DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4862#0116
THE EXPENDED TRIBUTE
of the temple of Amon-re," and that the two scribes of the temple
treasurer are " enregistering all manner of precious materials, and mak-
ing the entry so as to deal uprightly by Anion" and "[enregistering] the
incense for the temples of the associate-gods of Am on in the treasury of
the temple."1
In the upper register rings of electrum are being weighed in a
balance of the usual form, five or six rings against two calf-weights.
These men wait to receive (ssp) the raw materials, jdra-gold and lapis (?);
they will have to give a strict account of the amount used in the articles
manufactured from them.2 The sum at which the draughtsman was
pleased to estimate the rings is lost. The episode below proves of much
greater interest, though very simple. Incense (?) is set on one scale
against a weight of well-known form in the other. A box of weights in
the form of oxen and another of lighter weights in the shape of trussed
ducks are at hand in case the checker needs other values.3
The ancient Egyptian had two favorite means of imparting informa-
tion—the illustrated document and the annotated picture. Here we are
on the border line between the two; for we find a tabulated list of the
temples qualified to participate in the revenues of Amon appended to the
scene, affording a most valuable glimpse into the relations of the state
religion to subsidiary cults, and the administration of Amon's income in
kind. In this Puyemre follows the example set a few years earlier by
Anena (Tomb 8i).4 The list given here is not, however, a mere tran-
scription of the earlier one. Instead of nine participating sanctuaries at
'Reading Q 11^0 ° ^^Q
° ^-"-. ls<=z>~*~«l Mill"
i i i#o
2 It seems, then, that this is an excerpt from the workshop scene for which no room was found on the
opposite wall; for all the cognate pictures in other tombs include this episode.
'Barter was after all still the means of exchange in Egypt, and the standards of a people living
chiefly on herds and hunting are perhaps not quite lost. The prime necessity of meat is still felt, the people
delighting to have cakes made in the guise of oxen, geese, hares, etc. The forms of weights used show that
the ox, the ox's head, the goose, or duck had once been units of value. So, no doubt, had been the common
forms of household vessels, whether in clay, stone, or metal, and one of these perhaps survives in the shape
of the weight in the scales.
4 See Sethe, Urkunden, IV, pp. 70-72 (p. 37 of his German translation), but the damaged numbers are
there quite wrongly read and should be 54o, five of 6H» *3, 63^, and 19, making 611 in all. In that tomb
the distribution of incense is represented as a share of the annual tribute from abroad for the monthly ser-
vice of the temples.
93
The distribu-
tion of the gift
A list of
Theban
temples
of the temple of Amon-re," and that the two scribes of the temple
treasurer are " enregistering all manner of precious materials, and mak-
ing the entry so as to deal uprightly by Anion" and "[enregistering] the
incense for the temples of the associate-gods of Am on in the treasury of
the temple."1
In the upper register rings of electrum are being weighed in a
balance of the usual form, five or six rings against two calf-weights.
These men wait to receive (ssp) the raw materials, jdra-gold and lapis (?);
they will have to give a strict account of the amount used in the articles
manufactured from them.2 The sum at which the draughtsman was
pleased to estimate the rings is lost. The episode below proves of much
greater interest, though very simple. Incense (?) is set on one scale
against a weight of well-known form in the other. A box of weights in
the form of oxen and another of lighter weights in the shape of trussed
ducks are at hand in case the checker needs other values.3
The ancient Egyptian had two favorite means of imparting informa-
tion—the illustrated document and the annotated picture. Here we are
on the border line between the two; for we find a tabulated list of the
temples qualified to participate in the revenues of Amon appended to the
scene, affording a most valuable glimpse into the relations of the state
religion to subsidiary cults, and the administration of Amon's income in
kind. In this Puyemre follows the example set a few years earlier by
Anena (Tomb 8i).4 The list given here is not, however, a mere tran-
scription of the earlier one. Instead of nine participating sanctuaries at
'Reading Q 11^0 ° ^^Q
° ^-"-. ls<=z>~*~«l Mill"
i i i#o
2 It seems, then, that this is an excerpt from the workshop scene for which no room was found on the
opposite wall; for all the cognate pictures in other tombs include this episode.
'Barter was after all still the means of exchange in Egypt, and the standards of a people living
chiefly on herds and hunting are perhaps not quite lost. The prime necessity of meat is still felt, the people
delighting to have cakes made in the guise of oxen, geese, hares, etc. The forms of weights used show that
the ox, the ox's head, the goose, or duck had once been units of value. So, no doubt, had been the common
forms of household vessels, whether in clay, stone, or metal, and one of these perhaps survives in the shape
of the weight in the scales.
4 See Sethe, Urkunden, IV, pp. 70-72 (p. 37 of his German translation), but the damaged numbers are
there quite wrongly read and should be 54o, five of 6H» *3, 63^, and 19, making 611 in all. In that tomb
the distribution of incense is represented as a share of the annual tribute from abroad for the monthly ser-
vice of the temples.
93
The distribu-
tion of the gift
A list of
Theban
temples