26

THE TOMB OF PAHERI AT EL KAB.

The inscription in large characters before
Paheri reads—

hetep em set dmentet, pert em ta er ma dten; un
uaut en da/c/i dqer dm kher-neter; rtet-nef shemt-

ef, aq pert em ba ankhj, rtet hekenu en Am tuat,
uten Met nebt nefert uabt en Ha llru-dakhti en
NeMebt nebt pet, en Ilet-her liert tept set, en Usdr
neter eta, en Anpu neb ta zeser ; te-sen se-sent nef
nezem en mehyt; dn, &c.

" Repose in the Western mountain, coming
forth upon the land to see the sun's disk,
opening of the roads to the perfect spirit who
is in Kher-neter; may he be allowed to walk
out, to enter and go forth as a living soul; to
give offerings to Him who is in the other worJd
(Osiris), and to present all good and pure things
to Ra-Horus of the two horizons, to Nekhebt
lady of heaven, to Hathor princess of the
mountain, to Osiris the great god, and to
Anubis lord of the sacred land; that they may
give the breathing of the pleasant breeze of the
north wind ; by " the ha-prince Paheri and his
wife.

This is apparently a summing-up of all the
scenes in the tomb : Paheri's desire for future
life was to have access both to the world of the
dead and the world of the living, and in the
latter he would wish to enjoy again the times
of prosperity which he had passed through on
earth: it was for this reason that he caused
them to be represented in the paintings.

Beyond the hieroglyphs are four piles of
offerings on reed mats. The top row consists
evidently of jars containing the seven sacred
oils, so often represented; in the next is a gor-
geously coloured goose, with the haunch of an
animal, a wooden stand with offerings, &c.
In the third heap is a bunch of onions, and
three jars of liquids, placed on ring-stands,
are wreathed with lotuses.

Behind the offerings four female musicians
are standing, holding up in their right hands
the sacred rattle 1 called by the classical
writers sidrum; another instrument, the mendt,

formed partly of a string of beads of various
hues, hangs down in their left hands. In the
third row is a male figure, much injured,
holding a branch of lotuses in the right hand
and a vase (?) in the left. The signs over his
head seem to indicate that he is the " [priest
of] the goddess Nekhebt, Sen......"

Beneath this scene four men are bringing
offerings to the banquet, or to the sacrifico
above.1 The leader of these has a very large
bunch of flower-stems (sa en sent ent met ent

hemt-ef .........Kern (?) ".........Kern (?) the

son of the sister of the mother of his wife,"
in other words Paheri's uncle by marriage);
next, bearing a jar of wine (?) and a live
goose is kauti Sen-nefer, " the gardener
Sen-nefer"; and after him "the gardener
Uhemu," with white cakes (coloured white)
and lotus flowers. Behind these are butchers
cutting up two oxen and conveying the joints
to the same destination as the others. The
seten(?) ("butcher") Then-na is endeavouring,
with the help of an assistant, to separate the
foreleg from the carcase of one of the animals ;
one man is taking some ribs, another a fore-
leg.

At the south end of the wall is a border of
coloured rectangles, similar to that at the
northern end, described on p. 23.

5. LONGITUDINAL INSCRIPTIONS
(FRIEZE AND CEILING).

The line of large hieroglyphs over the scenes

on the West wall, from end to end of the main

chamber,2 reads—

te hetep seten Usdr khent Amentiu, neteru <ima Kher-
neter, te-sen se-sent nef nezem en meht, art Meperu
em ha ank/i, en ha en Usdr ha. Paheri maa Mem,.
JJn-eli pequ em shert hemt, te-tu nek met em Ta-
nent, dm-ek shens, surd-ek mend her Mat ent neter
aa,fut-ek em peru Mentui: du hetept-ek em Ankh-

1 Compare pi. vi.

2 PI. iii.-v., top.