DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4862#0121
THE TRIBUTE OF GREATER EGYPT TO AMON
Obelisks set
up in Karnak
Temple furni-
ture in gold
and silver
with as to the difficulty of their erection shows that these are not minia-
ture replicas, but a picture of the real monuments. Probably they were
not of a height to compete with the great obelisks of Hatshepsut, or
mention would have been made of it in the appended inscription, and
of that there is no sign. The duplicated inscription is of the simplest
form, "The Horus 'Strong bull appearing in Thebes'; the good god, lord
of the Two Lands, master of ritual, 'Menkheperre'; Re's bodily son,
' Thothmes-Neferkheperu.' [He] made [it as] his dedicatory gift to his
father Amon, that he (Amon) might make a gift of life unceasingly (to
him)." The inscription on an obelisk of any height would, of course,
exceed this in length, but it may be an abbreviation of a real inscrip-
tion. It cannot be identified with any known obelisk,1 but Thothmes
seems to have erected a considerable number. The inscription between
the obelisks may have read in some such way as "[Of southern granite
fitted with elect]rum, two great obelisks. [Their sheen] floods [the two
lands, when the sun rises between them]."2
Various products of the craftsmen are shown behind this costly gift.
The upper register is occupied almost entirely by jeweler's work. The
description runs, "That which the lord [of the Two Lands dedicated to
his father Amon], lord of Nesut-tawi, in Karnak—gold, [precious] stones
in abundance, menats, sistra, collars." Accordingly, we see two bead
collars with golden hawk's-head clasps and a mankhet pendant lying on
the two caskets in which they are kept. Further three menats with gold
handles and heavy bead chain, and two sistra (?).3 An elaborately
decorated vase of gold standing in a shallow dish comes last in order.
cap. Obelisks are shown with the king's smaller gifts in Tomb 73 (mutilated) and in Thothmes' Annals
at Karnak.
1 The Metropolitan Museum probably possesses a memorial of this event in the scarab of Thothmes
mentioning his two obelisks at Karnak (C. Ransom, Bulletin, M.M.A., iq,i5, p. 46). This pair seems to be
one of the two which he erected there to commemorate the feasts of victory in his twenty-third year. The
subject is discussed by tBreasted, A.Z., 1901, p. 58, and A.R., II, §§ 623-636; and by Petrie, in his His-
tory, II, p. i33. Menkheperraseneb says he witnessed the erection of many obelisks for Thothmes (Sethe,
Urkunden, IV, p. g33).
2Cf. the inscription on Hatshepsut's obelisks at Karnak, Breasted, A.R., § 3i5. [Jg*^*] jL [11 ^>
is evidently the reading here.
31 ought to have supplied two sistra in the gap, as the end of one of the cross-bars is preserved.
They seem to have been very thoroughly erased as objectionable media of Amon's power.
98
Obelisks set
up in Karnak
Temple furni-
ture in gold
and silver
with as to the difficulty of their erection shows that these are not minia-
ture replicas, but a picture of the real monuments. Probably they were
not of a height to compete with the great obelisks of Hatshepsut, or
mention would have been made of it in the appended inscription, and
of that there is no sign. The duplicated inscription is of the simplest
form, "The Horus 'Strong bull appearing in Thebes'; the good god, lord
of the Two Lands, master of ritual, 'Menkheperre'; Re's bodily son,
' Thothmes-Neferkheperu.' [He] made [it as] his dedicatory gift to his
father Amon, that he (Amon) might make a gift of life unceasingly (to
him)." The inscription on an obelisk of any height would, of course,
exceed this in length, but it may be an abbreviation of a real inscrip-
tion. It cannot be identified with any known obelisk,1 but Thothmes
seems to have erected a considerable number. The inscription between
the obelisks may have read in some such way as "[Of southern granite
fitted with elect]rum, two great obelisks. [Their sheen] floods [the two
lands, when the sun rises between them]."2
Various products of the craftsmen are shown behind this costly gift.
The upper register is occupied almost entirely by jeweler's work. The
description runs, "That which the lord [of the Two Lands dedicated to
his father Amon], lord of Nesut-tawi, in Karnak—gold, [precious] stones
in abundance, menats, sistra, collars." Accordingly, we see two bead
collars with golden hawk's-head clasps and a mankhet pendant lying on
the two caskets in which they are kept. Further three menats with gold
handles and heavy bead chain, and two sistra (?).3 An elaborately
decorated vase of gold standing in a shallow dish comes last in order.
cap. Obelisks are shown with the king's smaller gifts in Tomb 73 (mutilated) and in Thothmes' Annals
at Karnak.
1 The Metropolitan Museum probably possesses a memorial of this event in the scarab of Thothmes
mentioning his two obelisks at Karnak (C. Ransom, Bulletin, M.M.A., iq,i5, p. 46). This pair seems to be
one of the two which he erected there to commemorate the feasts of victory in his twenty-third year. The
subject is discussed by tBreasted, A.Z., 1901, p. 58, and A.R., II, §§ 623-636; and by Petrie, in his His-
tory, II, p. i33. Menkheperraseneb says he witnessed the erection of many obelisks for Thothmes (Sethe,
Urkunden, IV, p. g33).
2Cf. the inscription on Hatshepsut's obelisks at Karnak, Breasted, A.R., § 3i5. [Jg*^*] jL [11 ^>
is evidently the reading here.
31 ought to have supplied two sistra in the gap, as the end of one of the cross-bars is preserved.
They seem to have been very thoroughly erased as objectionable media of Amon's power.
98