DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4859#0047
Accessories in
the sub-scene
Offerings to
Hathor
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
that they may bring good fortune to the child of the [nursery],
Neblamun]."1
We cannot say whether the customary duplication of this scene was
utilized in this doubly-owned tomb to show the equal piety of both men,
since the figures worshiping on the east side of the entrance are left un-
identified by the unfinished inscription—perhaps deliberately (Plate IX).
The pair, therefore, may in this case be Apuki and Henetnofret, or
Nebamun and his mother Thepu again. They make offering to Hathor
in her form of the Cow of the West as she emerges from the Libyan
hills2; but her figure is entirely lost, possibly by erasure. Only a blue
papyrus head now appears at the top of the wall and the opening words
of address, "For thy ka, 0 Hathor, chieftainess of Thebes, lady of
heaven, queen of the gods . . ."3 Prominent among the offerings is that
bowl of green stuff which is specially, though not exclusively, hers.4 The
type of the lost scene is shown on Plate XXXI, 2.5
lNote that the name Nebamun can be written with "Amun" first or last. The idea of the hymn
seems to be that the praises of the devout in earth and heaven clear a passage to the skies through the necrop-
olis, the western hills, and the cloudland resting upon them, by which gifts of food can be exchanged between
men and gods. The worshiper who at dawn joins his praise to that of the supernal beings in the sun-bark,
receives the response as he makes the evening sacrifice and the solar bark draws near again to earth. Heavenly
gifts descend to him or he ascends to heaven, as he prefers (Davies, Tomb of Puyemre, II, pp. 25, 26). The
eye of Re is the sun's disk, his hands its rays (a trope which became the badge of the Aton worship a few
years later), his body perhaps the whole brilliant vault of heaven, as Nut's formed the night sky. But in
Tomb 5o the body of Re is defined as the disk (aton).
2 The papyrus reeds are an accessory of Hathor as the nurse of Horus in the marshes of the Delta, and
probably have nothing to do with her Theban role. I know no other tomb which shows Hathor worshiped
at the doorway, and none of this dynasty which shows her emerging from the hill, or which gives her animal
form, excepting No. i3o, where the cow in her naos is said to be worshiped at a scene of revelry (Mission
Francaise, V, p. 348), and No. i5, where we see her adored by Queen Nofretari (Carnarvon and Carter,
Explorations, PL VI). The early association of the queen with this cult is very interesting in face of her
later identification with Hathor-Tentamentet. It seems as if she passed from being an ardent patron of the
cult of Hathor to actual coalescence with her, and, just because she was human, ended by almost supplanting
the goddess in the affections of the vulgar.
3 This is the first of several instances in which textual matter is omitted, though space has been pro-
vided for it. The cause is not mere slovenliness, but also the failure to appreciate the animation and interest
which the written text conferred upon the pictures, as well as its decorative value. These lacunae become
increasingly common as mural decoration loses touch with human life.
4 The same offering is laid before the deified king and queen further on because Nofretari is one with
Hathor. Cf. Davies, Tomb of Puyemre, II, p. 19; and for the association of Hathor with these other guardians
of the necropolis, Naville, Xlth Dyn. Temple, I, PL XXV, D.
'From a papyrus of the XVIIIth dyn. (Borchardt, Works of Art, PL 33). The stelae shown on the
hillside indicate that, like all similar pictures, it is a reminiscence of the Hathor shrine at Deir el Bahri.
3a
the sub-scene
Offerings to
Hathor
THE TOMB OF TWO SCULPTORS AT THEBES
that they may bring good fortune to the child of the [nursery],
Neblamun]."1
We cannot say whether the customary duplication of this scene was
utilized in this doubly-owned tomb to show the equal piety of both men,
since the figures worshiping on the east side of the entrance are left un-
identified by the unfinished inscription—perhaps deliberately (Plate IX).
The pair, therefore, may in this case be Apuki and Henetnofret, or
Nebamun and his mother Thepu again. They make offering to Hathor
in her form of the Cow of the West as she emerges from the Libyan
hills2; but her figure is entirely lost, possibly by erasure. Only a blue
papyrus head now appears at the top of the wall and the opening words
of address, "For thy ka, 0 Hathor, chieftainess of Thebes, lady of
heaven, queen of the gods . . ."3 Prominent among the offerings is that
bowl of green stuff which is specially, though not exclusively, hers.4 The
type of the lost scene is shown on Plate XXXI, 2.5
lNote that the name Nebamun can be written with "Amun" first or last. The idea of the hymn
seems to be that the praises of the devout in earth and heaven clear a passage to the skies through the necrop-
olis, the western hills, and the cloudland resting upon them, by which gifts of food can be exchanged between
men and gods. The worshiper who at dawn joins his praise to that of the supernal beings in the sun-bark,
receives the response as he makes the evening sacrifice and the solar bark draws near again to earth. Heavenly
gifts descend to him or he ascends to heaven, as he prefers (Davies, Tomb of Puyemre, II, pp. 25, 26). The
eye of Re is the sun's disk, his hands its rays (a trope which became the badge of the Aton worship a few
years later), his body perhaps the whole brilliant vault of heaven, as Nut's formed the night sky. But in
Tomb 5o the body of Re is defined as the disk (aton).
2 The papyrus reeds are an accessory of Hathor as the nurse of Horus in the marshes of the Delta, and
probably have nothing to do with her Theban role. I know no other tomb which shows Hathor worshiped
at the doorway, and none of this dynasty which shows her emerging from the hill, or which gives her animal
form, excepting No. i3o, where the cow in her naos is said to be worshiped at a scene of revelry (Mission
Francaise, V, p. 348), and No. i5, where we see her adored by Queen Nofretari (Carnarvon and Carter,
Explorations, PL VI). The early association of the queen with this cult is very interesting in face of her
later identification with Hathor-Tentamentet. It seems as if she passed from being an ardent patron of the
cult of Hathor to actual coalescence with her, and, just because she was human, ended by almost supplanting
the goddess in the affections of the vulgar.
3 This is the first of several instances in which textual matter is omitted, though space has been pro-
vided for it. The cause is not mere slovenliness, but also the failure to appreciate the animation and interest
which the written text conferred upon the pictures, as well as its decorative value. These lacunae become
increasingly common as mural decoration loses touch with human life.
4 The same offering is laid before the deified king and queen further on because Nofretari is one with
Hathor. Cf. Davies, Tomb of Puyemre, II, p. 19; and for the association of Hathor with these other guardians
of the necropolis, Naville, Xlth Dyn. Temple, I, PL XXV, D.
'From a papyrus of the XVIIIth dyn. (Borchardt, Works of Art, PL 33). The stelae shown on the
hillside indicate that, like all similar pictures, it is a reminiscence of the Hathor shrine at Deir el Bahri.
3a