DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12609#0210
186
ARTS AND ANTIQUITIES.
The name Osirtasen is not found in the chief ver-
tical inscriptions of the obelisk, but with the prenomen
in small characters at the top*, where it is preceded by
J h " good god," a title which seems to have been
appropriated to defunct kings; at least it is often
found applied to such. It is given to the ancestors
of Thothmes III. in the Chamber of Kings at Karnak,
and to Amenof III. in a temple of late age at Ele-
phantine. ( See p. 190.) It also occurs before the name
of Amenof III. on a statue in the British Museum
which bears no resemblance to the ancient portraits
of this king, and was probably therefore not sculp-
tured during his life.
On one of the sides of the obelisk was a long
hieroglyphic inscription now damaged. This may
have recorded Nectanebo's dedication to Osirtasen,
and was perhaps defaced by the Persians.
Joseph's imaginary brethren must then be stripped
of their false honours. Champollion at first supposed
them to be Asiatic Greeks.f Probably they were pri-
soners taken during Nectanebo's successful hostilities
against Persia. They are in fact styled captives in
the inscription, a term under its widest signification
very unfit for the family of the prime minister of
Egypt. Their long beards and mode of carrying the
quiver remind us of the figures in the sculptures of
* See pi. iii. 35.
\ He then erroneously identified Osirtasen with Osorthon,
10th cent. b. c.
ARTS AND ANTIQUITIES.
The name Osirtasen is not found in the chief ver-
tical inscriptions of the obelisk, but with the prenomen
in small characters at the top*, where it is preceded by
J h " good god," a title which seems to have been
appropriated to defunct kings; at least it is often
found applied to such. It is given to the ancestors
of Thothmes III. in the Chamber of Kings at Karnak,
and to Amenof III. in a temple of late age at Ele-
phantine. ( See p. 190.) It also occurs before the name
of Amenof III. on a statue in the British Museum
which bears no resemblance to the ancient portraits
of this king, and was probably therefore not sculp-
tured during his life.
On one of the sides of the obelisk was a long
hieroglyphic inscription now damaged. This may
have recorded Nectanebo's dedication to Osirtasen,
and was perhaps defaced by the Persians.
Joseph's imaginary brethren must then be stripped
of their false honours. Champollion at first supposed
them to be Asiatic Greeks.f Probably they were pri-
soners taken during Nectanebo's successful hostilities
against Persia. They are in fact styled captives in
the inscription, a term under its widest signification
very unfit for the family of the prime minister of
Egypt. Their long beards and mode of carrying the
quiver remind us of the figures in the sculptures of
* See pi. iii. 35.
\ He then erroneously identified Osirtasen with Osorthon,
10th cent. b. c.