[It is interesting to compare the inscription of Piankhy with
an example of the historical texts of the Old Kingdom. Only two
are known of any considerable length, and the following is one
of them. The biographical inscription of Una, administrator of
Upper Egypt, takes one back to 3000 B.C., when almost the only
great monuments in Egypt were the pyramids, to the number of
which each successive king added.
The inscription was found on a slab in the great cemetery of
Abydos, and is now in the Gizeh Museum. The style is somewhat
arid, but attracts by its primitive and simple character.]
[Una's youth under King Teta, founder of the VIth Dynasty.]
[Una saith] I was tying the girdle,[185] under the majesty of Teta. My
grade was that of superintendent of stores, and I acted as overseer of
the garden of Pharaoh.
[Una appointed pyramid priest and then judge by Pepy I. He
assists at trials in the royal harim.]
[I was] chief of the _debat_ [?] city . . . under the majesty of Pepy:
his Majesty put me into the position of royal friend and superintendent
of the priests of his pyramid city.[186]
Behold I was ... and his Majesty appointed me judge, and his heart was
satisfied with me more than with any of his servants: I heard cases
alone with the chief justice and vizier in every secret proceeding [of
the palace?] ... in the name of the King, of the royal _harim_ and of
the six great houses,[187] because the King's heart was satisfied with
me more than with any of his officers, of his nobles, or of his
servants.
[Royal present of a sarcophagus, etc., from the limestone
quarries of Turra.]
[Command was given] by the Majesty of my lord to bring for me a
sarcophagus of white stone from Ra-au, and his Majesty caused the divine
treasurer to cross over [the river] with a band [of soldiers and
artificers] under him to bring for me this sarcophagus from Ra-au.[188]
He returned with it in the great transport ship of the Residence,
together with its lid, and a false door with the lintel, jambs, and
foundation block: never was this or the like done to any servant. But I
was successful in the heart of his Majesty, I was rooted in the heart of
his Majesty; and the heart of his Majesty was satisfied with me.
[Appointment as principal judge in the trial of the queen.]
Now when I was judge, his Majesty made me a sole friend and
superintendent of the garden of Pharaoh, and I instructed [?] four [?]
of the superintendents of Pharaoh's gardens who were there. I acted
according to his Majesty's desire in performing the choosing of the
guard [?][189] and making the way of the king and marshaling the nobles
[at the court]; I acted altogether so that his Majesty praised me for it
more than anything.
When an accusation was brought in the royal _harim_ against the chief
royal wife Aamtesi as a secret affair, his Majesty caused me to enter to
it and hear the case alone, without there being any chief justice and
vizier, or any officer there but me only, on account of my success and
rooting in the heart of his Majesty and of his heart being satisfied
with me. I drew up [the report] in writing, alone with one judge.
Behold, my office was that of superintendent of Pharaoh's garden: never
before did one of my grade hear a secret process of the royal _harim_;
but his Majesty caused me to hear it, because of my success in the heart
of his Majesty above any officer and any noble and any servant of his.
[Una commander-in-chief of all the native and foreign forces in
an expedition against the Eastern Bedawin.]
When his Majesty chastised the Aamu-Herusha[190] and his Majesty made an
army of many tens of thousands out of the whole of the Upper Country,
from Abu[191] in the south to Aphroditopolis [?] in the north, and out
of the Lower Country, from the whole of the two sides,[192] out of Sezer
and Khen-sezeru,[193] negroes from Arertet,[194] negroes from Meza,
negroes from Aam, negroes from Wawat, negroes from Kaau, and foreigners
from the land of Temeh[195]; his Majesty sent me at the head of this
host. Behold, even the _ha_-princes, even the royal chancellors, even
the royal friends of the court, even the nomarchs and governors of
fortresses of the Upper Country and the Lower Country, the royal friends
superintending the frontier, the superintendents of priests of the Upper
and Lower Countries, and the superintendents of domain lands, in command
of the contingents from the Upper and Lower Countries, and from the
fortresses [?] and cities that they ruled, and of the negroes of these
tribes--I it was who planned their procedure, although my grade was that
of superintendent of the garden of Pharaoh, on account of the
preciseness of my disposition: in such a way that no one of them
encroached on any of his fellows, that no one of them took bread or
sandals from the wayfarer, that no one of them stole dough from any
village, and that no one of them took a goat from any people. I directed
them to the Island of the North, the Gate of I-hetep, the
_Uart_ [?] of Horus Lord[196] of Truth. And behold, although I was of
this grade ... I reviewed the number of these troops which had never
been reviewed by any servant.
