so that the scheme of this scene nearly corresponded with that on the other side.
Left-hand Wall. — Of this we have no certain fragments, but a jiiece was found in this direction that may have belonged here or to an adjoining tomb. It reads as part of a well-known formula : —
lEMira^
ijiin^l
Jj^^jPI
^M21^^
d-nd cm net-d ]ia[-nd cm hesept-d dr-na\merert rcmt heses/[netem du de-nd ia\ ne heqer heqt ne db hebsu \_ne hay\ nulc mery ne Taijf
" I came into my city, I euteveJ into my territorj^ I did what men desired and gods praised ; I gave bread to the hungry, beer to the thirsty, clothes to
the naked , I was beloved of Tayt (the
goddess of weaving)."
Right-hand Wall (pi. xv.). — Fragments at the corner, top and bottom, join those of the right half of the front wall. At the end, between two bands of coloured rectangles was the figure of a lotus column, incised and painted in colours. Its tapering shaft was composed of several stems ; its capital was formed of an open flower of the blue lotus, and just beneath this two small buds were bound to the main stems. At tte foot was evidently a circular base. Of the rest of this wall there is a fragment of the titles of Ahanekht close to the top of the column, and evidently there had been a large figure of the prince at this end of the wall. At the inner end, in the two bottom rows, are the remains
of several kneeling figures of servants holding vases, &c., with the names of their offerings tabulated beneath them. The wall terminates with a border of coloured rectangles.
Inner Wall : Left Side. — Destroyed.
Doorivay. — On the right side are the ends of two columns of inscription, with the titles of Ahanekht, terminated by a seated figure (pi. 5vi.).
Iligld Side (pi. xvi.). — The lower part is complete. A number of fishermen are drawing a well-filled net ashore, assisted by a man in a canoe. Over this is the inscription, v/ian her ham. [r(?«i]//, " fishermen catching fishes." The canoe is steadied by a man driving his punting-polo into a hat net neslia, " bush of neshn " resembling bamboos. At the other end is a clump of papyrus called simply hat, "bush." A blue lotus gro^vs underneath the first bush.
The upper rows are much more injured, only the outer end being preserved. First there are two men carrying a fish on a pole. Merit, aha, " carrying the Nile perch {Perca Nilotiea),^' ^ and another holding large fish, belonging to two species, in each hand, witb the inscription kher remu, " carrying fish." Above these, in two rows, are evidently the remains of a hunting scene. In the lower row we see an animal named setjier with a pointed nose, probably a hound, or perhaps a mythical animal. Next to it is a fawn or calf-like animal named tham. A mysterious object is seen upon its back, which may be a trap of some description ; but more probably it is intended to represent a fan or shade y provided by nature as an adornment or protection for the back of au inhabitant of the desert. Another monster is seen just above ; a lion with the head of a hawk, the wings of an eagle, and the horns and feathers
' Vide Petrie's Medum, pi. xii. ami p. 38.
TOMB No. 5. INNER CHAMBER
35
of a god. This strange medley is called tesh- tesh, "the tearer-in-pieces." Behind it is a stag or fallow-deer (henen). Probabl}' ordinary creatures were figured on the left-hand side, while monsters occupied the outer end. At the top are, first, the titles of Ahanekht : M Merp nesti ha-nef set neh, " the /ui-priuce, the regulator of the two thrones, who visited all countries (deserts)." This was followed by zed medu an Geb... " words of the god Geb...,"^ and the titles of Ahaueklit.
INNER CHAMBER.
Thickness op Wall. — Ou the thickness of the wall on the right there remains a figure of Ahanekht (pi. xvi.) standing, holding a staff and napkin (?). He is clad in a leopards' skin, but the usual waist-cloth shows below, and the girdle is placed over the skin. A rich collar is upon his breast, and bracelets are on his wrists. In front of him is a column of hiero- glyphs, reading : —
[her tcii'\ a[rt Tie Z7ni] rmh ah sefvn Mcnt ta pen meieru-ef Aha-nc/cM
" The Great Chief of the Hare nome, satisfying the heart of the kiug within this land, heloved of him, Ahanekht."
Front Wall : Left Side. — Destroyed.
Bight Side. — This is practically complete (pi. xvii.).^ Ahanekht, followed by four at- tendants, is greeted by two persons, one of whom holds a branch. There are four lines of inscription above. The first contains a prayer to Osiris, lord of Dadu, klient Amentiu, and lord of Abydos. The second gives the titles of Ahanekht : —
' See the complete formula in Tomb No. 8, p. 39.
' It has been already pnbli.shod by Masi)ero in liecueil de Travaux, xiii., p. 192, from Nestor de I'llote's papers, iii., 291.
[//« kherp nesti\ mcr hen. ncter merji ZehiUi neb Khcmenu, senexem feth het ncter em did t
c
dmakh Ahanekht
" [The /ia-i)riiice, regulator of the two thrones] sujicr- intendent of tlie priests, heloved of Tiioth, Lord of Hermopolis, making sweet the scent of the teniph' on the feast of the month and of tlie half-month, the devoted one, Ahanekht,"
The third line reads : —
[.Sf.v/iiy/r'] haq ne hit nefer em a lu'ihn nn ha kherp nesti, mer hen neter vah aa ne Zehuti nc dr moat (?) AhanekM.
"[Receiving?] an olive branch ' of the temple from the Mrti)-priests by the /ut-prince, regulator of the
two thrones, great Ma?)-priest of Thoth
Ahanekht."
Over the four attendant figures are the words : —
nalnctiu nu/tu her khent kher qcref
"The treasurers, priests, overseers of the garden (?) and hearer of the hag (?)."
Right-hand Wall. — A fragment froui the top of this wall at the outer end shows (pi. xvii.) that a papyrus-column was painted in the corner; beyond at the top are two lines of inscription, with a prayer to Thoth and the Southern Atert (see note on p. 25) for the prince, who is here called da ne net-ef, " great one of his city," in addition to customary titles. Incense is being burned, and the leg of an animal oflTered before him.
Left-hand Wall. — All of this has been quarried away except about sixteen inches at the base, and the decoration appears to have been raised a foot above the floor. In the middle were two false doors (the lower parts of which are still preserved), giviug the names of Ahauekht and 'IV'lmtinekht (see Fig.).
|
[1 |
^ ^ |
||||
|
j |
/wws |
/VYV^A |
;vv^Vrt |
||
|
/._ |
A« |
• A |
A« |
According' to Victor Lorot, liaq is tlu; Moriwja.
u 2
TOMB No. 6.
Tomb of
r-. ii " Teuuti-neeht, boen op Ankh.
This tomb is almost entirely destroyed, a portion of the left-hand wall of the main chamber and an inscribed block, probably be- longing to the lintel of the entrance doorway.
alone remaining. The inscription, Tckutinckht
c
mes ne Ankh, fortunately preserves the name of the owner of the tomb and that of his mother.
Block, probably from the Lintel.
TOMB No. 7.
Tomb of the =^ /^ I .9^ " Great Priest of Thoth, # II Neiiera.
This tomb is almost entirely destroyeci. It apparently consisted of a single cliaraber, 19 feet 7 inches deep by 19 feet 1 inch wide (see plan, pi. xviii.), the height of which was about 8 feet 6 inches. In the back wall there is a square doorway, apparently too low for a shrine, and probably the entrance to a sloping mummy-pit, which, however, was not cleared. The walls of the latter, so far as they were visible, are plain. A small false door is sculp- tured at the inner end of the left-hand wall. There are a few traces of painted l-Jickcr orna- ment at the top of the walls, but all vestiges of the paintings below have been destroyed. On the ceiling, however, are the inscnptions given in pi. xix. These inscriptions consist of funerary texts similar to those of the Booh of the Bend, and frequently introduce the name and titles of the owner, which in one place appeal' to occupy several columns. It is impossible to restore the arrangement of these inscrip- tions. The outline of the remaining poi'tion of the ceiling is marked on the plan, pi. xviii. ; the fragment No. 7, with the rudely painted star, was in the left-hand outer corner, and beyond this the whole of the inner portion had been occupied by four transverse bands of in- scriptions in .short columns of smaller hiero- glyphs. Of these bands large fragments remain, numbered 1 to 6 and 8 on the plate. Nos. 7, 8, 5, 3 and 1 are from the left-hand edge of the ceiling, the remainder from the
other side, separated from the former by a broad space, from which the inscriptions have been worn away. It appears that none of the inscriptions are identical with any in the Booh of the, Dead, but in lines 5-7 of fragment No. 1 there is a passage very similar to chapters 57 and 60 of Lepsius' publication.^ The columns run, as usual with texts in linear hieroglyphs, contrary to the direction of the hieroglyphs. Each column commences with the signs p^ zed vicdii, "pronounce the formula"; but the sense of the chapters runs on from line to line, so that these signs must be omitted in reading. Tlie texts are divided
into chapters with headings, "chapter of ,"
unfortunately in a very fragmentary state. The name of the deceased is frequently quoted as 'Q' (I Nehcra pen, " this JN ehera, but in
lines 15-18 of the third fragment we find a number of religious titles preceding the name, and evidently placed at the end of an important section of the texts. These titles read : —
dmakhy ha khorp ncsti mer hen neter ur dun (?) udb an ne Zchuti em sekhc.rt sebd horu art nct-ii maa neferu neb- [_ef\ em est [zesert ?]
