DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4863#0054
the dead
»»]
piety
THE SOUTHERN CHAPEL
of their departed head and patron. These loyal relations and retainers The Private
i • i • i i provision
must have been encouraged m any devotion they showed to the invisible of food for
dead by these life-size presentations of their lost friends. We ourselves
feel the sweet dignity of the face of Senseneb (Plate LXV); and, though
all are no more than ideal profiles, without attempt at portraiture, that
was probably a merit in the judgment of contemporaries. The immedi-
ate relations, too, found themselves and their act of piety already fore-
shadowed; others needed but to choose their portrait from among the
unnamed and impersonal figures. And if a feeling of shame at their
scantier offering were aroused in any of them by the pictures of liberal
supplies set out in daintily arranged receptacles, that effect, too, may
have been foreseen by Puyemre. His part lay in "receiving food of a god's
giving"; theirs, apparently, in "making provision from that which has
appeared in the Presence.
It may be that even private gifts had to pass, or were esteemed Family
more highly for having passed, before the god in the temple; for on the
south side (Plate LXIII), where the family alone2 bring gifts, there is
again mention of this previous dedication. Puyemre "rich in (men's) af-
fection" is there "accepting the acts of homage, enjoying himself at the
opening of the year and beginning endless eternity (nhh m Sw.t rfft." These
phrases are novel, and, unless too much is being read into them, imply
that the occasion of this visit from his family is the festival of the New
Year or the anniversary of his death,3 and that, owing to the loyal pro-
vision for his needs, he can look forward with pleasure not only to the
immediate but to the endless future—a message from the world beyond
full of comfort and hope to the visitors. It may be that the triple head
of papyrus which is so much in evidence among the tribute was symboli-
cal of endless existence. This, with a simple repast of the dead, is the gift
of each son, presented with the short grace, "A god's portion from Anion;
may he show thee favor!" The eldest son is "Menkheper, priest of Amon
1 Cf. Davies, El Amarna V, p. 17 (Any). Or are we still dealing, as strict syntax would indicate, with
Puyemre's own provision for his after-life by a charge on his estate?
2 So far as we can see. There is room for three sons and three daughters on this scale.
3Cf. Gardiner, Tomb of Amenemhet, p. 97.
3q
»»]
piety
THE SOUTHERN CHAPEL
of their departed head and patron. These loyal relations and retainers The Private
i • i • i i provision
must have been encouraged m any devotion they showed to the invisible of food for
dead by these life-size presentations of their lost friends. We ourselves
feel the sweet dignity of the face of Senseneb (Plate LXV); and, though
all are no more than ideal profiles, without attempt at portraiture, that
was probably a merit in the judgment of contemporaries. The immedi-
ate relations, too, found themselves and their act of piety already fore-
shadowed; others needed but to choose their portrait from among the
unnamed and impersonal figures. And if a feeling of shame at their
scantier offering were aroused in any of them by the pictures of liberal
supplies set out in daintily arranged receptacles, that effect, too, may
have been foreseen by Puyemre. His part lay in "receiving food of a god's
giving"; theirs, apparently, in "making provision from that which has
appeared in the Presence.
It may be that even private gifts had to pass, or were esteemed Family
more highly for having passed, before the god in the temple; for on the
south side (Plate LXIII), where the family alone2 bring gifts, there is
again mention of this previous dedication. Puyemre "rich in (men's) af-
fection" is there "accepting the acts of homage, enjoying himself at the
opening of the year and beginning endless eternity (nhh m Sw.t rfft." These
phrases are novel, and, unless too much is being read into them, imply
that the occasion of this visit from his family is the festival of the New
Year or the anniversary of his death,3 and that, owing to the loyal pro-
vision for his needs, he can look forward with pleasure not only to the
immediate but to the endless future—a message from the world beyond
full of comfort and hope to the visitors. It may be that the triple head
of papyrus which is so much in evidence among the tribute was symboli-
cal of endless existence. This, with a simple repast of the dead, is the gift
of each son, presented with the short grace, "A god's portion from Anion;
may he show thee favor!" The eldest son is "Menkheper, priest of Amon
1 Cf. Davies, El Amarna V, p. 17 (Any). Or are we still dealing, as strict syntax would indicate, with
Puyemre's own provision for his after-life by a charge on his estate?
2 So far as we can see. There is room for three sons and three daughters on this scale.
3Cf. Gardiner, Tomb of Amenemhet, p. 97.
3q