This host returned in peace: it had harried the land of the Herusha;
this host returned in peace: it had trampled on the land of the
Herusha;
this host returned in peace: it had overthrown its inclosures,
this host returned in peace: it had cut down its figs and vines,
this host returned in peace: it had set fire to all its [camps?];
this host returned in peace: it had slain the troops in it in many
tens of thousands;
this host returned in peace: it had [carried off people] from it,
very numerous, as prisoners alive:
and his Majesty praised me for it more than anything.
His Majesty sent me to direct [this] host five times, and to smite the
land of the Herusha at each of the revolts with these troops, and I
acted so that his Majesty praised me for it more than anything. And when
it was reported that there were warriors of this tribe in the
"Wild-Goat's Nose," I crossed over in boats with these troops, and
landed on the coast[197] of Thest, on the north of the land of the
Herusha: and behold, when this host had marched by land, I came and
smote them all down, and slew every warrior of them.
[Una made governor of the whole of Upper Egypt by the next
king, Merenra Mehti-em-saf.]
I was carrier of the chair and sandals at the court, and the king
Merenra my lord, who lives [for ever], appointed me _ha_-prince,
governor of the Upper Country, from Abu in the south to Aphroditopolis
[?] in the north, because of my success in the heart of his Majesty, and
my rooting in the heart of his Majesty, and because the heart of his
Majesty was satisfied [with me]. And while I was carrier of the chair
and sandals, his Majesty praised me for my watchfulness and
body-guardianship which I displayed in ushering in nobles [?], which
exceeded that of any officer, noble, or servant of his. Never before was
this function discharged by any servant.
I performed for him the office of governor of the Upper Country to
satisfaction, so that no one there encroached upon his fellow for any
work: I paid [?] everything that is paid to the Residence from this
Upper Country twice over, and every hour's service that is given to the
palace in this Upper Country twice over; and discharged my office in
such a way that it established a standard of duty[198] in this Upper
Country. Never was the like done in this Upper Country before. I acted
altogether so that his Majesty praised me for it.
[Una commissioned to obtain monuments for Merenra's pyramid
from Abhat, and granite from the region of Elephantine.]
His Majesty sent me to Abhat to bring the sarcophagus called "Box of the
Living Ones," with its cover, and an obelisk, and the costly furniture
for my mistress[199] [?] the pyramid Kha-nefer of Merenra. His Majesty
sent me to Abu[200] to bring the granite stela and its base, and the
granite doors and jambs, and the granite doors and bases of the
over-ground temple of my mistress [?] the pyramid Kha-nefer of Merenra.
I came down the river with them to the pyramid Kha-nefer of Merenra with
six broad boats, three transports, three eight-oars, in one expedition:
never was this done, Abhat and Abu [done] in one expedition, in the time
of any of the kings. Everything that his Majesty had commanded me came
verily to pass just as his Majesty ordered me.
[An altar from the alabaster quarry of Het-nub.]
His Majesty sent me to Het-nub to bring a great table of offerings of
the alabaster of Het-nub. I brought him down this table of offerings in
seventeen days, quarrying it in Het-nub, and causing it to float down in
this broad boat. For I had cut for it a broad boat of acacia-wood, sixty
cubits long, thirty cubits broad, and built it--all this [?] in
seventeen days, in the third month of harvest,[201] when behold there
was no water on the junctions [?] of the channel,[202] and I moored at
the pyramid Kha-nefer of Merenra in peace. All things had come to pass
according to the command which the Majesty of my lord had given me.
[A commission to ease the navigation in the region of the
cataract, and increase the facilities for procuring granite.]
His Majesty sent me to cut five channels in the South, and make three
broad boats and four transports of the acacia of Wawat. Behold, the
rulers of Arertet, Wawat, Aam, and Meza were bringing wood for it. All
were made in one year, floated, and laden with very great blocks of
granite for the pyramid Kha-nefer of Merenra; moreover, I myself gave
service to the palace in the whole work of these five channels,[203] on
account of my abundance and my wealth [?], and of the loftiness of the
mighty spirit of King Merenra, living for ever, beyond that of any god,
and because all things came to pass according to the command which his
_Ka_ ordained.
Translation of F. Ll. Griffith.