Millions

of
Jubilees
Millions
of
Jubilees
Studies in Honor of David P. Silverman

Volume 1

Edited by
Zahi Hawass
Jennifer Houser Wegner

PUBLICATIONS DU CONSEIL SUPRME DES ANTIQUITS DE L'GYPTIE

 Conseil Suprme Des Antiquits De L'gyptie, Le Caire, 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Imprimerie du Conseil Suprme des Antiquites

 Contents

Volume 1
Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

David P. Silverman xiii

Essays

Matthew Douglas Adams, The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty:

Contextualizing Object and Individual in the Funerary
Landscape at Abydos 1

James P. Allen, The Original Owner of Tutankhamuns

Canopic Coffins 27
 Contents

Dieter Arnold, A Boat Ritual of King Mentuhotep Nebhepetra 43

Rachel Aronin, Sitting among the Great Gods: Denoting Divinity

in the Papyrus of Nu 49

Nathalie Beaux, Arc-en-ciel, apparition et couronnement

propos du signe N 28 61

Patricia A. Bochi, Figuring the Dead: the Ancestor Busts and the
Embodied Transition 69

Edda Bresciani, Un conteneur lithique en forme de navicella decor

avec lotus et motifs de la navigation celeste 81

Edward Brovarski, The Date of Metjetji 85

Denise Doxey, The Military Officer Pamerihu: an Unpublished

Relief in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 141

Paul John Frandsen, Durkheims dichotomy sacred: profane and

the Egyptian category bwt 149

Ed Gyllenhaal, From Parlor to Castle: The Egyptian Collection at

Glencairn Museum 175

Zahi Hawass, Five Old Kingdom Sphinxes Found at Saqqara 205

Jane A. Hill, Window between Worlds: The Ankh as a Dominant

Theme in Five Middle Kingdom Mortuary Monuments 227

vi
 Mi l l i o n s o f Ju b i l e e s

Salima Ikram, A Plaster Head in Cairo 249

Janice Kamrin, with Elina Nuutinen and Amina El Baroudi,

Getting Tutankhamuns Number 253

Arielle P. Kozloff, Chips off the Old Block: Amenhotep IVs

Sandstone Colossi, Re-Cut from Statues of Amenhotep III 279

Ronald J. Leprohon, Sinuhes Speeches 295

Barbara S. Lesko, Divine Interest in Humans in Ancient Egypt 305

Kate Liszka, Medjay (no. 188) in the Onomasticon of Amenemope 315

Ulrich Luft, Die Stele des n-nfr in Deir el-Bersha und ihr
Verhltnis zur Chronologie des Neuen Reiches 333

Dawn McCormack, Establishing the Legitimacy of Kings in Dynasty

Thirteen 375

Antonio J. Morales, Threats and warnings to future kings: The

inscription of Seti I at Kanais (Wadi Mia) 387

Ellen F. Morris, Opportunism in Contested Lands, B.C. and A.D.

Or How Abdi-Ashirta, Aziru, and Padsha Khan Zadran
Got Away with Murder 413

Brian Muhs, A Demotic Donation Contract from Early Ptolemaic

Thebes (P. Louvre N. 3263) 439

vii
 Contents

Volume 2
Tracy Musacchio, An Unpublished Stela from Dendera dating to the
Eleventh Dynasty 1

M. G. Nelson-Hurst, who causes his name to live the vivification

formula through the Second Intermediate Period 13

Del Nord, Under the Chair: A Problem in Egyptian Perspective 33

David OConnor, The Kings Palace at Malkata and the Purpose

of the Royal Harem 55

Stephen R. Phillips, The Splitting Headache: A Case of Interpersonal

Violence in a Graeco-Roman Era Human Cranium from
Meydm, Egypt 81

Nicholas S. Picardo, (Ad)dressing Washptah: Illness or Injury in the

Viziers Death, as Related in His Tomb Biography 93

Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner, The Construction Accounts from the Portal

Temple of Ramesses II in North Abydos 105

Donald B. Redford, The False-Door of Nefer-shu-ba from Mendes 123

Janet Richards, Honoring the ancestors at Abydos: the Middle

Kingdom in the Middle Cemetery 137

Robert K. Ritner, Two Third Intermediate Period Books of the

Dead: P. Houston 31.72 and P. Brooklyn 37.1801E 167

viii
 Mi l l i o n s o f Ju b i l e e s

Joshua Aaron Roberson, Observations on the so-called sw sDm=f,

or Middle Egyptian Proclitic Pronoun Construction 185

Gay Robins, The Small Golden Shrine of Tutankhamun:

An Interpretation 207

Carolyn Routledge, Akhenatens Rejection of the Title nb irt-xt 233

Cynthia May Sheikholeslami, An Intriguing Faience Fragment:

UCL 38096 245

JJ Shirley, One Tomb, Two Owners: Theban Tomb 122 Re-Use

or Planned Family Tomb? 271

Emily Teeter, Egypt in Chicago: A Story of Three Collections 303

Pascal Vernus, Du moyen gyptien au no-gyptien, de m m-jr :

lauxiliation de limpratif la dix-huitime dynastie 315

Jennifer Houser Wegner, A Fragmentary Demotic Cosmology

in the Penn Museum 337

Josef W. Wegner, A Group of Miniature Royal Sarcophagi

from South Abydos 351

Christiane Ziegler, Note sur une peinture thbaine (TT 145) 379

ix
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty:
Contextualizing Object and Individual in the
Funerary Landscape at Abydos

Matthew Douglas Adams

Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

F unerary or votive stelae carved in stone, particularly those of the Middle Kingdom, represent
one of the most well-known and highly studied categories of ancient Egyptian material cul-
ture.1 They are important components in the Egyptian collections of major museums through-
out the world. Simpson notes the likelihood that casual museum visitors would interpret them
as simple gravestones.2 So far removed in space and time as they are now from their original
setting, it is useful to consider how these objects fit into their original contexts and what mean-
ing they may have derived from that context. The discovery at Abydos of a Middle Kingdom
funerary stela still in situ in its offering chapel in the North Cemetery field represents an oppor-
tunity to consider these issues.
The site of Abydos figures prominently in any consideration of Middle Kingdom stelae,
since so many examples are known or suspected to have come from there. Unfortunately, for
most we have either no, or only the vaguest, indication of their provenience at Abydos, due to
the circumstances of their acquisition. The north Abydos cemetery fields appear to have been
the focus of extensive but largely undocumented efforts of early diplomat-collectors dAthanasi
and Anastasi, whose collections were auctioned between 1820 and 1857 and came thereafter to
be divided among various major European collections.3 When Auguste Mariette, as director of
the Service des Antiquits de lgypte, ended the uncontrolled looting of the site, it became the
locus of his own large-scale acquisition efforts, aimed at producing objects to fill his new antiqui-
ties museum in Cairo. Even a cursory perusal of his Catalogue Gnral4 provides some indica-
tion of the large quantity of stelae recovered during his work at the site. Those from the period
between the Old and New Kingdoms represent the single most numerous category of object
in the Catalogue, their descriptions accounting for 278 of its nearly 600 pages. The Middle
Kingdom stelae found by Mariette at Abydos now comprise a major component of the collec-
tion of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.5 With Mariettes work, notations as to find spots are
very general at best, e.g., northern cemeterynortheastern zone, middle cemeterynorthern

