THE HIERATIC TEXTS OF TOMB NO. 37
BY GEORGE MÖLLER
89. _Wooden stela of Ihŷ_ (Pl. LXXV). This tablet is composed of two
boards held together by pegs or dowels, and covered with a fine coat of
stucco, the surface of which has been polished to receive the writing.
Upon it are the following representations:--Above, to the right, is
drawn the sacred Barque of Sokaris; below, to the left, is figured the
deceased with staff and sceptre, and before him, a boy offering a goose,
a table with offerings, a lotus-flower, loaves of bread, joints of meat,
&c. The legend is in the hieratic writing typical of the Hyksos period,
and reads:--
[Illustration: hieroglyph]
‘Ihŷ comes in the boat of Sokaris; to him has been granted
justification.[56] He is favoured of the Lord of the Shrine.[57] A
_perkheru_-offering in bread and wild fowl to the veteran in the
presence of Ptah, Ihŷ, justified.’
Below the figure of deceased is:--
[Illustration: hieroglyph] ‘Homage before the Barque of Sokaris,
viewing the beauties of the Holy Ship, adoring at his coming forth,
joyous among the glorified Spirits, the veteran Ihŷ, Lord (of
Worthiness).’
Below the figure is [Illustration: hieroglyph] ‘The Veteran Ihŷ,
justified.’
90. Wooden stela of an unknown lady (Pl. LXXVI. 3). The stucco has
mostly peeled off, and only the representation of the offerings (on
right side) are well preserved. The figure of the deceased is almost
entirely destroyed, and only the beginning of the inscription is
preserved: [Illustration: hieroglyph] ‘M...... comes......’
88. Wooden stela of the [Illustration: hieroglyph] (Pl. LXXV), ‘One held
worthy by Ptah-Sokar, the Lord of the Shrine,[58] the Steward ......y,
justified.’ In the legend the name of the deceased is destroyed, and the
title ‘steward’ is partly broken. The figure shows the deceased standing
with a staff in his left hand.
54. Pot of burnt clay (Pl. LXXIV. D) with two lines of hieratic text
giving the beginning of a rough draft for a letter:--
[Illustration: hieroglyph]
‘Harmose to Ahhotep, Life, Wealth, Health, and the Favour of Amon-Re!
Behold, I have not found ... I have permitted that something be brought
to me.’
The break in the middle of the second line makes the meaning of the text
impossible to interpret.
Regarding the date, it is to be noted that the script is typical of the
late Hyksos period, or of the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and may
be compared with that of the Papyrus Ebers.
26. Writing tablet of wood covered with stucco (Pls. LXXVII., LXXVIII.).
The text on the obverse contains a letter, perhaps not an original
document, but an exercise. This supposition is borne out by the fact
that the text on the reverse of the tablet is written in a clumsy
handwriting.
The beginning of the text can be restored by the help of an ostracon in
the Berlin Museum (P. 12366); the lacunae at the beginning of lines 8-10
are, however, wanting. The text is, moreover, very faulty, so that the
following translation, in which I was fortunate enough to have Prof.
Erman’s help, is only given with reservations:--
[Illustration: hieroglyph]
‘(1) The servant speaks to his lord, [from whom he desires to receive
life, prosperity, and health] throughout the length (2) of eternity, for
ever, just as [this] servant[59] desires. Mayest thou be justified
before (3) the Spirits[60] of Heliopolis and before the gods. [_May they
grant thee_] all good [_things_] every day, (4) as I desire it, so that
[_all_] thy affairs [_under the protection_] of Month, (5) the Lord of
Thebes, may be as I desire; may Ptah, Lord of Memphis, rejoice his heart
(that of the person addressed) with a very good life, (6) as well as a
good old age, and that he may attain to a state of worthiness, so that
his worthiness may come before Month, (7) Lord of Thebes, as I desire
it, in peace, and great comfort. But this letter [(8) _which thou hast
written me, as far as that is concerned, give thyself_] with regard to
it, [_no anxiety_]. I shall be of thy mind. Mayest thou be gracious
towards (?) NBT ... (9)......... this......, causing to send out ...
(10)...... with myrrh of Punt and pleasing odours of God’s Land,[61]
(11) clothed in the _d’jw_-garment, which (?) I make. The poor man, he
sees (12)............ thou seest thy wife there ill[62] as she weeps
(13) over thee. She weeps over thee. Thy fish of the night, thy bird of
the (14) day.’
This unintelligible passage contains a play on words between _rmj_,
‘weeping’ (Coptic [Illustration: Coptic script]), and _rm_, ‘fish’
(Coptic, Boh. [Illustration: Coptic script]): the last words have indeed
passed into a proverb.
The reverse of the tablet was much written over, and in places it is
obvious that there have been erasures. In two places were portions of
repetitions of the text on the obverse (lines 11, 12), also a list of
names in the same handwriting, showing that it was all the work of the
same person, like the text on the reverse of 21.
[Illustration: hieroglyph] ‘Three people were concerned--
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amenemheb,
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amen-em-ene,
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amon-neb,
[Illustration: hieroglyph][63]........ (a woman),
[Illustration: hieroglyph]....... (a woman),
[Illustration: hieroglyph] [Amen]-nekht (a man),
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Beki (a man).’
21. Small writing tablet of wood covered with stucco (Pl. LXXVI. 1 and
2). At the left side of the obverse is a hole for a string. The reverse
is mended with a piece of bark.
Obverse:--[Illustration: hieroglyph][64]
The text is badly damaged, the most intelligible is the second line: ‘If
the boy comes to the barrack if he be weeping....’ Evidently, from first
to last, this text concerns a nurse. The reverse contains a list of four
names which, as we have already mentioned, occur also in the text of No.
26, and in the same handwriting.
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amenemheb,
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amen-nekht,
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amen-em-ene,
[Illustration: hieroglyph] Amen-neb.