DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4858#0091
THE TOMB OF NAKHT
The deity of "mistress of the threshing floor," under the form of a cobra. She
harvest
perhaps wears this aspect because reptiles were often drawn to such
places in search of mice and other prey.1 Grain, too, was personi-
fied as a god, Nep(er)y, or as a snake headed goddess, Nep(er)t. The
eighth month of the year, being that of harvest, was sacred to Er-
nutet.2 Her festival, however, fell on the first day of the next month.
This was the birthday of Nepy, who seems to have been regarded
as her child. The celebration of the first day of the month and of the
moon thus coincided with a harvest festival. It would be no wonder,
therefore, that the new moon or month should be presented with first
fruits at that time; and how depict this fact save by a picture of the
moon as they conceived it ? The absence of inscriptions from the har-
vest scenes in this tomb makes the interpretation uncertain, but the
texts in the other tombs leave little doubt that the picture depicts the
harvest festival at the turn of the month when Ernutet was specially
worshiped.3 As the object of worship bears no possible resemblance
to Ernutet, the conclusion is that the offerings are laid before either
the waxing or the waning moon.
Offerings are made to Ernutet in Tombs 38, 48, 56, 57, 77, 112, 172, 217. See also L., D., II, PL IX.
2 This dedication, however, rests on late evidence and Dr. Gardiner has shown reasons for believing
that by that time the festivals had shifted backward a full month (A. Z., XLIII, p. i36). It would cer-
tainly be more fitting that the ninth month should be hers, since its first day was devoted to her cult.
In later times its patron was Khonsu, the moon-god.
3 To put the full evidence before the reader, the companion scenes and inscriptions must be quoted.
The original design may be lost to us, but the Tomb of Nakht seems to be nearest the source. In Tomb 38
a whole wall is dedicated to the harvest. In the lowest register the agricultural scenes on Plate XXI are
repeated with some variations. In the top register men are measuring the standing corn. In the middle
register men are bringing produce to their master, who sits in a kiosk (as in Plate XX here). At the other
end Joserkerasonb makes a burnt offering (1) to Amon (whose figure is totally erased) and (2) to "revered
Ernutet, lady of the granaries," figured as a cobra on a basket. The accompanying inscription is as follows:
"The scribe of the corn [of Amon], Joserkere, offering all manner of good and pure food [to Amon] in every
shrine of his on this day of the measurement of the sek grain of the twenty-seventh day of the fourth
month of springtime (the eighth of the year) in the island (ma.ut) [of Ernutet?], whose x is on the thresh-
ing floor (? kah)," x being a sign consisting of a crescent over a solid triangle a and thus closely
resembling the mysterious group, which is again depicted here. Either deliberately or because it was mis-
understood, the ends of the crescent are fringed, as if they were wings, and a row of red spots is painted
on the blackish body (Fig. 11). The swelling in the center has become a protuberance into which the
ears of corn have been taken up from the dish. The whole, in short, seems treated as a winged thing too
swiftly swooping to have defined shape or color, and it is conceivable that the first crow that carried off
the offering was transformed by popular superstition into a gratified divinity.
Similarly in the sculptured Tomb No. 57 (Khaemhet), two scenes come into consideration. In one
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The deity of "mistress of the threshing floor," under the form of a cobra. She
harvest
perhaps wears this aspect because reptiles were often drawn to such
places in search of mice and other prey.1 Grain, too, was personi-
fied as a god, Nep(er)y, or as a snake headed goddess, Nep(er)t. The
eighth month of the year, being that of harvest, was sacred to Er-
nutet.2 Her festival, however, fell on the first day of the next month.
This was the birthday of Nepy, who seems to have been regarded
as her child. The celebration of the first day of the month and of the
moon thus coincided with a harvest festival. It would be no wonder,
therefore, that the new moon or month should be presented with first
fruits at that time; and how depict this fact save by a picture of the
moon as they conceived it ? The absence of inscriptions from the har-
vest scenes in this tomb makes the interpretation uncertain, but the
texts in the other tombs leave little doubt that the picture depicts the
harvest festival at the turn of the month when Ernutet was specially
worshiped.3 As the object of worship bears no possible resemblance
to Ernutet, the conclusion is that the offerings are laid before either
the waxing or the waning moon.
Offerings are made to Ernutet in Tombs 38, 48, 56, 57, 77, 112, 172, 217. See also L., D., II, PL IX.
2 This dedication, however, rests on late evidence and Dr. Gardiner has shown reasons for believing
that by that time the festivals had shifted backward a full month (A. Z., XLIII, p. i36). It would cer-
tainly be more fitting that the ninth month should be hers, since its first day was devoted to her cult.
In later times its patron was Khonsu, the moon-god.
3 To put the full evidence before the reader, the companion scenes and inscriptions must be quoted.
The original design may be lost to us, but the Tomb of Nakht seems to be nearest the source. In Tomb 38
a whole wall is dedicated to the harvest. In the lowest register the agricultural scenes on Plate XXI are
repeated with some variations. In the top register men are measuring the standing corn. In the middle
register men are bringing produce to their master, who sits in a kiosk (as in Plate XX here). At the other
end Joserkerasonb makes a burnt offering (1) to Amon (whose figure is totally erased) and (2) to "revered
Ernutet, lady of the granaries," figured as a cobra on a basket. The accompanying inscription is as follows:
"The scribe of the corn [of Amon], Joserkere, offering all manner of good and pure food [to Amon] in every
shrine of his on this day of the measurement of the sek grain of the twenty-seventh day of the fourth
month of springtime (the eighth of the year) in the island (ma.ut) [of Ernutet?], whose x is on the thresh-
ing floor (? kah)," x being a sign consisting of a crescent over a solid triangle a and thus closely
resembling the mysterious group, which is again depicted here. Either deliberately or because it was mis-
understood, the ends of the crescent are fringed, as if they were wings, and a row of red spots is painted
on the blackish body (Fig. 11). The swelling in the center has become a protuberance into which the
ears of corn have been taken up from the dish. The whole, in short, seems treated as a winged thing too
swiftly swooping to have defined shape or color, and it is conceivable that the first crow that carried off
the offering was transformed by popular superstition into a gratified divinity.
Similarly in the sculptured Tomb No. 57 (Khaemhet), two scenes come into consideration. In one
Six