1
Fig. 1: Map of North Abydos.
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

Fig. 2: Excavation unit Operation 66, looking north. The chapel of Nakht is near the northeast (up-
per right) corner of the unit.

slope, etc., and details such as whether a given stela was found in or in association with a tomb
or offering chapel are rare.
In his pioneering study Simpson argued that an understanding of Middle Kingdom stelae
from Abydos should begin with the proposition that they were components, first and foremost,
of chapels built by or for individuals or a group of individuals. These chapels were a means by
which these persons could establish and benefit from an eternal association with the mysteries
of the local deities, at such time as they are celebrated, and a share of the offerings then made
after they have been used by the gods.6 Simpson aimed to gain a greater understanding of the
stelae through reconstructing assemblages of now dispersed objects that originally belonged to
the same individual or family, groupings he termed Abydos North Offering Chapels, or ANOCs,
which he proposes once were physically grouped together on the ground at Abydos.7 David
OConnors excavations of the cenotaph chapels at Abydos revealed one important context from
which Simpsons ANOC groups and other stelae from Abydos may have originated.8
A discovery made at Abydos during excavations in 2002 under the field direction of the
author represents another context for Middle Kingdom stelae at Abydos.9 A modest mudbrick
offering chapel was found near the denuded remains of the northwest wall of a structure termed
by Petrie the Western Mastaba (Figures 1, 2).10 When the interior of the chapel, which was

3
 Adams

Fig. 3: Nakhts mudbrick chapel.

filled with wind-blown sand, was excavated, it was found to contain a small limestone stela still
in situ (Figure 3). The stela (field no. ANC1154311) could be identified as belonging to a man
called Nakht.
The stela consisted of a single piece of rather fine-grained white limestone, but when found it
was immediately obvious that it was in rather poor condition (Figure 4). The stone was riddled
with cracks. The surface was discolored and was badly affected by salt crystals, with some areas
delaminating and in danger of falling off, while others had already been lost. Powdery salt
deposits obscured parts of the decoration. It was clear that significant conservation efforts would
be required if the stela were to be preserved at all, let alone stabilized sufficiently that it could be
removed from its chapel for reasons of security and for further study.
Before any conservation intervention, the stela was photographed and the visible portions of
the decoration were drawn. Project conservators Sanchita Balachandran and Deborah Schorsch
then undertook extensive in situ consolidation, which resulted in the successful removal of the
stela from its chapel. Once in the conservation lab the stela underwent further conservation
treatment, with the results that the extensive internal cracks were stabilized, the stela was thor-
oughly cleaned and obscuring salts and dirt removed from the decorated surface, and delami-
nating pieces were reattached. The stela after conservation treatment is illustrated in Figures 5
and 6.

4
Fig. 4: Nakhts stela as discovered, badly cracked and heavily affected with salt deposits.
Fig. 5: Nakhts stela after conservation treatment.
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

The sides and back of the stela are quite roughly finished, and only one side was smoothed
in preparation for decoration. The decorated area is bordered by an incised line that defines the
shape of a typical round-top stela, although the actual top of this example remains quite rough.
Inside the border the upper part of the decoration consists of three lines of hieroglyphic text sepa-
rated by lines. Above the first line of text but within the border is a hemi-lenticular-shaped space
without any visible traces of decoration. Below the main text is a single scene, with the standing
figure of the deceased on the left and a laden offering table on the right. The three lines of text
above can be seen to continue directly with the additional text below. It can be read as follows:

Line 1. Htp dj nswt Wsr nb +d(w) An offering that the king gives, and [or of ] Osiris,
Lord of Busiris,
2. #nty-jmntjw nTr aA Khenty-amentiu, the Great God,
3. nb AbDw dj.f prt xrw t Hnqt kAw Lord of Abydos, that he [sic] might give an invoca-
Apdw Ss mnxt tion offering of bread, beer, cattle, fowl, alabaster,
and linen
4. n jmAx(j) Hs.w for the honored one, the singer
5. Nxt Nakht
6. Ms n Nmtj born to Nemti

The inscription represents a typical funerary offering formula, and the combination of fea-
tures of the formula suggests that the stela can be dated to the Twelfth Dynasty. The sequence
of nswt + Htp + dj is the usual writing before the New Kingdom,12 and the combination of the
titles of Osiris, nb +d(w) #nty-jmntjw nTr aA nb AbDw appears most commonly in the earlier
part of the Twelfth Dynasty.13 In addition, the phrase following the offering request, n jmAx(j),
written without the intervening words kA n, similarly supports a date in the early Twelfth
Dynasty.14
The iconography and style of the scene on the stela also support a date in the earlier part of
the Twelfth Dynasty. A number of features correspond with those characterizing a group of ste-
lae from Abydos that have been identified by Freed as being the products of a single workshop.15
With respect to the figure of the deceased, the elongated shape of the head, which is covered by
a cap wig, the indications of belly fat, and the figures pendulous breast all parallel depictions of
males in Freeds Workshop No. 9. Elongated Skull group. In addition, the divided foot of the
offering table and the somewhat awkward arrangement of the offerings above also are features
cited by Freed as characterizing this group of stelae, which she places in the reigns of Senwosret
I and Amenemhat II of the Twelfth Dynasty.
With a date relatively certain and its temporal context thus established, a number of aspects
of the function and context of the stela may be considered, with reference to some of what is
known of the social and cultural processes characterizing that period. These include: the stela
itself; its immediate architectural context in an offering chapel; its likely association with the
adjacent shaft tombs and neighboring chapels; its relationship to the larger ritual context of
Abydos; and, finally, its position in the Abydene sacred landscape, with its mythic/historical
associations.
As an object, irrespective of its architectural setting, Nakhts stela was intended to serve to
ensure his continued existence in the afterlife. The presence of Nakhts name and image both

