DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26359#0088
Dariusz Niedziöika
Warsaw
Some Remarks on the Graffîto of Senenmut at Aswan*
The graffito has been carved on the eastern
bank of the Nile, at Aswan, opposite the El-
ephantine Island.* 1 This important historical
record has been known since the expedition of
LEPSIUS, who published it for the first time in a
form of a quasi facsimile in the forties of the last
century;2 then, it was republished by de
MORGAN.3 The first translation of the text of
the graffito was submitted by BREASTED in
1906.4 In the same year, SETHE published a
revised version of its hieroglyphic text in a form
of an autography.5 * The latest publication of the
whole graffito by HAB ACHI, in a form of a quasi
facsimile, was accompanied with translation and
* The article is a slightly revised version of the paper
delivered in June 1999 on the conference Egypt 1999:
Perspectives of Research. First Central European
Conference ofYoung Egyptologists. Warsaw 7-9 June
1999. The present author would like to express ac-
knowledgements to Professor Karol MYSLIWIEC for
his valuable remarks of the archaeological nature and
the stimulous discussion on the first draft of this pa-
per. I am also indebted to Professor Jadwiga LIPINSKA
for her comments after the presentation of the present
paper at a session organised by the Research Centre
for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Acad-
emy of Sciences. My sincere appreciation goes also
to people discussing with me the published so far
translations of various Egyptian texts into Russian -
Ms Miroslawa KROPIWNICKA, French - Ms Ewa
MICKIEWICZ and Ms Sylwia GIL, Gennan-Dr Jiirgen
HAYDE and Mr Frank FÖRSTER, English - Mr John
EDMONDSON and Mr Paul WADE.
1 See PM, V, p. 248. R.D. DELIA, First Cataract Rock
Inscriptions: Some Comments, Maps and aNew Group,
JARCE 30 (1993), p. 79. And not on Sehel Island as it
has been sometimes suggested, eg P. DORMAN,
Monuments of Senenmut. Problems in Historical
Methodology, London-New York 1988, p. 115; Cl.
VANDERSLEYEN, L’Égypte et la vallée du Nil, vol.
2: De la fin de I’Ancien Empire à la fin du Nouvel
commentary and appeared in 1957.6 Subsequent
translations of the text were submitted in the
eighties by MEYER7 and BURKHARDT,8 the
former richly annotated. Concurrently, the graffito
has many times been referred to and commented
on, especially in publications conceming the his-
tory of the 18th dynasty, the administration of
Egypt in that period and the building history of
the temple of Amon-Re at Karnak.
The graffito consists of the figural part, de-
picting Hatshepsut and her courtier Senenmut,
and inscriptions accompanying these represen-
tations. The queen has been shown standing,
wearing a long robe, with a modius and sw.tj-
Empire, Paris 1995, p. 290 and D. NIEDZIÖLKA, Die
Bauten der Königin Hatschepsut, in: Geheimnisvolle
Königin Hatschepsut. Ägyptische Kunst des 15.
Jahrhunderts v. Chr., Warschau 1997, p. 32. The
graffito is actually engraved high on the eastem rocky
bank of the Nile, being inaccessible without climbing
equipment (I owe this remark to Dr Stephan SEIDL-
MAYER - personal communication during Warsaw
conference).
2 K.R. LEPSIUS, Denkmdler aus Aegypten und
Aethiopien, vol. 3, Berlin 1848, pl. 25bis q; IDEM,
TextW, Leipzig 1901, p. 116 a.
3 J. de MORGAN, U. BOURIANT, G. LEGRAIN,
G. JÉQUIER, A. B ARSANTI, Catalogue des monu-
ments et inscriptions de l’Egypte antique I, Wien
1894, p. 41 (181 bis).
4 J.H. BREASTED, Ancient Records ofEgypt II, Chi-
cago 1906, pp. 150-51.
5 K. SETHE, Urkunden der 18. Dynastie, Leipzig 1906,
pp. 395-97.
6 L. HABACHI, Two Graffiti at Sehël from the Reign of
Queen Hatshepsut, JNES 16 (1957), fig. 3, p. 94 (fac-
simile), pp. 92 and 95 (translation).
7 Ch. MEYER, Senenmut: eine prosopographische
Untersuchung, HÄS 2, Hamburg 1982, pp. 129-31.
8 A. BURKHARDT et al., Urkunden der 18. Dynastie.
Übersetzung z.u den Heften 5-16, Berlin 1984, pp. 50-51.