" The devoted one, the /ta-prince, regulator of the two tin-ones, superintendent of the priests, great of
, great Ma/;-priest of Thoth in overthrowing
the rebellious on the day of affixing the rates of contribution, seeing the beauties of [his] lord iu the [sacred] places."
1 R. Lepsiiis, Da» Todtenbuch der Aegypter.
TOMB No. 8.
Tomb naming the ^ ^ "Great Chief of the Hare Nome," CKi g-^ Aha-neeht,
AAAAAA "< ' ' ' I '
WITH THE
1 n " Steward of the Royal Earim," (| | "^ Aha.
This tomb (see pi. xx.), consisting of a single small chamber, 9 feet 4 inches deep by 6 feet 7 inches across, and about 5 feet high, has recently been much mutilated, the insci'iptions covering the greater part of the left-hand and inner walls having been almost entirely de- faced. We possess, however, a photograph of the inscriptions on the inner wall, made by Major Brown, R.E., before its defacement, and Prof. Sayce copied the same, with a few others, in 1884.
The fagade of the tomb is plain, but the lintel and jambs of the entrance doorway are inscribed with incised hieroglyphs. On the lintel are two lines reading -(r-m : —
^fik^is^riS^iii
Ji
2.
1. Ila kkerp ncatl mer hen ncter Zehuti neh Khemenu (imakhy Ahanckhl maa-kheni
2. Dehetepsetcn [dynakA'jy AkancMt
maa-kheru
1 . " The ^((-prince, regulator of tlie two thrones, superintendent of the priests of Thoth, lord of
Hermopolis, the devoted one, Ahanekht,
justified.
2. May the king give an offering to
the devoted one, Ahanekht, justified."
On the left-hand jamb are two columns of hieroglyphs reading : —
A
I — I
D
®[:^
W
^
flC /\fiJV^W
ti
■i
■I
1
©
1. Be hetep seten Anpu tep du-ef neb Ta-zeser krest nefert ne dmak/i Nek//t
2. Hd kkerp nesti mery
dm Khemeyiu dmak/i Ahanekht
1. "May the king give an ofler- ing to Anuhis, Upon his Hill, lord of the Sacred Land, a good hurial to the devoted one, Nekht {sic).
2. The /ia-priiice, regulator of
the two thrones
beloved of him who is within Hermopolis, the devoted one, Ahanekht."
TOMB No. 8.
On the right-hand jamb are two columns
reading ■*— «
A
fl
Z5 S
j] 1!
^©
~i I I I p
1. De hdep seten JJs-dr neb Dcdu khent Amentiu
2. Ha kherp nesti mer hen neter her tep aa ne JJnt mereru \_neteru]-es 'idmakh Ahanekhl
1. " !May the king g-ive an offer- ing to Osiris, lord of Busiris, chief of the dwellers in the West
2. The fca-prince, regulator of the two thrones, superintendent of the priests, great chief of the Hare-nome, beloved of its gods, the devoted one, Ahanekht."
The sides of the doorway or " thickness of the wall " are plain.
CHAMBER.
The outer wall of the main chamber is quite plain, excepting a single line of hieroglyphs, incised and painted blue, immediately beneath the ceilincj. This reads : —
\y"-
o
O
umaHi/ kJier JJs-iir Ahn-nek^/, " Devoted towards Osiris, Aha-nekht."
Left-hand W.\ll. — At the top was a hori- zontal line reading: —
CTl
"^ D 0*5 ^ "?
oQ^yt
11^: ]
De hetep seten Geh art hen ne \^liesmi'n dehh '] hetep per Meru dua neter [shed nef se-dk/iu art nef khet neb nefer ne dmakk Aha-nekM
" May the king give an offering to Geb, the offering of a box of natron, a table of offerings, perhheru offerings, the praising of god, the performance of the reading of services for him, and the doing of all good things to the devoted, Ahanekht."
Below, in the centre of the wall, there was apparently a kind of false door, noticed by Prof. Sayce, but his sketch of it is not intel- ligible. At the sides of this were two vertical lines of inscription — that on the left the De hetep seten formula to Osiris for Aha, that on the right similar, but addressed to Anubis.' The rest of the wall on either side was occupied by an inscription also relating to Aha, written in sixteen columns, nine of which were on the left of the false door and seven on the right. Although divided in the middle by the false door and the two vertical lines just mentioned, the whole of these two inscriptions forms but one text. This has been much mutilated since 1889, but a careful copy has been made of what remains, and the text has been restored from Prof. Sayce's copy.^ The resulting text is given in pi. xxi. : —
1. virli (is ne menj neh-ef mcr (?) her (?) ^
2. m:b qrcs ha er est nrfcrt cm hest net (?) vrh [ef]
3. r,/i du khen-ef en gc7n sep-ef en (?) kk'Scf-ef
4. /.■// ynedu ref ha-n\_uP\ er Anient riefcrt jier-d
5. (jerg thend-d er est-d hest inent em d-
6. kkiuuti dr-nd daut ashnt nen thescst
7. din-(i dr man virk ud em rek/i seten
8. kkiper-ktid em hesij mali sebau ...
9. ne mesu seten rek/i se.'^Jjeni nr d/ia se nr khetd teken
' This word, incorrect in Sayce's copy, is restored from the i)arallel inscription in Tom!) No. 10.
- Published in liemieil de Truvau.v, vol. xiii., p. 191 (linos 10, 11).
^ Published I.e., pp. 190-1, and partly translated by Maspero.
* Sayce has ^ indistinctly.
•10
EL BERSHEH.
10. em neh-ef en per-d kJier uhat-nn em hest-n hak-d kher cst-d
11. se-iiah vierut-ef em send kham a ne nru
12. shti em khenfa er heru-tep-ef per-d ked gerg
13. kher zeru she shad nehut se-rud dr-nd
14. as her udrt k/ier redui neb-d hes-ud
15. ne inert tern. ?«a an hah er dr ha-ef zedet svdemti- sen. set-
16. se-za-nef hest-ef meiit dmak/iij Aha
1. " Bclioki thnu the tomb of him who was loved of his master
2. The possessor of a funeral entering tlie goodly
place (the tomb) by the favour of [his] master.
3. No one came to accuse him^ no charge was found against him, he repelled
4. (every) other who spake against him. I have entered into the goodly West (tomb), my house was
5. furnished, I had grown old in my place ; I was praised continually in the palace,
6. I performed numerous offices, there was no con- spiracy (?)
7. against me Bi'hold I was a [true?] royal
friend.
8. I became as one truly praised, the instructor
9. of (?) the children of the king, knowing the practice of the palace, a man of intimacy, entering
10. into the presence of his lord, not departing with in favour, a servant on a proper occasion,'
11. increasing his love by reverence, bending his arm to the great ones,
12. Without arrogance to his superior officers. My house was built provided
13. with fences (?), a reservoir was excavated, and trees planted. I made
14. a tomb on the hill-side under the feet of my lord. who praised me
15. in order that the servant might not degenerati' into doing his (own) desire, Let it be said by those who hear it :
16. 'He has gone! he was praised continually, the devoted Aha.' "
' It would perhaps bo hotter to translate this line : " into the presence of his lord. I did not succeed in having a place opened to me (gaining admittance) (merely) by favour of a servant in charge of the place," i.e., the king himself desired his presence.
On the opposite wall (the right-hand wall) there are some traces of a scene of bulls fight- ing (?) and of a Hst of oiferiugs.' Along the top of the wall is the following line of hiero- glyphs, reading <— <« : —
ixATiy&^4»i^fl#-H
cxns<
1
I I
©■
I
Q^
Be hetep seten Zehuti de dtert res dtert meht pat dat neteru neh dr-sen neh khet neh\f\ nefer\V\ net dma.kky Ahanekhl mad kheru
" May the king give an offering and Thoth, the Southern Atert and the Northern Atert, the great cycle of all the gods, may they make for thee all good things for the devoted one Ahanekht, jus- tified."
On the inner wall there were two horizontal lines of inscription for Ahanekht, and sixteen vertical for Aha. The greater part of these have now been cut away and destroyed ; for- tunately we possess a photograph taken by Major Brown in 1889, when the wall was yet intact. A copy of the original inscription was made in 1883 by Pi'of. Sayce, and has been published by Prof. Maspero.^ The remains of the original were compared with Prof. Sayce's complete copy, and the result checked by Major Brown's photograph (see pi. xxi.). The two horizontal lines read : —
1.
»J)
{g^TH!
I 1^
a
\^\']::j^>i\\^r
Q^
©
- The list of offerings with the line of inscription at the toil is ))ublished by Sayce, Recueil de Travaux, vol. xiii., pp. 187-8.
' L.c, pp. 189-90.
TOMB No. 8.
