Volume 145, Issue 1

After G. Daressy had indicated in the Catalogue général that two small mud-plaster fragments of Amduat (CG 24990 C) were found in the tomb of king Thutmosis I (KV 38), egyptologists assumed that the tomb KV 38 may have been originally decorated with a mud-plaster version of Amduat – however, there were neither archaeological evidences nor illustrations available. For this reason in 2015 I started an exploration in the tomb KV 38. In this search, I actually found further mud-plaster fragments of the Amduat book in the small side chamber (Ja). After examination and analysis of the discovered fragments with comparable scenes from the tomb of Thutmose III (KV 34) I think that the mud-plaster fragment scenes from the tomb of Thutmosis I (KV 38) are much earlier than the similar scenes from the tomb of Thutmosis III. Therefore, the discovered mud-plaster Amduat fragments from the tomb KV 38 represent the earliest ever Amduat specimen in the Valley of the Kings, made by the King Thutmosis I.

The so-called Gliedervergottung section of BD 42 displays close textual and iconographic features in two Eighteenth Dynasty sources: the burial chamber of the tomb of Djehuty (TT 11) and the papyrus of Baksu (Hanover KM 1970.37). Both sources will be presented, transcribed, and compared to highlight their derivation from the same master copy. Finally, some thoughts on what dublettes can tell us about Book of the Dead Vorlagen and scribal activities will be offered.

Old Kingdom descriptions of bodily decay are surrounded by assertions of revivification and the maintenance of a proper offering ritual. Thus, the contexts of lines describing bodily decay are first examined, focusing on Pyramid Text (PT) Utterance 684. The problems of preventing the decay of the corpse, and curing conditions of the living body associated with decay were interrelated in ancient Egyptian thought. Already in the Old Kingdom, terminology surrounding wet, drippy decay ( r ḏ w , fdt , ḥ w Ꜣ and ḥ w ꜢꜢ .t ) was clear and well developed; sometimes incorporated into the offering ritual through association with libations; and paralleled in medical literature. In contrast, terminology which appears to refer to dry decay ( jmk , rpw ) is rare, and does not have more general uses outside of mortuary literature.

The language of monumental inscriptions on Middle Kingdom stelae is often regarded as highly standardised and formulaic, thus its potential for assessing social practices is considered to be fairly limited. An analysis that integrates textual and contextual evidence may, however, facilitate a better understanding of some formulae and the role those stelae played in the construction of contemporary social models. The rare smyt -formula is attested in nine objects of the late 12th or early 13th dynasty. Most of these are stelae found at Abydos, hence saturated with the site’s cultic importance. Although their disparate stylistic features rule out their being products of a single workshop, the use of the formula and its arrangement after a list of personal names is strikingly consistent. The way in which people, who are mentioned on those lists, are related to the dedicatees of the monuments may provide a clue as to why this formula emerged in the late Middle Kingdom, a time when kinship relations were often celebrated and commemorated on stelae in the context of the ritual landscape of Abydos. Moreover, the smyt -formula signposts a latent tension between two modes of group formation, focused respectively on ego or on his ancestors.

This article discusses a fragment of a rare, wooden slab-style Egyptian senet board that was given to the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) in 1922 by Lily S. Place, an American who lived in Cairo in the 1910s and 1920s and purchased ancient Egyptian objects from dealers and in the bazaars; it has no ancient provenience. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, the authors provide a reading and interpretation of the incised hieroglyphs, establish a radiocarbon date for the game board from 980 to 838 B.C.E., identify the wood as Abies (fir), probably Abies cilicica , demonstrate that the board was fashioned from freshly-cut wood, and identify the inlay substance as a green copper-wax pigment.

The author revisits the Coffin Texts 1018 in order to explore the word fn ḫ .wy and to determine his meaning. Through the exploration of the context of the spell and the semantics fields surrounding the term, it is possible to partially grasp the writer thought which has leaded to use (or even to create) this hapax. Notions of spatiality and ethnicity, mixed with material realities, storyline and funerary conceptions, feed the deceased’s tribulations on its way to reach Osiris. So, he acquires the protection of fn ḫ .wy -cords, an Aker’s privilege, for accessing his ultimate purpose in the faraway northern celestial land.

The terms “nome” and “nomarch” are widely used in Egyptology as the basic framework for discussing and understanding provincial administration of the Old to Middle Kingdoms, even though these are much later Greek terms. This article traces the origins of these words and highlights the problems encountered by applying these later terms to an earlier period of Egyptian history, and how they have obscured our understanding of the mechanics of provincial administration of the Old to Middle Kingdoms.