in Andréas Stauder, David Klotz (eds), Enigmatic Writing in the Egyptian New Kingdom I: Revealing, transforming, and display in Egyptian hieroglyphs, 2020
Vaga quidem ac luxurianti litera-qualis est scriptorum seu verius pictorum nostri temporis, longe... more Vaga quidem ac luxurianti litera-qualis est scriptorum seu verius pictorum nostri temporis, longe oculos mulcens, prope autem afficiens ac fatigans, quasi ad aliud quam ad legendum sit inventa. Rambling and luxuriant letters, those of the scribes, or more accurately, the painters of our time: pleasing to the eye from a distance, but injurious and tiresome up close, almost as if they had been devised for something other than for reading. Petrarch, Epistoles Familiares XXIII, 19.8 (to Boccaccio) 1 Large-scale, highly detailed, enigmatic inscriptions-occasionally referred to, following Drioton, as "Monumental Cryptography"-were largely a phenomenon of the Ramesside Period, a time when massive bandeau and frieze texts were frequently adorned with additional details. 2 In a classic study, Drioton established a corpus of similar texts, spanning the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period, and outlined some common features. 3 They are distinguished by a preponderance of anthropomorphic figures, typically striding, combined with divine emblems and sacred animals, appearing more like a very wide offering scene than a normal text. Cryptography is hardly an appropriate description for these types of inscriptions, 4 however, as they usually appear in very prominent temple positions, such as exterior walls or hypostyle festival courts. In some examples (Sety I at Gurna, Ramesses II at Luxor), these inscriptions are juxtaposed directly with nearly identical texts written in conventional, Klartext, writings. Moreover, the basic mechanisms are quite different from those employed in New Kingdom netherworld books. 5 The former feature many phonetic spellings, and various animal signs (e.g., owls and vultures, vipers and cobras) are reduced to generic animal classifiers (birds and serpents). The more monumental enigmatic writing, meanwhile, features more ideograms, and animals and divine figures are endowed with incredible details. In order to read the enigmatic Netherworld books, one must be intimately familiar with
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Papers by David Klotz
the discovery of much new data that significantly
enhance our understanding of the historical and architectural
evolution of the site during the New Kingdom.
This paper reviews the new finds and, from them,
constructs a new period history of the site. Through
excavations carried out in 2011, 2013 and 2014, we
can now track the growth of the Great Amun Temple
(B 500) through six phases: from a small mud-brick
structure, through two successively larger talatat
phases, to renovations attributable to Seti I, Ramses II
and Dynasty 20. The most surprising discoveries have
been two pre-Napatan levels in court B 502: a Dynasty
18 talatat pavement apparently preserving traces of a
barque station, and a Dynasty 19 level preserving pedestals
for an estimated sixty columns. This enormous
unfinished colonnade, had it been completed, would
have made B 500 the largest Amun temple in Nubia
during the New Kingdom, but B 502 would remain
unfinished until the reign of Piankhy. Other surprising
finds are eight re-used talatat blocks from a dismantled
chapel apparently of Amenhotep Huy, Tutankhamun’s
Viceroy of Kush, and fragments from another, possibly
depicting the High Priest of Amun Menkheperra of
Dynasty 21.
Most importantly, the new translations demonstrate something previous editors had overlooked: Nesmin had died prematurely, so that his parents, represented on his statues, buried him and commissioned his posthumous private statues. By comparing these monuments with another statue of Nesmin from the Karnak Cachette – previously unpublished – one can establish a relative chronology for his private statuary.
The striding, tonsured effigy (JE 38025) captured Nesmin while still an aspiring young priest, whereas his gloomier, idealizing cuboid statues (WAM 22.183, Linköping 102) place him among the blessed dead of Thebes.
"Schließlich brauchen sie uns nicht mehr, die Früheentrückten,
man entwöhnt sich des Irdischen sanft, wie man den Brüsten
milde der Mutter entwächst. Aber wir, die so große
Geheimnisse brauchen, denen aus Trauer so oft
seliger Fortschritt entspringt –: könnten wir sein ohne sie?"
– Rilke, Erste Duineser Elegie
Appears in BIFAO 114/2 (2014), pp. 291-338.
the discovery of much new data that significantly
enhance our understanding of the historical and architectural
evolution of the site during the New Kingdom.
This paper reviews the new finds and, from them,
constructs a new period history of the site. Through
excavations carried out in 2011, 2013 and 2014, we
can now track the growth of the Great Amun Temple
(B 500) through six phases: from a small mud-brick
structure, through two successively larger talatat
phases, to renovations attributable to Seti I, Ramses II
and Dynasty 20. The most surprising discoveries have
been two pre-Napatan levels in court B 502: a Dynasty
18 talatat pavement apparently preserving traces of a
barque station, and a Dynasty 19 level preserving pedestals
for an estimated sixty columns. This enormous
unfinished colonnade, had it been completed, would
have made B 500 the largest Amun temple in Nubia
during the New Kingdom, but B 502 would remain
unfinished until the reign of Piankhy. Other surprising
finds are eight re-used talatat blocks from a dismantled
chapel apparently of Amenhotep Huy, Tutankhamun’s
Viceroy of Kush, and fragments from another, possibly
depicting the High Priest of Amun Menkheperra of
Dynasty 21.
Most importantly, the new translations demonstrate something previous editors had overlooked: Nesmin had died prematurely, so that his parents, represented on his statues, buried him and commissioned his posthumous private statues. By comparing these monuments with another statue of Nesmin from the Karnak Cachette – previously unpublished – one can establish a relative chronology for his private statuary.
