The Tomb of a Much-Travelled Theban Official

Author(s): Alan H. Gardiner

Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology , Jan., 1917, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Jan., 1917), pp.
28-38
Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3853790

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28

THE TOMB OF A MUCH-TRAVELLED

THEBAN OFFICIAL

BY ALAN H. GARDINER, D.LITT.

THE splendid jewellery discovered in Egypt bears silent testimony to a

intercourse, direct or indirect, with many remote and little-known lands; and it w
be of considerable interest to learn through what channels the precious stones that
adorned the necks of the Mlemphite and Theban ladies found their way to the
Egyptian markets. Thanks to the work of the Egypt Exploration Fund at Sinai, we
are tolerably well informed concerning the expeditions that journeyed thither almost
annually in quest of the turquoise; but with regard to other mnuch used stones-some
of them, like lapis lazuli, fromn countries further afield-our ignorance is almost complete.
All the more welcomne, therefore, are the side-lights thrown upon this subject by the
stele to be published in this article. The record which Akhthoy caused to be displayed
in front of his Theban tomb has the defects common to mnost Egyptian inscriptions-
a laconic concision and a most tantalizing allusiveness. None the less, the narrative
contains more details, and is more explicit, than usual: it names mrnany foreign lands whose
whereabouts, and many products whose nature, future research will have to determine.
If the text solves no problems, at least it gives a new direction to our questionings;
and this, in dealing with times so ancient, is no small gain.
The tomb (no. 65 of Lord Carnarvon's excavations) was discovered in the season
of 1913-14, and Mr Howard Carter has furnished me with a valuable account of
the find, which I herewith quote in extenso :
"The tomb of Akhthoyl is situated above, and cuts into the roof of, the great
corridor-tomb no. 412 (see CARNARVON-CARTER, Five Years' Explorations at Thebe
1907-1911, P1. 30, to the left in the plan), discovered by Lord Carnarvon during the season
1911-12 and 1912-13, the report of which is yet to be published. This corridor-
tomb belonged to a certain 99 , 'revered Antef, justified,' a noble or prince
of the end of the Twelfth or beginning of the Thirteenth Dynasty. Tomb 41 was
afterwards used by poor people during the Intermediate Period down to the early part
of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and in some cases the chambers and smaller tombs of
relatives in its courtyard were employed by the workmen of Hatshepsut for housing
burials disturbed by them while making her Valley-temple.
I Mr Carter writes Khetty; in accordance with his expressed wish I have made a few minor
modifications in his account.
2 In describing the find to me orally, Mr Carter elaborated this statement thus: "the whole tomb
cuts into the rock forming the roof of the inner chambers of tomb 41."

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 Plate VI

Fig. I. THEBAN EXCAVATIONS, 19I3- 4. TOMB 65

Fig. 2. WOODEN STELE (65, I) IN SITU

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 THE TOMB OF A MUCH-TRAVELLED THEBAN OFFICIAL 29

"One is therefore led to believe that the tomb of Akhthoy (no. 65) is of later
date than that of Antef (no. 41).
"Among the Middle Kingdom tombs of pit and corridor type found in the
Birabi-tomb no. 41 belongs to this group-the earliest date discovered was Amnen-
emhet IV (see op. cit., p. 54, tomb no. 25). The antiquities obtained from these
tombs were not abundant, but seem certainly more characteristic of the late Middle
Kingdom than of an earlier period.
"The tomb of Akhthoy, which was found to be much damaged, is of the simple
corridor type: before the doorway of the facade (see PI. VI, Fig. 1) is a plaint open
space (forecourt), whence one gains access to a long passage painted on both sides
and ending in a small rectangular sepulchral chamber. In general style it differs both
from the Twelfth Dynasty tombs and from those of the early Eighteenth. But the
peculiar feature was the arrangement of its three stelae before the fa9ade-doorway, as
described in the next paragraphs.
" 65, 1. Stele consisting of a wooden panel 47 cm. high by 79 cm. broad, thickness
10 cm., finely carved with eleven lines of incised hieroglyphs (see PI. VI, Fig. 2).
Over the doorway a niche was made expressly for this
wooden stele, the decayed remains of which were found
therein. After its insertion, the niche was bricked up', and
its appearance on the discovery of the tomb is shown in the (_
accompanying Fig. 1. It was only on the removal of the
brickwork that the remains of the stele became visible; had
it not been attacked by white ants it would have been
found in perfect condition, as the brickwork was intact. With
the help of Prof. Newberry I was able to make out the
following signs: Fig. 1.