7
 Adams

defined his identity and represented a means of its survival. The offering formula represented
a guarantee of his being provisioned in perpetuity, a point reiterated and reinforced by the
representation of offerings in the scene below. Such formulae refer invariably to the theoreti-
cal source of all offerings to the gods, namely, the king, and then invoke one or more deities,
whose cults were the recipients of said offerings. After the gods needs had been met, then the
offerings could be used for the benefit of individuals via their stelae, offering tables, and statues,
in a process termed the reversion of offerings.16 As observed by Simpson, the invocation in
the offering formula of Osiris Khenty-amentiu, ruler of the netherworld and god of Abydos,
established a link, eternalized in writing in stone, between the individual Nakht and the gods
cult, and ensured that he would benefit from the flow of offerings generated by it. As long as it
survived, the stela would have served these functions irrespective of its physical location.
Nakhts stela provides some indication of his place in society, which would appear to be
in the middle ranks, neither of the highest status nor the lowest. Although of modest size, its
decoration was executed with some care, possibly the product of or at least influenced by one of
the workshops identified by Freed. His occupational title, Hs.w, singer, is without specifier, so
it is not possible to know the context in which he functioned in this capacity. Since singers are
attested from the Old Kingdom onward attached to temples and other major institutions, as well
as with elite households and funerary estates, he may have had some institutional affiliation.17
Since a, perhaps the, major institution in the town was the temple of Osiris, it is certainly pos-
sible that Nakht was part of the temples staff, a participant in the ritual that was at the core of
the temples operation.
One remarkable example of a Middle Kingdom singer is known from two stelae from
Abydos. A man with the title Hs.w named Neferhotep is depicted playing a harp and singing
before an official, the Overseer of Priests Iki, and his wife.18 Some of the words of his song
are given, O this tomb (js)! You were built for festivity, you were planned for happiness!19
This singer Neferhotep also appears on a more modest stela of his own, which may have been
originally positioned in or near Ikis chapel.20 His appearance on Ikis stela, on which various
members of the officials family are also depicted, as well as the likely association of his stela
with that of Iki, suggests that Neferhotep may have been associated in some significant way
with Ikis household or funerary estate, perhaps as an employee or dependent. His subordinate
status relative to Iki seems clear. His status is further illuminated by the title of the person who
dedicated the stela for Neferhotep, the carrier of bricks, Nebsumenu. Ward and Parkinson have
taken the title of this individual along with the unusual occurrence of the name and title of the
person who carved the stela, the draughtsman Sonebau, and the highly unusual way in which
he is depicted as evidence that these two friends of quite modest standing and means undertook
to provide Neferhotep with commemoration at Abydos, a testament both to the esteem in which
he was held by them and to his own humble position.
From the example of Neferhotep, it is evident that singer is hardly a high-status position,
but neither is it likely to have been among the lowest ranks of society. Neferhotep was associ-
ated with and valued by a relatively high-level official, Iki, and is represented along with Ikis
family members on his funerary stela, and Neferhotep ended up with a funerary stela of his
own, even if it was provided for him by his friends, that provided for a permanent presence in
the funerary and ritual landscape of Abydos. As a singer Neferhotep would appear to belong,
following Bourriaus characterization, among the elusive middle ranks between literate official
and illiterate farmer,21 ranks that included individuals with only modest titles, those only termed
townsmen, and those with no titles at all but who still had access to written monuments.22 As

8
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

a member of this segment of society, Nakht had the means of commissioning a stela, and one of
a certain, but not the best, quality. He could erect a modest but still substantially constructed
chapel to house it. Like Neferhotep, Nakht had access to a written death, something that
in earlier periods had been exclusive to the elite.23 In this regard Nakht was a participant in
and beneficiary of a significant social transformation, in which during the later Old Kingdom,
through the First Intermediate Period, and into the Middle Kingdom, ever broader segments of
society gained access not only to the written death that a stela represented, but also to the direct
connection with the ritual life of Abydos it provided.24
Nakhts stela was not created to stand as an object alone, however. The emplacement of the
stela in a chapel in the north Abydos cemetery fields positioned it in a context that was not only
part of a physical landscape, but one that was at the same time imbued with social, ritual, and
mythic resonance.
The most immediate aspect of the stelas physical context was its chapel, which in a sense
was the means by which it was situated in the Abydene landscape. The chapel, rectangular in
plan, approximately 105 cm wide x 90 cm deep, and, as preserved, around 80 cm. high, was
constructed of mudbrick (Figure 3, above). It consisted of walls on three sides that enclosed a
small interior chamber, into the rear wall of which the stela was set. The stela stood on a separate
flat-topped limestone slab set into the chamber floor at the back. The spaces on either side of
the stela had been chinked with a number of stone cobbles, after which it was cemented in place
with a thick application of mud plaster, which covered the stelas rough sides, leaving only the
finished decorated surface exposed (Figure 4, above).
The chapel walls were constructed with a noticeable exterior batter. In the middle of the
local north wall was a small window-like opening (Figure 7).25 The original finished top of
the chapel was missing, having been lost in part through wind erosion, although enough was
preserved to show that the chamber had been roofed by a simple vault created by bricks set on
a diagonal, such that their tops met over the chapels interior. Given the missing portion of
the upper part of the structure, the original configuration of the exterior top, i.e., whether it
was flat or convex, both being attested forms, is uncertain. The floor of the chapel chamber
was paved with a smoothed mud plaster, which also coated the walls both inside and out. No
traces of a finish coat of whitewash, if it ever had been applied, were preserved. At the front of
the chapel proper was a miniature courtyard, which was defined by a low exterior wall of only
two courses of brick, with exterior dimensions of approximately 50 x 105 cm. The floor of the
court, which was also paved in mud plaster, was slightly lower than the floor of the chamber,
which was separated from it by a low mud curb that spanned the chamber opening. The stela
and chapel faced local east, the direction of the temple of Osiris as well as of the town populated
by the living inhabitants of Abydos.
Chapels built in brick to house a stela or stelae, or sometimes statues, are attested from a
number of areas in north Abydos. Perhaps the best-known and most widely discussed are the so-
called cenotaph chapels of the Middle Kingdom excavated by David OConnor in the 1960s.26
They have been interpreted as comprising part of a wider votive zone stretching along the edge
of the escarpment of the low desert terrace overlooking the temple and town, and fronting the
route likely taken by the festival procession of Osiris on its way from the gods temple to the early
royal tombs at Umm el-Qaab.27 The Middle Kingdom chapels in this area were not associated
with burials, and the stelae that the chapels were constructed to house were intended to allow
the dedicators to participate in and benefit from the rituals of the Osiris cult and its festival.
The range of variability exhibited in both the chapels in the votive zone and the stelae known

9
Fig. 6: Drawing of ANC11543, Nakhts stela. Drawing by Holly Barratt Anderson.
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

Fig. 7: A small window-like opening in the northwest (local north) wall of Nakhts chapel.

