DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4195#0027
inyBHnBam
WB
18
THE MASTABA OF PTAHHETEP AND AKHETHETBP.
31. Pls.XXIV.-XXVIL; XXX.-XXXIV.
The N. and S. Walls.—In the extension of
the room which forms the upright of the T
all the sculpture is strictly concerned with the
maintenance and well-being of the ha. The
side walls being similar in decoration and about
equally destroyed, one description will serve
for both.
At the far end of the room the deceased sits
before the table. Above his head were his
names and titles,1 and over the table is the list
of offerings in five rows of sixteen columns,
thus containing eighty itenis, as against ninety-
six in Ptahhetep's chapel. Beneath the table,
the curious form of which is never much
varied, is a pile of massed offerings, and the
words :—•" Offerings : thousands of bread, of
beer, of oxen, of geese, of yarn, and of cloth."
These are being brought by some fifty ofhcials
and unnamed servitors. Ptahhetep and the
" very numerous lectors " appointed to perform
with him the necessary rites, are celebrating
them at the head of the procession. Behind
follow the well-laden friends and servants of
the deceased. Four registers of varied offerings
above complete the decoration of the wall.
All the work is beautifully fmished and
is in excellent preservation, considering the
min of the Chamber and loss of the roof. A
little colour remains here and there ; the
offerings beneath the table have retained most.
32. Pls. XXVIII., XXIX. The Stela.-
The false door which forms the end wall of
the Chamber was, from the point of view of
the ha, the entrance to this, the reception
1 A fragment inscribed witli parfc of the cartouche of
Dadkara nvust come from here.
room of his house. It has been a magnificent
monument, and a great deal of impious energy
must have been expended on its mutilation.
Two stones which were recovered near
(PI. xxviii.) show that probably it differed
from that in the S. chapel only in having an
additional jamb. The inscription on the jambs,
ending with the name and standing figure of
the dead, is identical on both sides. It gives
the usnal formula :—
" May the king and Anubis grant perhherv
offerings to him in the necropolis as
daily rations every day."
" (May Anubis, lord of the) sacred land
grant his burial in the necropolis, and
a very happy old age as to one who is
deserving."
" (May Osiris, lord of) Busiris grant his
burial in the necropolis city in the
western desert."
For the titles see p. 12. Akhethetep is here
described as " deserving before the great god
(Osiris)."
The traces of colour which remained on the
stela were numerous and often vivid, but
deteriorated with exposure. For notes and
examples of colour, see Part L, chap. iii.
(passim), and ib., PL xviii.
On the figure of Ptahhetep a black line
edging the eye above and below was visible,
and in one case the traces of a black moustache
on the upper lip (cf. Medum, p. 24). Beard and
hair are black as usual. The deep recess indi-
cating the doorway was grained to represent
wood, as in the chapel of Ptahhetep (Part I.,
PI. xx.), but without division into planks.
The hieroglyphs are very finely formed ; a
good number will be found in the plates of the
first volume. (For reference index see p. 31.)