DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6553#0152
96
APPENDIX.
of the abodes (supposed of the gods), to draw the good and white stone
for the repairs of the temples for a period of years. Before the
king opened the abodes by these excavations, the appointed adorations
were made in the quarries, in the presence of his majesty, who was
entitled the giver of life, and of power like the sun: done under the
arm (by the authority) of the military chief, who was attached to the
heart of the king by the fabrication of his constructions (on account of
his skill in architecture), who adorned the head of the temples, who
erected tablets in the lands of Naharaina (Mesopotamia), and of Karoei
(a province in Lybia), who was attached to the bearers (a title analo-
gous to our bricklayers) of Egypt, of all the gods of the north and of
the south the royal scribe, Saph."
This tablet is, therefore, an historical document, and commemo-
rates a public act, performed in the fourth year of the reign of Amenoph
II., connected with the repairs of the edifices erected by that monarch.
The beginning of the third line is not clear, but the meaning of the
first two, and of the last two lines is evident; and the important func-
tions held by Saph are similar to those recorded in the tombs at Beni-
hassan, and have a reference to the progressive conquests of an Egyp-
tian king. Saph appears to have been a royal scribe, an architect, or
surveyor, engaged in the erection of the temples, and likewise of the
stelee, and tablets, which are phonetically, and ideographically described
in the fourth line by the onion and pullet, the initials of the Coptic words
COGIT", " white," and OYGIT, " stele or column." According to M.
Champollion he must have been employed in Lybia and Mesopotamia,
which countries had been conquered by Amenoph II. or by his prede-
cessors.3
No. 3.—The upper part of this tablet is erased, but Amenoph III. or
Memnon, appears to stand before three deities; Amoun-ra, whose form
can be with difficulty made out; Harsiesi, "the lord of Sshatem,"
crowned with a pschent; and Chnoumis, or Chnouphis-ra, the "great
terrifier, lord of Souten rot." The monarch is in the act of presenting a
symbolic eye on a basket, which he holds in both hands. Behind the
monarch, and on the right, is an imperfect vertical line of hieroglyphics,
in which the titles of Chnouphis only remain. The end of the inscription
is as follows :—".....astonisher of the gods* That they will give
thee all life, all force, all power, for ever." The four horizontal lines
beneath contain —" the year of the sanctity of Horus, the bull, the
mighty (victorious), ruling with truth ; the lord of the upper and loiver
worlds, the establisher of the houses of stone, the tranquilliser of the
3 These tablets probably recorded important conquests, like that supposed
to have been left by Sesostris, at the Nahr el Kelb.
4 A title of Noum.
APPENDIX.
of the abodes (supposed of the gods), to draw the good and white stone
for the repairs of the temples for a period of years. Before the
king opened the abodes by these excavations, the appointed adorations
were made in the quarries, in the presence of his majesty, who was
entitled the giver of life, and of power like the sun: done under the
arm (by the authority) of the military chief, who was attached to the
heart of the king by the fabrication of his constructions (on account of
his skill in architecture), who adorned the head of the temples, who
erected tablets in the lands of Naharaina (Mesopotamia), and of Karoei
(a province in Lybia), who was attached to the bearers (a title analo-
gous to our bricklayers) of Egypt, of all the gods of the north and of
the south the royal scribe, Saph."
This tablet is, therefore, an historical document, and commemo-
rates a public act, performed in the fourth year of the reign of Amenoph
II., connected with the repairs of the edifices erected by that monarch.
The beginning of the third line is not clear, but the meaning of the
first two, and of the last two lines is evident; and the important func-
tions held by Saph are similar to those recorded in the tombs at Beni-
hassan, and have a reference to the progressive conquests of an Egyp-
tian king. Saph appears to have been a royal scribe, an architect, or
surveyor, engaged in the erection of the temples, and likewise of the
stelee, and tablets, which are phonetically, and ideographically described
in the fourth line by the onion and pullet, the initials of the Coptic words
COGIT", " white," and OYGIT, " stele or column." According to M.
Champollion he must have been employed in Lybia and Mesopotamia,
which countries had been conquered by Amenoph II. or by his prede-
cessors.3
No. 3.—The upper part of this tablet is erased, but Amenoph III. or
Memnon, appears to stand before three deities; Amoun-ra, whose form
can be with difficulty made out; Harsiesi, "the lord of Sshatem,"
crowned with a pschent; and Chnoumis, or Chnouphis-ra, the "great
terrifier, lord of Souten rot." The monarch is in the act of presenting a
symbolic eye on a basket, which he holds in both hands. Behind the
monarch, and on the right, is an imperfect vertical line of hieroglyphics,
in which the titles of Chnouphis only remain. The end of the inscription
is as follows :—".....astonisher of the gods* That they will give
thee all life, all force, all power, for ever." The four horizontal lines
beneath contain —" the year of the sanctity of Horus, the bull, the
mighty (victorious), ruling with truth ; the lord of the upper and loiver
worlds, the establisher of the houses of stone, the tranquilliser of the
3 These tablets probably recorded important conquests, like that supposed
to have been left by Sesostris, at the Nahr el Kelb.
4 A title of Noum.