The striding, tonsured effigy (JE 38025) captured Nesmin while still an aspiring young priest, whereas his gloomier, idealizing cuboid statues (WAM 22.183, Linköping 102) place him among the blessed dead of Thebes.
"Schließlich brauchen sie uns nicht mehr, die Früheentrückten,
man entwöhnt sich des Irdischen sanft, wie man den Brüsten
milde der Mutter entwächst. Aber wir, die so große
Geheimnisse brauchen, denen aus Trauer so oft
seliger Fortschritt entspringt –: könnten wir sein ohne sie?"
– Rilke, Erste Duineser Elegie
Appears in BIFAO 114/2 (2014), pp. 291-338.
To visit the open access book, visit: https://bookdown.org/shemanefer/Esna6/
To visit the open access book, visit: https://bookdown.org/shemanefer/Esna4/
To visit the open access book, visit: https://bookdown.org/shemanefer/Esna3/
To visit the open access book, visit: https://bookdown.org/shemanefer/Esna2/
This book surveys epigraphic and archaeological evidence for temple construction and renovation throughout the Theban nome during the Roman Period, studying the new inscriptions within their ritual and theological contexts. It also contains the first comprehensive treatment of the greater Theban Pantheon during the Graeco-Roman era, cataloguing over fifty local divinities and establishing their roles in various cosmogonies and mythological traditions. The concluding chapter reconstructs the religious life of the district, tracking annual festival processions which united the multiple temples and their communities.
In 2007, Kendall excavated a hypostyle hall originally supported by four columns (B 1213). The capitals were topped with ram heads bearing sundisks with uraei – typical for Amun of Napata. The midsections of the four columns were each decorated with six goddesses (totaling 24), all carrying the year sign (rnp.t). Each year-goddess bears specific names, just like the Egyptian hours. They promise Aspelta typical royal benefits: i.e. enemies will fear him and he will remain on his throne forever.
In addition, at least one column bears a more lengthy apotropaic text, only fragmentarily preserved. Remarkably, this is the only monumental version of a rare formula, attested otherwise only in three magical papyri of the New Kingdom. The first two (pLeiden I 346, pCairo 86637) relate to the dangerous epagomenal days, offering protection from emissaries of Bastet-Sakhmet during the New Year; the third (pLeiden I 347), is an invocation to Horus-imy-shenut to guard against punishments. The architectural and ritual contexts thus reveal the function of this room: namely, confirming Aspelta’s royal legitimacy and divine protection during the transition to the New Year.
Previous studies of the writing system have focused heavily on the individual signs, finding logical derivations for the new phonetic values, most recently Dieter Kurth’s A Ptolemaic Sign-List (2010). Much less attention has been paid to the full orthographies of each word, which consisted of combinations of phonetic and ideographic signs (“ determinatives” or “classifiers”). In the notoriously difficult script of Esna, for example, most of the graphic variation occurs solely on the phonetic level. Namely, unconventional hieroglyphs are used to represent some of the consonants, but the traditional semantic elements (determinatives) remain the same. Furthermore, there are different orders of complexity within this system: most often, only one of the consonants is represented with an atypical sign, so that the word can be easily recognized by the other conventional elements of the word. In rare instances, such as the ram and crocodile hymns, all of the phonetic elements have been substituted, so the word can only be identified through the broader context.
Starting from the assumption that these inscriptions were intended to be legible, I will highlight various examples of such inner-textual clues which guide attentive readers to the correct translation. Such functional techniques include: repetition (notably of divine name or epithets), signaling (i.e. introducing a particular cryptographic pattern –– essentially laying out the rules of the game –– in the easily recognizable, formulaic incipit of a text), and bookending (inserting highly complex spellings of a word between conventional orthographies).
The first object, a cuboid statue from the early Ptolemaic Period (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 48.24.8), rivals contemporaneous monuments from the Karnak Cachette, and once belonged to William Randolph Hearst. It represents Ser-Djehuty, who in addition to administrative and sacerdotal duties, held the unique title of “Overseer of Craftsmen in the Temple Studio,” and identified himself as a sculptor of divine images. His artistic resumé explains the exceptional quality of his own statues, which may have served as models for other private monuments from the Karnak Cachette.
One monument actually from the Karnak Cachette, currently in the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, contains an interesting speech to Amun, in which the dedicant claims to have disciplined misbehaving clergy.
A third cuboid statue was once kept in the Kestner Museum Hannover, but disappeared in the chaos following World War II. The statue owner held several important Theban titles, but was also a “priest of Seth.” At this late date, open veneration of the god of chaos within the Nile Valley is exceptional.
Despite its small stature and daunting texts, the object is unexpectedly significant from a historical perspective. The isolated erasure and subsequent restoration of the divine name “Amun” in the offering text clearly shows that the object predates the Amarna period, and art historical considerations suggest a date late in the reign of Amenhotep III, or at the very latest, early Amenhotep IV. Yet the cryptographic inscriptions report that the statue owner was a “Deputy of Wawat” (unrecognized by Drioton) charged with administering gold-mining operations in Lower Nubia, the earliest attestation of this office. This prominent official might be identical with the future Viceroy of Kush who served under Akhenaten, but the proper interpretation of his name is uncertain.
The careful mutilation of Amun’s name and image – but not the Nubian god Dedwen – from a cryptographic private statuette as far south as Semna, demonstrates the relentless assiduity of the Atenist agents, as well as the limitations in their execution. The early attestation of the Deputy of Wawat provides further evidence for Amenhotep III’s administration of Nubia and the Eastern Desert. Finally, the text on the back pillar sheds surprising new light on the so-called “Saite Formula.”