Πάπυροι * Papyri

τόμος 2, 2013 * volume 2, 2013

The Greek Inscription in the Tomb number 13 at Deheba

(Siwa, Egypt)
LIANNA SOUVALTZI, Archaeologist. Hellas
MANOS SOUVALTZIS, Advocate. Hellas
E-mail: esou57@gmail.com
Πάπυροι - τόμος 2, 2013 * Papyri - volume 2, 2013
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The Greek Inscription in the Tomb number 13 at

Deheba
(Siwa, Egypt)

LIANNA SOUVALTZI
MANOS SOUVALTZIS

ABSTRACT

In 1994 in the area Deheba (GPS: φ= 19,14,194 N, λ= 25,25,595 E) in Siwa Oasis (Egypt), in a
pyramid shaped hill were discovered 70 tombs, dated in Hellenistic or early Roman Period. In
the tomb number 13 there is a Greek inscription. After a detailed study of all related data, we
arrived in the conclusion that the buried person was an adept of Dionysus’s mysteries.

Introduction

In the area of Siwa Oasis (Egypt) and specifically in the area of Deheba, which is located in
West and at a distance of fifteen kilometres from the Oracle of Amun, in a pyramid shaped hill
were discovered 70 tombs during the excavations of the Egyptian Archaeological Department
under the supervision of Abd El Aziz El Rahman El Demery (or Aldumairy), in November and
December 1994. 1 The tombs are dated in the Hellenistic or early Roman Period. Most of the
tombs, which are dug in the limestone of the hill in Deheba, consist of two or three rooms, on
average measuring 2m x 1,60m and in some tombs, the entrances still show the remains of a
wooden door. In the tombs the archaeologists found eight till ten mummies or more, but the
mummies were in a poor condition of preservation. Some mummies kept moustache and
beards. The sarcophagi are made of limestone, and they are either gilded or decorated with
gypsum preserving red and blue colours as well as geometrical patterns of the shape of a
rhombus or a square.

1. The Tomb number 13

Among the biggest tombs those with numbers 13 and 14 are of special interest, as both have
their façade facing southwest and both are located in a better place than the others. Each of
them is located beside the other and their dimensions are 12m x 4m and they are similar in
many ways. In the tomb No 13 (see Appendix, picture 1) there has been found a Greek inscrip-
tion.

1El Demery, «Deheba», Αλεξάνδρου Πνεύμα Έξοχον (Alexander’s Magnificent Spirit) (1996), σ. 13-19. Aldumairy
(2005), σ. 61.

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The access to the tomb was an ascending staircase leading in the entrance of an antechamber,
where another door lead into the burial chamber (4.65m x 3.20m). In the northwest wall of
the burial chamber a sarcophagus had been built against the wall and beside it, there was a
Greek inscription written in red colour. After the opening of the tomb, which was covered
with sand, the inscription became colourless.

1.1 The Inscription

Two remarks regarding the Greek inscription in the tomb No 13 (See Appendix, picture 2) in-
dependently of its content: first, the inequality of the size of its letters according to the line, as
their size decreases in every following line) of the inscription; and second, the leaf in the right
corner of the first line, is almost the size of the first letter.

The excavator, in the publication of the first results of his researches, cited simply the text of
the inscription.
ΠΛΟΙω Ι ΜΟΥ ΨΥΧΙ (ivy leaf)
ΓΝΟΤΤω ΑΔΕλΦω CΟΥ
ΕΠΑΓΑΘΟC ΤΟ ΠΕ ΠΟΙΜ ΚΟΨΙ
ΤΟΝ ΤΑΦΟΝ ……………………..

In his second publication he translated the Greek text into English as follows:
«My boat and my soul may reach my brother Epagathos, who made the tomb»
noting that «probably, the ivy leaf at the right side of the inscription seems to be ivy the plant
of Dionysus». 2

According to our own opinion, the translation should be as follows:

My soul (travels) in the boat
your brother must know
that I had been brave
I was killed, I was buried in this tomb ...