Top right-hand corner, 1. 1 l __

,, ,, ,, I. 2

~' 1. 4

Middle of right side, 1. 7

Bottom line, towards end, 1. 11 /// / >

[The first lines gave the titles, predicates, and name of the owner of the tom
The following phrases can be recognized or guessed: "(1) .........energetic (?) in
undertakings, finding a word (2) [in the lack of it?]2..................I am loved of Tru
(3).................. [protecting] the timid man. I gave(?) (4) [bread to the hungry

1 There are parallels for this procedure in the Fourth Dynasty mastabas found by Professor Junke
Gizeh, and also perhaps in the sunk tablets on the interior walls of the tomb of Senenmflt (Thebes no
2 Gm ts [m g?wf], not a rare phrase, e.g. Beni Hasan I, 9; or else gm ts [sndm ksnt] 'finding a w
and sweetening misery,' Cairo M.K. stelae 20538, 20539.

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30 ALAN H. GARDINER

............ [Akbthoy], justified." The remaining seven lines may well

biographical; the four signs that are visible provide no clue to the m
"65, 2. Limestone stele 37 cm. high, bearing an incised inscription (PI. IX).
Though actually found lying on the floor in front of the doorway, this came from a
recess high up on the left side of the fagade near the door, a mud-brick staircase
leading up to it (see Fig. 2 and PI. VI, Fig. 1)."
[For translation and remarks see below.]

FN DOORWAY q\

B c

B C
Fig. 2.

A. Niche containing the wooden stele 65, 1.

B. Place where the stele 65, 2 was found.
B'. Conjectural original position of same.
C. Place where the stele 65, 3 was found.
C'. Conjectural original position of same.

" 65, 3. Limestone stele, 43 cm. high, bearing an incised inscription with hiero-
glyphs coloured blue, and showing at bottom Akhthoy seated before a table of
offerings (PI. VIII). This was discovered, like 65, 2, displaced and lying on the ground;
its original position was on the opposite (right) side of the fa9ade. [Translated below.]
"It is impossible to say whether these two stelae (65, 2. 3), both of them now
in the Cairo Museum, were ever bricked up in the same manner as 65, 1. As
regards their position, the small staircase is inexplicable unless it was intended to lead
to one of them.
"65, 4. In the forecourt were found several lumps of white plaster, hemispherical
Lf3 in shape.
"65, 5. In the rubbish of the forecourt was a rough wooden rectangular coffin
bearing the following legends painted, in black. Right side: j/\ A l," ~ >
sitc A<^^i^^ ^ ac sic
A NW-VN AN~ [1 Xk02 02< LflL0 . (Here two large uzat
eyes facing one another.) Left side: ' / a q
1 So Mr Carter's MS.; the faulty writing of nb tl dsr krs is probably to be attributed t
original scribe.