41
D
D^O^
r7 f^vww
1. /7a A'/ierp vesti m.cr [licnu veter hrr icji an no] Tint mercrii netcru (s?) nch dmak/nj k/wr Us-dr Aha-nefM
2. zed medii an Oeh sa-d pu Aha-nc k/d pen mcri/ j'U Aha-neMt du erde-n iief uab cm fa dkh em pet dmakh Aha-neMt
1. "Tlie prince, etc., great chief of tlie Hare nome, beloved of all (its?) gods, Ahaneldit, devoted to Osiris."
2. " Speech by Geb. This Ahanekht is my son, Ahanekht is my beloved, there are given to him purity on earth and glory in heaven, the devoted Ahanekht."
The I'est of the inscription is given in pi. xxi., and reads: —
J. sdhu bdti seiner ua ' dij[ em iistheii nen semdt-cf
2. mcr neshui (?) xenu! Iter tep em sek/iert sehd"
3. maa se-hetep neteru mer se-ih em per an kh
4. uha nef zeseru nehu se dqer we uha nef
5. ah sek/ient-ne dun-ef er hat dqu nef dnu em
6. hest ne ant ne merer-ef neh-ef drf daut
7. enthes dm-efdmsi/{t) senzune neh-ef her tcp neper
8. cintiu khetcm nu (?) nezcm .iheps[efih]
9. setfha khener [t ?'\ her-ef sepd dlidu hemsxi,
10. khcr sekher-ef ne dai ne mch dh dm-ef wcry neh- ef mad
11. ne est dh-ef lies ij-ef mer hct (?) seten d.makJi Aha
12. mch dh (?) setcn^ cm ncfer duit khcnt
(jem (?)
> Cf. line 14.
2 Cf. pi. xix., .3, lines IG, 17.
3 I ^==«^ in Prof. Sayce's copy is an improbable grou]
^
to be met witli in the Middle Kingdom: read, therefore,
1:"!. nf:fhcn her est shetnt viaa
14. kheht em zeseru semer ud en unt scnu-ef
15. .-iedemu medu em udv, dm dh ne neh-ef
10. mad khetem her khckert mer dp seten dmakh Aha
1. ''The treasnrer of the king of Lower Egypt, the confidential friend of the king, entering with strides, without being proclaimed
2. superintendent of the two (?) chief in over- throwing the enemy.
3. Seeing him who pacifies tlie gods. Superintendent of the writings in the house of life,
4. who has penetrated all sacred things, an excellent man who has penetrated
5. the heart, whose quality has promoted him forward to the front, to whom presents enter by
G. favour, of the greatness of his love for his lord, uniting many offices,
7. in whom is no pride reverence for his lord,
chief of the house
8. of incense, sealing the valuable sweets,
9. conducting the harim, his countenance prejiared (i.e. attentive)
10. (the master of the ceremonies) by whose arrange- ment one stands or sits ; of the greatness of the satisfaction of the heart with him, beloved of his lord truly
11. of the place O'f his heart, praised of him, the superintendent of the royal harim (?), the devoted Aha.
12. Satisfying the heart of the king by good things
13. having free access to the hidden place, seeing
14. the dance in the private (places), the sole friend without his equal,
15. hearing the words in the solitary apartments, he who is in the heart of his lord
IC. truly, locking up (lit. " sealing ") the oriiamenis of the women, the siqierintcndeiit of the royal harem, the devoted Alia."
TOMB No. 9.
Tomb of 5?^ CO T^ KHNKM(?)-NEKnT.
This tomb (see pi. xx.) consists of a single small and nearly rectangular chamber, 10 feet deep by 4 feet 4 inches across, and about 4 feet in lieitjlit. It is without architectural or other
decoration, but tliere is a fragment of inscrip- tion cut in the rock above the entrance to it, giving the name of the owner, Khnem(?)-
Nekht.
TOMB No. 10.
TOiMB NAMING THE ^.=. ^^-^
' 1 inT
tZ. "-^T Great Chief of t
WITH THE
H^
W O '^
HE Hare Nome, Q^^^ Ahanekht,
Tehutinekht.
This tomb (see pi. xx.) consists of a single small rectangular chamber, 8 feet 4J inches deep, by 4 feet (!>\ inches across and 4 feet 1^ inches high. It contained several inscrip- tions and scenes, but the latter are now, un- fortunately, too mutilated to copy. None of the inscriptions have ever before been pub- lished.
The facade of the tomb, like that of No. 8, is plain, but the lintel and jambs of the entrance doorway are incised with hieroglyphs. Upon the lintel is the following mutilated inscription, reading -t^-m : —
o
o A
^
D
msss
1.
1 . Sekher ne ihet-nd (a i)cn cm mad
2 dmakkij AhanefcM.
1. The manner in which I received tliis land hy just rif^ht
2 the devoted Ahanekht.
On the left-hand jamb are two vertical columns of hieroglyphs, i-eading: —
ti
[^£1
S'
o Q
=^
1 1!
AA/VVV\
0 ^o
9
o ^
1. De hetrp selen Usdr nch Dedit, khent Amentia \)ieh Ah^ifii dmakk\ u Zchu/inek/d]
2. TJa k/icrp nesti ^ner hen neter Zc/ia/i neh Khemenu mery iimakh!/ Ahanekht
1. The De heiep scten formula to " Osiris, lord of Busiris, Meiit Anient, lord of Ahydos, lor (he devoted Tehutinekht."
2. "The /((/-prince, rej^ulator of the two thrones, superintendent of tlie priests, Ijeloved of 'rh(itli, lord of llennopolis, the devoted one, Ahanekht."
44
EL BERSHBH.
On the corresponding riglit-hand jamb are the two following columns of hieroglyphs : —
]
A
©
AAAAAA
— g)
1
IP
^
,1J
o 0£i
1. Dfi /(f^fy) scteii Anpu khcnt ... neter tep du-ef dm Tit neb ta zeser /crest ne/'er(t) net nmakh Zehutine/cM
2. Ha khcrp nesti mer hen neicr her tep aa ne Unt menj netcrn-cs nch[u] dmakh Aha- nekht
1. The De hetejp seten formula to " Anubis, Witliin the temple, Upon his hill, Within Ut, lord of the snored land, for a good burial for the devoted Tehutinekht."
2. "The /ift-prinee, regulator of the two thrones, superin- tendent of the priests, Great Chief of the Hare nome, beloved of all its gods, the devoted Alianekht."
(.U)
© Q
CHAMBER.
Front Wall. — The small s[)ace belonging to the front wall, on the right of the doorway, is blank ; on the left, immediately beneath the ceiling, is the inscription ^ 0 0 M' y ^=^^ " The devoted Tehutinekht."
Left-hand Wall. — At the top of the wall, immediately beneath the coiling, is the follow- ing line of hieroglyphs, reading : —
iiy%-i
-<2>-
ra
\ \ \
^ A /W^AA^ U I I
Ji
I I I Ci
D 0«)5 .O
T.n
-"■^s
p%.,*=^%li=l
^
Q^
Do hetep seten Geb art hen ne hesmen dch/i hetep perkhem dua neter shed-nef se-dkhu Zehut art nef k/iet neht nefer\_t'\ ne dmakhij AhanekM mad-k/ieru
" May the king give an offering to Geb, the offering of a liox of natron, a table of offerings, pcrlclieru offerings, the praising of god, the performance of the reading of services of (composed by) Thoth, and the doing of all good things to the devoted Aha- nekht, justified."
The left-hand wall was almost entirely occupied by columns of inscription, which are now very much injured. The right column is separated from the remainder by a considerable space. It contained a prayer to Anubis, "Within the temple, Upon his hill. Within Ut and Lord of the Sacred Land, for a ofood burial for Tehutinekht."
|
1. |
2. |
3. |
-1. |
6. |
e. |
7. |
8. |
9. |
10. |
IT. |
12. |
13. |
11. |
16. |
|
|
I |
'& |
■"a |
Pi |
f\ |
W |
-ir i C23 |
a % f 1|J |
L„ |
^ |
Ill |
O |
^ |
A |
^ |
|
|
'A |
t |
n r |
1; nnn |
1 1 1 1 OP |
^1 |
tl3 ? 1 1 1 |
> |
> |
|||||||
|
i\ |
AvwM |
^ ( |
|||||||||||||
|
11' |
J-iS |
<i-_,' |
o |
/^ |
|||||||||||
|
1 |
^ |
LuV |
|||||||||||||
|
% |
■,''v |
/ |
|||||||||||||
|
u |
^ |
( |
|||||||||||||
|
/.flmv^ |
|||||||||||||||
|
o- |
The remaining fifteen columns reach to the end of the wall, and are as follows : —
1. I^a//n. Iidti senior unti hesi/ ne neh-ef mud uq em [xisthen']
2. .<tc ne uJxi-nef [<('']' nxiJc Juinuu ne nnut-ef ncn nn
k/icm
' Cf. the same phra.se.s in the inscription of Alin, above, II, 1. 1.