or likely to have come from there attests to the very wide socio-economic diversity amongst the
individuals privileged to be commemorated in this sacred area.28
By the Middle Kingdom the wish to be associated with the cult of Osiris became a regular
theme in funerary stelae from a number of sites in Egypt, not just those from Abydos. It is
expressed in the so-called Abydos formula, a set of standardized funerary requests, the develop-
ment of which is probably to be related to the formalization and increasing national prominence
of the cult of Osiris in the Middle Kingdom.29 The specific connection between the wish to
be associated with the cult and festival procession of Osiris and the physical construction of a
chapel at Abydos is expressed textually in the so-called maHat-consecration formulae.30 Simpson
cites a number of examples attested as having come from Abydos in which individuals refer to
the construction of a maHat at the site for the express purpose of receiving offerings and other
benefits generated by the gods cult. He interprets the word as referring to some type of build-
ing, most specifically, though not exclusively, to a memorial or offering chapel.31 One stela,
CG20733, explicitly states that the maHat was constructed in brick.32 The repeated maHat refer-
ences suggest that the word refers to a built feature closely associated with stelae, and the most
likely archaeologically attested candidate is the very type of mudbrick chapel built specifically
to house them.
In addition to those excavated in the votive zone on the desert escarpment overlooking the
town and temple, mudbrick chapels are also attested from the expansive cemetery fields of north

11
 Adams

Fig. 8: Plan of Peets Cemetery S (Peet, Cemeteries II, Figure 8). Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Abydos. Peets excavations in his Cemetery S, located a short distance northeast of Nakhts
chapel, revealed a significant number of mudbrick chapels of a range of sizes (Figure 8). Like
those excavated by OConnor, these structures were intended to house stelae, and one, Peets
Mastaba H, was found with the lower part of its stela still in place, along with an offering
table.33 Unlike those in the votive zone, however, these chapels were associated with shaft tombs
containing burials. Each chapel was associated with a number of shafts, which could be situated
on either the local north or south of the chapel. Peet notes that, although sometimes shafts had
chambers on both the north and south sides, when a shaft had one chamber only, it was usually
located under the associated chapel.34
Additional remains from the Middle Kingdom have been found in more recent excavations
in the North Cemetery at Abydos. One group of recently excavated chapels are located just
northeast of the remains of the main funerary enclosure of king Aha of the First Dynasty and are
shown in Figures 9 and 10.35 They exhibit a considerable range of sizes, and some are clustered,
with smaller chapels grouped around and probably in association with larger ones. Sets of mul-
tiple tomb shafts appear to be associated with the clusters. The general pattern is quite similar
to that observed by Peet in Cemetery S and by Richards in her 1988 excavations north, east,

12
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

Fig. 9: Middle Kingdom chapels and shaft tombs near the main funerary cult enclosure of king Aha.

and south of the Shunet el-Zebib, the still-standing funerary enclosure of king Khasekhemwy of
the Second Dynasty.36 It seems clear that in the Middle Kingdom clusters of chapels and shaft
tombs were distributed across a wide area of the low desert terrace west of the ancient town and
temple. The chapel of Nakht was part and parcel of this broader pattern.
Although today virtually all the Middle Kingdom chapels in the cemetery fields at Abydos
are found empty, it is important to keep in mind that they, like those in the votive zone, were
constructed specifically to house stelae, or sometimes perhaps statues, or both. The stelae these
chapels contained, like that of Nakht, identified an individual or individuals and stated a con-
nection to the broader ritual context. Through the use of standard offering formulae, through
depictions of offerings received, they connected the person or persons to the cult of Osiris and
the offering stream it generated. This was materialized through the maHat, the chapel, which
physically situated the individual in the ritual landscape of Abydos, such that they would be in
a position to receive the benefits expressed on the stelae. In this sense these chapels were partly
votive in nature, the equivalent of the chapels in the votive zone. The chapels in the cemetery
fields, however, also positioned individuals in a particular dimension of the landscape at Abydos,
the funerary landscape, which represented both a sort of counterpart to and an extension of the
community of the living at Abydos. The deceased inhabitants of Abydos were integrated into
the ongoing ritual cycle of the Osiris cult, no doubt something in which the living population
of Abydos also took part. In this sense the living and the dead were joined as two parts of a

13
 Adams

Fig. 10: Plan of the Middle Kingdom chapels and shaft tombs near Ahas main enclosure.

single ritual community.

An additional aspect of connectivity between Nakhts chapel and stela, on the one hand,
and the world of the living, on the other, is to be seen in its function as the focal point for his
funerary cult. A high status individual such as the provincial governor Hapy-djefai37 could set
up income generating endowments to support his mortuary cult and the personnel who were
responsible for maintaining it.38 As Richards has suggested, it is likely that for the non-elite

14
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

children and descendants assumed this responsibility,39 and individuals identified as a son or
brother are frequently depicted on stelae presenting offerings to the deceased. Groups of chil-
dren, other family members, and other individuals connected with the individuals household
or estate are also frequently depicted on Middle Kingdom stelae and are sometimes shown
bringing offerings to the deceased, implying a corporate connection with and responsibility for
the mortuary cult. That some ritual attention was focused on Nakhts chapel is demonstrated
by a deposit of rough ceramic offering vessels found beside it. The interior chamber of Peets
Mastaba N contained a large deposit of these vessels,40 and they have been frequently found
in association with chapels in more recent excavations. It is not entirely certain whether the
small group of vessels beside Nakhts chapel represents a single depositional episode, although
this seems likely, and whether this took place at the time of his burial or was the last of a series
of offering deposits, with the remains of earlier episodes having been removed either for reuse
or for discard elsewhere. Votive activity focused on the tombs of high officials of the late Old
Kingdom continued for many generations after the original burials,41 and can be seen as evi-
dence for the maintenance on the part of the local population of the memory of, and a sense of
connection to, important ancestors.
The connection between the funerary landscape and the social dynamics of the living com-
munity at Abydos would have been reinforced by the degree to which investment in a material
presence in the funerary landscape represented an avenue for the expression of status on the part
of the living. The variability in Middle Kingdom funerary construction in the North Cemetery
is considerable. The chapel represented only one of a number of dimensions of variability in
mortuary behavior, but one in which a significant range of investment in materials and labor
can be observed. The largest of the chapels excavated by Peet was his Mastaba N, 5.25 x 5.17m
in plan, with a whitewashed interior chamber, of 1.5 x 1.45m. Some of the larger examples
had small forecourts in front of the chapel entrance. Larger chapels could be enhanced with
inscribed doorjambs or other stone elements. At the other end of the range were Peets min-
iature mastabas, each less than one meter square. A similar range in chapel construction can
be seen in the features excavated by Richards42 and by the author, as can be clearly observed in
Figures 9 and 10, above.
The range of variation in Middle Kingdom chapel construction at Abydos is paralleled in
the size and quality of stelae from the site. Large and finely carved stelae of high-status individu-
als with a number of official titles connecting them to state and institutional administration fall
at the top end, while at the other are small stelae sometimes with crudely incised inscriptions
and scenes43 or lacking representations entirely and with only offering formulae in ink,44 some-
times naming individuals lacking titles of any kind. The variability in both chapels and stelae
testify to the range of segments of society at this time with both the means and access to have a
built and written presence in the funerary and cultic landscape of Abydos.
A point of emphasis can perhaps be considered here. Although both Simpson45 and
OConnor46 have observed that stelae recovered during Mariettes work, as well as those derived
from earlier uncontrolled excavations, almost certainly came from both chapels associated
with tombs and those built in the votive zone overlooking the temple and town, this point
is sometimes overlooked in discussions of Middle Kingdom stelae from Abydos. Given the
sheer expanse of Middle Kingdom funerary construction in the North Cemetery at Abydos,
compared to the densely built up but apparently much more restricted votive zone, it is likely
that there may once have been significantly more stelae set up in chapels associated with tombs
than in the votive zone. It is presently not possible to know which Abydos stelae derived from

