2014 Coulon Thebes in The First Millennium BC
2014 Coulon Thebes in The First Millennium BC
2014 Coulon Thebes in The First Millennium BC
Edited by
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements ...xv
Part A: Historical Background
Chapter One ....3
The Coming of the Kushites and the Identity of Osorkon IV
Aidan Dodson
Part B: Royal Burials: Thebes and Abydos
Chapter Two ..15
Royal Burials at Thebes during the First Millennium BC
David A. Aston
Chapter Three ....61
Kushites at Abydos: The Royal Family and Beyond
Anthony Leahy
Part C: Elite Tombs of the Theban Necropolis
Section 1: Preservation and Development of the Theban Necropolis
Chapter Four ...101
Lost Tombs of Qurna: Development and Preservation of the Middle Area
of the Theban Necropolis
Ramadan Ahmed Ali
Chapter Five 111
New Tombs of the North Asasif
Fathy Yaseen Abd el Karim
vi
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
vii
viii
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
ix
Part E: Karnak
Chapter Twenty-eight .549
A Major Development Project of the Northern Area of the Amun-Re
Precinct at Karnak during the Reign of Shabaqo
Nadia Licitra, Christophe Thiers, and Pierre Zignani
Chapter Twenty-nine ...565
The Quarter of the Divine Adoratrices at Karnak (Naga Malgata) during
the Twenty-sixth Dynasty: Some Hitherto Unpublished Epigraphic
Material
Laurent Coulon
Chapter Thirty .587
Offering Magazines on the Southern Bank of the Sacred Lake in Karnak:
The Oriental Complex of the Twenty-fifthTwenty-sixth Dynasty
Aurlia Masson
Chapter Thirty-one ..603
Ceramic Production in the Theban Area from the Late Period: New
Discoveries in Karnak
Stphanie Boulet and Catherine Defernez
Chapter Thirty-two ..625
Applications of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) in the Study
of Temple Graffiti
Elizabeth Frood and Kathryn Howley
Abbreviations ..639
Contributors 645
Indices .....647
FOREWORD
Egypt in the First Millennium BC is a collection of articles, most of
which are based on the talks given at the conference of the same name
organised by the team of the South Asasif Conservation Project (SACP),
an Egyptian-American Mission working under the auspices of the Ministry
of State for Antiquities (MSA), Egypt in Luxor in 2012. The organisers of
the conference Elena Pischikova, Julia Budka, and Kenneth Griffin intended to bring together a group of speakers who would share the results
of their recent field research in the tombs and temples of the Twenty-fifth
and Twenty-sixth Dynasties in Thebes and other archaeological sites, as
well as addressing a variety of issues relevant to different aspects of
Egyptian monuments of this period.
Papers based on the talks of the participants of the conference form the
bulk of this volume. However, we found it possible to include the papers
of a few scholars who could not attend the conference, but whose contributions are pertinent to the main themes of the conference and could enrich the content of the present volume. Therefore, this volume covers a
much wider range of sites, monuments, and issues as well as a broader
chronological span. Discussions of the monuments of Abydos and
Saqqara, along with the Libyan tradition, enrich the argument on interconnections, derivations, innovations, and archaism. The diversity of topics
cover the areas of history, archaeology, epigraphy, art, and burial assemblages of the period.
Aidan Dodson deliberates on chronological issues of the early Kushite
state by re-examining the identity of Osorkon IV and related monuments.
His paper gives a historical and cultural introduction to the Kushite Period
and the whole volume.
The papers of the General Director of the Middle Area of the West
Bank Fathy Yaseen Abd el Karim, and Chief Inspector of the Middle Area
Ramadan Ahmed Ali, open a large section in the volume dedicated to
different aspects of research and fieldwork in the Theban necropolis. They
concern the preservation and development of the necropolis, an incredibly
important matter which assumed a new dimension after the demolition of
the Qurna villages and clearing of the area being undertaken by the
American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) teams. Numerous tombs
found under the houses need immediate safety measures to be applied as
well as archaeological and research attention. The conservation,
preservation, and recording of the elite tombs in the area are amongst the
most relevant issues in the Theban necropolis today.
xii
Foreword
David Aston and Anthony Leahy examine the royal burials of Thebes
and Abydos. Both papers present a remarkably large number of burials
related to the royal families of the First Millennium BC. This time period
in the Theban necropolis is traditionally associated with elite tombs, with
the royal monuments often neglected. Research on the royal aspect of
these sites provides a deeper perspective to the study of the elite tombs of
the period.
