DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4104#0052
THE INSCRIPTIONS.
43
Knowing that which is said beside lords. Free
from evasion before the Qenbet. Armoured of
heart because of [his] innocence (?).........
(10)...........for whom I had created
boundaries, even as a knowing follower does (?)
..........(11) Whose word his lord re-
ceiveth. Speaking a word because of its truth.
Free from hindering (?)l his lord. Not robbing,
nor (12) stealing his property. I did not ....
...2 in the nome whence I Avent forth (?). I
did not lust after (?) the wife of a man.3 Nor did
I covet her whom the poor man loved. (13)
Verily, the son of a great man4 who doeth so,
his father repudiates him in the Qenbet. I did
not receive the goods (14) of the wrongdoer (?).5
I received him who made supplication to me.
It is what the god loveth upon earth. I swear
with my mouth......(15) Khety, deceased.
May life be united with every limb (?) of his,
may he succeed........(16) All that which
I have said upon this [stele], it is truth......
. . . ." Here the fragment comes to an abrupt
end.
5. Inscription from an ostrakon, in cursive
hieroglyphs. " The hereditary prince, great in
his dignity, great in his rank. Chief, hereditary
prince, great in [his] dignity,........" With
these ordinary titles, the scribe apparently
wished merely to test his reed. Roman period.
75. PI. lii. The texts hitherto discussed
have not been deficient in points of interest,
d>, transitive, not found elsewhere
Eor the word, cf. Pap. Prissc, 14, 5.
v__■* is probably the ^r;
of the Pap. Prisse, in
>\AA/vAA AAAAAA
one obscure passage of which (ix. 13) the word is used
apparently in a similar context w ,£<* (e=xD is found too
in the Negative Confession, as Prof. Erhan reminds me.
4 ^^ occurs in various passages, probably in
the sense of " son of a great man " : cf. Langb, Sitzb.
d. Eon. Pr. Akad.d. Wiss. 1903, p. 603. As Prof.EsMAN
observes, there is possibly an antithesis with the "poor
man " of the previous sentence.
0 i.e. as bribe (?V
but they shrink into insignificance beside the
monument to which Ave mast now turn our
attention. The great stele of Aahmes I belongs
to the extensive category of building inscrip-
tions. It is, however, distinguished from other
specimens of the class by a dramatic style of
composition, and by valuable historical informa-
tion, Avhich entitle it to a place among the most
important documents yet rescued from the soil
of Egypt.
In dignified narrative style, from Avhich the
usual bombast of official records is conspicuously
absent, it is told hoAv Aahmes sat Avith his
spouse, the Queen Nefertari, Avithin a chamber
of his palace, conversing of the honours due to
the dead. The questions of the queen lead
Pharaoh to unfold his purpose. It is his grand-
mother Teta-shera Avho is the object of his solici-
tude ; hitherto she has possessed no adequate
place of worship in Abydos. For her therefore
he Avill now build a pyramid and a chapel,
endowed Avith lands and cattle and a priesthood.
Scarcely has Pharaoh done speaking, and the edi-
fice is already complete. After another picture
of Aahmes reciting, with pious gesture, the
habitual prayers, the inscription comes to an
end.
Unusually picturesque as this narrative
appears, it is but the variation of a common
type of commemorative texts.6 After a formal
introduction, consisting of the date and the
royal titles, the king is described as sitting
among his courtiers, " counselling Avith his
heart," " seeking the welfare " of this or that
god, to whom he will fain erect a monument.
The courtiers approve the plan with expressions
of deferential praise. The remainder of such
inscriptions deals with the details of the con-
structions, together Avith a feAv phrases lauding
the wisdom of him who devised them. Here
6 Perhaps the only two earlier examples are the stele
of Neferhotep, found at Abydos by Mariefcfce ; and the
stele of Eahotep, Pethie, Koptos, 12, 3.
■
43
Knowing that which is said beside lords. Free
from evasion before the Qenbet. Armoured of
heart because of [his] innocence (?).........
(10)...........for whom I had created
boundaries, even as a knowing follower does (?)
..........(11) Whose word his lord re-
ceiveth. Speaking a word because of its truth.
Free from hindering (?)l his lord. Not robbing,
nor (12) stealing his property. I did not ....
...2 in the nome whence I Avent forth (?). I
did not lust after (?) the wife of a man.3 Nor did
I covet her whom the poor man loved. (13)
Verily, the son of a great man4 who doeth so,
his father repudiates him in the Qenbet. I did
not receive the goods (14) of the wrongdoer (?).5
I received him who made supplication to me.
It is what the god loveth upon earth. I swear
with my mouth......(15) Khety, deceased.
May life be united with every limb (?) of his,
may he succeed........(16) All that which
I have said upon this [stele], it is truth......
. . . ." Here the fragment comes to an abrupt
end.
5. Inscription from an ostrakon, in cursive
hieroglyphs. " The hereditary prince, great in
his dignity, great in his rank. Chief, hereditary
prince, great in [his] dignity,........" With
these ordinary titles, the scribe apparently
wished merely to test his reed. Roman period.
75. PI. lii. The texts hitherto discussed
have not been deficient in points of interest,
d>, transitive, not found elsewhere
Eor the word, cf. Pap. Prissc, 14, 5.
v__■* is probably the ^r;
of the Pap. Prisse, in
>\AA/vAA AAAAAA
one obscure passage of which (ix. 13) the word is used
apparently in a similar context w ,£<* (e=xD is found too
in the Negative Confession, as Prof. Erhan reminds me.
4 ^^ occurs in various passages, probably in
the sense of " son of a great man " : cf. Langb, Sitzb.
d. Eon. Pr. Akad.d. Wiss. 1903, p. 603. As Prof.EsMAN
observes, there is possibly an antithesis with the "poor
man " of the previous sentence.
0 i.e. as bribe (?V
but they shrink into insignificance beside the
monument to which Ave mast now turn our
attention. The great stele of Aahmes I belongs
to the extensive category of building inscrip-
tions. It is, however, distinguished from other
specimens of the class by a dramatic style of
composition, and by valuable historical informa-
tion, Avhich entitle it to a place among the most
important documents yet rescued from the soil
of Egypt.
In dignified narrative style, from Avhich the
usual bombast of official records is conspicuously
absent, it is told hoAv Aahmes sat Avith his
spouse, the Queen Nefertari, Avithin a chamber
of his palace, conversing of the honours due to
the dead. The questions of the queen lead
Pharaoh to unfold his purpose. It is his grand-
mother Teta-shera Avho is the object of his solici-
tude ; hitherto she has possessed no adequate
place of worship in Abydos. For her therefore
he Avill now build a pyramid and a chapel,
endowed Avith lands and cattle and a priesthood.
Scarcely has Pharaoh done speaking, and the edi-
fice is already complete. After another picture
of Aahmes reciting, with pious gesture, the
habitual prayers, the inscription comes to an
end.
Unusually picturesque as this narrative
appears, it is but the variation of a common
type of commemorative texts.6 After a formal
introduction, consisting of the date and the
royal titles, the king is described as sitting
among his courtiers, " counselling Avith his
heart," " seeking the welfare " of this or that
god, to whom he will fain erect a monument.
The courtiers approve the plan with expressions
of deferential praise. The remainder of such
inscriptions deals with the details of the con-
structions, together Avith a feAv phrases lauding
the wisdom of him who devised them. Here
6 Perhaps the only two earlier examples are the stele
of Neferhotep, found at Abydos by Mariefcfce ; and the
stele of Eahotep, Pethie, Koptos, 12, 3.
■