Some notices related to the words of the inscription:

ΠΛΟΙω Ι (dative of πλοῖον), ΓΝΟΤΤω (incorrectly written the imperative γνώτω), ΕΠΑΓΑΘΟC
(such as honest moral, brave), ΠΟΙΜ (probably the word ποιμήν, as sovereign, leader, or gen-
eral), ΚΟΨΙ (from to cut, to blow, to hit, to kill).

We are of the opinion that the red colour of the inscription suggests that the buried person
was probably a military or state officer.

1.2 The travel of the soul

According to the tradition, the soul travelled in the Underworld with a boat. A scene of this
travel for both human beings and animals is depicted in a fresco found in an underground
tomb, in the area of Ganzour, in the west of Tripoli in Libya (See Appendix, picture 3).

2 El Demery (1996), σ. 15· Aldumairy (2005), σ. 61 και υποσημ. *.

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The interior of this underground tomb is fully decorated with frescos; at the left and the oppo-
site side of its entrance, there are two frescos in two levels, while at the right side one fresco
covers the entire wall. The fresco in the upper part of the wall opposite the entrance depicts
four persons with a light brown colour and two trees in green colour. The painter would like
to distinguish between the world of living and that of the dead. He has used vivid colours to
denote living persons; but he has used black colour for the dead, who abandons his beloved
persons and follows the guide of souls in the boat in order to sail with him for the Under-
world. The painter has used the same colours in the fresco in the lower part of the wall. Name-
ly, he has used green colour for the trees and two different colours for the animals; a light
brown colour for the animal who is alive and a gray colour for the killed animal. The fresco at
the opposite side of the entrance of the tomb depicts a priest who throws incense in a censer
on the floor.

In Macedonia, the country of Dionysos’s cult and mysteries, the dead was depicted as travel-
ling in the Underworld with a boat or ship passing through moist and damp landscapes. For
instance, among the findings of excavations in the cemetery of Sindos (ca. 560 B.C.) there is a
gold rhombus shaped mouthpiece, on which a ship is engraved 3.

1.3 The leaf of the ivy

As far as the importance of the ivy leaf is concerned, in our opinion the words in the second
line of the inscription
ΓΝΟΤΤω ΑΔΕλΦω CΟΥ
refer to the knowledge of the initiated, «your brother must know», because of the presence of
the design of the ivy leaf. It is said, that on the body of Ptolemy IV Philopator, King of Egypt
(221-203 B.C.), there were ivy shaped marks, ivy being a symbol of Dionysus’s cult. Therefore,
it seems very likely that the inscription echoes a message of the dead adept to other living
adepts of Dionysus’s mysteries 4.

Referring to the place of the ivy leaf, on the right up side of the inscription, this is the same as
in all other Greek and Latin inscriptions we have studied, in Greece, in Egypt, in Libya and in
Ephesus on the coast of Ionia. Regarding the place of the ivy leaf we should note its difference
in relation to that in the inscription of Emperor Trajan 5, which is placed on the right side and
below the last line of the inscription, probably for lack of space in the first line of the inscrip-
tion. Emperor Trajan had a highest rank in Dionysus’s mysteries. This inscription is at Cyrene
(Libya), in the area of Gymnasium, where the foundations of the Temple of Dionysus are still
in situ 6 (See Appendix, picture 4).

In Rome there were underground places for the accomplishment of mystic rites in honour of
Dionysus, Mithras, Serapis and other gods of mysteries. Thee were seven degrees of initation.

Due to the oath to keep silence taken by the adepts 7, we now know very little about the an-

3 Μήττα (2006), σ. 136-137.

4 Σουβαλτζή, Λ., Σουβαλτζή, Μ., (2008), σ. 22. Λεκατσά (1985), σ. 228. Jeanmaire (1985), σ. 556.
5 Danziger, Purcell, (2005), σ. 236.
6 Σουβαλτζή, Λ., Σουβαλτζή, Μ., (2008), σ. 188.
7 Ηροδότου Ιστορίαι (έκδ. 1874), σ. 183-184. Σταϊνχάουερ (2013).