The papers on the elite tombs of the Theban necropolis address a variety of aspects of work in this group of monuments such as archaeology,
conservation, epigraphy, and burial assemblages, as well as relevant issues
as archaism and innovations of the decoration and interconnections between the tombs of different parts of the necropolis. The areas of archaeology and conservation of the necropolis are presented by the papers of the
Director of the SACP Elena Pischikova, and its leading conservator
Abdelrazk Mohamed Ali. These papers give a summary of the rediscovery, excavation, conservation, reconstruction, and mapping work
done in the tombs of Karakhamun (TT 223) and Karabasken (TT 391)
over a period of eight years, with emphasis on the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
This section is complemented by a paper on the fieldwork in another
forgotten tomb of the South Asasif necropolis, Ramose (TT 132), by
Christian Greco. The archaeological work in the South Asasif necropolis
has resulted in the uncovering and reconstruction of a large amount of new
architectural, epigraphic, and artistic information, some of which is
presented in this volume for the first time.
The new project in the tomb of Montuemhat (TT 34), undertaken by
Louise Gestermann and Farouk Goma, is another invaluable piece of
information which, together with the work of Greco in the tomb of
Ramose, and Molinero Polo in the tomb of Karakhamun, modifies our
understanding of Kushite and early Saite burial compartments and their
semantics within the tomb complex. The paper on the Twenty-fifth to
Twenty-sixth Dynasty tombs of el-Khokha by Gbor Schreiber widens our
perception of the geographic disbursement of Kushite tombs in the Theban
necropolis. The amount of intrusive Twenty-fifth Dynasty burials within
the primarily New Kingdom site of el-Khokha gives confidence that we
may expect similar results from the numerous Qurna missions. Special
attention paid to such intrusive burials in different areas may build a solid
basis for our better understanding of Kushite presence and activities in
Thebes in the future.
The epigraphical studies of Kenneth Griffin, Miguel Molinero Polo,
and Erhart Graefe within the tomb of Karakhamun, and Isabelle Rgen in
the tomb of Padiamenope, concern the reflection of tradition and innova-
Foreword
xiii
tions in the texts of the Book of the Dead, the Amduat, the Book of the
Gates, and the Ritual of the Hours of the Day, as well as their new architectural and contextual environment. The comparative research of these
texts in different tombs will eventually lead to a better understanding of
the reasons for selections of certain traditional texts, reasons for their adjustments, as well as their interpretations in the new contexts of temple
tombs of the period.
Although Kushite and Saite tombs demonstrate a rich variety of architectural, textual, and decorative material they are all interconnected by
certain aspects and concepts. The next group of papers by Silvia Einaudi,
Filip Coppens, Robert Morkot, Aleksandra Hallmann, and Carola Koch
concern such aspects, relevant to most of the monuments. Silvia Einaudi
raises the incredibly important question of interconnections and interinfluences between the tombs of the Theban necropolis, origins of certain
patterns and traditions within the necropolis, and their transmissions from
tomb to tomb. Filip Coppens and Aleksandra Hallmann concentrate on
smaller elements of the tomb complexes, such as a piece of garment or a
single architectural feature, to track it within a group of monuments. Thus,
Coppens traces similarities and differences in the Sun Court decoration in
different tombs, its connection with the temple concept, and discusses its
symbolic and ritual meaning in temple tombs. Robert Morkot discusses the
sources and chronological developments of archaism in royal and elite
monuments. Carola Koch addresses the Saite approach to Kushite monuments by re-examining the phenomenon of the erasure of Kushite names
during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty.
A large group of papers on the burial assemblages and other finds in
elite tombs enrich and expend the discussion of the burial complexes of
the First Millennium BC. Eltayeb Abbas, Simone Musso and Simone
Petacchi, Cynthia Sheikholeslami, and Alessia Amenta discuss the issues
of construction techniques, workshops, and iconography of coffin decoration and its ritual meaning. Julia Budka and Salima Ikram discuss finds in
the tomb of Karakhamun. Budka analyses Kushite pottery found in the
burial compartment and its usage in a Twenty-fifth Dynasty temple tomb,
while Ikram remarks on the faunal material from the First Pillared Hall.
