Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (19.2007(2010))

SAQQARA

EGYPT

2. Long offering list in the middle part of the
coffin’s length; below it, there was a blank
horizontal band [Fig. 4].
3. The offering formula along the upper edge
of the coffin side [Fig. 5], probably above the
offering list. Preserved are the phrases:
htp djw njswt nb Ddw hntj Jmntjw [...]
prjt-hrw nfm zmjt jmntt [...]
An offering that the king gives and the Lord
of Busiris, Foremost of the Westerners [...]
an invocation offering for him in the
western desert [...] (Lapp 1986: 102 §. 181).
4. At least two identical male figures facing
to their right, depicted to the right of the
offering list (i.e., at the foot of the coffin).
Both of them wear shoulder-length wigs

and broad, diagonal bands across their
chests. This, combined with the position of
the arms (right one crossing the chest, left
one raised in the hnw-'gcstme), identifies
them as lector-priests performing an
offering ritual (late type 1 or type 2: Lapp
1986: 158-192, §§. 268-323) [Fig. 6].
There was most probably no decoration
on the coffin’s inside north, west and south
walls. No traces are preserved also on outer
surfaces of the planks. The coffin seems to
belong to the Sixth Dynasty type, but the
state of preservation precludes a more
precise identification (Lapp 1993: 32-33,
Tf. Va-b). The fine quality of crafts-
manship, evidenced even by the small
surviving fragments of the coffin, is
noteworthy.

REFERENCES

Baud, M.
1999 Famille royale et pouvoir sous l'Ancien Empire egyptien II, BdE 126/2, 477-478
2002 Djeser et la HE dynastie, Paris: Pygmalion
El-Aguizy, O.
2007 Une nouvelle stele-borne au nom de Djoser, BIFAO 107, 1-4
Espinel, A.D.
2003 The boundary stelae of Djoser’s funerary complex: An interpretation through artistic and
textual evidence [in:] Egyptology at the Daivn of the Twenty-first Century. Proceedings of the
Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo 2000, Cairo, 215-220
Firth, C.M.
1925 Excavations of the Department of Antiquities at the Step Pyramid, Saqqara (1924-25)
[=ASAE 25], Cairo
Firth, C.M., Quibell, J.E.
1935 The Unfinished Step Pyramid at Saqqara [—Excavations at Saqqara], I, Cairo: IFAO
Goneim, Z.
1957 Horus Sekhem-khet, Cairo: IFAO
Kahl, J., Kloth, N., Zimmermann, U.
1995 Die Inschriften der 3. Dynastie. Eine Bestandaufnahme [=A^4 56], Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz

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Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 19, Reports 2007