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cient rituals and symbols. It is very likely that Herodotus was an initiated person and for this
reason in his «Stories», although he mentions symbolism, he does not give any explanation;
for instance (Β, 46): « … Because the painters paint and the sculptors engrave the statue of
Pan exactly like the Greeks do with the face of a goat and cloven hooves no because they imag-
ine it like that, but they consider it similar with the other Gods, it would be not fair for me to
say the reason they present him like this, … » and (Β, 47): « … They do not ride the reason, in
which, while they detest the pigs in other ceremonies, they sacrifice the pigs in his ceremony
although I know the reason, it is not proper to say it …. ». Pausanias who has probably initiat-
ed too, refers to the mysteries of Cabiroi as follows: «About the Cabiroi, who are they, what
rituals are dedicated to them and who is their Mother, I am not going to say anything. May
those who would like to hear for these rituals to for give me». As we see, the oath to keep si-
lence prevails here 8.

On the other hand, archaeological findings such as the above studied inscription, can be of
valuable help to us, in our efforts to come closer, as much as we can, and to understand the
ancient mysteries, their symbols and their influence upon the life of their adepts.

Bibliography

Aldumairy, Abd El-Aziz Abd El-Rahman, Siwa Past and Present, Alexandria, 2005.
Danziger, D., Purcell, N., Hadrian’s Empire, Hodder 2005.
Jeanmaire, H., Διόνυσος, Αθήνα 1985.
Ηροδότου Ιστορίαι εκ της Παλαιάς εις την καθ’ημάς εξηγηθείσαι, υπό Α. Γ. Σκαλίδου, τ. A′,
έκδ. Α. Κωνσταντινίδου, εν Αθήναις 1874.
ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ΠΝΕΥΜΑ ΕΞΟΧΟΝ, Ινστιτούτον Ελληνιστικών Σπουδών, Β′ (Ιούνιος 1996).
Kerenyi, C., Walter F. Otto, Walter Wili, Schmitt, P., Ελληνικά Μυστήρια, εκδ. Ιάμβλιχος, 2005.
Λεκατσά, Π., Διόνυσος, (2α έκδ.), Αθήνα 1985.
Μήττα, Δ., Μύθοι της Αρχαίας Μακεδονίας, University Studio Press, Θεσσαλονίκη 2006.
Πανταζίδου, Ι., Λεξικόν Ομηρικόν, έκδ. Α. Κορομηλά, εν Αθήναις 1884.
Ραγκαβή, Ρ. Α., Λεξικόν της Ελληνικής Αρχαιολογίας, τ. Α′, Β′, (αναστ. έκδ.), Α. Καρδαμίτσα,
Αθήνα 1996.
Σκαρλάτου, Δ. του Βυζαντίου, Λεξικόν της Ελληνικής Γλώσσης, εκδ. Α. Κορομηλά, εν Αθήναις
1852.
Σουβαλτζή, Λ., Σουβαλτζής, Μ., Αλέξανδρος-Διόνυσος, Το κοινό όραμα, Αιγηϊς, Αθήνα 2008.
Σταϊνχάουερ, Γ., «Οι αρχαίες γιορτές της Δήμητρας και τα Ελευσίνια μυστήρια», Πειραϊκό Ο-
ρόσημο, 42 (2013).
Σταματάκος, Ι., Λεξικόν της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Γλώσσης, Αθήνα 2002.

8 Kerenyi, C., κ.α. (2005), σ. 63.

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APPENDIX – PICTURES
Photographs from authors’s personal archive.

Picture 1. The tomb number 13 Deheba, Egypt.

Picture 2. Photo of the inscription (1994).

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Picture 3. Fresco in the underground tomb at Ganzour, Libya.

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Picture 4. Stele with the name of Emperor Trajan, at Cyrene, Libya.

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