15
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Fig. 11: The denuded remains of another smaller chapel were found in front of that of Nakht. In
front of that chapel is a deposit of offering pottery.

a tomb chapel, as opposed to one in the votive zone, however, it is important to keep in mind
that a substantial proportion almost certainly did.
While modest, the chapel of Nakht is not at the low end of the range of known chapels at
Abydos. It is somewhat larger than Peets miniature mastabas, and considerably larger than
the smallest chapels revealed by Richards (e.g., that of Dedu) and more recent excavations.
Unlike many chapels in its general size range and smaller, that of Nakht was elaborated with a
small forecourt, a feature most frequently seen in larger chapels, in both the cemetery and votive
zone. It also possessed a small window-like opening Peet termed a loophole in its north wall,
a feature that might have been intended to allow the deceased to breathe the sweet north wind
mentioned in funerary inscriptions.47 Peet discusses this in relation only to his Mastaba N but
refers to them in the plural, and one has the impression that it was viewed by him as a standard
feature of the larger chapels he excavated.48 In incorporating these two features, forecourt and
loophole, into his chapel, Nakht may have been employing the architectural vocabulary of the
chapels of higher-status persons to enhance his own or to express aspirations upward.
A further sense of Nakhts place in the social fabric of Abydos can be gleaned from the
broader architectural and archaeological context of his chapel. Adjacent to the chapel on its
southeast side, and with which it almost certainly is associated, are the remains of a group of
brick-lined tomb shafts. The interiors of the shafts were not excavated in 2002, however the

16
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

basic configuration could be discerned from what was exposed. At least three contiguous rect-
angular shafts with brick-lined mouths were constructed as a single unit. The group is damaged
in its southwestern part, and the masonry in this area is missing, at least at the level reached
in 2002. In addition, the tops of the dividing walls between the shafts are not preserved and
are indicated only where they met the outer walls of the unit. An additional secondary shaft
had been added on the northeast side. On the southeast side of the original group of shafts
and physically attached to it are the remains of another chapel much larger than that of Nakht.
Although this was not fully excavated in 2002, it appears to be at least 3.5m on its northwest-
southeast axis (local north-south), and perhaps somewhat greater than this northeast-southwest
(local east-west). This chapel almost certainly is the original and primary one associated with
the three shaft group, while Nakhts was added later on the northwest side. To the northeast of
Nakhts chapel were the denuded remains of yet another smaller example (Figure 11), in front
of which was another deposit of offering pottery. This chapel is somewhat later than that of
Nakht, since at the time of its construction the forecourt of Nakhts chapel had become sanded
over, and the smaller chapel was built on this higher level. Nakhts chapel was built with its
northwest-southeast (local north-south) axis more or less centered on the northeasternmost of
the three shafts of the original group and is probably to be associated with it. Although without
excavation it is not possible to be certain, Nakhts chapel may be situated over a burial chamber
on the northwest side of this shaft. The smaller chapel may be associated with the secondary
shaft added on the northeast side of the original set.
The type of chapel and shaft grouping of which Nakhts was a part is widely attested in the
Abydos North Cemetery for the Middle Kingdom. Peets Cemetery S was characterized by
such groups, and a number have been exposed in more recent excavations in other areas. What
may the social significance of such groupings have been? Richards has suggested that they may
represent family tombs, and this seems likely. Family relationships are frequently represented in
Middle Kingdom stelae from Abydos.49 Senior figures are depicted at the largest scale and as the
focus of the mortuary cult on stelae, with other family members usually on a smaller scale and in
subsidiary positions. Simpsons ANOC groupings are based on the same kinds of relationships,
which are also reflected in the clustering of smaller chapels around larger ones in the Abydos
North Cemetery. The chapel of Nakht positions him in the funerary landscape as part of just
such a grouping. He appears to have been a subordinate figure to the person for whom the large
chapel to the southeast was built, but he has his own chapel and stela. He may have been senior
in some fashion to the person represented by the smaller chapel next to his. He is represented as
both an individual and as part of a social unit, itself represented materially by the entirety of the
grouping of architectural and archaeological features, the chapels with their stelae, the individu-
als represented on the stelae, the shaft tombs, and the burials they once contained.
While significant social units were no doubt closely related to architectural expression in the
houses in the nearby town, the funerary landscape may also have been an arena in which family
groups engaged in self representation and definition. Building a social unit into the funerary
and ritual landscape of Abydos by means of groups of shaft tombs and offering chapels extended
the definition of what such a unit was in the same way that depictions of family groups on stelae
did. The significance of the relationships represented in these ways was not limited to the social
and economic sphere of this world, but had a larger deeper reality, one that continued to have
meaning in the eternal world of the dead. In addition, not just individuals, but also the social
groups of which they were members and which were represented in the built environment of
the North Cemetery, claimed and benefitted from the association with the ritual cycle of the