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 Plate VII

MODEL DONKEY (65,6), COW-HEADED BABY'S RATTLE (65,7) & BASKET OF

RED POTTERY

THEBAN EXCAVATIONS I910-14. POTTERY BELIEVED TO BE FR

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 THE TOMB OF A MUCH-TRAVELLED THEBAN OFFICIAL 31

~~ ll,cW W-~~1~ ~~7)o Head end: ) ,o 0

end: 7 Top of lid /\;[

[Translation. Right side: "A boon which the King gives, and Osiris lord of
Busiris, the great god, lord of Abydos, that voice-offerings may go forth to her in her
chamber of the Necropolis in the western desert, the revered Yi." Left side: "A boon
which the King gives, antd Anutbis on his mountain, the dweller in Ut, the lord of
the sacred land, a goodly burial in (her) chamber of the Necropolis in the western
desert, the revered Yi." Head end: " Revered with the great god, lord of heaven,
Yi." Foot end: "Revered with Anubis on his mountain, Yi." Top of lid: "A boon
which the King gives, and Anubis lord of Sepa, in front of the divine booth, that she
may advance in peace on the goodly road of the West, the revered Yi." On the dat
of this coffin see below, p. 38.]
"65, 6. Red pottery model donkey carrying panniers with two large jars (P1. VII
Found in the rubbish filling the doorway.
"65, 7. Red pottery baby's rattle, with ornamented handle in the form of a cow's
head (P1. VII). Found in the rubbish of the passage.
"65, 8. Violet glaze mummy-ornaments from the rubbish; cf. op. cit., P1. XLIV
2 and p. 53.
" 65, 9. An intrusive rishi-coffin. Forecourt.
"65, 10. Intrusive shawabti-figure of the type of the Intermediate Period, found
in forecourt; bears the following hieratic legend:

P XAAA?

[" To the ka of Ahmose; it is Ah

"65, 11. Ditto, from forecourt, wr
legend in black linear hieroglyphs:

[" A boon wich the King gives t

"65, 13. A model basket made of red pottery; see PI. VII. Found in the
forecourt, and doubtless intrusive.
"65, 14. Pottery believed to belong to this tomb is shown in Pl. VII."
So far Mr Howard Carter. To Professor Newberry I am deeply indebted, not only
for relinquishing the publication of the stelae in my favour, but also for placing at
my disposal some valuable notes on the inscriptions painted on the walls of the long
corridor. The scenes were seldom discernible, and it seems likely that the hieroglyphs
were none too legible.

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32 ALAN H. GARDINER

On one wall (probably the right wall) was an obliterated scene, the legends
accompanying which are thus disposed in Professor Newberry's transcript1:

T et-- -o- I th< e I a' w

P tlk g o o o l oo , II

There can be no doubt that the scene which these inscriptions accom
of quite exceptional character. One is led to conjecture that it depicted a religious
festival in honour of Hathor. Boats, real or of a ceremonial kind, were present, for the first
two lines read "Nub (lit., "Gold," a name of Hathor) appears in the bark" and "powerfull
ones of the dawn-boat" respectively. The phrase "she loves Re"2 written vertically
and twice repeated, may have stood over figures of the goddess, to whom without
doubt applies the intervening address: "Thy might has reached the Mediterranean
islands (H?-nbwt), Re goes up that he may see thy beauty." It is difficult to decide
the meaning of the words hw Mntwhtp that follow: is this a personal name Khu-
menthhotpe applied to some private person present? Or is it an invocation "protect
king Mentuhotep" spoken, perhaps, "by Hathor"-a phrase that is twice written not
far away on the wall? Be this as it may, the mention of king Mentuhotep is of
great importance, for it is extremely unlikely that one of the relatively obscure kings
of this name should be alluded to except during his reign, or at any rate at some
point of time not far removed from it. Now there were Mentuhoteps both of the
Eleventh Dynasty and of the Theban period preceding the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Dynasties; we shall consider later which of the two alternative dates seems more in
harmony with the facts relating to the tomb.
A damaged inscription concluding the same series of jottings mentions the name
Mentuhotep, butt this time not in a cartouche; the last line refers to some official
"beloved of Hathor, praised of [Hathor]."
On another wall, or on part of the same wall, some scenes of country life were
depicted. A bull is pulled down by the horns: the hieroglyphs above say L ~~--- : >
"pull thou for thyself; see, he is down." Close by

1 The original signs read from right to left. In the text, therefore, they are reversed, and t
relative position of the separate legends is also correspondingly reversed.
2 The writing does not exclude the translation 'Re loves her.'

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 THE TOMB OF A MUCH-TRAVELLED THEBAN OFFICIAL 33

a cow is being milked: C ll a g "[o] good herdsman,

let me milk1" says someone; the answer is sm S V\ vVA
"milk thou, behold I have filled myself" i.e., perhaps, I have had enough of it. Two
columns of signs, which from their direction and content ought to stand over the
head of an overseer looking to the left, also concern the milking of cows: ' -1
sic

- ) ' ' A - _,[]= "milk you, good fellows...(?), cause the milk to
be produced." The conventional formula of assent -2L <:r> "I do
according to thy recommendation" is probably placed in the mouth of one of the men
addressed.