3. sehdu-kitd rek/i
4. ?iau (is
5. ciu-d
6. sehu er
7. sehay shit em qat k/ieru
8. neferu tjerh shu
9. zed sedein sen set
10. zcbdu (?) khau, shet, mctu
! 1 . k/ii'rpu a nc ta
12
13. u dr-nd her tej-i set mer nii (?)'
U
15 her maa-ej
1. "The treasurer of the king' of Lower Egypt, the confidential friend of the king-, the truly favoured of his lord, entering in
2 I was a craftsman of his hourly
taskj there was nothing I was ignorant of
TOMB No. 10. 1.
I was taught
bringing to the winter ships (?) and summer ships (?) free of loudness of voice
[). Let them say who hear it
10. Tens of thousands, thousands, hundreds and tens
11. 12.
13. I acted as prince of the deserts, superintendent of hunting (?)
14
15
The right-hand wall was decorated with scenes and inscriptions. At the top of it are two pai'allel lines of inscription running from end to end, and reading : —
/VV\AW
45
SI
iPPfppfP
□ "=" G
O
©
1
il Q^n
D ^
i:^ ^j ^'^
1. Zed medji (in Gel sa-ii pu Ahanek/it fen mery pu Alianekhl ei'de-n-nef user Q)'^ em ta [dkA] em jiet kher neierii dmu pet dmakkij k/ier Usdr Ahanekht mad k/iern
2. De fieiep seten Zehnti de Atcrt res Atert mcht pat dat iieteru nel'l^ii^ dr-sen nel- k/iet iieh[t~\ neferkheft [sc] uaz pu lie mrdii nefer dr ne Zihut ne dinn k/nj Zchiitinok/tt
1. " Speech by Geb, this Ahanekht is my son, Aha- neklit is my beloved, is given to him power on earth, glory in heaven before the gods who are in heaven, the devoted Osiris, Alianekhl, deceased."
2. "May the king give an offering to Thoth, to the Southern and Northern Atert, to the great Eunead and to all the gods, that they may do for thee all good things according to tlie a])poinlment (?) of the words of God which Thoth has made, to the devoted Tehutineklit."
Below this inscription there was a list of offerings and a scene of bulls incised.
Innee Wall. — On the inuer wall are the remains of a row of seven vases for unguents, with two lines of hieroglyphs at the top, readintj : —
' Cf. Beni Hasan, Part I., pi. xxx. ([>. 49); Lopsiu.s, ' The same phrases occur in the in.scription of Aha, above,
Denkmdler, ii., .3, for the title mer nu. j). 41.
■46
EL BERSHEH.
fgkTIfAl
AWA/VA .\WvV\
^
^,:
I I I o
1. Ild Merj) nesti mcr hen neter dij ne nef ma'iu Hcru-set antiu hena meszemt uviak/uj A/ianeA/d
2. Zed mcdu an Geh sa pu Zehidinek/d menj 2>u dmakkij ZehutinckM
1, "The /irt-prince, regulator of llie two throuus, superintendent of the priests: to whom are given the offerings of the Bedawin, frankincense and /loU, the devoted Abanekht."
2. " Words spoken by Geb. Tebutinekbt is my son and my loved one, tbe devoted Tehutinekht."
ADDENDUM.
To the list of those schohivs who have worked at El Bersheh, I have the pleasure of acldmg the name of Professor August Eisenlohr, of Heidelberg, who has kindly sent me all that he copied on a visit to the place on the 19th December, 1869. These copies do not pretend to any great amount of accuracy, and the signs are drawn but vaguely. They com- prise {(() a few brief and unimportant extracts from the tomb of Tehutihetep (No. 2) ; (h) a few notes from the tomb of Ahanekht (No. 5), at that time filled with rubbish; and (c) a nearly complete copy of the inscriptions in the tomb of Aha (No. 8). The last are very valuable, more especially as confirming the great accuracy of Professor Sayce's copies of the texts nOAV destroyed. Some inscriptions in this tomb w'ere no doubt hidden : thus, nothing is recorded from the facade, but almost all of the inscriptions in the interior of the chamber are copied. The following are the principal variants from or confirmations of the copies in our publication : —
Left-hand AVaij, (p. 23) —
Top line IJ^f
False door. About the middle is ^^ the nzat-ejc, with some illegible hieroglyphs on each side : but compare Sayce's sketch in the Beciceil cle Travaux.
Long Inscription (pi. xxi.) —
1. 3. _n_- before Mcsc/ indicated, agreeing with Sayce's copy.
1. 10. m
1. 11. Jdmin
1.12. ^^c.^(?)
1. 1-j. "=" ;wji ("^ twice).
^^■=-^{^ P
1. 16. //est ^
Right-hand AVall, top line as on p. 24 (and some unimportant jottings from the list of offerings).
Inner Wall (top lines, as in pp. 24-25) — Long Inscription (pi. xxi.) —
1.4.
■J.
^
L7. (15^ — (|(] asSayce. 1. 10. ffl
I- 12- 1^.
1.16. 1 p^ Can this be right? Compare the inscription of Aha at Sheikh Sa'id, above, p. 10.
HI. SELECTED INSClUl'TlU-NS FllUil llET-XUB.
The following are attempts at transliterations and translations of most of the Middle Kingdom graffiti mentioned in the Introdnction to this Memoir. The hieratic texts, which abound in difficulties, have been published by Messrs, Blackden and Frascr/ and on Plates xxii. and xxiii. will be found transcriptions of six of the best preserved of them. The numbers are those attached to the published /ac-.SM?t(7t'.s.
A word of explanation is required. The transcriptions in the plates are the result of prolonged study, but are still faulty, and it will be seen from the transliterations that
several departures from these texts have been made in transliterating and translatino: the graffiti, thus correcting and amplifying the reading or suggesting alternatives. Much more remains to be done, and an examination of the original would doubtless clear up many obscure points, in spite of the admirable care and intelligence displayed by the copyists. Mr. Blackden deciphered a great part of the unfamiliar and difficult script on the spot, and we may trust his artist's pencil to have repro- duced what he saw with fidelity.
1. RELATING TO THE GREAT fLi7?-PRIEST
TEHUTIHETEP.
TEHUTINEKHT BORN OF
GEAFFITO I. (Sec Vl. xxii.)
1. Safiu hnt! si-rtier uuti mtr Jura neter ulih Zc/iul'i] [itat ?] ne dr madt
2. men red tur aui hehy em itsekht " her icp hct ncter
md qed-es se-khent ne Zekuti eat-ef sa-ef zea-ef ne un maa vies ne Sexhijt (?) Ea
3. qerehet sept khet ta j^'^n remt ne}i\t~\ em sefthii neses
qen en mtit-ef neb qed aa k/ieiish taui jien k/ier vicrut-cf
1. " Tlie treasurer of the king' of Lower Egypt, the
confidential friend of the kingj the superintendent of the priests, the great uah-\nicst [of Thoth] the of doing right,
2. firm of foot, clean of hands, Iiolding festival in the
hall, chief of the temple in its entirety, one whos* position Thoth advanced, his own son of very truth horn of Seshyt-Ra (?)
3. the remaining princely stock (i e. remaining repre-
sentative of a princely line ?) througliout this land, when all men were in confusion, when the commoner was powerful, without his like, possessor of virtue, great of valour, this douhle land was possessed with his love
' Collection of Hieratic Grajjiti from the Alabaster Quarry of Ilat-Nuh. " The same phrases iu hieroglyphics, pi. xv., line 9.
48
EL BERSHEH.
4. d ne heru du neheni-nd net-d ra uua em a hert
mert net per seten nuk rjert khenert-es ra aha-es nehat-es
5. em shedet sha du se-hnk/t-nd si se.ihemt er zer-es em
thesu
6. nu ta du en un nru-es vid shereru-es en [Aer]
7. k/ien-en IDiemenii TJnu em mdiet du seac.'ih-iLd
8. mezt-d ne bu neb nulc gert haw her nefer
9. hdt zefay-d mery dntiu
10. smay ne hru nefer ^ Zehutinc/M mes itc Zehuiihclep
11. (1?!^^ set er neheh
4 I saved my city on the day of plunder
from the painful terrors of the house of the ising. Moreover I was its fortress on the day of its combat, its refuge
5. in embankment and marsh. I made it to live, it
being regulated (by me) throughout in orderly arrangement (or with allotments)
6. of land, where there had been none, its great ones as
well as its little ones, not within the memory of
7. Khemenu and Unu likewise. I opened
8. my house to everybody. Moreover I was exceeding
in goodness,
9. marvellous in provisions, loved for frankincense,
10. a partaker in a holiday, Tehutiuekht born of Teliuti-
hetep,
11. living for ever to eternity."
2. RELATING TO NEHERA BORN OF KEMA.
GKAFFITO XL (See Pl. sxiii.)