Kate Gosford broadens the boundaries of the discussion with some burial
assemblages from Saqqara.
The last section of the volume is dedicated to the new archaeological
research at Karnak presented by Nadia Licitra, Christophe Thiers, Pierre
Zignani, Laurent Coulon, Aurlia Masson, Stphanie Boulet, and
Catherine Defernez. Their papers concern different areas of the temple
complex such as the temple of Ptah, the Treasury of Shabaqo, the palace
xiv
Foreword
of the Gods Wife Ankhnesneferibre in Naga Malgata, and offering magazines as well as the new evidence of ceramic production at Karnak in the
chapel of Osiris Wennefer. Another Karnak paper introduces a new technology, with Elizabeth Frood and Kathryn Howley describing the use of
Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) as a means of studying graffiti
at the site.
Most of the information included into this volume is being published
for the first time. We feel that the research presented here brings together a
range of current studies on royal and elite monuments of the period, putting them into a wider context and filling some gaps in First Millennium
BC scholarship. This time period is still one of the least researched and
published area of study in Egyptology despite the numerous recent developments in field exploration and research. The present volume offers a
discussion of the First Millennium BC monuments and sites in all their
complexity. Such aspects of research as tomb and temple architecture,
epigraphy, artistic styles, iconography, palaeography, local workshops,
and burial assemblages collected in this publication give a new perspective
to the future exploration of these aspects and topics. We hope that the
present volume will inspire new comparative studies on the topics discussed and bring First Millennium BC scholarship to a new level.
.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim and
the Ministry of State for Antiquities for their support in organising the
conference Thebes in the First Millennium BC in Luxor in October 2012
and permission to work in the South Asasif necropolis. We are grateful for
the support our Egyptian-American team, the South Asasif Conservation
Project, has received over the years from Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled,
Director of the Department of Foreign Missions MSA, Dr. Mansour
Boraik, Director General of Luxor Antiquities until 2013; Ibrahim
Soliman, Director of Luxor Antiquities; Dr. Mohamed Abd el Aziz, General Director for the West Bank of Luxor; Fathy Yassen Abd el Kerim,
Director of the Middle Area; Ramadan Ahmed Ali, Chief Inspector of the
Middle Area; Ahmed Ali Hussein Ali, SCA Chief Conservator and
Director of the Conservation Department of Upper Egypt; Afaf Fathalla,
General Director of the Conservation Department of Upper Egypt; the
MSA conservation team; and all our team members and volunteers. We
are very grateful to our sponsors, IKG Cultural Resources, directed by
Anthony Browder (USA), and the South Asasif Conservation Trust, directed by John Billman (UK). Without all this help and support we would
not have been able to accomplish the field work and research included in
the present volume.
Special thanks to the participants of the conference, particularly to our
Luxor colleagues Nadia Licitra, Christophe Thiers, Pierre Zignani, Laurent
Coulon, Claude Traunecker, Isabelle Rgen, Louise Gestermann, and
Farouk Goma who showed their sites to the participants.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
THE QUARTER OF THE DIVINE ADORATRICES
AT KARNAK (NAGA MALGATA)
DURING THE TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTY:
SOME HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED EPIGRAPHIC
MATERIAL
LAURENT COULON*
UMR 5189, HiSoMA/CNRS University of Lyon
Abstract: The residential quarter of the Divine Adoratrices at Karnak has been
recently more accurately identified to the north of the enclosure of Amun and to
the west of the enclosure of Montu, in the area of the modern village of Naga Malgata. Although now mostly destroyed, a large building of Ankhnesneferibre, interpreted as a palace, can be partially reconstructed from archival documents. Several hitherto unpublished inscribed blocks of the same date, seen on the art market
in the 1930s or kept in various museums, probably come from this area. They
provide evidence of the reverence in which Ankhnesneferibre held the dynastic
lineage of her predecessors in the office of Divine Adoratrice.