Further to the left is a scrap of a hymn I t[P.1) . I L t

::a j.I j'^1 ~- ° to some male divinity, and in a lower register are
some words of which I do not catch the import: rO 1 , ~ -

F|.. 0,.. ,<=>.. < > ..~

According to a custom which we can trace back as early as the reign of
Sesostris I (tomb of Antefoker, no. 60)3, the left wall of the passage was adorned with
representations of the funerary rites. In one row is seen a boat with processions of

priests in front: the legends, from right to left, read as follows: (a) j~ /

(d) g4p; (e) jl; (f) Ft; (3) j ml _( ; ( Pj^i (i)o; ^(k)rU
I i. A second row shows three figures, representing the inhabitants of the three

Osirian towns of <> Nether, D ® Dep and Pe respectively; near them are

the words M O @ and g".

On the same wall is a garden scene with o D ~ °N "figs," and a

scene of men making netting {1 , jl LI "making (lit. shootin

fish(?)-nets."
We now turn to the two limestone stelae that probably, as Mr Carter has describ
stood on opposite sides of the facade near the door. The less interesting (65, 3
shown in PI. VIII. The upper part of the stele is occupied by ten lines of hiero-
glyphs, which read as follows:
"A boon which the King gives, and Osiris lord of Busiris, in front of the Westerners,
the great god, lord of Abydos: voice-offerings belonging to4 the royal acquaintance, true
1 Hr 'to milk,' a rare word, e.g. Pap. Turin 135, 2, but familiar in the derivative mhr 'milk-pot.'
2 NEWBERRY gives 9. 3 See DAVIES-GARDINER, Tomb of Amenemhet, p. 46, n. 2.
4 So too 65, 2, line 2, showing that prt-hrw is to be understood as a compound noun.
Journ. of Egypt. Arch. iv.

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 34 ALAN H. GARDINER

beloved of his lord, who filled the heart of the king with his preciousness
of him all day and till nightfall (?)', who gave veils2 to the beautijul wo
gave ornaments to the ladies beloved of the king, the controller of precious oi
revised the cattle-lists4 of Upper Egypt, who gave meals to the noble dea
the management of the ka-houses, who presided over the secrets of the House
the sea-captain Akhthoy.
He said: I was one exact and void of obscurity, hoary-tongued6 in th
officials, performing a business exactly and without interruption thereof
of face, who gave gifts out of the possessions of the estate which the Ma
gave me. Never did I the bidding7 of any man in revising the cattle-list
during all the lifetime8 that I spent in my business. The revered, the sea-c
As appears to have been the case with most officials in the ear
Egyptian history, the functions of Akhthoy do not seem to have been v
or closely defined. His sole title, in the strict sense of the word, w
have hesitatingly translated "sea-captain"; the literal rendering seem
intendent of a (sheet of) water9." The exact origin of this title is u
might well have been attributed to any official who was occasionally
the nautical arrangements of a distant expedition, even though that exp
as at Sinai, involve lengthy land-journeys as well. Perhaps "transport
better convey the sense; but our knowledge is too scanty to admit of a ce
At the Theban capital Akhthoy seems to have won for himself t
a trusted courtier, now performing commissions for the royal harim, no
his master's wardrobe, now again exercising a general control over
cults of the local necropolis. On several occasions he would appe

1 This phrase is unknown to me elsewhere; the rendering here given is suggested t

2 The passage shows that mt?m is a single word, and not to be split up into m
(Sphinx 13, 117) concluded. Doubtless the word m.t.m is an m-formation from tOm,
sense of which is "to veil."
3 Nwdw Spsw, cf. El Bersheh II, 21; Ebers, 76, 5; Urk. iv, 175, 503.
4 An official who performed exactly the same function (ip r?-idr) in the Delta (t? mhw) occurs
M.K. stele 20539 (temp. Sesostris I).
5 I.e. the chamber where the Pharaoh made his toilet; see GARDINER, Notes on the Story of Sin
pp. 109-110, 162.
6 Skm ns, cf. Urk. iv, 67, 127.
7 'Ir hr is clearly related to dl Ar 'to give a command to'; for the latter phrase see SETHE, Einsetzung
des Veziers, pp. 30-1.
8 The determinative of .hew is clearly to be understood as P, but whether we are to divide re Chew or

r ehCw is obscure to me. For the entire phrase compare (i @ 'I passed all the
lifetime that I passed in acting as an official,' Annales 15, 212.
9 The Old Kingdom title F . is known to me elsewhere only in Sinai 16. 17; DE MORGAN, Cat.