17
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temple and the great festival of the god that came from the offering formulae on the stelae and
being situated in the north Abydos landscape.
The extensive tomb and chapel building in the North Cemetery at Abydos during the
Middle Kingdom was done in a setting that without doubt had a cultural significance greater
than simply being the location of the towns cemetery and near the temple of Osiris. This part
of the site was probably viewed as highly sacred ground, and Middle Kingdom activity in it
represents not only a dramatic physical transformation of the landscape, but also a profound
shift in meaning.
Prior to the Middle Kingdom, use of the low desert terrace northwest (local north) of the
shallow wadi that connects the ancient town with the site of the First and Second Dynasty royal
tombs at Umm el-Qaab appears to have been exclusively royal. It was the location of the series
of cultic enclosures that represented the visible monumental components of each kings two-part
funerary complex at the site, part of a program of royal monopolization of the desert landscape
as a stage, one in which the kings created the material mechanisms by which they were to be
translated from this world to the next, i.e., their funerary complexes, and which also represented
a statement of the singular position and power of the king.50 All but one of these enclosures
appear to have been demolished after only a short period of use, probably at the close of each
kings reign, and in the Middle Kingdom only the enclosure of king Khasekhemwy, known
today as the Shunet el-Zebib, still stood as a major feature in the landscape. In this respect, the
general appearance of the North Cemetery at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom would
not have been fundamentally different than what a visitor to the site sees today: a single huge
ancient structure dominating an otherwise empty desert plain (Figure 12).
In the early Old Kingdom the main cemetery appears to have been at the desert edge
northwest of the town, in Peets Cemetery D, some 300 meters from the area of the early royal
enclosures and at a somewhat lower elevation.51 In the later Old Kingdom the focus shifted
to the local south, on the southern side of the wadi in the Middle Cemetery.52 The entire vast
expanse of desert terrace to the local west of the town, dominated by the Shunet el-Zebib and in
which the other royal enclosures had been built, appears to have been assiduously avoided for
nearly seven centuries, between the end of the Second Dynasty and some time in the Eleventh.
It is likely that this pattern of avoidance is related directly to the early royal activity at the site.
The area may have been defined as inaccessible specifically by virtue of its earlier use by the kings
of the First and Second Dynasties.53 Even though after the Early Dynastic period the royal enclo-
sures, with the exception of that of Khasekhemwy, appear not to have any longer been standing
monuments, their one-time presence must have been remembered, or at least the knowledge that
this area was of great importance to the early kings retained, and this may have defined how the
area was viewed for many centuries. Khasekhemwys enclosure, still dominating the landscape as
it did, may have been understood to be a survivor from this earlier time and a signifier of the very
special character of the place, even if knowledge of its specific ownership had been lost. Once
the formerly off-limits district of the royal enclosures began to be used as a cemetery field in the
Middle Kingdom, a much reduced zone of avoidance appears to have been maintained, defined
by what was still directly observable from the early royal use of the area, namely the standing
walls of Khasekhemwys enclosure. Recent excavations at the monument have revealed that in
the Middle Kingdom shaft tombs were constructed and surface interments made up to the walls,
but they essentially did not intrude upon the enclosures footprint. The interior of the monument
appears to have remained virtually untouched for another thousand years.

18
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

Fig. 12: The cultic enclosure of Khasekhemwy, the Shunet el-Zebib, would have dominated the land-
scape of the North Cemetery of Abydos in the Middle Kingdom just as it does today.

Griffiths,54 Otto,55 and Wegner,56 among others, have argued for early close associations
between the god Osiris, conceptions of the royal afterlife, and Abydos as the burial place of the
early kings. That the Abydene desert landscape had undergone a process of mythicization by
the Middle Kingdom is confirmed in the pattern of Middle Kingdom activity at the royal tombs
at Umm el-Qaab, when the tomb of First Dynasty king Djer appears to have been identified as
the tomb of the god Osiris,57 and the district of the royal tombs generally was the destination
of the great festival procession celebrating the mysteries of the god, which climaxed in a reen-
actment of his resurrection. In this mythic transformation, in which the Egyptians recognized
a direct connection between the early royal mortuary activity at Abydos and the story and cult
of the god, this connection may have applied not only to the royal tombs, but to some degree
to the area of the enclosures also, as well as the broader desert setting in which they were both
situated and that connected them.
That longstanding restriction of access to this part of the Abydos landscape may have been
deliberate state policy is suggested by the later involvement of the state in the control of the use
of the site attested in the well known stela of Neferhotep of the Thirteenth Dynasty.58 In the
royal decree inscribed on the stela, the king expressly prohibits tomb building in a defined zone
of the site, almost certainly the wadi processional route, while explicitly permitting such activ-
ity outside this area. Both the sanctity of parts of the Abydos landscape and the degree of state
interest in protecting it through control of access to may be seen in the severity of the penalty
prescribed for transgressions: burning, which presumably would result in not only death but
also, in the absence of a preserved corpse, deprivation of an afterlife.

19
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The catalyst for the initiation of tomb building in the area of the royal enclosures is
unknown. However, once the prohibition of access was either officially relaxed or the area was
arrogated, both its former exclusivity and its likely mythic associations probably contributed to
its desirability as a place for burial.
The emphasis placed on particular parts of the Abydos landscape can be seen in topographi-
cal references that appear frequently in Middle Kingdom stelae from the site. The inscriptions
on many state that they were to be situated in a particular area termed rwd n nTr aA, the Terrace
of the Great God, and often include references to the district of great renown and the district
that provides offerings, among others.59 Further, it was specifically by virtue of having a monu-
ment in this place that the dedicators of the stelae could benefit from an association with the
cult of Osiris. Simpson suggests that the Terrace may be the edge of the desert escarpment that
was the location of the votive chapels excavated by OConnor and from which so many Middle
Kingdom stelae are likely to have come. Alternatively, as suggested by Kemp, it is possible that
the Terrace of the Great God may have been a rather more expansive component of the low
desert at Abydos, corresponding to most or all of what is today termed the North Cemetery.60
Stelae with references to the Terrace found in contexts outside the votive zone and in associa-
tion with tombs, such as the stela of Khu-Sobek found in Garstangs Cemetery E southwest
of the Shunet el-Zebib61 and that of Intef and Sentu-ankh found by Petrie in the remains of a
tomb northeast of the Shuneh, would support such an identification.62 That tombs, and not
only votive chapels, were constructed in the area designated the Terrace of the Great God is
also supported by the Eleventh Dynasty stela of one Nakhty, who states specifically that he made
this tomb (js) at the terrace of the august god63 and another that states I have come to
this tomb (js) at the terrace of the august god.64 If this broader definition of the area is
correct and encompasses the once off-limits district of the enclosures, it may be that the sacred
character of the Terrace of the Great God originated, at least in part, in the cultic use of the
area by the early kings.
Whether or not the specific part of the site designated the Terrace of the Great God
included or in some way referred to the area of the early royal enclosures, it seems clear that by
the Middle Kingdom much of the desert landscape in north Abydos was imbued with mythic
and cultic significance and that this was derived in part from the early history of the site. The
great festival procession of Osiris moved through this landscape, and episodes in the gods myth
were reenacted at particular points along the way. The north Abydos landscape was a mythic
arena, and having a chapel situated here, whether as part of a tomb complex, such as that of
Nakht, or as a votive construction only, positioned the dedicator as an actor, able to observe and
participate in the mythic events that took place in it.
The stela of Nakht, in its chapel, in its tomb group, in a desert landscape imbued with deep
cultic significance, represents an exemplar of funerary and votive practice in Middle Kingdom
Abydos. It likely had a range of covalent meanings. It both defined and represented the indi-
vidual in a variety of contexts. It was part of a broader assemblage that positioned him as part of
a social unit, probably a family group, and represented his status within that unit and in society
more generally. It was a point of contact between the world of the living and the world of the
dead. It situated Nakht, both as an individual and as a member of his social unit, a beneficiary
of the cult of Osiris. It stood in the shadow of the sole monument still standing in north Abydos
from the time of the early kings, one that had perhaps for many centuries marked as sacred the
ground on which Nakhts chapel was built, and it connected him to the myth of Osiris through
a landscape intimately associated with that myth.