At Karnak, the Osiris chapels built by the Saite gods wives of Amun
Nitocris and Ankhnesneferibre are now the most visible remains of their
constructions.1 However, an important part of their building activity took
*
We would like to thank the following persons for their help and kind permission to
consult, quote, or publish the documents and data presented here: J. Malek, Griffith
Institute, Oxford; G. Andreu, E. Rickal, Dpartement des Antiquits gyptiennes du
Muse du Louvre, Paris; M. Merrony, Mougins Museum of Classical Art; M. Azim,
MOM, Lyon; Mansour Boraik, C. Thiers, directors of the CFEETK; Ibrahim
Soliman, director of the temples of Karnak; C. Zivie-Coche, EPHE, director of the
Centre Wladimir Golnischeff; P. Piacentini and C. Orsenigo, University of Milan;
N. Cherpion, IFAO; E. C. Brock; F. Payraudeau; E. Laroze.
1
See Christophe 1951, 2948; Coulon and Defernez 2004; Traunecker 2010;
Coulon 2011b.
566
Chapter Twenty-nine
place to the north of the enclosure of Amun and to the west of the enclosure of Montu. In this area, now covered by the modern village of Naga
Malgata,2 Twenty-sixth Dynasty remains were found in the 1920s, including a columned building of Nitocris decorated with scenes showing the
induction of the Gods Wife3 and a large edifice of Ankhnesneferibre.4
Though poorly documented at the time of its discovery and now mostly
destroyed, the latter building could be partially reconstructed from archival
documents dating from the first half of the twentieth century.5 This reconstruction led us to identify it as Ankhnesneferibres residence and the
whole area as the quarter of the gods wives, which was probably also the
living place of the members of her administration and her female followers.6 Unfortunately, the inscribed material found by Pillet in
Ankhnesneferibres building was very scarce. However, several documents can be added to this body of epigraphic evidence, if we take into
account the numerous inscribed blocks sold on the art market soon after
the discovery of this monument. In this paper, I aim to present several
hitherto unknown reliefs which, although their exact provenance cannot be
ascertained, were found in all probability in Naga Malgata, in or around
the building found by Pillet. They shed new light on the theological
framework and dynastic ideology of the institution of the Gods Wife at
the time of Ankhnesneferibre.
That is the place where things (i.e. antiquities) are picked up.
Christophe 1951, 97112; Koch 2012a, 5253, 131133. Additional views of the
reliefs are kept in the Archives Clre at the Griffith Institute, in the Archives
Varille at the University of Milan, and at the Centre Golnischeff in Paris. See
Coulon and Laisney forthcoming, figs. 5268.
4
It was erroneously identified as the temple of Osiris Pameres by Pillet 1925, 19
23, a view already challenged by Dewachter 1979, 1215.
5
A full publication of these documents and a detailed historiographical and
archaeological study of the Saite buildings at Naga Malgata will appear in Coulon
and Laisney forthcoming. The first part of the present contribution is a short
summary of the main results of this article.
6
On this staff, see Graefe 1981; Koch 2012a.
3
567
which is located on the divine ground (sAtw-nTr), in its northern part.7 Another major source is the autobiographical text of Ibi, carved on his stelophorous statue (Cairo JE 36158).8 Through this inscription, we learn that,
in year 26 of the reign of Psamtek I, Ibi was appointed by this king to be
Chief Steward of his daughter Nitocris and to restore the estate of the
Gods Wife in Thebes, which had fallen into ruin. Here are some of the
constructions referred to by Ibi:9
(20)
I built her (Nitocris) wabet on the south side of the house of the Harem
of Amun, as an eternal construction, with everything [. . .] (21) . . . (made of)
gold within it. I built her house in the pure domain of her father Amun,
being what her father Re did for her in the primordial occasion: 100 cubits
in length (lit. in height), 100 cubits in width (22) . . . (23) . . . I built a temple
beside it for her lord Osiris Wennefer in excellent construction, with her
lord in it [. . .] (24) like Re in his mountain.
The exact locations of Nitocris constructions are not given in the inscription in its current state of preservation. However, as Ibi is depicted on
the reliefs of Nitocris columned building at Naga Malgata and those
found reused nearby in the Ptolemaic temple haut in the sanctuary of
Amun-Re-Montu,10 the area of Naga Malgata was therefore considered as
a good candidate.11 A re-examination of the other Saite remains discovered by Pillet in 1924 has led us to confirm this view. When the French
archaeologist first visited the site, the sebbakhin had just exposed on the
edge of the village a very large building with mud-brick walls and stone
doorjambs. The building could be reliably dated, as a lintel found in situ is
inscribed with Ankhnesneferibres cartouche.12 In Pillets report, only one
photograph of the building was published,13 with no plan, and this is
probably the reason why this building has received only little attention,
particularly as it was later almost completely destroyed.14 However, the
relatively precise description of the building given by Pillet can be used
together with hitherto unexploited photographs taken at the time of the
discovery (fig. 29-1), and several aerial views (RAF 1921, IGN 1964),
among other documents. These archives allowed Damien Laisney, topog7
568
Chapter Twenty-nine
15
16
569
17
Its orientation is similar to the building of Ankhnesneferibre but their gates are
not exactly on the same axis.