1 . Renpct \i. ha kherp nesti mer hen neter her tep aa ne Unt, rek/nj setcn hat qemdu Neherd mes ne Kemd
2. qerehet sept khe.t ta pen rcmt neht usesh nczes
3. qen zmnu sa dut-ef ne est neht 4. neb
kfiepfsh da mend uha ra ne medu hena-ef zed-en seten 5. ha-ef ref du hru ne nezut rn aha-en ta pen er der-ef kher sek/ier 6. neh zedy-f sa Zehuti ne un maa. mes ne Seshi (?) sat (?) Ra (?) utet 7. ka Maat nehem khart aita mar 8. qres dau shed nekhen se-ankh net-ef em 9. thesu seshem-es du nen un erde-nes nen se-then dm-es ura-es 10. md shereru-es per-en henu-ef er zed nem 11. mend-es se-hetept em haut
1. "Tear VI, the /(a-prinee, regulator of the two thrones,
superintendent of priests, great chief of the Hare nome, known of the king, fore-front of the South, Nehera born of Kema.
2. The clan-head (?) {qerehet) remaining in this land
when all men were base and the commoner 3. was
strong^ the young men, careful of his goings
in every place : 4. possessor of prowess, great of love, opening the mouth (affable or swift of retort ?) to him who speaks with him : one of whom the king saith 5. ' would that he would come on the day of conference, then would this whole land follow every plan 6. that he might advise ' : a son of Thoth of very truth, born of Seshyt (?) daughter (?) of Ra (?) 7. engendered of the bull-husband (?) of Truth : rescuing the widow, saving the oppressed, 8. burying the aged, nurturing the child : making his city live with 9. allotments-of-land (?) : its guide (?) when there was none who gave to it, not making distinctions in it, its great ones 10. like its young ones. His neighbours (?) turned out to say, 'who [could have brought it to] 11. anchorage?' satisfied with fields and years of allotments (?) :
' The same phrases in hieroglyphics, above, p. 26. This is word for word the .same as Gr. I. 3, but the translation in both cases is uncertain. conjectural renderings and inconsistencies will be obvious.
In other difficult passages
GRAFFITO OF NEHERA BORN OF KEMA. 49
renput net theifii se-»e!<h per 12. ne iht ? ( ft \.} opening- the house to 12. every comer on the day
neh hru ne /laaijt pekhert senhet net an ^nt:: of faction-fight, a healing medicine for him who
13. hebsuneau hay dteh em her tep came wounded, 1-3. clothes to him who came
14 ne hu neb ref mereru neh-ef demzet hemnf. naked, a [firm] stronghold over the land(?),
sheben her zayu 15. dut tjies ban, tjies zamu-es l^- to wiiich all fled (?) : beloved of his whole city,
ne khredu ne 1(5. viert asha khepru-ex men mixed with women, 15. without plotting evil :
nes fek^er-cs gerg si 17. erde se her adit dt-rf organising its troops of youths of the 10. desire
ukhed [hemf?] er mest-es neh IS. maat that its offspring might abound, arranging (?) for
ds/et-ef erde per senu hetep em upt net qenbet it its method, provisioning if, 17. restoring a man
19. Mepen hau xeda duau neb ran dsha apdn to the possessions of his father, endowing (?) a
20. se-nesem sefji het-nder neb nefert mcnj antiu woman for her children: lord of 18. justice, re- sviay 21. ne hru ncfer A'chera mes ne Kcmd pressing his (?) evil, causing suitors (lit. brothers) to
go out satisfied with the judgment of the council. 19. wealthy in oxen, rich in fat oxen, possessing geese, abounding in wild-fowl, 20. sweetening the odour of the temple, possessing what is good, loving incense, partaker 21. of a good day (en- joying a festival), Nehera born of Kema."
GEAFFITO IX.
I. Eenpet vii ha kherp nesti mir hen neter her tep aa ne JJnt rekh seten hat qeman, heherd mes ne Kemd
2. mer mer Ut-ein-k/iet zed dr em un-d em khred uneu
em
3. ■''emer em se ne akhemUi en senu-f md
4. mc'h cm amu za aui (or ^'o dedu) er fend heru ne
tekau em a (?) remt
5. neht mek sehen-d su ur hest-d, er se em a
6. neh-d em rekh ne hu neh zed-d em madt dr em un-d
em
7. hest ukhed-nd si en diia-d ky her dat-ef en
8. mar nezes em shedu-ef en un kdu her-d
9. em remt-neJit en un ukhed hest-tef upx her
10. (iua ar-nd nur mer (?) em huu hd Nehera dnkh uza senb
11. ur he.<t-d md-ef er sa er sen de-nef uhem-a sheff'
12. md ky heru dr-nd seshem md-ef em Menu pcr-ef en er-
13. del ma-d hau ne est neht xipu her hab-
(See Pl. XXII.)
1. "The year vii of the /«7-prinee, the regulator of the
two thrones, the superintendent of the priests, the Great Chief of the Hare nome, the roj'al acquaint- ance, fore-front of the South, Nehera born of Kema
2. The superintendent of the canal (?) Ut-em-Khet
says : — Verily while I was as a child, being as a .'5. courtier, as a person of the palace without an equal
4. full of the one placed to the nose (i.e. shielding
the face) on the day of burning (amongst) all
5. people. Behold I protected (?) him (my sovereign) :
greater was my praise than that of a son with (). my lord to the knowledge of all men. I speak in truth. Verily when I was as
7. one praised, I deserved it ('). I did not rob another
of his inheritance, not
8. was oppressed the little one in his bit of irrigated
land, not were there others beside me
9. amongst all people. Not was there one who deserved
to be praised, but they practised
10. robbery. I acted as superintendent (»f the canal in the days of the /(('-](rinre Nehera, life, prosperity and health to him !
11. Great was my praise with him more than a son and
more than a brother. He allowed me to renew my dignity
12. as on the other day (i.e. as under former princes?)
I acted as tutor with him within his house,
13. not allowing the officers of any department to
oversee (i.e. inspect) me. Nay but he sent
50 EL BBRSHEH.
14. nef ud er Het-neh er nnt-nef ankku, ne per seteii 14. me to Het-nub to bring for him statues for the
house of the king, favouring
15. nn md sa md sen her perer-d nn zes-d 15. me like a son or like a brother. I came out
myself
16. em hdu-d dr-nd gert seshem her set ten du qeh-hid 16. in my limbs (i.e. personally, "in the flesh"). More-
her over I acted as leader upon this mountain. I was
refreshed
17. mert scsh-nd ne mert-d det ensen du-sen gert rd 17. of the desire. I opened (my house) to a friend to
em meut dr en ua setep-ef-ud du make them presents. Moreover I had them (i.e
5rer[<] visitors) daily. Verily not one he chose me.
INIoreover
18. dr-nd entet en drt an hu rant du k/ier hdt-d dun 18. I performed what had not been done by other
zerdt-d en-sen en dby sefet men who had come before me, offering my hand
to them without ceasing, slaying [osen ?]
19. shed (?) ne inert dr heru nefer shcm-nd da dh-d fu 19 of the desire to make a good day (i.e. holiday).
dr-nd dt-nd res du dr-nd nefer er remt ncbt dnkh- I went along, my heart enlarged. I had done that
nd Neherd for which I had come. I had done more than any
people. I swear by Nehera
20. mes ne Kevid zed em madt 20. born of Kema. I speak the truth.
21. dr gert seqed neb fat-Jl d-ef ne tut pen du-ef \er peh 21. And if, moreover, anyone travelling raise [his] hand per-ef senb dr-yief dut-nef res] (in adoration) to this image, he shall [reach his
house in health and perform that for which he has journeyed]."
3. RELATING TO THE WAZIE AND NOMARCH KAY.
GRAFFITO VII. (See Pl. x.xiii.:
1. Renpit v Jid k/ierp nexti nirr hen neter her tep da ne Vnt mer net ta za sah mer qemdu hdt hdu em per seten Kay
2. adhu bat semer udti mer net ta za sab rekh nc .feten du-ef em meten (?) dtef-ef nezes
3. qen en mdt-ef neb k/iepesh da mert uba ra ne medu
hend-ef un-d em
4. khred en dden ud du sped-nd zamu-d ne k/ircdu
shem-
5. liud er aha hend net-d nuk dr -es em shedyt
sha du hend-a
6. upu her she$u-d Mezau Uauat
1. "The year v of the /iffl-prince, regulator of the two
thrones, superintendent of the priests, Great Chief of the Hare nome, governor of the city, chief justice, ivazir, sab, superintendent of the South, fore-front of the Aa-prinees in the king's palace, Kay.
2. The treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, the con-
fidential friend of the king, governor of the cit}-, chief justice, wazir, sab, whom the king knew when he was still in the care of his father (lit., perhaps, " in the meten clothing (?) or tent (?) of his father"), a little one
3. but mighty (?), without his equal, possessor of valour,
great of love, open of mouth to him wiio conversed with him. When 1 was a
4. youth I acted in my own name (lit. I did not sub-
stitute), I trained my troops of my young men. I went
5. to fight along witli my city, I made its in
embankment and marsh [tliere was none] with me
6. excepting my own followers, the Mezau and Uauat
GRAFFITI OF THE WAZIB KAY.