des Mon., I, 162, and 207, no. 35, in all four cases following the well-known nautical title -- . There

are some other similar titles with I in the dual which are discussed by MORET, Comptes Rendus, 1914,
p. 539; but these are very possibly not related in any way. There is an unfortunate ambiguity about
the crucial hieroglyph in all these titles, which renders it doubtful whether 'land' or 'water' is meant;
in the examples quoted at the beginning of this note the context points to the latter interpretation.

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 Plate VIII

.r ~~~~~~~~~r

I j^tj
5 B ^ ! '\-T' .
· ,-~ , . . .,. .

~;-~ ".'A '^.p" ·rr 'j

... -..[";'
..

i,ff
SP :;0';'*-'1^
X'1..... ":--

7::i :~~ i:: t : : ,',

::! _.- fl ,, :'.:i i ;-;
A: 0 _>.\r

_1_J - b , -

,l \ i,+ 1
L ; : ~:~ : ;-' i~:,:,; ;. t : ."

m. w,-. < ..

., i

THEBAN EXCAVATIONS, 19I3- 4. LIMESTONE STELE (65,3)

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 THE TOMB OF A MUCH-TRAVELLED THEBAN OFFICIAL 35

commissioned to carry out the census of the royal herds, and he l

incorruptibility in this office.
The lower part of the stele displays Akhthoy seated, napkin in hand, before
a well-stocked table of offerings. The technical name of such a table of offerings
signifies "that which is requested in the way of offerings" (dbht-htp), and the hiero-
glyphs giving this name stand near the table, together with the words ("to thy
representing the conventional formula that was pronounced by the priestly officiant.
A pet bitch reclines on its haunches beneath its owner's chair; and we are permitt
to learn its ill-omened name En-merni "I don't like"!
The other stele (65, 2) is of far greater importance. It consists (PI. IX) of twel
lines of exceptionally well-cut hieroglyphs, with only two small lacunae. Translatio
"A boon which the King gives, and Osiris lord of Busiris, the great god, lord o
Abydos, voice-offerings belonging to the treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt, the uniq
friend, the revered, the sea-captain Akhthoy.
He said: I was a treasurer of the god' in making impotent2 the foreign land
When I was in the Mineral-country, I inspected it, I travelled round the countries
Thenhet. When I was in the houses of 'the Northerner,' I sealed up his treasuries in th
mountain of 'the-House-of-Horis-of-the-Turquoise- Terraces(?),' [having taken(?)] turquoi
thence from the gallery4 of Per-Shema'. I made trial a second time5 with another gall
called6 'the-Gallery-of-M...tn(?),' one that had been made for Horus himself7. Being go
out on the mission of this my lord, I did what he had willed. I was his emissary,
equal of his heart, the counterpart of his breast. I did for him what he wished as thou
it had been done for the god himself I punished the Asiatics in their countries. It was
the fear of him that spread respect of me8, his influence9 that spread the terror of m

