DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4195#0026
THE SCENES AND INSCEIPTIONS.
17
are sab scribes of high rank,
is:—
The description
"Viewing the cattle of the Thoth festival,
brought from the properties of the ha
and the estates belonging to the tomb
in the North and South country."
The long-horned cattle, decked out with elabo-
rate green collars, are driven up in six groups
by their herdsmen, who carry wisps of green
grass for their charges. The animals in the
top register are termed gn, instead of yir\ and
are unadorned. The lower part of the wall
retained the greater part of its colouring, so
that the smaller figure of Ptahhetep and his
titles could be almost completely restored
to the original painted brilliancy. In this
figure the hair or wig is worn in curious
waves.
30. Pls. XXII., XXIII. S. Bay, S. Wall.
—-The uppermost register of the S. Avall is
occupied by a scene in which shrines (?), shaped
like narrow pylons and crowned with four
feathers, are dragged three at a time by as
many men.1 The superscriptions read :—
" Bringing up the sledges by the servants
of the h.i."
The structures scarcely look like the shrines
which contain statues, but present considerable
analogy, on a far larger scale, to a class of small
wooden shrines of much later date, which also
are shaped like oblong pylons. One of these
latter (described on p. 7) was chanced upon
in the course of the excavations.
1 The scene recurs in the tomb of Kagemna at Saqqäreh,
where the shrine is adorned above by tvvo feathers and
pendant tasseis (?). Two bands cross it diagonally. As
1 ~^~ ^\ (1 ^~
followed
the inscription there is
by three facsimiles of the shrine as determinatives, stjt
must be the reading of the indefinite hieroglyph here also,
but the shrine is sometimes called mrt (Bß., Wörterb.,
p. 675).
gifts
are
In the two middle rows varied
brought by servants, the title being :—
" Bringing forward the provisions belonging
to the daily service." 2
The second register is manifestly preliminary
to the fiffch and sixth. Here oxen are being
caught and bound for slaughter. " Tying up
an ox tightly." A lasso is about to be thrown
round the horns of the second. " Noosino-
an ox securely." The scenes in which the
slaughtered animals are cut up for consumption
are repeated in almost every tomb, and the
sentences of address and response or of ex-
planation show little Variation. One man, after
cutting through the hide, disjoints the animal
with a large flint knife, while a comrade pulls
at the limb to make the severance more easy.
Then we have : " Tug ! ' " Tug properly ! "
"Do it well, comrade !': "Take good hold,
comrade! " and the response, " I am doing as
you say," and the like. The butcher plunges
his hand into the carcass ; as the hieroglyphs
say, he is " extracting the heart." In another
case the Operation is too slow for his comrade,
who says, with outstretched hand, " Cut
quickly." As might be expected, the knives
speedily grow blunt. They are then passed
to a companion, and he, holding the knife edge
downward in his left hand, restores the edge
by means of an implement which is attached
to his girdle, like the steel of his modern
representative. Though the action is clear,
the explanation, " Sharpening the knife," is
usually addecl. The knives are painted a buff
colour, which very closely resembles that of
the chert flint knives which are found in early
graves. They are set in hafts (red). The
sharpener is blue, the handle perhaps being of
another colour.
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17
are sab scribes of high rank,
is:—
The description
"Viewing the cattle of the Thoth festival,
brought from the properties of the ha
and the estates belonging to the tomb
in the North and South country."
The long-horned cattle, decked out with elabo-
rate green collars, are driven up in six groups
by their herdsmen, who carry wisps of green
grass for their charges. The animals in the
top register are termed gn, instead of yir\ and
are unadorned. The lower part of the wall
retained the greater part of its colouring, so
that the smaller figure of Ptahhetep and his
titles could be almost completely restored
to the original painted brilliancy. In this
figure the hair or wig is worn in curious
waves.
30. Pls. XXII., XXIII. S. Bay, S. Wall.
—-The uppermost register of the S. Avall is
occupied by a scene in which shrines (?), shaped
like narrow pylons and crowned with four
feathers, are dragged three at a time by as
many men.1 The superscriptions read :—
" Bringing up the sledges by the servants
of the h.i."
The structures scarcely look like the shrines
which contain statues, but present considerable
analogy, on a far larger scale, to a class of small
wooden shrines of much later date, which also
are shaped like oblong pylons. One of these
latter (described on p. 7) was chanced upon
in the course of the excavations.
1 The scene recurs in the tomb of Kagemna at Saqqäreh,
where the shrine is adorned above by tvvo feathers and
pendant tasseis (?). Two bands cross it diagonally. As
1 ~^~ ^\ (1 ^~
followed
the inscription there is
by three facsimiles of the shrine as determinatives, stjt
must be the reading of the indefinite hieroglyph here also,
but the shrine is sometimes called mrt (Bß., Wörterb.,
p. 675).
gifts
are
In the two middle rows varied
brought by servants, the title being :—
" Bringing forward the provisions belonging
to the daily service." 2
The second register is manifestly preliminary
to the fiffch and sixth. Here oxen are being
caught and bound for slaughter. " Tying up
an ox tightly." A lasso is about to be thrown
round the horns of the second. " Noosino-
an ox securely." The scenes in which the
slaughtered animals are cut up for consumption
are repeated in almost every tomb, and the
sentences of address and response or of ex-
planation show little Variation. One man, after
cutting through the hide, disjoints the animal
with a large flint knife, while a comrade pulls
at the limb to make the severance more easy.
Then we have : " Tug ! ' " Tug properly ! "
"Do it well, comrade !': "Take good hold,
comrade! " and the response, " I am doing as
you say," and the like. The butcher plunges
his hand into the carcass ; as the hieroglyphs
say, he is " extracting the heart." In another
case the Operation is too slow for his comrade,
who says, with outstretched hand, " Cut
quickly." As might be expected, the knives
speedily grow blunt. They are then passed
to a companion, and he, holding the knife edge
downward in his left hand, restores the edge
by means of an implement which is attached
to his girdle, like the steel of his modern
representative. Though the action is clear,
the explanation, " Sharpening the knife," is
usually addecl. The knives are painted a buff
colour, which very closely resembles that of
the chert flint knives which are found in early
graves. They are set in hafts (red). The
sharpener is blue, the handle perhaps being of
another colour.
Read
^ m
a i " i
ö
0-A
ßö©'
o o
c