Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

DEIR EL-BAHARI

EGYPT

ROYAL MORTUARY CULT COMPLEX

The key objective in this part of the temple
was to prepare the project for its
reconstruction in the near future. Studies
on the reconstruction of the collapsed part


Fig. 1. Fragment of the “Pyramid Texts”
inscribed in the Chapel of
Hatshepsut (Photo W. Jerke)

of the ceiling of the Chapel of Hatshepsut
(inscribed with the so-called “Stunden-
ritual”), started some years ago, were now
continued and led to new fragments being
attributed to the previously reconstructed
parts of inscriptions.3) Full-scale drawings
of preserved fragments of the collapsed
part of the ceiling were made. Moreover,
the available documentation of the
inscriptions decorating the walls of the
Hatshepsut chapel was verified:
— Chapter 178 of the Book of the Dead
(inscribed twice on the southern and
northern walls of the chapel) with
a tradition dating back to the Middle
Kingdom or even to the Pyramid Texts
of the Old Kingdom.4) Its redaction, in
the version from the Chapel of
Hatshepsut, forms an important stage
in the evolution of the early versions of
the Book of the Dead, an evolution
which achieved its decisive stage
during the reign of Hatshepsut and her
successor Tuthmosis III. In addition to
some blocks inserted earlier by Baraize
in the northern wall, and another
attributed by Lipinska,5) a new
fragment of this inscription has been
identified {Fig. 1).
— A spell accompanying both versions of
chapter 178 of the Book of the Dead in
the chapel of the queen finds only two
earlier parallels dating to the Middle
Kingdom, one version dating to the

3) Cf. M. Barwik, “The so called “Stundenritual” from Hatshepsut's Temple at Deir el-Bahari”, in: Proceedings of the
Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Cambridge 3-9 Sept. 1995, ed. C.J. Eyre (Leuven 1998), 109-117; cf. also
J. Karkowski, “Deir el-Bahari, Temple of Elatshepsut: Egyptological Studies 1977-1980”, ET XIV (1990), 356f., fig. 8.
4) Cf. R. Lucarelli, “Some Remarks about ch. 178 of the Book of the Dead”, in: Egyptological Studies for Claudio Barocas,
ed. R. Pirelli (Napoli 1999), 37 ffi; H.O. Lange, H. Schafer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reichs, CG, vol. II (Berlin
1908), 116 ff. (cols. 16 ffi); A. Grimm, “Zur Tradition des Spruchtitels r3 nj sw3d wdhw", SAK 10 (1983), 185ff.
(particularly 192f.).
5) Cf. J. Lipinska, “Studies on Reconstruction of the Hatshepsut Temple”, in: Festschrift zum 150 Jahrigen Bestehen des
Berliner Agyptischen Museums (Berlin 1974), 169 (no. 9), pi- 22b, Figs. 3-4.

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