51
7. qemau ta mehu hemuu rd d-kud sep mdru 7. The South and the North land were working for me,
I came; my lot had been fortunate
8. net-d er zer-es hena-d en nehu-cti nuk (jert nvhem 8. My entire city was with me without any deficiency,
mar ma [user] moreover I saved the poor from the [ricli],
9. du dr-nd per-d em usekht (?) ne du neb heru ne 9. I made my house as a reception-hall for every comer
hanyt un-d em men on the day of faction-fight, I was as
10 nc du neb dnzu er se-senh ef au erde- 10. to every comer diseased to make whole his
nd re ne du neb I gave a girdle to [the naked] comer [bread]
11. ne heqer heqt net (sic) au abu nuk yert 11. to the hungry, beer to the thirsty comer. I more-
over
12. dm-es uru-es md sherem-es sa fieqa 12. in it, its great as its small, the son of a ]teq-\)nnce
[of very truth],
13. Kaij Zehutinekht Neherd Kay nnM zet lo. Kay's son Tehutinekht's son Nehera's son Kay,
living eternally.
14. dr gert se-qed neb fat-efi [d-ef ne tut-pen au-cf er 14. And if, moreover, anyone travelling raises [his hand
15. per-ef senb dr-nef \jhit res].
23. /cAeiiti-d an neteru nu JJnt
24. sa dnM ha-ef md Bd zet or neheh
(in adoration) to this image he shall reach] 15. his house in health and perform [that for which he
has journeyed] 16-22. [defaced] [and he who shall injure]
23. my statue, may the gods of the Hare nome [punish
him ]
24. Safety and life (behind him), protecting him like
Ra for ever to eternity."
(N.B. — Line 24 is a salutation or comjilimeutary phrase applied to kings, but here to the nomarch Kay.)
GRAFFITO VIII. (See Pl. xxii.)
1. Renpit VII hd kherp nesti mor hen neter her tep da ne JJnt rekh seten [hat (?)] qemau mereru neteni-es nebu Kay Zehutinekht Neherd [Kay]
2. sdhu bdti semer udtd mer net ta za sdb Kay zed nuk sa se nek At saa ma ne net-ef ne hentd erde si her uat nebt gerg dua
3. ne say (?) rekA seten hend qenbet-ef ud her khu dut
senu-ef d-en nef qemau em kesu nuk sa se dut
ef neh send da shefyt neb hert da
4. kau her nefer bdt pekhn. khet (?) sjxn em senket
ta pen kher merut-ef hd ne remt neter a em kAesefu
khentiu uza-sen er hei-ncter khepen kau
zeda [duau]
1. "The year vii of the Aa-prince, regulator of the two
thrones, superintendent of the priests, Great Chief of the Hare nome, the royal acquaintance, fore- front of the South, beloved of all its gods, Kay's (son) Tehutinekht's (son) Nehera's (son) Kay
2. The treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, confidential
friend, superintendent of the city, chief justice, wazir, and sah, Kay says : I am the son of a mighty man, the most discerning man that his city has seen (?) for centuries, putting it upon every road (i.e. guiding it), providing so that it was praised
3 known to the king and to his councillors,
unique in exploits without a second (lit. his brother), came to him the South in obeisance; I was the son of a man without his [conqueror?] possessor of fear, great ol' reverence, jjo.ssessor of terror, great of
4 of face, excellent to a marvel, sincere of
[heart (?)], free of dishonesty (lit. 'darkness')
this laud possesses his love, men and gods rejoice
in going south, the Southerners when they
visit the temples, wealthy in bulls, rich [in fat oxen]j
E 2
S2
EL BERSHEH.
5. iieh ran asha apdii da ak/iu, nab seteput se-nezem-ef seth het-neter-ef sa Zehuti ne un maa utet lai moat
en ua hcr-ef er per-ef er dua Jca-ef rd neh ne
da
6. nefei' ne drert-ef nes dii dr-nu niadt sped cr u^iem dti nehem-nd mar em a user du senezed- (sic sodem ?) nd neh [_ne dutet] dlt-es du shed-nd nenih
7. [ftJM thes-nd zamu-es m- Mredu ne inert dsjia
Meperu-es du gert zamu-es dq ne nexcs
hems em peru-sen en ... sen em rek-ij {?)
8. per seten du nehem-nd net-d heru dua em d hevt
[inert nef] '
9. per seten nuk gert dteh{t)-es heru dha\_-es ne']hat-es
em \_shedet ,i/ia?]
10. ne Unt Mud (sic) da her qed du gert se-dnk/i-nn net-d er zer-e.-< em thes[-u iru^
11. fa du neii iin urn md shereru-es en her khen ne Khemenu TJnu
12. em mdtet dr sesh-nd. tnezt-d. 7ie hit neb nuk neb
nefert mery \dntiii\
13. smay ne herti [nefer^ Neheni Kay mad k/ieru dnkh
zet er [neheh]
5. possessor of geese, abounding' in wild-fowl, great in
altars, pure in choice viands, making sweet the odour of the temple, son of Thoth of very truth, engendered by the bull of Truth, not [fails] his city (?) (to visit (?)) his house in order to praise his ka every day of the greatness of the
6. good that he does for it (i.e. the city). I did justice,
more stiff (or penetrating ?) than the beard of barley. I saved the poor from the rich. I listened (?) to the cry [of her who was] bereft of her husband. I brought up the oriihan.
7. I trained her troops of the young men in order that
her progeny might abound. Moreover, her troops made (?) the poor to enter (?) and sit in their houses, not did they migrate (?) in my time
8. the bouse of the king. I saved my city on the day
of robbery from [the grievous] terrors [of]
9. the house of tlie king. Moreover I was its strong-
hold on the day of battle, its refuge in embankment and marsh (?)
10. of the Hare nome, deserving greatly entirely. Moreover I made to live my city throughout with regulations (or allotments ?) [of]
11. land when there had been none, its great ones being
like its little ones (or there were no great men equal to its little ones), not within the memory (?) of Khemenu or Unu
12. likewise. I opened my house to everybody. I was
possessor of goodness, loved for [frankincense]
13. a partaker in a holiday, Nehera's son Kay, justified, living for ever and ever to eternity."
4. RELATING TO THE GREAT L^.4^-PRIEST TEHUTINEKHT SON OF NEHERA.
GRAFFITO XIT. (Sec Pl. xsiii.)
1. Sdhu bdti semer udti nier hen neter udh da ne 1. " The treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, the con-
Zehuti fidential friend of the king, the superintendent of
the priests, the great i<a/)-priest of Thoth
2. se-uaz se-dn men red fur dui sat ne dr madt 2. making to flourish that which was decayed, firm
of foot, clean of hands, saturated (?) with doing justice
3. em iisekht meseb seneter ne neh-ef dui-ef kher bu 3. in the hall, offering incense to his lord, his two hands
nefer meseb laden with good things, offering [animals],
4. shenem apdu no ka ne Zehuti meseb heH se-teken 4. trussing wild-fowl for the ka of Thoth, offering beer,
hekenu sedem introducing ointment and painting the eye .
Cf. Gr. r., line 4.
GRAFFITO OF AMENBMHAT SON OF NEHERA. 53
5. Zi'huti mcseh auinefer ne arf-ef nef erdc ifhan nii 5. Tliotli. Oireriiij^ ,'^ood of wliat had been pre-
iiuau htn- dk^ii jiared fur him, phicing slices (?) of fat oxen upon
the :i!t;irs
6. I'irt set miseh-vii i^het ne ka ne Zehul'i mereru Zcfnif! (i ofleriiig- the censer to the Iv of Thntli whom
ma ef em k/iert heru net \_ra neh k/ivj>eti] Thoth loves to see (lit. 'one whom hives Thoth his
sight ') every day, wealtliy
7. Imu zeda auau iindu her apdu se-uaz het nefer 7. of oxen, rich (lit. 'fat') of fatted oxen, nndu-oxen
with wild-fowl. He renews the temple
8. em ta tie Jia ue Zehuti uuhti em 8. with bread for the ha of Thoth [apportioning?] the
neht priests
9. heqt nezemt se-fietep-ef het tiefer mi'i qed-es nezeti qen 0. sweet beer, he satisfies the temple (i.e. its officials) in
lie mert neh qed aa its entirety, the small and great in their desire (?),
possessor of a regulating-principle, great of
10. k/iepsh mereru uvt-vf demzet hemi shelnin her zai/ii 10. valour, loved by all his town(s-rolk), women as well (hit thes hi'ni as men, not conspiring evil,
11. aa heqt nezem antiu se-heteii-rf an Uiii-rf nmn-cf sa H. great of beer, sweet of incense, he satisfies his living heqa ne un mad (or Unff) ones (i.e. his retainers) the son of a /irt(/-prince
of very truth.
12. khud da her qed sexhem vt-ef liii en ini. md-en 12 great in entirety, guiding his city when there
se-dnkh khart-es dr k^redu (?) es was nothing in its possession (lit. ' hand '), support-
ing its widows, making its children
13. em shedet ■■<ha refh neht heha ne Kaij Zehutinekht 13. with (a gift of?) irrigated laud (lit, embankment)
Nehera ZehutinekAt dnk/i zet or marsh (?), all people flee to Kay's (son) Tehuti-
nekht's (sou) Nehera's (sun) Tehutinekht, living for ever.