18
Koch 2012a, 53.
19
See Yoyotte 1961; Koch 2012a.
20
Brock [2004].
570
Chapter Twenty-nine
In addition, topographical indications contained in Ptolemaic administrative papyri dealing with the sale of houses in the quarter of the Mansion
of the Cow, which is located according to the contracts, to the west of the
enclosure of Montu, master of Thebes, and to the north of the enclosure of
the temple of Thebes, include a mention of the Harem of the [Divine]
Adoratrice (pA rxn n dwA-[nTr]) as a landmark in this area.21 As the office
of the Divine Adoratrice disappeared after the Saite Period, it could be
inferred that the remains of this complex were still important and recognisable during the Ptolemaic times.
600
VI
700
800
VII
900
VIII
4100
4100
"RUINES DU NORD"
"Troncs de Colonnes et Dbris de Murailles en grs"
(as recorded in the Description de l'gypte)
Unidentified buildings
(as recorded in J. G. Wilkinson,
Topographical Survey of Thebes, 1830)
g
a
4000
4000
COLUMNED BUILDING
OF NITOCRIS
T
BUILDING OF
ANKHNESNEFERIBRE
M
a
3900
3900
l
g
"Ville brle"
excavated by Cl. Robichon
SANCTUARY
of AMUN-REMONTU
3800
3800
Temples of Thot
Chapel
of Osiris Neb-Djet
Osiris chapel
(TIP, Late Period)
3700
3700
Temple of Ptah
Treasury
of
Chabaka
Osiris chapels
(XXVth - XXVIth dyn.)
pa
ve
d
all
ey
Open
Air
Museum
3600
3600
SANCTUARY
of AMUN
P
100
200
300 m
571
572
Chapter Twenty-nine
25
573
26
27
On this epithet of Atum, see Myliwiec 1979, 8897; LGG III, 778a779a.
The s is replaced by the top of the wAs-sceptre.
574
Chapter Twenty-nine
Central panel:
Left: Destroyed.
Middle: dwAt-nTr ^p-n-wpt The Divine Adoratrice Shepenwepet
Right: dwAt-nTr Jmn-jr-dj.s The Divine Adoratrice Amenirdis
Left scene: Destroyed.
Right scene:
Label: Hnk [. . .] n [. . .] [Pres]enting (?) [Maat] to [...]
The Divine Adoratrice: dwAt-nTr anx.n.s-nfr-jb-Ra sAt-nsw PsmTk
anx[.tj] m[j] Ra Dt The Divine Adoratrice Ankhnesneferibre, royal
daughter of Psamtek (II), may [she] live [li]ke Re eternally.
Atum: [Jt]m nb tAwy Jwnw [At]um, Lord of the Two Lands and
Heliopolis.
Dd mdw dj.n.<i> n.T anx wAs nb Words spoken: <I> have given to
you all life and dominion.
Dd mdw dj.n.<i> n.T snb nb Words spoken: <I> have given to you
all health.
Dd mdw dj.n.<i> n.T Awt-jb nb Words spoken: <I> have given to you
all joy.
Commentary:
In Doc. 2a, the name of Amun is inscribed in the central cartouche, surrounded by the names of Ankhnesneferibre and her adoptive mother.28
Divine cartouches with the name of Amun are found on Theban monuments as early as the New Kingdom, but become more frequent from the
Third Intermediate Period.29 As far as the monuments of the gods wives
are concerned, they are attested on bronze statuettes of Amun30 and on
several loose or reused blocks found in Karnak.31
In Doc. 2b, the cartouches contain the names of deceased Divine Adoratrices. If reading from left to right, the following succession can be restored: [Nitocris] Shepenwepet (II) Amenirdis (I), as the same
sequence of cartouches is attested on a block from Karnak-North.32 If we
adopt the same reading order than in Doc 2a, an alternative restoration is:
28
575
33
See Medinet Habu, PM II2, 479 (37) (and the corrections by Koch 2012a, 160;
but a reliable edition of the texts is still needed): Nitocris makes offerings in front
of Shepenwepet II, Amenirdis I, and Shepenwepet I (partly hidden by the
perpendicular wall). Traces of the name of Nitocris, kings daughter of Psamtek I,
are still legible; see also PM II2, 479 (41, II); Koch 2012a, 160161: Nitocris
makes offerings to Shepenwepet II, whose genealogy is traced back to
Shepenwepet I; the statue base London BM EA 713 also shows the cartouches of
Shepenwepet II and her adoptive mother and grandmother, Amenirdis I and
Shepenwepet I. See Jansen-Winkeln 2009, 334 [51.128].