20
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

Every Middle Kingdom stela from Abydos now part of museum collections around the
world once had a physical context at the site. They were set up in chapels either in the votive
zone along the desert edge or in the enormous cemetery field behind. The landscape would
have been full of hundreds, if not thousands of such chapels. In fact, in the Middle Kingdom,
apart from the walls of the already ancient enclosure of king Khasekhemwy, these chapels would
have defined the visual character of the low desert of north Abydos. These modest monuments,
and by extension the individuals for whom they were created, would have populated the land-
scape, and in so doing would have transformed it. The most immediate experience of someone
walking through the North Cemetery in Middle Kingdom times would have been of the many
clusters of chapels, large and small, each containing a stela or sometimes a statue. A range of
meanings similar to those discussed for the stela and chapel of Nakht would have applied to
every stela, every chapel, every architectural grouping. Of course the range of meanings ancient-
ly attached to such objects and constructions and their repetition across the Abydene landscape
would likely have been readily perceived by a Middle Kingdom Egyptian visitor, far less so to a
modern museum visitor, the product of a completely different cultural system, who is presented
with stelae in a plexiglass case with small paper labels that probably mostly go unread.
In 2002 we were extremely fortunate to find the stela of Nakht in its original context in
the North Cemetery field at Abydos. Earlier generations of excavations at the site, both con-
trolled and uncontrolled, have separated from that context the vast majority of those stelae that
survived from antiquity. In this paper, I have tried to develop how consideration of context
may illuminate some of the overlapping and interrelated layers of meaning that may have been
attached to his stela by Nakht and his contemporaries, and, by extension, to the many others
now so very far from their intended place in the ground great of fame.

Notes:
1 H. Mller, Die Totendenksteine des Mittleren Reiches, ihre Genesis, ihre Darstellung und ihre Komposition,
MDAIK 4 (1933), 165-206; R. Hlzl, Stelae, in D. Redford (ed.) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Ox-
ford, 2001), Vol. 3, 319-324.
2 W. Simpson, The Terrace of the Great God at Abydos: The Offering Chapels of Dynasties 12 and 13 (New Haven and
Philadelphia, 1974), 1.
3 Ibid., 5-6.
4 A. Mariette, Catalogue Gnral des Monuments dAbydos Dcouverts Pendant les Fouilles de Cette Ville (Paris, 1880).
5 H. Lange and H. Schfer, Grab- und Denksteine des Mittleren Reiches im Museum von Kairo, 4 vols., Catalogue
gnral des antiquits gyptiennes du Muse du Caire, Vols. 5, 7, 36, 78 (Berlin, 1902-1925).
6 Simpson, Terrace, 2-3.
7 Ibid., 13-29.
8 D. OConnor, The Cenotaphs of the Middle Kingdom at Abydos, Mlanges Gamal Eddin Mokhtar II, Biblio-
theque dtude 97 (1985), 161-177.
9 Excavation undertaken as part of the field research program of the North Abydos Project of the Institute of Fine
Arts, New York University, David OConnor, Director, Matthew Adams, Associate Director, under the auspices of
the University of Pennsylvania Museum-Yale University-Institute of Fine Arts, New York University Expedition,
David OConnor and William Kelly Simpson, Co-Directors.
10 But now known to be a royal cultic enclosure of the First Dynasty: W. M. F. Petrie, Tombs of the Courtiers and
Oxyrhynchos, BSAE 37 (1925), 3; B. Kemp, Abydos and the Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty, JEA 52 (1966),
14-16; W. Kaiser, Zu den kniglichen Talbezirken der I. und 2. Dynastie in Abydos und zur Baugeschichte des
Djoser-Grabmals, MDAIK 25 (2), 1-2; D. OConnor, New Funerary Enclosures (Talbezirke) of the Early Dynastic

21
 Adams

Period at Abydos, JARCE 26 (1989), 55-6.

11 SCA registration no. 559. The stela is currently stored in the SCA magazine, Sohag.
12 P. Smither, The Writing of @tp-_i-Nsw in the Middle and New Kingdoms, JEA 25 (1939), 34-37; P. Vernus, Sur
les graphies de la formule Loffrande que donne le roi au Moyen Empire et la Deuxieme Periode Intermediaire, in
S. Quirke (ed.) Middle Kingdom Studies (New Malden, 1991), 141-52; D. Franke, The Middle Kingdom Offering
Formulas A Challenge, JEA 89 (2003), 54.
13 C. Bennett, Growth of the @tp-_i-Nsw Formula in the Middle Kingdom, JEA 27 (1941), 77-82.
14 Bennett, JEA 27, 79; D. Doxey, Egyptian Non-Royal Epithets in the Middle Kingdom (Leiden, 1996), 94ff.; Franke,
JEA 89, 54.
15 R. Freed, Stela Workshops of Early Dynasty 12, in P. Der Manuelian (ed.) Studies in Honor of William Kelly Simpson
I (Boston, 1996), 323-7.
16 A. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, 3rd edition (Oxford, 1957), 170-2; H. Altenmller, Opferumlauf, L IV (1982),
596-7; W. Barta, Aufbau und Bedeutung der altgyptischen Opferformel (Glckstadt,1968); D. Franke, JEA 89, 40-
1.
17 E. Hickman, Gesang, in L II (1976), 556-9; ead., Musiker, in L IV (1980), cols. 231-2; D. Jones, An Index
of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets, and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, BAR International Series 866 (Oxford, 2000),
661-2; W. Ward, Index of Egyptian Administrative and Religious Titles of the Middle Kingdom (Beirut, 1982), 128.
18 P. Boesser, Beschreibung der Aegyptischen Sammlung des Niederlndischen Reichsmuseums der Altertumer in Leiden II
(The Hague, 1909), Pl. 33 (V, 68); Simpson, Terrace, ANOC 38.1, Pl. 56.
19 Translation, R. Parkinson, Voices from Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Middle Kingdom Writings (London, 1991),
114.
20 Boesser, Beschreibung II, Pl. 32 (V, 95); Simpson, Terrace, ANOC 38.2, Pl. 56; W. Ward, Neferhotep and His
Friends: A Glimpse at the Lives of Ordinary Men, JEA 63 (1977), pp. 63-66; Parkinson, Voices, 114-16.
21 J. Bourriau, Pharaohs and Mortals: Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom (Cambridge, 1988), 53.
22 S. Quirke, Townsmen in the Middle Kingdom, ZS 118 (1991), 141-9.
23 J. Richards, Society and Death in Ancient Egypt: Mortuary Landscapes of the Middle Kingdom (Cambridge, 2005)155,
175-6.
24 M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley, 1973), 113; J. Bourriau,
Patterns of Change in Burial Customs During the Middle Kingdom, in S. Quirke (ed.), Middle Kingdom Studies
(New Malden, 1991), 8; J. Richards, Society and Death, 173-6.
25 An architectural feature observed by Peet in a number of chapels in the North Cemetery, cf. T. E. Peet, Cemeteries of
Abydos Part II.1911-1912, EEF Memoir 34 (London, 1914), 36-7.
26 OConnor, Mlanges Mokhtar II.
27 Simpson, Terrace, 9-10; Richards, Society and Death, 38-44; M.-A. Pouls Wegner, The Cult of Osiris at Abydos: An
Archaeological Investigation of the Development of an Ancient Egyptian Sacred Center During the Eighteenth Dynasty
(Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2002).
28 OConnor, Mlanges Mokhtar II, 175.
29 M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Autobiographies Chiefly of the Middle Kingdom, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 84 (Gt-
tingen, 1988), 55-8; J. Wegner, The Mortuary Complex of Senwosret III: A Study of Middle Kingdom State Activity and
the Cult of Osiris at Abydos, (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1996), 62-9.
30 Simpson, Terrace, 10-13; Lichtheim, Autobiographies, 129-34; Wegner, The Mortuary Complex of Senwosret III, 69-
73.
31 Simpson, Terrace, 11.
32 Cited in Simpson, Terrace, 11.
33 Peet, Cemeteries II, 38-9, Pl. VI, 3.
34 Ibid., 35-6.

