DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4859#0027
The decora-
tion of the
tomb possibly
her act
But more
likely to be
Nebamun's
The second
marriage to
be provision-
ally assumed
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
by his more recent death, feeling, too, perhaps that Apuki was well
compensated for his secondary place by the priority which she had given
him in her affection. The thrice-repeated good wishes for Nebamun's
welfare in the banquet scene would then be an expression of her esteem
for him with whom, after all, if her faith had any vividness, she was to
be so closely associated, whether as wife, or, by this choice, as comrade
and sister, within his eternal mansion.
It is pleasanter, however, to leave Nebamun with the congenial task
of adorning his own sepulchre and settling his own endless future, and to
suppose that he and his wife, being faced, when the decoration of the
tomb was taken in hand, by the problem afforded by the previous mar-
riage, wisely decided to exhibit simply the facts of their histories and the
good feeling which had directed them, and to leave the future to the
gods who ruled it. In any case, knowing nothing to the contrary, and
having the suggestive pictures as our justification, we may contem-
plate Apuki, Nebamun, and Henetnofret entering paradise together un-
ashamed, having been lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their
deaths not divided. Henetnofret seems to have been the link which
bound these three lives together. Hence a more appropriate by-name for
this doubly-owned place of burial would be "The tomb of the two
husbands," or even "The tomb of Henetnofret"; for women had per-
sonal histories even in those days, though for us they generally lie below
the surface.
Other objections and considerations that crop up in our survey of
the scenes will be best dealt with as they arise. Though the hypothesis
preferred by me may be rejected by others in favor of the interpretation
which makes Apuki the brother-in-law of Nebamun, and so welcome to
him for his own sake or his sister's as to be admitted to partnership in a
common tomb, and though, as evidence for burial and social custom
grows more definite and complete, this latter choice might conceivably
have to be finally adopted, it will add very much to the pleasure to be
found in the scenes, and detract very little from the instruction they
impart, if the hypothesis of the second marriage, which seems best
12
tion of the
tomb possibly
her act
But more
likely to be
Nebamun's
The second
marriage to
be provision-
ally assumed
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
by his more recent death, feeling, too, perhaps that Apuki was well
compensated for his secondary place by the priority which she had given
him in her affection. The thrice-repeated good wishes for Nebamun's
welfare in the banquet scene would then be an expression of her esteem
for him with whom, after all, if her faith had any vividness, she was to
be so closely associated, whether as wife, or, by this choice, as comrade
and sister, within his eternal mansion.
It is pleasanter, however, to leave Nebamun with the congenial task
of adorning his own sepulchre and settling his own endless future, and to
suppose that he and his wife, being faced, when the decoration of the
tomb was taken in hand, by the problem afforded by the previous mar-
riage, wisely decided to exhibit simply the facts of their histories and the
good feeling which had directed them, and to leave the future to the
gods who ruled it. In any case, knowing nothing to the contrary, and
having the suggestive pictures as our justification, we may contem-
plate Apuki, Nebamun, and Henetnofret entering paradise together un-
ashamed, having been lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their
deaths not divided. Henetnofret seems to have been the link which
bound these three lives together. Hence a more appropriate by-name for
this doubly-owned place of burial would be "The tomb of the two
husbands," or even "The tomb of Henetnofret"; for women had per-
sonal histories even in those days, though for us they generally lie below
the surface.
Other objections and considerations that crop up in our survey of
the scenes will be best dealt with as they arise. Though the hypothesis
preferred by me may be rejected by others in favor of the interpretation
which makes Apuki the brother-in-law of Nebamun, and so welcome to
him for his own sake or his sister's as to be admitted to partnership in a
common tomb, and though, as evidence for burial and social custom
grows more definite and complete, this latter choice might conceivably
have to be finally adopted, it will add very much to the pleasure to be
found in the scenes, and detract very little from the instruction they
impart, if the hypothesis of the second marriage, which seems best
12