34
For such additions, see the inscriptions of the funerary chapel of Amenirdis I at
Medinet Habu: mAat-xrw xr Wsjr (Daressy 1901, 10).
35
Myliwiec 1979, 223224.
36
Klotz 2012, 150.
37
Myliwiec 1982, 285286; see for instance a scene showing Seti I being led into
the temple by Khonsu and Atum on the west wall of the Great Hypostyle Hall
(Nelson 1981, pl. 149).
38
Cf. Dgardin 2000; on Khonsu-Re, Lord of Thebes, see also Klotz 2012, 99
100.
39
Cf. for instance, the similar appearance of Re-Horakhty-Atum in Myliwiec
1979, 71.
40
Cf. Myliwiec 1983.
576
Chapter Twenty-nine
these two gods can only be explained here through the theological context
of the induction of the Gods Wife41 or its commemoration.
Ankhnes.
tr.
tr.
Table of
offerings
Khonsu
seated on
a throne
Atum
seated on
a throne
Table of
offerings
Ankhnes.
tr.
Atum
seated on
a throne
Table
Ankhnes.
41
A brief account of Ankhnesneferibres induction, which took place after the
death of Nitocris in 586 BC, is given in the so-called Adoption Stela, for which
see Leahy 1996.
577
42
Cf. e.g. Nitocris seated in front of a table of offerings in the columned building
at Naga Malgata. Cf. Christophe 1951, 105106; Coulon and Laisney forthcoming,
fig. 63.
43
Traunecker 2010, 178. See also the two symmetrical scenes in the arc of the
stela recording the adoption of Ankhnesneferibre (Leahy 1996, 148).
44
Cornice Karnak, Cheikh Labib, without number (Christophe 1951, 124 [nr. 27];
Coulon and Laisney forthcoming, fig. 66). For an earlier attestation, see Varille
1950, 252.
578
Chapter Twenty-nine
Ankhnesneferibre
seated on
a throne
579
his Fiches Antiquaires ANT-35, kept at the DAE, Louvre) with sketch.45
Clre mentions that the stela is broken in two fragments. We suppose that
the lower part is the fragment Boston MFA 1981.3, for which see PM
VIII/3, 803-079-200; Simpson 1982, 231232, 234235, fig. 1; Simpson,
in Brovarski ed, 1987, 6263.
580
Chapter Twenty-nine
Description: Ankhnesneferibre, on the left, receives life from Hathor Nebethetepet, on the right, under the outstretched wings of a vulture holding
two shen-rings (figs. 29-67).
Painting: Red colour on the solar-disc of Hathor (Clre).
The Divine Adoratrice: dwAt-nTr anx.n.s-nfr-jb-Ra anx<.tj> Dt The
Divine Adoratrice Ankhnesneferibre may <she> live eternally.
Nebethetepet: Nbt-Htpt dj<t> anx wAs Nebethetepet, who gives life and
dominion.
581
Commentary:
These stelae were both sold by the antiquaries Mohasseb and sons in the
1930s, which may advocate a common provenance. In its publication of
the Boston fragment, Simpson has suggested a connexion between the two
documents, but could not go further. Clres drawing allows us to propose
that both monuments were originally erected together.
A scene showing a goddess giving life to the Gods Wife Ankhnesneferibre is also attested in the so-called Chapel of Osiris Lord of Eternityneheh, where the representation of Isis, bearing the Hathoric headdress, is
symmetrical to Harsieses one.46 As for Doc. 4b, the connection of the
Gods Wife with the Heliopolitan goddess Hathor-Nebethetepet is not
difficult to explain: the latter is well known as the Gods Hand of Atum,
and, as such, is the divine counterpart to the Divine Adoratrice of Amun.47
The presence of Nephthys is more difficult to explain, unless we consider
that there was originally a group of (4?) stelae, including a representation
of her sister Isis. In this case, one can imagine that these stelae would have
been erected as frontier-stelae around a sacred area.
