DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4863#0039
And by the
priestesses
of Hathor
Chants of the
male and
female choirs
CEREMONIAL AID
of women, for Puyemre is alone; but as priestesses of Hathor, who, with
Osiris, is specially invoked in this chapel. In the Egyptian pantheon she
represents enhanced life, both on higher and lower levels.
In each picture Puyemre sits and stretches out his hand to touch
the sacred symbols, the media of the divine grace. The descriptive
texts make this clear. "The count . . . superintendent of the [highest]
offices, [great of] titulary (?) in [Ast]josret, marshal of ceremonial entry
... of the palace, etc., Puyemre, putting out the hand towards the
sacred menats and [the whisks(P) of Hathor]."1 These "ornaments of
Hathor" which her priestesses are presenting are of four sorts, the well-
known menat or necklace of clustered beads; that tinkling instrument,
the sistrum, the musical quality of which cannot much have exceeded that
of a baby's rattle; the fly-whisk (recognizable as such by the arm-shaped
handle); and the flag (?) with pinked ends, attached to a staff (Plates
LIV, LV).2 These are probably all articles from the person of the goddess
or of her attendants, and as such are permeated by her aura and can com-
municate it by touch or, still better, through the nostrils.3
The women on the north wall (Plate LI 11) carry only the two com-
moner emblems. The shorter text accompanying them probably was,
"Coming from the temple of Amon after performing his rites." The
longer text runs4 "0, Puyemre! For thy ka the seshesh sistrums and
menats of Amon of Jeser-josru. Thou hast received them held to thy
nostril. Thy lord Anion has favored thee in that thou art close to him
to innumerable (years). He assures thee life in his train. He has quick-
ened (?) breath for thy nostrils.5 Thou art as enduring as heaven. Thy
^Reading ^E^l^^i^luM^^\MM^^^- For the pictograph of
the whisk with single flap, compare the military emblems in Davies, El Amarna, I, Pis. XVI, XXVI, XXIX.
2 A sash, brightly colored and hanging down in front, is worn by the women of Hathor in Tomb
g3. It is carried in the hand as a tie in Aba's tomb (ed. Scheil, PI. II). The whisk is seen in Naville,
Eleventh Dyn. Temple III, PI. VII, 5.
'Probably the sistrum was also a personal ornament before the suspending ribbon and the horns
were blended into one, and it was converted into a rattle (Davies, J. E. A. VI, p. 69).
4 All four texts remaining to be quoted take the columns in reverse order, so as to bring the crucial
word "Puyemre" as close to him as possible and to give visible proof that the prayer touches him.
Emendations are mostly taken from Sethe, Urkunden IV, pp. 977, 978 (Tomb 109).
6 If this whisk with single instead of triple tail be also named nhiht, this word nfyh may be used
in allusion to it.
priestesses
of Hathor
Chants of the
male and
female choirs
CEREMONIAL AID
of women, for Puyemre is alone; but as priestesses of Hathor, who, with
Osiris, is specially invoked in this chapel. In the Egyptian pantheon she
represents enhanced life, both on higher and lower levels.
In each picture Puyemre sits and stretches out his hand to touch
the sacred symbols, the media of the divine grace. The descriptive
texts make this clear. "The count . . . superintendent of the [highest]
offices, [great of] titulary (?) in [Ast]josret, marshal of ceremonial entry
... of the palace, etc., Puyemre, putting out the hand towards the
sacred menats and [the whisks(P) of Hathor]."1 These "ornaments of
Hathor" which her priestesses are presenting are of four sorts, the well-
known menat or necklace of clustered beads; that tinkling instrument,
the sistrum, the musical quality of which cannot much have exceeded that
of a baby's rattle; the fly-whisk (recognizable as such by the arm-shaped
handle); and the flag (?) with pinked ends, attached to a staff (Plates
LIV, LV).2 These are probably all articles from the person of the goddess
or of her attendants, and as such are permeated by her aura and can com-
municate it by touch or, still better, through the nostrils.3
The women on the north wall (Plate LI 11) carry only the two com-
moner emblems. The shorter text accompanying them probably was,
"Coming from the temple of Amon after performing his rites." The
longer text runs4 "0, Puyemre! For thy ka the seshesh sistrums and
menats of Amon of Jeser-josru. Thou hast received them held to thy
nostril. Thy lord Anion has favored thee in that thou art close to him
to innumerable (years). He assures thee life in his train. He has quick-
ened (?) breath for thy nostrils.5 Thou art as enduring as heaven. Thy
^Reading ^E^l^^i^luM^^\MM^^^- For the pictograph of
the whisk with single flap, compare the military emblems in Davies, El Amarna, I, Pis. XVI, XXVI, XXIX.
2 A sash, brightly colored and hanging down in front, is worn by the women of Hathor in Tomb
g3. It is carried in the hand as a tie in Aba's tomb (ed. Scheil, PI. II). The whisk is seen in Naville,
Eleventh Dyn. Temple III, PI. VII, 5.
'Probably the sistrum was also a personal ornament before the suspending ribbon and the horns
were blended into one, and it was converted into a rattle (Davies, J. E. A. VI, p. 69).
4 All four texts remaining to be quoted take the columns in reverse order, so as to bring the crucial
word "Puyemre" as close to him as possible and to give visible proof that the prayer touches him.
Emendations are mostly taken from Sethe, Urkunden IV, pp. 977, 978 (Tomb 109).
6 If this whisk with single instead of triple tail be also named nhiht, this word nfyh may be used
in allusion to it.