Volume 152, Issue 1

This paper examines the Demotic text of P. BnF 239, which is held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. The text, written in the 2 nd Century CE, contains several lists of wine deliveries that were likely brought to a temple in Thebes as payments in kind. The verso of the papyrus was reused for a Hieratic version of a Document of Breathing, a funerary composition that is typical of the Theban area.

In the Old Kingdom, among the individuals linked to the hairdresser’s trade, Meretites is the only woman recorded to be connected with this field. However, she is not represented as jr.t-šn , i.e. ‘hairdresser’, as is the case in the Middle Kingdom; but as jmy(.t)-rꜣ js-šn , i.e. ‘director of the hairdressing office’. However, this title does not appear in any index or lexicon, making Meretites the only holder of this unpublished title. Thus, Meretites tells us that a woman in this period could be linked to the human body, more specifically the hair, but also that a hairdressing office existed. Would this office have had a particular function? Would the complete title of Meretites allow us to know the status of this particular woman in Egyptian society?

The pantheistic goddess statuette New York MMA 2009.86 provides further insight into the almost identically conceived statuette Hannover 4538. Both statuettes can be interpreted as a three-dimensional representation of the constantly occurring cosmic renewal. The objects, which probably originally served as funerary equipment, are connected to the daily union of Re and Osiris, respectively the interaction between nḥḥ and ḏ.t and thus ensuring the daily regeneration of the deceased.

The last columns of the famous (auto)biography of Khnumhotep II in his tomb at Beni Hasan are quite damaged and this has made their translation difficult. Based on some epigraphical corrections, a new translation and interpretation is offered which has an effect on our understanding of the design of the tomb as well as of the role of the person who was in charge of preparing the tomb for burial after its owner’s return from Abydos.

Slavery was a key component of state economy during Egypt’s New Kingdom with extensive evidence for the widespread kidnapping of foreigners as captives for the benefit of temples and other state institutions. Despite this, there is only limited evidence for the sale of slaves, and no evidence for the existence of dedicated slave markets of the type found in Classical Greece and Rome. This article argues that the Egyptian state increased its control over foreign captives during the 18 th and 19 th Dynasties for economic reasons. This in turn meant that members of the official classes who did not have access to captives through association with the military, could primarily purchase slaves at great expense through the medium of šwty(w) trade agents associated with state institutions, or alternatively rent state-owned slaves on a temporary basis.

With the help of a case study from the textual program of two mid-Eighteenth Dynasty Theban tombs—TT 95 and TT 76—this paper seeks to provide insights into the nature and strength of the intertextual relations between the funerary monuments of the early and mid-Eighteenth Dynasty Theban elite. The study offers a transliteration, translation, and commentary of the prt m tꜣ text on the north side of Pillar A in TT 95A and its pendant on the east side of Pillar D in TT 76, compares the two texts, and evaluates the strength of their connection by taking their spatial-material and socio-cultural contexts into account.

The frieze of Louvre C15 stela, pertaining to Abkau, has previously been interpreted as a representation of the Osiris mysteries and as a cryptographic text. This study examines the group of standards included in this frieze in search of a more concrete parallel, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of the presence of the Bat emblem in the line. Among the cases presented here, a contextual parallel of this processional line is identified in a scene from the Chapel of Sethy I at his temple at Abydos, and a formal parallel in the second hour of the Amduat. This analysis also permits the suggestion that the frieze has a symmetric structure and was most likely carved to ensure Abkau’s eternal participation in the Abydene rituals.

This paper focuses on the results of the excavations conducted by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) at the hill of Al-Kulah at Bahariya Oasis between 2012 and 2014. The rock hill is located approximately one kilometre south-east of the Youssef Selim site and covers an area spanning approximately 4 km 2 . The site, which is a cemetery dating from the Late Period to the Greco-Roman Period had not previously been investigated. Excavations were undertaken in three areas of the hill; in the northeast, in the middle and, in the south-west. All burials noted were hewn in the shale of the hill for mass graves or family tombs. The variety of burial types and periods represented includes pit-graves, shaft graves, and multichambered tombs, the interiors of which contained coffins and skeletal remains. Some of them were originally coated with a layer of lime plaster of decorated gypsum. This study will provide examples of the architectural layout of some tombs with a particular focus on the anomalies depicted in polychrome Tomb No. 1. These can be considered rare and have never been found before in the extant mortuary landscape of Roman Egypt or among traditional Egyptian scenes. The tomb features two symmetrical mourning goddesses, who are believed to represent Isis Dolente or Electra, and two hybrid creatures, seahorses standing on their tails, holding the deceased’s arms. Notable details include a ritual dance by two bearded men and a farewell scene by two living relatives. Comparable funerary portraits are found in Etruscan tombs in Italy from the 2 nd to 1 st century BC onwards, yet the portraits in this tomb differ from those examples.

This article has a critical look at J.-C. Antoine’s research on the Deir el Medina workforce following the reign of Ramses XI as published in ZÄS 146 (2019). For the two reigns following the Renaissance the strength of the workforce is established by combining the workmen named in an ostracon or graffito with those of earlier and later sources. It is shown that Antoine’s conclusion that the workforce still functioned under a third reign following the Renaissance is highly unlikely. All the available sources can be seen to fit a reign of some 10/11 years followed by a reign of some 20/21 years.

This paper examines parallel inscriptions found in the temples of Edfu and Athribis, which are believed to list various types of myrrh. Central to these inscriptions is the term antu , posited as a categorical descriptor for a group of resins. This paper presents a detailed, synoptic presentation and translation of the inscriptions from both Edfu and Athribis, accompanied by a critical review and analysis of its multiple layers of meaning, encompassing religious, cultic, symbolic, and linguistic dimensions. The investigation serves as a methodological framework for understanding how natural materials were conceptualized and classified in Egyptian textual and cultural contexts.

Ptolemaic and Roman Oxyrhynchus is relatively well-documented through the Greek papyri from the site, while there are far fewer texts written in Egyptian from the same locality, which can offer additional perspectives. This paper takes a small step towards addressing this issue by presenting an edition and study of three Oxyrhynchite Demotic documents related to two marriages from the late 1 st century BC. Two papyri detail the first marriage, and the third text records the second one. Unique among Demotic materials published so far is the fact that one of the deeds is a ‘dowry document’ ( sẖ-n-grg.t ), providing new insights into the economic arrangements of Egyptian matrimony. The documents also contribute to our understanding of the relationship between military ranks, ethnicity, and onomastics at the time. The men bear Greek names and are, at least in one case, part of the catoecic cavalry at Oxyrhynchus, but still chose to enter the agreement through an Egyptian document. It is argued that while it is possible that the contracting parties may have been Hellenised Egyptians, it cannot be excluded that they were descendants of earlier Greek settlers who both spoke Egyptian and conducted their business in the native language.