DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55202#0110
90
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM IN THEBES
nasty calendar by the Feast of Khonsu,58 another god of the Theban
pantheon whose name appears in the Roman calendar as that of the
month Paeons. In subsequent calendars the Feast of the Valley-
the later month Payni—follows just one month after Pachons, at
the beginning of Shomu. Khonsu himself is known as early as the
Middle Kingdom,59 and if his feast had long been kept where we
first find it in the calendar, it would appear that these two festivals
of Khonsu and Amun were both part of a holiday season in Twelfth
Dynasty Thebes. The first was of uncertain age perhaps, but the
second was organized probably by the founder of the Twelfth Dy-
nasty. It followed the next month on the day which up to that time
had been dedicated to the Heracleopolitan god, Khent-ekhtay.
Thus, in these graffiti we have been dealing with priests of two
Eleventh Dynasty Kings who were sent up on to the cliffs each year
on an appointed day in midsummer during the Twelfth Dynasty, as
lookouts to give warning of the approach of the bark of Amun for
the Feast of the Valley. Admittedly they were priests of lesser grades,
and at first thought it may seem that the perpetuation of their names
here is more a matter of sentiment than anything else. However, they
actually give us an opportunity of emphasizing certain historical
facts about the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.
First: Only the hierarchies of two Theban rulers of the Eleventh
Dynasty—those of Neb-frepet-Rec and of Se^ankh-ka-Ref—played
an important part in the affairs of western Thebes under the Twelfth
Dynasty.
Second: The cult of Amun—at least in so far as concerned his voy-
age to the West—was not officially recognized by those two kings
during their own lifetimes, nor was it planned for by the Eleventh
Dynasty architects of Deir el Bahri.
Third: The voyage of the god to the temple of the Theban hero
who had united the Two Lands was instituted in the reign of Amun-
em-het I, obviously to enhance the importance of his patron deity,
and thus indirectly as propaganda in his own favor.
M Sethe, Urkunden der 18. Dyn., No. 13; Winlock, Deir el Bafyri, Pl. 66.
59 Sethe, Amun, § 49; Lange and Schafer, Grabsleine, 20240.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM IN THEBES
nasty calendar by the Feast of Khonsu,58 another god of the Theban
pantheon whose name appears in the Roman calendar as that of the
month Paeons. In subsequent calendars the Feast of the Valley-
the later month Payni—follows just one month after Pachons, at
the beginning of Shomu. Khonsu himself is known as early as the
Middle Kingdom,59 and if his feast had long been kept where we
first find it in the calendar, it would appear that these two festivals
of Khonsu and Amun were both part of a holiday season in Twelfth
Dynasty Thebes. The first was of uncertain age perhaps, but the
second was organized probably by the founder of the Twelfth Dy-
nasty. It followed the next month on the day which up to that time
had been dedicated to the Heracleopolitan god, Khent-ekhtay.
Thus, in these graffiti we have been dealing with priests of two
Eleventh Dynasty Kings who were sent up on to the cliffs each year
on an appointed day in midsummer during the Twelfth Dynasty, as
lookouts to give warning of the approach of the bark of Amun for
the Feast of the Valley. Admittedly they were priests of lesser grades,
and at first thought it may seem that the perpetuation of their names
here is more a matter of sentiment than anything else. However, they
actually give us an opportunity of emphasizing certain historical
facts about the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.
First: Only the hierarchies of two Theban rulers of the Eleventh
Dynasty—those of Neb-frepet-Rec and of Se^ankh-ka-Ref—played
an important part in the affairs of western Thebes under the Twelfth
Dynasty.
Second: The cult of Amun—at least in so far as concerned his voy-
age to the West—was not officially recognized by those two kings
during their own lifetimes, nor was it planned for by the Eleventh
Dynasty architects of Deir el Bahri.
Third: The voyage of the god to the temple of the Theban hero
who had united the Two Lands was instituted in the reign of Amun-
em-het I, obviously to enhance the importance of his patron deity,
and thus indirectly as propaganda in his own favor.
M Sethe, Urkunden der 18. Dyn., No. 13; Winlock, Deir el Bafyri, Pl. 66.
59 Sethe, Amun, § 49; Lange and Schafer, Grabsleine, 20240.