85
Warsaw
Some Remarks on the Graffîto of Senenmut at Aswan*
The graffito has been carved on the eastern
bank of the Nile, at Aswan, opposite the El-
ephantine Island.* 1 This important historical
record has been known since the expedition of
LEPSIUS, who published it for the first time in a
form of a quasi facsimile in the forties of the last
century;2 then, it was republished by de
MORGAN.3 The first translation of the text of
the graffito was submitted by BREASTED in
1906.4 In the same year, SETHE published a
revised version of its hieroglyphic text in a form
of an autography.5 * The latest publication of the
whole graffito by HAB ACHI, in a form of a quasi
facsimile, was accompanied with translation and
* The article is a slightly revised version of the paper
delivered in June 1999 on the conference Egypt 1999:
Perspectives of Research. First Central European
Conference ofYoung Egyptologists. Warsaw 7-9 June
1999. The present author would like to express ac-
knowledgements to Professor Karol MYSLIWIEC for
his valuable remarks of the archaeological nature and
the stimulous discussion on the first draft of this pa-
per. I am also indebted to Professor Jadwiga LIPINSKA
for her comments after the presentation of the present
paper at a session organised by the Research Centre
for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Acad-
emy of Sciences. My sincere appreciation goes also
to people discussing with me the published so far
translations of various Egyptian texts into Russian -
Ms Miroslawa KROPIWNICKA, French - Ms Ewa
MICKIEWICZ and Ms Sylwia GIL, Gennan-Dr Jiirgen
HAYDE and Mr Frank FÖRSTER, English - Mr John
EDMONDSON and Mr Paul WADE.
1 See PM, V, p. 248. R.D. DELIA, First Cataract Rock
Inscriptions: Some Comments, Maps and aNew Group,
JARCE 30 (1993), p. 79. And not on Sehel Island as it
has been sometimes suggested, eg P. DORMAN,
Monuments of Senenmut. Problems in Historical
Methodology, London-New York 1988, p. 115; Cl.
VANDERSLEYEN, L’Égypte et la vallée du Nil, vol.
2: De la fin de I’Ancien Empire à la fin du Nouvel
commentary and appeared in 1957.6 Subsequent
translations of the text were submitted in the
eighties by MEYER7 and BURKHARDT,8 the
former richly annotated. Concurrently, the graffito
has many times been referred to and commented
on, especially in publications conceming the his-
tory of the 18th dynasty, the administration of
Egypt in that period and the building history of
the temple of Amon-Re at Karnak.
The graffito consists of the figural part, de-
picting Hatshepsut and her courtier Senenmut,
and inscriptions accompanying these represen-
tations. The queen has been shown standing,
wearing a long robe, with a modius and sw.tj-
Empire, Paris 1995, p. 290 and D. NIEDZIÖLKA, Die
Bauten der Königin Hatschepsut, in: Geheimnisvolle
Königin Hatschepsut. Ägyptische Kunst des 15.
Jahrhunderts v. Chr., Warschau 1997, p. 32. The
graffito is actually engraved high on the eastem rocky
bank of the Nile, being inaccessible without climbing
equipment (I owe this remark to Dr Stephan SEIDL-
MAYER - personal communication during Warsaw
conference).
2 K.R. LEPSIUS, Denkmdler aus Aegypten und
Aethiopien, vol. 3, Berlin 1848, pl. 25bis q; IDEM,
TextW, Leipzig 1901, p. 116 a.
3 J. de MORGAN, U. BOURIANT, G. LEGRAIN,
G. JÉQUIER, A. B ARSANTI, Catalogue des monu-
ments et inscriptions de l’Egypte antique I, Wien
1894, p. 41 (181 bis).
4 J.H. BREASTED, Ancient Records ofEgypt II, Chi-
cago 1906, pp. 150-51.
5 K. SETHE, Urkunden der 18. Dynastie, Leipzig 1906,
pp. 395-97.
6 L. HABACHI, Two Graffiti at Sehël from the Reign of
Queen Hatshepsut, JNES 16 (1957), fig. 3, p. 94 (fac-
simile), pp. 92 and 95 (translation).
7 Ch. MEYER, Senenmut: eine prosopographische
Untersuchung, HÄS 2, Hamburg 1982, pp. 129-31.
8 A. BURKHARDT et al., Urkunden der 18. Dynastie.
Übersetzung z.u den Heften 5-16, Berlin 1984, pp. 50-51.
85