Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

Dm xv.-xvn. TOMB OF BABA AT EL-KAB 121

Hyksos that Joseph was sold into Egypt, as resulting
from the relations thus explained, obtains stronger pro-
bability from the writings of Georgius Syncellus, who
states that Joseph ruled the land in the reign of Apophis,
whose age preceded the commencement of the Eighteenth
Dynasty by only a few years. On the basis of an old
inscription at El-Kab, the author of which must have
been a contemporary of Joseph, it is possible to establish
the proof that Joseph and the Hyksos are inseparable
from one another.

It must be remembered that in the days of the
patriarch a seven years' famine occurred, in consequence
of a deficiency in the inundation. Although there is no
royal cartouche in the tomb to which the inscription
refers, there is internal evidence to show that Baba, its
owner, must have lived immediately previous to the
Eighteenth Dynasty. Baba, ' the risen again,' speaks
thus:—

I loved my father ; I honoured my mother ; my brothers and my
sisters loved me. I went out of the door of my house with a benevo-
lent heart; I stood there with refreshing hand ; splendid were my
preparations of what I collected for the festal day. Mild was (my)
heart, free from violent anger. The gods bestowed upon me abund-
ant prosperity on earth. The city wished me health and a life full
of enjoyment. I punished the evil-doers. The children who stood
before me in the town during the days which I fulfilled were—great
and small—60 ; just as many beds were provided for them, just as
many chairs (?), just as many tables (?). They all consumed 120
ephahs of durra, the milk of 3 cows, 52 goats, and 9 she-asses, a
hin of balsam, and 2 jars of oil.

My words may seem a jest to a gainsayer. But I call the god
Mentu to witness that what I say is true. I had all this prepared in
my house ; in addition I put cream in the store-chamber and beer
in the cellar in a more than sufficient number of hin-measures.

I collected com, as a friend of the harvest god. I was watchful
at the time of sowing. And when a famine arose, LASTING MANY

YEARS, I DISTRIBUTED CORN TO THE CITY EACH YEAR OF FAMINE.

Not the smallest doubt can be raised as to whether
the last words of the inscription relate to an historical