Chapter XIII 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:—
‘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:—
Image not available: 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 Image not available: 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: Image not available: hieroglyph ‘M...... comes......’
88. Wooden stela of the Image not available: hieroglyph Image not available: 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:—
‘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:—
‘(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] servant59 desires. Mayest thou be justified before (3) the Spirits60 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 ill62 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 Image not available: hieroglyph), and rm, ‘fish’ (Coptic, Boh. Image not available: hieroglyph): 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.
Image not available: hieroglyph63
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.
Image not available: hieroglyph64
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.