14. [dr] gert seqed neh fat-ef d-ef ne tut-pen du-ef er 14. And if moreover anyone travelling raises his hand peh (in adoration) to this image he shall reach
15. per-ef senh dc->i[e/'] dut nef res 15. his house in health and perform that for which he
has journeyed.'"
5 RELATING TO AMENEMHAT SON OF NEHERA.
GRAFFITO X. (not transcribed).
1. Reni-iet xxxt sep tep sed-heb seten hdi Kheper-lat-Ba I. "The year xxxi of the first occasion of the festival of de dnk/i zet the sed-heh of the king Kheper-ka-Ra, giving life
for ever.
2 Perkheru ne ka ne 2 A perkheru offering to the ka of
'6. iSdhu hdt Amen-em-hdt men ne Sut-hez-hetep nuid 3. The treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, Amcn- khe.ru emhat born of Sat-licz-hetep deceased,
4. Erpd hd sdhu bdt .seiner udfi Kaij sa Neherd sa 4. The ec^a-prince, the /(a-prince, treasurer of the king
Amenemhdt of Lower Egyiit, confidential friend of the king,
Kay's son Nehera's son Amcncmhat
5. zed du-nri da er Ilet-Neh er dut sctcn hdti 5. says: — I came along to IIct-Nub
Kkeper ka-T!d diikh zet er neheh in order to bring [monuments for] the king of
T.Tpj)er and Lower I'lgypt, Kheper-ka-Ra, living for ever to [eternity],
6. em hexij ne neh-ef merer-ef ne heru neh dukh-vd 6. as favoured of his lord whom he loves every day. I
swear by
54 EL BERSHEH.
7. Usertsen zed-d em madt nuh res tep shii em 7. Usertsen that what I say is in truth, T am watchful
of head, free of 8 her hen neb ne per seten nuk gert 8. slumbering on any command of the king's house, I,
moreover, am
9. geru khems sa em rekh 9. silent, obsequious
10. em maut en as em gerg sdhu hdti seiner iidti 10. in truth, not indeed in falsehood, the treasurer of
the king of Lower Egypt, the confidential friend of the king,
11. mer hen neter Kay sa Neherii sa Amenemhdt mad 11. the superintendent of the priests, Kay's son
kheru Nehera's son Amenemhat, justified.
12 se-qed neh rethneht ne tut-pen 12. O every every everyone who sails, every
man [who puts his hand forth] to this statue,
13. an Zehuti hes-ef su dr gert hezt-fi iut-d an 13. Thoth shall favour him, but as to him who injures
neteru this statue, the gods
14. «M Unt k/iesef-sen nef (?) em dat-ef em ef 14. of the Hare nome shall punish him in his ofBce and
in his
Mr. G. WILLOUGHBY FEASEE'S REPOET
ON THE
SUEVEY OF THE WADY DEE EN-NAKHLEH.
D£r en-Nakhleh, commonly called El Berslieli in tlie guide books, is a village with a chiefly Coptic population some five miles south of Roda on the east bank of the Nile. The valley in which the tombs are found lies about three quarters of a mile behind the village, in the hills.
In dealing with the tombs of Der en-Nakhleh we are met by a more complex problem than at Beni Hasan, where all the tombs were upon I^ractically the same level. In the present case we have a large valley with tombs scattered at all levels on the hills on either side. Again, at Beni Hasan the tombs were all of nearly the same age, whilst here they range from the Vth to the Xllth Dynasty. Hence it will be as well to describe the ground generally before taking the tombs in detail.
On commencing the survey Mr. Blackden and I laid down a base line at the mouth of the valley, which we will here suppose to be the starting-point of all measurements.
The valley may be divided naturally into three parts or sections. At its mouth it measures some 300 yards across, and is a sandy plain which slopes gradually up till it reaches a spot where the contours of the hills on either side join at a distance of 400 yards from our base
line ; in this distance it I'ises 12' 5 feet, and a rock face 4 feet in height forms the boundary of the first section.
Section 2, thus starting at a level 4 feet higher than the end of No. 1, is in rock scarcely covered with a thin layer of sand. It measures 367 yards in length, with an average width of 50 yards, and ends at a spot called by us the Bab or " gate," where a rocky barrier some forty feet high in the centre crosses the valley, and has been burst through midway by pre- historic torrents.
Section 3. Beyond th(! Bab the ravine widens out on the northern side in a semicircle ; it then gradually narrows to its termination at a distance of 385 yards from the Bab, being here on an average only 100 feet wide. The sides of the ravine here are precipitous, and it has never been a pass to the desert beyond ; but as a vast quariy it has been very important. The end of the valley is surrounded by the openings into
' The Map of the Wady prepared by Messrs. Blackdeu and Fraser is more detaihid than the sketch in pi. ii., which has been made from it by Mr. Newberry. The original is also coloured to show the character of the surface. The tombs are numbered in the Report, Init are not .so distinguished in the Map, nor could they be marked individually in the sketch now published. — F.L.G.
5fi
EL BERSHEH.
enormous underground quarries, wliicli are also found all along its sides. Immense masses of stone have been extracted from them ; the quarry at the end of the ravine, which is about the largest of all, supplying alone more than 250,000 cubic metres of stone. It appears to have been worked chiefly in Ptolemaic times.
The ceilings of these quarries are lined out in red with demotic notes and marks, and car- touches sometimes appear on the pillars which were left to support the roof. The cartouche of Nekhtnebef appears several times in the large quarry on the northern side above the Bab. In the same quarry there are rough drawings in black, representing a girl smelling a lotus with a doll (?) in her right hand, two crocodiles, one of them devouring a fish, also a hippopotamus, and various red quarry marks.
The longest demotic graffiti are on two pillars in one of the lower quarries at the end of the ravine on the southern side. They are dated, and appear to refer to the making of a statue or statues. Almost opposite the quarry in which they occur is another, in which there is a rather carefully painted figure of Osiris seated, with the remains of short inscriptions in both hieratic and demotic. This drawing is in green, and looks like the work of a scribe rather than that of a quarryman.
Considering the great area of the quarries, the pillars which were left to support the moun- tain above were few and small, as will be seen by a reference to the map ; but the roof has fallen in only in a few places, and nowhere has the whole quarry collapsed, showing how well the workmen knew their material.
The methods employed in the excavations do not call for special remark, except that when hard nodules were met with in the lime-stone rock they were removed by heating them with fire and then probably splitting them by throw- ing cold water on the heated stone. The smoke
of the fire has made a narrow fringe roinid the nodule, but has not spread over the remaining surface of the wall or roof.
And now, leaving the narrow ravine, let us return to the mouth of the valley and examine the tombs. They are scattered on both the shoulders of the hill, and belong chiefly to two periods, namely the Vth — Vlth and the XTth— Xllth Dynasties.
NoETH Side.
Here we can count thirty-six rock-cut tombs. The earliest appear to be A and B, which are situated on a low level some distance to the north of all the others. A has the remains of an early iusciiption on the fafade outside. In plan it is a small square chamber, with several box-like receptacles cut in the walls. The owner's name is unfortunately destroyed, but his wife's appears as Hathor-eu-ankh. The style of the inscription and the name point to the Vth or Vlth Dynasty. B is uninscribed.
From these tombs we make our way across steep slopes to the ancient road which runs up the face of the hill, passing by tomb C, which is unfinished, but which has two so-called Proto- doric columns half completed in it. The entrance is by a jilain rectangular doorway cut in the facade, and leading into a single chamber, which measures 205"6" X 288", and is divided by an ai'chitrave 4" 75" deep, supported by the above-mentioned columns. The columns are octagonal, the average width of the sides being 9'25", and are surmounted by an abacus 3 •25" deep, measuring 22" along the architrave, which is unfinished at the back. This tomb is probably not older than the Xlth Dynasty. Proceeding up the road we reach a spot where two paths leave it and where it turns abruptly to the north. Here we follow the small path and find ourselves below a group (D) of three
NORTH SIDE OP THE VALLEY.
57
tombs, a, b, r, and several tomb-shafts. All tbese seem to belong to one period, probably the Vlth Dynasty. Two of tliem, a and b, are uninscribed, but c, which has been used as a quarr}', has an inscription outside on the facade. Unfortunately this is in very bad condition, but the A-a-name of an unknown king, reading Nefer-khau T ik, is still clear. It resembles that of Assa and other kings of the Vth and Vlth Dynasties. Inside the tomb there is an uninscribed false door still intact.
Following the track to our right, we scramble over some tomb-shafts up the cliff, passing the five uninscribed tombs at E, and then reach a nai'row platform, on to which at F about a dozen tombs {a — A-) opened. None of these are inscribed, and most of them have been extensively quarried, so that we have been obliged to group several distinct tombs under the letter e. We have no direct evidence as to the age of the group ; but the next tomb, which is on almost the same level, contains an inscription of the Xlth or Xllth Dynasty a good deal defaced, from which it appears that a certain Tehuti-nekht, born of Teta, restored the monuments of his forefathers and this tomb in particular. Hence the supposition arises that all this group l)elong3 to about the Vlth Dynasty.
