Naville, Edouard; Tylor, J. J. [Hrsg.]; Griffith, Francis Ll. [Hrsg.]: Ahnas el Medineh: (Heracleopolis Magna) ; with chapters on Mendes, the nome of Thoth, and Leontopolis; [beigefügtes Werk]: The tomb of Paheri : at el Kab / by J. J. Tylor and F. L. Griffith (London, 1894)

26

THE NOME OF THOTH.

only indicative of a certain rank in the hier-
archy. I am inclined to think that if it refers
to a real employment or office, it denotes a
man who has to look after the building itself,
its walls, and everything connected with con-
struction and repairs.

On the upper register of the sarcophagus were
figures of the protecting genii of the deceased
during the hours of night and day. The lower
register gives the names of the hours. On the
side which has been preserved we have the
names of the second, third, fourth, and fifth
hours of the day. The hours of the night were
probably given on the other side. It is to be
observed that these few names completely differ
from those of the lists known up to the present
time,7 even from those in the list given by a
Sa'ite coffin of the Leyden Museum. On the
Baklieh sarcophagus, the names seem to have
been engraved with the greatest carelessness,
and by an artist who evidently did not understand
what he was inscribing. He had to engrave on
a given space an inscription consisting of the
following parts : the number of the hour of
the day, its name, and these words: protecting
thee Osiris, etc., with name and title. As the
space was very limited, he nearly sacrificed the

i Brugsch, Thes., p. 843.

second part, shaping the name of the hour
according to the room which was left, omitting
many signs and putting in others which had no

sense. The second hour is called ^-sse-'Hf

ptarheh, seeing millions. This name is cor-
rectly written, but it generally applies to the

third hour. The third, ic, seems to me

to have no meaning at all. Perhaps the last

signs __ >lc are taken from the usual name of

the second hour, which ends with the word the

wight,

^:

and

are only inserted to

fill up the space. As for the name of the

fourth

(1

I believe that the engraver mistook

for the name of the hour what is nothing but

an unusual way of writing " fourth," I , found

on the coffin of the sacred ram from Mendes.8
A good style of sculpture and beautifully
engraved characters are not always the
guarantees of a correct text, especially in later
times. As at Mendes, so too the Sa'ite sove-
reigns built at Baklieh. The only cartouche
which I discovered there is of Psammetichus II.
It is on a piece of limestone (pi. iii. o), which
was also built into the walls of the mill-pond
from which I took the fragment of the coffin.

8 Marietta, Mon,, pi. xlvi.