DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4221#0046
THE INSCRIPTIONS.
37
royal title biti, and then added as a correlative
the name suten, the source of which word would
indicate to which people of the south it had
belonged.
5. The si ra title is not found until the time
of the legend of the intermarriage of the royal
family with the priests of Ra; it was taken
over on the acquisition of the high priesthood.
And thus the cartouche came to be introduced.
On all the earliest and best examples the
cartouche is a double cord; and it is actually
seen worn as the sacred cord of the high priest
on a very early statue of a high priest of
Ra-Horus in the Louvre, Ba-sanJch, before it
was absorbed by the royal line. The inter-
marriage with the high priests of Heliopolis
appears to have begun under Seneferu, the first
king with a cartouche. His son Ra-hotep was
high priest (Medum, xiii.), while his daughter
conveyed the kingdom to Khufu. Again his
son Merab was high priest (L., D., ii., xxii.c),
while his daughter conveyed the kingdom to
Khafra.' By the end of the dynasty the kings
united the priesthood to the kingship, and this
led to their great works in honour of Ra, the
Ra temples of Shepseskaf, Userkaf, and others.
6. The minor title neb taui is generally
associated with neter nefer, That taui referred
to the two banks of the Nile is shown by the
example of a local prince who " made to live
his taui" (Hist., i. 126) ; there is also the name
Ba'neb'taui, i.e. the sun, lord of east and west,
the two horizons. As this title is not early,
perhaps not before Pepy, it is hardly territorial,
but may have been acquired as belonging to Ra
of the two horizons.
W. M. F. P.
33. It will be readily understood by the
reader of the following comments that most of our
readings are tentative, and, though many signs
may be recognized clearly, the inscriptions of
the 1st Dynasty still set at defiance anything
like complete interpretation.
PI. i. The hieroglyphs spelling the name of
Mer-Neit in this careful sculpture are interesting.
Note <==> as the phonetic complement of "^r.
mr. Neit ( Nt) is represented unusually by the
sign 331, as in Mar., Mast., p. 90. The arrows
are feathered, and are remarkable for their
chisel-shaped tips, perhaps of flint. The object
figured with them may, on the analogy of the
late form (as in the printed type), be a slender
parrying shield. The same combination serves
as the symbol of a nome of Lower Egypt, after-
wards divided into the IVth or Prosopite and
the Vth or Saite nomes, reading Syp (?) (L.,
D., ii. 3).
To find the name of a king of the 1st Dynasty
compounded with that of Neith is interesting,
and suggests that Sais may have been of great
importance in very early times. We may here
recall the fact that in inscriptions of the
XXVIth (Saite) Dynasty there are constant
references to a temple of Osiris that bore the
significant name
which probably means
H't byty, u The Residence of the King of Lower
Egypt." This name may well preserve an im-
portant relic of ancient history.
It is remarkable that in all the inscriptions of
Mer-Neit his name stands alone without any
accompanying names or titles, as on this stela.
The other royal stelae, namely, those of Zet,
Mer-sech (?) and Qa-a (De Morgan, Recherches,
ii., pp. 232, 238), give Horus names.
PL iv. 1. The Horus name of Menes,
apparently representing the sign Q£\ ch:> " the
Fighter," but with the implements of war placed
in the talons of the hawk. The shield is nearly
rectangular, but tapers a little below; cf.
Hieroglyphs, fig. 177, Medum, pi. xii., &c. The
weapon, according to Prof. Petrie, here and
in all the earliest examples, is " a stone-headed
pear-shaped mace" (cf. Hieroglyphs, p. 15).
2. The Horus name of another king; the
upper sign represents a cat-fish named perhaps
37
royal title biti, and then added as a correlative
the name suten, the source of which word would
indicate to which people of the south it had
belonged.
5. The si ra title is not found until the time
of the legend of the intermarriage of the royal
family with the priests of Ra; it was taken
over on the acquisition of the high priesthood.
And thus the cartouche came to be introduced.
On all the earliest and best examples the
cartouche is a double cord; and it is actually
seen worn as the sacred cord of the high priest
on a very early statue of a high priest of
Ra-Horus in the Louvre, Ba-sanJch, before it
was absorbed by the royal line. The inter-
marriage with the high priests of Heliopolis
appears to have begun under Seneferu, the first
king with a cartouche. His son Ra-hotep was
high priest (Medum, xiii.), while his daughter
conveyed the kingdom to Khufu. Again his
son Merab was high priest (L., D., ii., xxii.c),
while his daughter conveyed the kingdom to
Khafra.' By the end of the dynasty the kings
united the priesthood to the kingship, and this
led to their great works in honour of Ra, the
Ra temples of Shepseskaf, Userkaf, and others.
6. The minor title neb taui is generally
associated with neter nefer, That taui referred
to the two banks of the Nile is shown by the
example of a local prince who " made to live
his taui" (Hist., i. 126) ; there is also the name
Ba'neb'taui, i.e. the sun, lord of east and west,
the two horizons. As this title is not early,
perhaps not before Pepy, it is hardly territorial,
but may have been acquired as belonging to Ra
of the two horizons.
W. M. F. P.
33. It will be readily understood by the
reader of the following comments that most of our
readings are tentative, and, though many signs
may be recognized clearly, the inscriptions of
the 1st Dynasty still set at defiance anything
like complete interpretation.
PI. i. The hieroglyphs spelling the name of
Mer-Neit in this careful sculpture are interesting.
Note <==> as the phonetic complement of "^r.
mr. Neit ( Nt) is represented unusually by the
sign 331, as in Mar., Mast., p. 90. The arrows
are feathered, and are remarkable for their
chisel-shaped tips, perhaps of flint. The object
figured with them may, on the analogy of the
late form (as in the printed type), be a slender
parrying shield. The same combination serves
as the symbol of a nome of Lower Egypt, after-
wards divided into the IVth or Prosopite and
the Vth or Saite nomes, reading Syp (?) (L.,
D., ii. 3).
To find the name of a king of the 1st Dynasty
compounded with that of Neith is interesting,
and suggests that Sais may have been of great
importance in very early times. We may here
recall the fact that in inscriptions of the
XXVIth (Saite) Dynasty there are constant
references to a temple of Osiris that bore the
significant name
which probably means
H't byty, u The Residence of the King of Lower
Egypt." This name may well preserve an im-
portant relic of ancient history.
It is remarkable that in all the inscriptions of
Mer-Neit his name stands alone without any
accompanying names or titles, as on this stela.
The other royal stelae, namely, those of Zet,
Mer-sech (?) and Qa-a (De Morgan, Recherches,
ii., pp. 232, 238), give Horus names.
PL iv. 1. The Horus name of Menes,
apparently representing the sign Q£\ ch:> " the
Fighter," but with the implements of war placed
in the talons of the hawk. The shield is nearly
rectangular, but tapers a little below; cf.
Hieroglyphs, fig. 177, Medum, pi. xii., &c. The
weapon, according to Prof. Petrie, here and
in all the earliest examples, is " a stone-headed
pear-shaped mace" (cf. Hieroglyphs, p. 15).
2. The Horus name of another king; the
upper sign represents a cat-fish named perhaps