22
 The Stela of Nakht, Son of Nemty

35 Excavated in 2002-3. See note 9, above.

36 J. Richards, Society and Death, 156-72, 181-219.
37 A. Spalinger, A Redistributive Pattern at Asyut, JAOS 105 (1985), 7-20.
38 J. Allen, The Heqanakht Papyri (New York, 2002), 105-7.
39 Richards, Society and Death, 85.
40 Peet, Cemeteries II, 36, Pl. VIII, 5; Peet includes a drawing of the type on Pl. XXVIII, bottom row, far left.
41 Richards, Society and Death, 42-4.
42 Ibid., Figs. 76, 79, 80, 87, 88, 100.
43 Ibid., 167-8, Figs. 77, 83.
44 W. M. F. Petrie, Tombs of the Courtiers and Oxyrhynkhos, BSAE 37 (London, 1925), 11, Pl. 29.
45 W. Simpson, Kenotaph, L III, 389.
46 OConnor, Mlanges Mokhtar II, 164-6, note 9.
47 E.g., Peet, Cemeteries II, stela 20, 117-18, Pl. XXIII, 5.
48 Peet, Cemeteries II, 36-7.
49 A.-M. El-Rabii, Familles abydniennes du Moyen Empire, Chronique dgypte 52 (1977), 13-21; D. Franke,
Personendaten aus dem Mittleren Reich, gyptologische Abhandlungen 41 (Wiesbaden, 1984), passim.
50 J. Richards, Conceptual Landscapes in the Egyptian Nile Valley, in W. Ashmore and A. B. Knapp (eds.), Archaeolo-
gies of Landscape: Contemporary Perspectives (Oxford, 1999), 91-5.
51 T. E. Peet and W. L. S. Loat, Cemeteries of Abydos, Part III. 1912-1913, EEF Memoir 35 (London, 1913), 8-22.
52 A. Mariette, Abydos. Description des Fouilles Excutes sur lEmplacement de Cette Ville, Tome 2 (Paris, 1880), 40-41;
A. Mariette, Catalogue General, 83-95; E. Naville, T. E. Peet, H. R. Hall, and K. Haddon, Cemeteries of Abydos, Part
I, EEF Memoir 33 (London 1914), 1-34; Peet, Cemeteries II, 17-29; W. L. S. Loat, A Sixth Dynasty Cemetery at
Abydos, JEA 9 (1923), 161-3; H. Frankfort, The Cemeteries of Abydos: Work of the Season 1925-26, JEA 16
(1930), 215-217; J. Richards, The Abydos Cemeteries in the Late Old Kingdom, in Z. Hawass (ed.) Egyptology at
the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century (Cairo, 2003), Vol. 1, 400-7.
53 Richards, in Ashmore and Knapp, Conceptual Landscapes, 93-4.
54 G. Griffiths, The Origins of Osiris and His Cult (Leiden, 1980).
55 E. Otto, Egyptian Art and the Cults of Osiris and Amun (London, 1968).
56 Wegner, The Mortuary Complex of Senwosret III, 31-6.
57 A. Leahy, The Osiris Bed Reconsidered, Orientalia 46 (1977), 424-34; id., A Protective Measure at Abydos in the
Thirteenth Dynasty, JEA 75 (1989), 55-59.
58 D. Randall-MacIver and A. Mace, El Amrah and Abydos, EEF Memoir 23 (London, 1901), 93-4, Pl. XXIX; A.
Leahy, JEA 75, 41-60.
59 Simpson, Terrace, 10-13.
60 B. Kemp, Abydos, L I (1975), 28-41. Lichtheims suggestion, in Autobiographies, 129-134, for the identification
of the Terrace of the Great God with the Temple of Osiris seems to me to be rather less likely than either the votive
zone or the whole of the North Cemetery field.
61 J. Garstang, El Arbah, Egyptian Research Account Memoir 6 (London, 1901), 6, 32-3, Pls. 4, 5.
62 N.B., however, the cautionary note of Leahy, JEA 75, 53, n. 31, in which he observes that the context in which the
stela of Khu-Sobek was found was disturbed. In addition, Garstangs drawings of the architecture of tomb E11 (El
Arbah, Pl. XXXV) show that it is of a multi-level vaulted chamber type that he himself identified as being Twenty-
Fifth Dynasty.
63 Mller, MDAIK 4, 187ff., Fig. 11; Lichtheim, Autobiographies, 67-8; cf. also Wegner, The Mortuary Complex of
Senwosret III, 71-2.
64 Simpson, Terrace, 13.

23
 Adams

References Cited:
J. Allen, The Heqanakht Papyri (New York, 2002).
H. Altenmller, Opferumlauf, L IV (1982), 596-7.
W. Barta, Aufbau und Bedeutung der altgyptischen Opferformel (Glckstadt,1968)
E. Hickman, Gesang, L II (1976), 556-9.
C. Bennett, Growth of the @&P-_I-N%W Formula in the Middle Kingdom, JEA 27 (1941), 77-82.
P. Boeser, Beschreibung der Aegyptischen Sammlung des Niederlndischen Reichsmuseums der Altertumer in Leiden II (The
Hague, 1909).
J. Bourriau, Pharaohs and Mortals: Egyptian Art in the Middle Kingdom (Cambridge, 1988).
J. Bourriau, Patterns of Change in Burial Customs During the Middle Kingdom, in S. Quirke (ed.), Middle Kingdom
Studies (New Malden, 1991).
D. Doxey, Egyptian Non-Royal Epithets in the Middle Kingdom (Leiden, 1996).
A.-M. El-Rabii, Familles abydniennes du Moyen Empire, Chronique dgypte 52 (1977), 13-21.
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