Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (18.2006(2008))

DEIR EL-BAHARI

EGYPT

THE SCENE OF “GOING ROUND THE
WALL” ON THE NORTH WALL OF THE
PORTICO OF THE BIRTH

Andrzej Cwiek, Marta Sankiewicz

In the season which started in the fall of
2006, the epigraphic research conducted
by the authors in the Portico of the Birth
focused on the scene in the upper register
of the north wall, which has been
identified as representing the 'Going
Round the Wall' rite. It belongs to a cycle
of investment and coronation ceremonies
depicted in the upper register of the
portico walls. Hatshepsut is there,
represented strutting rightward (Naville
1898: PI. LXIV) [Fig. 1} and the scene is
labelled : sml tlwj, phr hi mb, pi phr hr gs
jlbt 'Unification of the Two Lands, Going
Round the Wall, Flying (?) and Running
at the Eastern Side' (Sethe 1906-1909,
264).1 The scene may thus be identified as
a depiction of the ceremony of 'Going
Round the Wall'.2 together with the
'Unification of the Two Lands' constituted
the core of the accession rites in the Early
Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom (cf.
Wilkinson 2000: 149-150, 209-212). It
seems that the 'Unification of the Two
Lands', although mentioned, was not
represented here.

The figure of Hatshepsut is almost
completely destroyed. She was wearing the
White Crown with the uraeus and royal
beard. Existing traces and comparable
scenes permit the assumption that
Hatshepsut was wearing a blue necklace on
a bare chest and a Sndyt apron. Both arms
lowered along the body held the hd mace
and the mks sceptre. Hatshepsut was
walking barefoot.
Preceding the king are five standards
bearing (in order from right to left) an ibis
(Thoth), falcon (Horus), throne cushion
(.nhn-n-nswt), canine figure (Wepwawet),
and fetish of Anubis (jmj-Wt).3 They are
held by personified signs ankh, djed, was,
ankh, was respectively. Between these
standards and Hatshepsut's front knee is
depicted the hieroglyphic sign of a fortress
(Gardiner's sign O 36), oriented hori-
zontally [Fig. 2). Although this enlarged
hieroglyph seems to be clearly visible, it
was omitted from Naville's publication
(1898: PL LXIV).
The whole scene is topped by the
goddess Wadjyt in the shape of a cobra-

1 Naville originally misunderstood the phrase hi inb as 'Northern Hall1 (Naville 1898: 8), but later (in Davies 1906: 12-
13) he assumed that Hatshepsut was going round an enclosure (“a walled court open to the sky”).
2 Karkowski (2001a: 97) described this scene as “procession as the King of Upper Egypt”; elsewhere he identified it as
“processions that symbolize assuming power over the Two Lands” (Karkowski 2001b: 118). The rite of 'Going Round
the Wall' (termed sometimes the 'Circuit of the Wall' or 'Circumambulating the Wall'; for this and other 'races' see
Wilkinson 1985: 46-51).
3 Naville (1898: 8) mentioned only “four divine standards of Thoth, Horus, Khonsu and Anubis”. Sethe obviously did
not recognize the last standard (cf. Sethe 1906-1909: 264).

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