DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0189
THE UPPER DEFFOFA
133
workmen; (c) as funerary or mortuary chapels; (d) for several of these purposes com-
bined. The small buildings consisting of a single cell appear quite suitable as guard-huts
or workmen’s shelters, but are on the other hand not unlike the chapels of the Nubian
C-group cemeteries (nos. 87 and 101).1 The two large buildings with their tiled details and
painted walls must have been intended for a more dignified purpose than mere guard-
houses or shelters. They must have been used in some of the religious rites and practices
which were performed in the cemetery. It is well known that in Egypt every tomb of an
ordinarily well-to-do person had a separate chapel or offering room for these religious prac-
tices, all of which were concerned with providing the spirit of the dead with the ghostly
necessities of the life after death. But in addition to these chapels in which individual
services were performed, the temples of Anubis and Osiris were the scenes of communal
festivals for the “glorification” of the dead and offerings to them. In the large family
tombs of both the Old and the Middle Kingdoms, the chapels were in a measure also com-
munal offering places, by which I mean that in each of them were made the offerings and
the periodical ceremonies for all the persons buried in the tomb. I would therefore suggest
that K II was built originally as a chapel for the periodical ceremonies and offerings brought
to Prince Hepzefa, buried in K III; that it was then also used for the similar rites dedi-
cated to the persons buried in the subsidiary graves in K III and to those in the minor
tumuli of early date. Finally, having become by usage the funerary temple of the cemetery,
it was repaired by Yentef in the 33rd year of Amenemhat III, and passed to the service of
the chief person buried in K IV, and of those in the subsidiary graves of that tumulus and
in the minor tumuli of that time. At last, a new chapel, K XI, was erected for the offerings
and ceremonies dedicated to the great man buried in K X. K XI, by the very fact of its
being new, would have replaced K II in common usage; but there was also the matter of
endowments and upkeep. Such places were usually endowed with lands or grants of dues
and rights. For example, in the case of Hepzefa himself, we know that at Assiut he had
made a grant of part of his official income, in which he had only a life interest, in payment
for certain specified perpetual funerary services. It is not improbable that at Kerma he
granted a claim on the income of the province for the maintenance of the funerary chapel
which I call K II. In that case, it is easy to understand the use of the chapel by other
officials and its appropriation by the successor of Hepzefa who was buried in K IV. It is
equally obvious that when K XI was built for the later successor buried in K X, this
great official probably diverted the provincial expenditure for the cemetery chapel to his
own structure. From that time, I take it, K II fell into disuse and gradually decayed.
K XI became the communal chapel of the cemetery and continued to serve that purpose
through some generations. As far as I was able to discover, no other large building was
erected to take its place, when it finally fell into decay.
The question remains as to the character of the small single-room buildings of which we
found eleven in the cemetery, and will be most conveniently dealt with here along with
the great chapels. The facts are as follows:
(i) There were eleven single-cell structures — four in front of K XV, two in front of K XIV,
two to the southwest of K XVI, one either east of K III or south of K XXXIII, one
southwest of K LV, and one west of K XXXVII.
1 Nub. Arch. Sur. Report, 1908-09, Plan XVIII: Report, 1909-10, Plan 3.
133
workmen; (c) as funerary or mortuary chapels; (d) for several of these purposes com-
bined. The small buildings consisting of a single cell appear quite suitable as guard-huts
or workmen’s shelters, but are on the other hand not unlike the chapels of the Nubian
C-group cemeteries (nos. 87 and 101).1 The two large buildings with their tiled details and
painted walls must have been intended for a more dignified purpose than mere guard-
houses or shelters. They must have been used in some of the religious rites and practices
which were performed in the cemetery. It is well known that in Egypt every tomb of an
ordinarily well-to-do person had a separate chapel or offering room for these religious prac-
tices, all of which were concerned with providing the spirit of the dead with the ghostly
necessities of the life after death. But in addition to these chapels in which individual
services were performed, the temples of Anubis and Osiris were the scenes of communal
festivals for the “glorification” of the dead and offerings to them. In the large family
tombs of both the Old and the Middle Kingdoms, the chapels were in a measure also com-
munal offering places, by which I mean that in each of them were made the offerings and
the periodical ceremonies for all the persons buried in the tomb. I would therefore suggest
that K II was built originally as a chapel for the periodical ceremonies and offerings brought
to Prince Hepzefa, buried in K III; that it was then also used for the similar rites dedi-
cated to the persons buried in the subsidiary graves in K III and to those in the minor
tumuli of early date. Finally, having become by usage the funerary temple of the cemetery,
it was repaired by Yentef in the 33rd year of Amenemhat III, and passed to the service of
the chief person buried in K IV, and of those in the subsidiary graves of that tumulus and
in the minor tumuli of that time. At last, a new chapel, K XI, was erected for the offerings
and ceremonies dedicated to the great man buried in K X. K XI, by the very fact of its
being new, would have replaced K II in common usage; but there was also the matter of
endowments and upkeep. Such places were usually endowed with lands or grants of dues
and rights. For example, in the case of Hepzefa himself, we know that at Assiut he had
made a grant of part of his official income, in which he had only a life interest, in payment
for certain specified perpetual funerary services. It is not improbable that at Kerma he
granted a claim on the income of the province for the maintenance of the funerary chapel
which I call K II. In that case, it is easy to understand the use of the chapel by other
officials and its appropriation by the successor of Hepzefa who was buried in K IV. It is
equally obvious that when K XI was built for the later successor buried in K X, this
great official probably diverted the provincial expenditure for the cemetery chapel to his
own structure. From that time, I take it, K II fell into disuse and gradually decayed.
K XI became the communal chapel of the cemetery and continued to serve that purpose
through some generations. As far as I was able to discover, no other large building was
erected to take its place, when it finally fell into decay.
The question remains as to the character of the small single-room buildings of which we
found eleven in the cemetery, and will be most conveniently dealt with here along with
the great chapels. The facts are as follows:
(i) There were eleven single-cell structures — four in front of K XV, two in front of K XIV,
two to the southwest of K XVI, one either east of K III or south of K XXXIII, one
southwest of K LV, and one west of K XXXVII.
1 Nub. Arch. Sur. Report, 1908-09, Plan XVIII: Report, 1909-10, Plan 3.