Between the two tombs g, A of the group F there is a stairway cut in the rock, and the path eventually leads to the highest level of all, in front of the large tomb of Tehuti-hetep. But before describing this range, let us return for a moment to the great road.
At Beni Hasan there were three great roads up to the tondjs, but here there is only one, and it does not seem to have been made with refer- ence to the upper range of tombs, for just l)elow the tomb c in group D it turns off, as we liave seen, and follows the contour of the liill for some 100 yards to the north, where it again strikes upwards, and reaching the summit of the hill, stops finally within 30 yards of the
great shaft marked G on the map. Of the chamber which doubtless covered this shaft there are now no traces, but it must have been an important one, for the shaft is exception- ally large, and though now partly filled with rubbish, measures over 50 feet in depth. Mr. Blackdeu and I began to clear it, but owing to the difficulty of lifting the great boulders with which it is filled, without big tackle, the work had to be discontinued before the sepulchral chamber was I'eached.
The great road certainly appears to have been made with reference to this tomb alone. Unfortunately we do not know who was buried there. It might be Kay, the father of Tehuti- hetep, whose tomb we did not find in the upper group ; but there is absolutely no evidence, bej'-ond that it belongs to the Middle Kingdom, proved by the pottery scattered around it and by its general likeness to the shafts in the other tombs of the same period here and elsewhere.
From G we return across the hill, leaving a small open quarry on our right, and follow the road till we reach the level of the upper tombs. Here we take a narrow track which passes the mouths of several quarries having remains of Coptic dwellings outside, and find a tomb which has been almost entirely quarried out of shape, but which is still just recognisable as such. There appear to be the remains of hiero- glyphs on the northern wall. Passing a long- narrow quarry we roach the entrance of H, another quarry which is remai'kable, as it runs underground from this point to the south-east extremity of the upper range of tombs, making a complete arc in the solid rock behind the tombs.
Before reaching H we pass an open shaft, the mummy-pit of some destroyed tonil). We cleared it, and found chips of a large painted sarcophagus of wood of the Middle Kingdom, which appears to have been literally hacked to bits with an adze. The chamber also contained an alabaster head-rest of rather rough work.
58
RT, BERSHHH.
made in three pieces ; the painted inscription had unfortunately been washed ofl' by successive rains.
At No. 1 (compare sketch survey on pi. iii.) we meet with the first of the great XTIth Dynasty tombs. It was made for Nehera's son Tehulinekht. In plan (see pi. iv.) the tomb consists of a rectangular chamber with flat ceiling, measuring 250" X 314-15", with a height of 146-25", cut in the solid rock. The roof is ornamented with stars and lines of inscription ; it is not supported by columns. The outer door- way probably had plain square jambs and lintel. In the centre of the eastern wall is a small shrine, raised 16*2o" above the floor of the main chamber. The shrine doorway has a height of 86-05", and width of 57*4", the jambs being 1 2-5" wide. Inside, the shrine measures 47-2" X 67-1", with an average height of 87-5". It con- tained a seated statue of Tehuti-nekht cut in the rock, but this has been defaced.
In the centre of the main chamber is a single great shaft, measuring 154''x68", which we were unable to clear, as the great mass of the fallen roof lies over it.
Here it must be remarked that all the upper tombs have suffered more or less severely from a great earthquake. The wave seems to have been almost straight from east to west. The date of this earthquake is not known, but the tomb we are dealing with gives us oue impor- tant piece of evidence, namely, that before the roof fell in during the earthquake the front wall of the tomb had been almost entirely quarried away. This accounts for the fact that but little of the front wall and none of the doorway were found in our excavations.
Though the Egyptians robbed tombs, it seems improbable that they would be guilty of the open sacrilege of quarrying a tomb until at an}^ rate very late times. Again, the only quarry on this side of the valley, which has suffered much from the earthquake, is that which was extensively worked under Nekhtnebef, showing that in his
time (the XXXth Dynasty) there was no ne- cessity to quarry tombs, as large quarries were then being worked here. From a consideration of these facts I am inclined to the opinion that the quarrjung of the tombs began about the time of the second Persian rule, and that shortly afterwards, somewhere about the year 320 B.C., the gi'eat earthquake occurred, which to a great extent buried the tombs and blocked the quarry of Nekhtnebef. This event led to the abandon- ment of all quarrying along the higher levels, and the commencement of the great series of quarries in the ravine at the base of the hills.
The effect of the earthquake on Tomb No. 1 was to cause the north and south walls to fall inwards, and the roof to shoot forward in a westerly direction, where the front jDortion now lies, altogether outside the tomb. The back portion of the roof was split up into some four or five great masses, and fell inside the chamber area, but the shrine and east walls escaped with only slight damage. I was thus able, with Mr. Blackden's assistance, to rebuild a large portion of the south wall, of which we found the greater part in the course of our excavation.
We will now pass on to No. 2, between which and No. 1 there is an uninscribed square tomb (K, pi. iii.), which we found completely buried. Its floor was at a somewhat lower level than No. 1. The upper parts of the walls have been quarried away ; the chamber measures 117-4"x 134'5", and contains two shafts; the door faces west, and measures 29-5" wide.
Tomb No. 2. — This is the finest tomb in the group. It was made for Kay's son Tehuti- hetep (see Part I., pis. i.-iv.).
It is entered through a large portico having two columns with round shafts and palm-leaf capitals. The bases of the columns are circular, and raised 6 in. above floor-level. The lower diameter of the columns is 2G in. ; the capitals were surmounted by square abaci of the same width as the architrave which they supjDorted,
NORTH SIDE OF THE VALLEY.
59
namely 25-5'. The arcliitrave has no project- ing pihisters or antae, but tlie line of the side ■wall is interrupted, and recedes 22-6" at the points where the architrave meets it on either side. Above and in front of the architrave was a cornice serai-square in section, but with- out the dentils seen at Beni Hasau.
The ceihng of the portico is flat, and painted with yellow -=!=> o° ^ ^^^^ blue ground and with some lines of inscription.
The columns, architrave and capitals were painted to represent granite; the architrave was inscribed on both sides with a finely cut list of titles, in large hieroglyphs painted green.
A wall oS'-i* thick divides the main chamber from the portico. The doorway in this wall mea- sures 50-4" wide X 130-0" high ; the threshold is raised 17"9" above the level of the floor of the portico. The doorposts and lintel project slightly, and the jambs of the doorway are insci'ibed with the titles of the owner. The great door was in one leaf; the sockets of the doorpost remain.
The main chamber measures 308'3" long and 248' broad ; it was lighted from the door, and has a height of 163 •2'.
The ceiling is flat, and painted with yellow flowers '^ on a blue ground, with bands of inscription down the middle. Thei'e are no columns in the chamber, which thus differs from the best examples at Beni Hasan. In the centre of the northern wall is the door of the shrine, 97" in height and 5u" in width, approached by three steps.
The shrine is a rectangular chamber, 99"5" long and 49 '8' wide, with a flat roof, and height of 97-8'.
Here again we have an important difference from Beni Hasan ; for if there was a Zra-figure in this shrine, it was moveable and not, as at the former place, cut in the solid rock.
The main chamber contains no mummy-pits, a fact which puzzled the ancient spoilers very considerably, and caused them to dig a great
! trench in the solid rock across the centre of the tomb from east to west, and to make various smaller excavations at the four corners and other parts of the floor, and a considerable trench in the shrine floor. This labour must have cm])loyed them several weeks, but was finally successful, as they succeeded in hitting upon the passage to the burial chamber, which was most ingeniously contrived as follows.
Completely outside the portico, and on the left-hand side of the outer court, the architect sunk a large shaft measuring 133"x74"5", in the northern side of which was the entrance to a passage 8G" high, 74-5" wide and 55 feet long. The passage ran level under the main chamber of the tomb, and only slightly below the floor. It ended in a small chamber 97" X 108", with a small square cavity cut in the middle of the floor, possibly for the foundation deposit.
The outer well was no doubt very carefully paved over, or it would never have escaped the plunderers' notice, for they cleared another small shaft which is situated in the other corner of the outer court. They broke into the passage from the main chamber, and pro- bably found the end of the passage walled up with stone in front of the Inirial chamber, as we found a great deal of stone in the passage, as well as fragments of the painted scenes from the main chamber, showing that the tomb was ])lundered before the earthquake.
The passage was carefully cleared, and on the erround, amongst fragments of the burnt coffin, nearly all the pieces of a beautiful thin alabaster cup were found. Fragments of the coflin, a wooden inscribed kohl-pot, mummy-cloth, and a number of pieces of inlays made of paste, with one fragment of dark blue glass amongst them, were also found ; the inlays seem to have been for the large sacred eyes at the ends of the coffin. Amongst this miscellaneous col- lection I myself picked up a long steatite bead of the Xllth Dynasty, with the names of Usertesen and Amenemhat on either side, and
60
EL BERSHKH.
a fragment of one of the blue painted XVIIIth Dynasty jars, wliicli latter gives us a clue to the date when the tomb was plundered.