1 This title requires a full reconsideration, which will be given to it in the Text (vol. II) of th
Fund's work on the inscriptions of Sinai. Here the only remark necessary is that it is very often app
to certain prominent officials taking part in expeditions in quest of valuable stones and the like.
2 Sid, see BRUGsCH, Wortb., 1167; Suppl., 1004; also Annales, v, 235.
3 A close examination of the forms of the visible signs and of the silhouettes in the lacuna sugge

the following readings: ©° L I ~-L. The 'Turquoise-terraces'are

familiar at Sinai and elsewhere. How the illegible signs in the broken part are to be restored is a
riddle; the answer depends partly on the interpretation to be put upon htmn -i in the line before. If the
reference here were to SerAbit el-Khadim, the treasuries sealed up might have been those containing
such cult-objects and valuables as the local Hathor possessed at this time. But a perhaps more plausible
theory is suggested to me by Mr Gunn: he thinks that Akhthoy may have sealed up the turquoises
obtained in the first gallery, before he proceeded to explore a second gallery at a more distant spot; the
turquoises so sealed up would have been fetched on the homeward journey.
4 Htt 'gallery,' 'mine,' a word not uncommon in the inscriptions of Sinai, and occurring also in the
quarries of Ma.sareh, e.g. Urk. iv, 25.
5 Whmni t; whm c as verb, Sinuhe B 62. 6 ° f hrtw rs.
7 'This my lord' following seems to imrply that 'Horus himself' here means the Phar
8 The written w seems to indicate sfwt z with the pronominal suffix. This phenomenon, fi
out by Vogelsang in reference to dpwt.f, Eloquent Peasant, B 1, 57, is not uncommon: I have c
'its ancient time,' A. Z. 45, 77; cf. further wlbwt'f 'his meat,' Siut I, 275, as against ts wbt, ib
and again rwdwts nbt, 1. 8 of the stele 65, 3 translated above.
9 For the feminine word idt 'dew' metaphorically used see Urk. iv, 221; for the related
and instances of dubious gender, see GARDINER, INotes on the Story of Sinuhe, p. 32.
D

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36 ALAN H. GARDINER

so that those countries to which I attained cried 'hail, hail' to his mig
love of him that marries1 the two lands for him, the gods prospering his
I returned in peace to his palace, I brought to him the best of the fo
new metal of Ba'et, shining metal of Ihuiu, hard metal of Menka'u;
Hrerwotet and lapis lazuli of Tefroret, in sa'hret-mineral from upon
khet-¢awa' from the mountain of Hestiu2, ro-netheth3 from Ba'uq-of-th
sticks(?) of Rosha'a'ut and meszemet of Kehbu."
The interest of this remarkable inscription turns upon the names of
mentioned, and the nature of the minerals there obtained. In neith
I able to throw much light upon its data. The land jj =
where Akhthoy conducted his mining operations, may be taken with cer
to be the peninsula of Sinai. Bi'ew probably means "Mineral-country
actually occurs on the monuments of Sinai (nos. 53, 90, 139). It migh
suggested that the term was of wider significance, and was applied t
in mineral products; but of this I find no serious corroborative evidence
in our stele seems to be narrowed down to Sinai by the subsequent m
turquoise. Unhappily it is impossible, either from the Sinaitic inscription
or from any exterior sources, to throw light on the other topographical n
in 11. 3-5.
On his return to the Palace Akhthoy brought with him precious stones and metal
from many different lands. There is nothing to show that his own travels exten
beyond the limits of the Sinaitic peninsula; but if this was the uttermost limit
his wanderings, then we must take it that the minerals which he carried home with hi
were obtained by barter. Three varieties of metal, which we cannot identify, are nam
first of all: these are 'new copper' (or ' metal') from Ba'et, 'shining copper' (or 'me
from Ihuiu, and 'hard copper' (or 'metal') from Menka'u. Mr Gunn points out to
that the last variety (bYi(?)-rwd) probably survives in the Coptic term for cop
(tApxT)5. Of the three localities here named the last has a curiously Egypt
appearance ('strong of kas,' as in the name of the Pharaoh Mycerinus); Ihuiu, a f
early example of the so-called syllabic writing, is unknown; for Ba'et comparis
might possibly be made with the masculine & Ba' named on the stele of Sethos

