DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55202#0159
THE SIXTEENTH DYNASTY 139
pyramid of Sekhem-Ref Shed-towi Sobk-em-saf. From an under-
ground chamber where the light of a torch was needed, they had
broken through the blocking of the burial chambers of the King
and of Queen Nub-kha^es, had ripped open their sarcophagi, and
had broken into their coffins.
Within they “found the noble mummy of this king equipped with
a sword; a great number of amulets and jewels of gold were upon his
neck; and his diadem of gold was on his head. The noble mummy of
this king was completely bedecked with gold, and his coffins were
adorned with gold and silver inside and out .... We collected the
gold we found on the noble mummy of this god, together with his
amulets and jewels which were on his neck and the coffins in which
he was resting, and we found the queen in exactly the same state.
We collected all that we found on her likewise, and we set fire to
their coffins,” probably to get the last bits of precious metal. In all
they claimed to have got “160 deben of gold, the pieces of furniture
not being included.”
Some time after the robbery Amun-pe-nufer was arrested, but
he still had his share of the booty intact and easily bribed his way
out of the hands of the police. The other thieves compensated him,
and then all together they went on with their tomb robberies, aided
by a host of other characters of Western Thebes. Finally, however,
four thieves were arrested again and their “examination was effected
by beating with sticks and their feet and hands were twisted.” After
this ordeal they were taken to the West and re-examined at the
tomb, after which they were handed over to the High Priest of
Amun who was charged to apprehend the other members of the
gang to be held with them “until Pharaoh our Lord should have
decided upon their punishment.”
The papyrus ends with an unfinished phrase and we do not know
what became of the tomb robbers. It is, however, an extraordinarily
fascinating bit of the story of the fate of the royal burials as Egypt
started on its slide down hill.
Naturally from a tomb so completely plundered nothing probably
survived of any intrinsic value, but this would naturally not have
been the case with a wooden canopic box which had no precious
metal on it21 (Pl. 20). Such a chest was discovered by the Arabs in
21 The box is by mistake assigned to Sekhem-Ref Wadj-khafu Sobk-em-saf, who we now
know was not buried in Thebes, in Winlock, JE/1, 1924, p. 268, where a full bibliography is
given.
pyramid of Sekhem-Ref Shed-towi Sobk-em-saf. From an under-
ground chamber where the light of a torch was needed, they had
broken through the blocking of the burial chambers of the King
and of Queen Nub-kha^es, had ripped open their sarcophagi, and
had broken into their coffins.
Within they “found the noble mummy of this king equipped with
a sword; a great number of amulets and jewels of gold were upon his
neck; and his diadem of gold was on his head. The noble mummy of
this king was completely bedecked with gold, and his coffins were
adorned with gold and silver inside and out .... We collected the
gold we found on the noble mummy of this god, together with his
amulets and jewels which were on his neck and the coffins in which
he was resting, and we found the queen in exactly the same state.
We collected all that we found on her likewise, and we set fire to
their coffins,” probably to get the last bits of precious metal. In all
they claimed to have got “160 deben of gold, the pieces of furniture
not being included.”
Some time after the robbery Amun-pe-nufer was arrested, but
he still had his share of the booty intact and easily bribed his way
out of the hands of the police. The other thieves compensated him,
and then all together they went on with their tomb robberies, aided
by a host of other characters of Western Thebes. Finally, however,
four thieves were arrested again and their “examination was effected
by beating with sticks and their feet and hands were twisted.” After
this ordeal they were taken to the West and re-examined at the
tomb, after which they were handed over to the High Priest of
Amun who was charged to apprehend the other members of the
gang to be held with them “until Pharaoh our Lord should have
decided upon their punishment.”
The papyrus ends with an unfinished phrase and we do not know
what became of the tomb robbers. It is, however, an extraordinarily
fascinating bit of the story of the fate of the royal burials as Egypt
started on its slide down hill.
Naturally from a tomb so completely plundered nothing probably
survived of any intrinsic value, but this would naturally not have
been the case with a wooden canopic box which had no precious
metal on it21 (Pl. 20). Such a chest was discovered by the Arabs in
21 The box is by mistake assigned to Sekhem-Ref Wadj-khafu Sobk-em-saf, who we now
know was not buried in Thebes, in Winlock, JE/1, 1924, p. 268, where a full bibliography is
given.