Conclusion
The reliefs published in this paper are and will certainly remain without
certain provenance. However, it can be reasonably argued that they were
found in the quarter of the Divine Adoratrices, and more specifically, in
the area of the palace of Ankhnesneferibre. Several facts support this
assumption: most of them were sold by the same antiquary, Mahmoud
Mohasseb, whose family was known to fund illegal excavations in the area
of Naga Malgata; among the blocks, a lintel is very similar from a stylistic
and epigraphic point of view to the one found in situ by M. Pillet; finally,
the decoration of the reliefs has little to do with the Osiris chapels or the
funerary monuments built by the gods wives at Karnak and Medinet
Habu; it is mostly centred on the Gods Wife and her relation to Amun and
the Heliopolitan gods. Primarily, it refers to the rites of the induction of
the Gods Wife and her role as the occupant of the throne of Tefnut,48
46
PM II2, 192 B, 1, d.; cf. Traunecker 2010, 160 [nr. 10], figs. 45.
Koch 2012a, 65 with references; Shepenwepet II and Hathor Nebethetepet are
depicted on a fragment of intercolumnar wall found in the village of Naga Malgata,
to the north of Amun-Re-Montu temple at Karnak-North, during the excavations
carried out by the Luxor Dewatering Project. Cf. Brock [2004], fig. 26.
48
On the theological background and the specific rites of the institution of the
Gods Wife, see Leclant 1957; and recently Ayad 2009; Koch 2012b.
47
582
Chapter Twenty-nine
which is also the main theme of the reliefs discovered by M. Pillet in the
columned building of Nitocris at Naga Malgata.
Another distinctive feature of these reliefs is that not only the living
Gods Wife is celebrated, but also her predecessors Nitocris, Shepenwepet
II, Amenirdis I, and perhaps Shepenwepet I. The decoration of the funerary chapels of the gods wives at Medinet Habu illustrate the reverence in
which Nitocris herself held her adoptive mother Shepenwepet II and her
predecessors,49 even after the Nubian kings, their fathers and brothers,
were doomed to damnatio memoriae. At Karnak, Nitocris would also associate her predecessors to her monuments,50 as exemplified by a block
from a dismantled chapel of Nitocris reused in a intercolumnar wall of the
Bubastite Gate51 as well as the much-discussed lintel Cairo, Egyptian
Museum JE 29251bis.52 The blocks published here show that Ankhnesneferibre had the same preoccupation with her dynastic lineage. As the
successive gods wives all probably lived at Naga Malgata, this quarter
had naturally become a dynastic residence.
Finally, although so many uncertainties remain concerning the original
configuration of this quarter of the Divine Adoratrices, the identification
of Ankhnesneferibres palace and the new elements brought by the reliefs
published here allow us a better appreciation of the importance of this
sector during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. This quarter, including the residence of the Divine Adoratrice and her harem, increased under the Nubian
and Saite rule as a large and autonomous extension of the domain of
Amun and where the rites of the institution of the gods wives would be
celebrated in vast and richly decorated buildings.
49
See footnote 33 above. The alignment of the funerary chapels of the successive
gods wives at Medinet Habu reflects obviously the same preoccupation. On this
continuity, see also Leclant 1965, 363.
50
This association of the deceased gods wives to the cult is already attested during
the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. See London BM EA 713 (footnote 33 above). At
Karnak, the chapels erected by Shepenwepet II show the deceased Amenirdis I
playing an active role in the cult, due to her prestige as an intercessor before Osiris.
Cf. Coulon 2012, 52, 5556.
51
Christophe 1951, 47. Another block reused in the same wall and mentioning Ibi
may belong to the same construction of Nitocris.
52
See Koch 2012a, 4546, whose interpretation is convincing. A photograph of the
lintel (including a recently added fragment) is published in Ziegler 2008, 183, fig.
64. As Jansen-Winkeln (2009, 337) already argued, Amenirdis II, daughter of
Taharqo, probably never reached the position of Divine Adoratrice, and is
therefore not included in the dynastic lineage of the Saite gods wives.
583
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