1 Probably in is to be understood before mrwt.f. I am not sure that I have rightly guessed t
sense of snwh; the simplex occurs in an obscene sense, see BRUGSCH, W6rtb. 782: snh cworn 'to bind
probably not related.
2 Mr Gunn points out that the bird is probably tdw not ?, the head appearing to be rounded
3 There seems to be a stroke under r. No other example of this word is known to me.
4 In the letter of Pharaoh to Harkhuf (Urk. i, 130) we must translate, as indeed most scholars hav
done, "My majesty desires to see this dwarf more than the tribute of Bi'ew and of Punt." The
Shipwrecked Sailor (1. 21), in travelling to the 'Mineral-land of the Sovereign,' starts out by ship on t
sea Waz-wer; for the expressiol Bi9w n itk compare at Sinai Blw n nb-2 'the Mineral-land of my l
(no. 139). In Brit. Mss. stele 569 (see BREASTED, Ancient Records, I, § 602) the record of Sihathor's vis
to Bi'ew seems to be combined with that of a visit to Nubia; this is the only passage, so far as I kn
which could be seriously urged in favour of a more extended meaning for Bi'ew.
5 This equation turns mainly on the reading bi? of the word for 'copper,' which was proposed, thou
in somewhat ambiguous terms, by K. SETHE in Journal of Egypt. Archaeology, i, 234, footnote 2.

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 Plate IX

THEBAN EXCAVATIONS, 1913-14. LIMESTONE STELE (65,2)

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 THE TOMB OF A MUCH-TRAVELLED THEBAN OFFICIAL 37

at Tell esh-Shehab in the Hauran', though there are places in the Nubian lists of
Tuthmosis III which might also be cited2.
.Hrerwotet, 'the flowery land,' is unknown as a source of the turquoise; but with
the mention of lapis lazuli from Tefroret we come to a familiar geographical name.
The Ptolemaic and Roman temples contain lists of precious stones with indications of
their provenance-a class of inscriptions that conforms generally to a stereotyped pattern;
and in these turquoise is regularly said to come from Rosha'ut, and lapis lazuli from Tefror3.
There is earlier evidence, though it is scanty, which carries back these attributions
to the Middle Kingdom4. Where Tefroret was situated is not known to us; real lapis
lazuli does not appear to have been found nearer to Egypt than the Caspian, whence
Lepsius guessed Tefror to be the old equivalent either of Tiflis or of Tebris, towns
to the south of that sea. In the Annals of Tuthmosis III we read of 'lapis lazuli
from Babel' or from 'Khatti'; these, however, need not be the places where the
stone was found, but merely the marts whence the Egyptians obtained it.
Of the remaining products named, and the regions designated as their place of
origin, I have but little to say. The stone sa'hret is often mentioned in the form shrt;
we do not even know its colour, much less its true nature5. Khet-¢awa' occurs,
perhaps as a product of Punt6, in an Edfu inscription. The objects described as
brought from Rosha'a'ut might be translated 'staves,' but it is difficult to see
this could mean. Lastly, the stone meszemet presents some difficulties; the context
does not suggest, though it does not entirely exclude the possibility, that the well-
known eye-paint made of antimony (Gk. or-744s) should here be meant7; but the
Harris papyrus mentions statues of mesdemet, which surely can have nothing to do
with antimony8.
We must now consider the general bearings of the interesting stele here studied.
If Akhthoy's main activity was really in Sinai, how comes it that no mention of
him is found in the very numerous inscriptions discovered on that site? With this
question is intimately bound up that of the date to which the tomb is to be
assigned. Mr Howard Carter, as we have seen, strongly favours a date posterior to
the Twelfth Dynasty, and produces definite archaeological facts in support of his
1 See BREASTED, Ancient Records, iv, p. 354, note b.
2 Urk. iv, 797, no. 39 (Blwt or Bwwt); 804, no. 207 (B?wt or Bstw).
3 See BRUGSCH-DUMICHEN, Recueil des Monuments, Iv, 63, 64, 69, 71; vi, 162, 164, 171, 177 b 3;
DE ROUGA, Edfou 10.
4 Turquoise of Rosha'ut, Urk. iv, 373 (Hatshepsut); DUtMICHEN, Hist. Inschr. I, 33 (Medinet Habu,
Ramesses III). Lapis lazuli of : ' , Tefror, is mentioned in the last-named work, i, 32, and
also in an inscription of Ramesses II in the temple of Kurneh, PIEHL, Inscr. Hieroglyph. I, 145, A;
much earlier instances, where the name is written as a feminine Tefroret, occur on two Middle Kingdom
sarcophagi published by CHASSINAT-PALANQUE, Fouilles dans la Nicropole d'Assiout, pp. 108, 212.
5 Shrt, see BRUGSCH, Wortb. 1272; W. MAX MULLER, Egyptological Researches, II, p. 93.
6 0 /._ _ ^ DE ROUGE, Edfou, 117, 16. Perhaps / is a mistake for +.
7 Msdmt (properly msdmt) 'eye-paint,' see W. MAX MtLLER, op. cit., Ii, 89, footnote.
8 Harris 41 a, 8; 53a, 13. In the model of the Sun-temple of Heliopolis published by GORRINGE,
Egyptian Obelisks, P1. 32, mention is made of the two flag-staffs of msdt stone, which might be an
abbreviated writing of msdmt. Msdmt 'eye-paint' is found similarly contracted; indeed the varieties of
spelling shown in this and the related words are numerous and puzzling in the extreme.

