DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4860#0043
Perambula-
tion of the
statue
Userhet's
own burial
provision
South wall,
west side.
His hopes in
death
TWO RAMESSIDE TOMBS
bank drag the bark round the piece of water. A swimmer keeps the tow-
rope clear of weeds.1 Frail booths, surrounded by a paling of canes, such
as are provided for the entertainment of the dead on the day of burial,
are dispersed among the trees of the garden.2
It is not inappropriate that Userhet, who had so often repeated
masses for the soul of Thothmes I, should in this lower picture link his
hopes for fitting burial with those of the king. On the left we may im-
agine Userhet ("chief priest of Akheperkere in the temple Ghnemet-
ankh") seated, for his hand is stretched out to touch the specimen gifts of
a pectoral (?) and a cartonnage mask which "his son . . . who immortal-
izes his name" brings. Behind this son are other donors with offerings
of food, and an array of furniture. This includes collars, ritual outfits,3
a censer, braziers, and a libation vase, three masks, several complete
mummy coverings, coffins, or statuettes, and further supplies of food.
The west side of the south wall (Plate XIII) is occupied by what
amounts to a pictorial epitaph in three such phrases as "Honored in life
by the king; mourned in death by his friends; welcomed in heaven by
his god." The Egyptian was as far as can be from regarding life as a
many-colored stain on the white radiance of eternity. For him, on the
contrary, life set the norm of all future existence, which he hoped might
differ from it only in greater intensity and diversity, though he often
yielded to fears that it would prove a duller and darker shadow of earth.
It is not strange that in the gracious recognition of services by a mon-
arch a promise, and even a security, was found for generous treatment
from the king of eternity; so that Userhet sets the royal rewards in
closest connection with his summons to the presence of Osiris.4
This proof of royal favor is shown in the lowest register and is mod-
lThe landing stage of the T-shaped pond is close to the temple door in the parallel scene in Tomb 3i.
For the rite as applied to private persons, compare scenes in Tombs 87 and 100 (Virey in Memoires de la mission
archeologique frangaise au Caire, V, p. 319, and PI. XXXVIII).
2 Cf. Davies, Tomb of Two Sculptors, PI. XIX. The figure in the first booth has been obliterated without
obvious reason.
3 For the outfits, see Davies, Ibid, PI. XXIV. Small masks, suitable only for statuettes, were found in
the tomb of Amenhotep II (Daressy, Fouilles dans la Vallee des Rois, PI. XXVI).
4 Apy also links life and death in the same way (Pis. XXVII, XXVIII).
ik
tion of the
statue
Userhet's
own burial
provision
South wall,
west side.
His hopes in
death
TWO RAMESSIDE TOMBS
bank drag the bark round the piece of water. A swimmer keeps the tow-
rope clear of weeds.1 Frail booths, surrounded by a paling of canes, such
as are provided for the entertainment of the dead on the day of burial,
are dispersed among the trees of the garden.2
It is not inappropriate that Userhet, who had so often repeated
masses for the soul of Thothmes I, should in this lower picture link his
hopes for fitting burial with those of the king. On the left we may im-
agine Userhet ("chief priest of Akheperkere in the temple Ghnemet-
ankh") seated, for his hand is stretched out to touch the specimen gifts of
a pectoral (?) and a cartonnage mask which "his son . . . who immortal-
izes his name" brings. Behind this son are other donors with offerings
of food, and an array of furniture. This includes collars, ritual outfits,3
a censer, braziers, and a libation vase, three masks, several complete
mummy coverings, coffins, or statuettes, and further supplies of food.
The west side of the south wall (Plate XIII) is occupied by what
amounts to a pictorial epitaph in three such phrases as "Honored in life
by the king; mourned in death by his friends; welcomed in heaven by
his god." The Egyptian was as far as can be from regarding life as a
many-colored stain on the white radiance of eternity. For him, on the
contrary, life set the norm of all future existence, which he hoped might
differ from it only in greater intensity and diversity, though he often
yielded to fears that it would prove a duller and darker shadow of earth.
It is not strange that in the gracious recognition of services by a mon-
arch a promise, and even a security, was found for generous treatment
from the king of eternity; so that Userhet sets the royal rewards in
closest connection with his summons to the presence of Osiris.4
This proof of royal favor is shown in the lowest register and is mod-
lThe landing stage of the T-shaped pond is close to the temple door in the parallel scene in Tomb 3i.
For the rite as applied to private persons, compare scenes in Tombs 87 and 100 (Virey in Memoires de la mission
archeologique frangaise au Caire, V, p. 319, and PI. XXXVIII).
2 Cf. Davies, Tomb of Two Sculptors, PI. XIX. The figure in the first booth has been obliterated without
obvious reason.
3 For the outfits, see Davies, Ibid, PI. XXIV. Small masks, suitable only for statuettes, were found in
the tomb of Amenhotep II (Daressy, Fouilles dans la Vallee des Rois, PI. XXVI).
4 Apy also links life and death in the same way (Pis. XXVII, XXVIII).
ik