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38 ALAN H. GARDINER

contention. Temerarious as it may seem to dispute the considered verdict of so

experieniced and competent a judge, I cannot refrain from expressing my doubts.
The issue is narrowed down by the occurrence, among the inscriptions copied by
Professor Newberry in the tomb, of the name of a king Mentuhotep; it is very
unlikely, as I have pointed out, that one of the rather obscure kings of this name
should have been mentioned at a period far removed from his actual reignu. Are we
then to assign the tomb to the end of the Eleventh Dynasty, or to the latter part
of the second Intermediate Period ? There are, as it seems to me, many grounds
for choosing the first alternative. At the end of the Eleventh Dynasty Egypt was only
emerging from a period of anarchy which had put an end to all foreign enterprise;
but foreign travel had already been resumed in the reign of Nebhepetr6e Mentuhotep,
as we know from the statue of him found at SerAbit el-Khidim (no. 70), though no
monument actually contemporary with that Pharaoh seems to have been discovered
in Sinai. On the other hand, the Mentuhoteps of the "Seventeenth" Dynasty seem
to have been confined to Thebes and the South of Egypt, the North being in the
hands of the Hyksos; indeed, there is not a scrap of evidence that Egyptian mining
operations were carried on in Sinai at any moment in the whole of this Intermediate
Period. This seems to me an argument of importance, but it would hardly carry weight
against Mr Carter's archaeological considerations except for the fact that the appearance,
the orthography, and the language of the stelae all seem to point in the same directioln.
Examine the few biographical stelae of the later Intermediate Period that have
survived to us, and note how different is their character in every respect. In them
the language of the Middle Kingdom seems to be breaking down; later idioms, such
as the use of the definite article, insinuate themselves into the stereotyped classical
literary style. Of this there is not a trace in the stelae of Akhthoy. Again, how
are we to account for the rough wooden coffin 65, 5? The natural supposition would
surely be that it belonged to one of the femrnale relatives of Akhthoy, and had been
dragged from the tomb itself into the forecourt where it was found. But this coffin
does not seem to resemble the flat-topped coffins characteristic of the Intermediate
Period as described by Mr Carter in Five Years' Explorations (p. 67); on the contrary,
it would appear to be typical of the early Middle Kingdom both as regards its form
and as regards its inscriptions2. Lastly, the position and plan of the tomb in no
way contradict the hypothesis of the earlier date: we must remiember that Nebhepetr6e
built his mortuary temple at the head of the valley near the mouth of which the tomb
of Akhthoy was found; and the scheme of long passage and small inner chamber are
well exemplified at Kurneh by the torlb of Antefoker from the reign of Sesostris I
(no. 60). To sum up, the date of Akhthoy's tomb, and consequently of his foreign
wanderings, must be left to other students to decide. Meanwhile, we must be thankful
to Mr Howard Carter for placing so clearly before us the evidence on which a final
judgment must necessarily be based.

1 See above p. 32. Professor Newberry tells me that in his opinion the stelae belong to the late
Eleventh Dynasty.
2 In SCHAFER, Priestergrqber, p. 92, we find a woman's coffin almost exactly corresponding to
Mr Carter's description of 65, 5; the texts are strikingly similar.

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