STELA OF THE TWO QUEENS, ENEKHNES-MERIREa 344. The history of the royal family disclosed by this stela is of great interest as well as of historical importance. Zau, the vizier and chief justice under Pepi II, and perhaps earlier, erected the monument in memory of his brothers and sisters at Abydos. He was the son of a prince, named Khui, and his mother's name was Nebet. Both his sisters married king Pepi I; one became the mother of Mernere, the other of Pepi II, so that besides being half-brothers, the two kings were on the mother's side also cousins. The family tree appears thus: Khui–Nebet Enekhnes-Merire I-Pepi I-Enekhnes-Merire II Zau Mernere Pepi II With both his sisters queens and likewise successively the mother of the king, we can see how Zau became vizier aTablet found built into a well at Abydos by Mariette, now in Cairo, No. 1431; complete text: Mariette, Abydos, I, 2; Rougé, Inscriptions hieroglyphiques, 153, 154; see also Mariette, Catalogue général d'Abydos, No. 523, and Rougé, Recherches sur les monuments qu'on peut attribuer aux VI premières dynasties, 129-84; I also had access to Erman's collation for the lexicon, which corrected a number of mistakes in the published texts. This collation is now published by Sethe, Urkunden, I, 117-19. and chief justice under Pepi II; Pepi II's mother EnekhnesMerire II was much honored by him, and appears with him in the dating of his Sinai inscription (§ 339). Inscription over First Queen 345. King's-wife, (attached to) a the pyramid (called): “MerireRemains-Beautiful," very amiable, very favored, 'great in possessions, companion of Horus,b — of Horus, king's-mother, (attached to) the pyramid (called): "Mernere-Shines-and-is-Beautiful," Enekhnes-Merire. Inscription over Second Queen 346. King's-wife, (attached to) the pyramid (called): "MerireRemains-Beautiful," very amiable, very favored, daughter of the god, 'great in possessions, companion of Horus,b [— of Horus, king'smother, (attached to) the pyramid (called): "Neferkere-RemainsAlive," Enekhnes-Merire. Inscription over Man 347. Their brother, the chief justice and vizier, Zau (Dw). Below the preceding is Zau's dedicatory inscription introduced by an enumeration of his five brothers, all of whom bore the name Zau. Thus, the whole family, six brothers Zau, and two sisters Enekhnes-Merire, are all commemorated. Dedicatory Inscription 348. Their brother, the real hereditary prince, count (hty-) and governor of the pyramid-city, chief justice and vizier, overseer of the king's records, prophet of the gods of Buto, prophet of the gods of Nekhen, chief ritual priest, sem priest and master of all wardrobes, wearer of the royal seal, judge -, revered by the god, Zau. 349. I made this in Abydos of Thinis, as one in honor with the majesty of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkere, who lives aThat the pyramid names in these titles are to be so rendered is made certain by the Wadi Maghara inscription of Pepi, I (§§ 302 ff.), where they occur also, but with n(y) preceding; see note, ibid. bThe king. forever, with the majesty of Kinga Merire and Kinga Mernere, out of love for the nome in which I was born by the favorite of the king, Nebet (Nb't), to my father the hereditary prince, count, (meri-nuter) priest, honored by the great god, Khui (Hwy). O ye living, who are upon earth, every superior prophet, every prophet, every I-, of the temple of the majesty of my lord, Osiris (Hnty ymntyw); as the king lives for you, ye shall take for me the mortuary offerings from the income of this temple, of that which I have conveyed by a decree, and of that which ye convey for yourselves, when ye see my offices with the king; because I was more honored by my lord than [any] noble INSCRIPTIONS OF HARKHUF [Continued from § 336] LETTER OF PEPI II 350. Harkhuf has made a fourth voyage to Yam, and having sent word to the king of his safe return with many products of the south and especially a dancing dwarf, the king writes him a letter of thanks, promising great rewards, etc., if the dwarf is safely brought to court. This letter, Harkhuf had engraved on the façade of his tomb, which was already complete, so that a further space for the letter had to be smoothed on the extreme right of the façade, where none of the other Assuan tombs has any inscriptions at all. Thus was preserved to us the only complete royal letter of the Old Kingdom. It is as follows: aSame as preceding title of Neferkere. Both these kings were deceased at this time, as they do not receive the predicate "who lives forever." bAn oath. cWith the exception of the Berlin papyrus fragments (§ 325, note) and the fragmentary letters (§§ 271, 273), it is the only letter of any kind surviving from the Old Kingdom. Date and Introduction 351. 'Royal seal, year 2, third month of the first season, (third month), day 15. "Royal decree (to) a the sole companion, the ritual priest and caravan-conductor, Harkhuf (Hr-hwf). Acknowledgment of Harkhuf's Letter 3I have noted the matter of this thy letter, which thou hast sent to the king, to the palace, in order that oneb might know that thou hast descended 4in safety from Yam with the army which was with thee. Thou hast said [in] this thy letter, that thou hast brought all great and beautiful gifts, which Hathor, mistress of Imu (Ymw) hath given to the ka of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt Neferkere (Njr-k-R), who liveth forever and ever. Thou hast said in this thy letter, that thou hast brought a dancing dwarfd 7of the god from the land of spirits, like the dwarf which the treasurer of the god Burded (B-wr-dd) brought from Punt in the time of Isesi (Yssy). Thou hast said to my majesty: "Never before has one like him been brought by any other who has visitede Yam." Harkhuf's Rewards 352. Each year - thee doing that which thy lord desires and praises; thou spendest day and night with the caravan1 in doing that which thy lord desires, praises and commands. His majesty will make 12thy many excellent honors to be an ornament for the son of thy son forever, so that all people will say 13when they hear what my majesty doeth for thee: "Is there anything like thisf which was done for the sole companion, Harkhuf, 14when he descended from Yam, because of the aOmitted also in both the letters to Senezemib (§§ 271, 273). bCircumlocution for "the king." cBy emending in accordance with the preceding sentence. dLit.: "a dwarf of dances;" cf. the same usage in Hebrew syntax. See Erman's explanation, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 1893, 72, 73, and Pietschmann, ibid., 73, 74. eThe verb is yry "to make or do" with Yam as direct object; the reading is certain. The same usage occurs in Uni (1. 41), and Khui (§ 361); see Breasted, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, May, 1901, 237-39. vigilance which he showed, to do that which his lord desired, praised and commanded!" King's Instructions 353. Come northwarda to the court immediately; —11thou shalt bring this dwarf with thee, which thou bringest living, prosperous and healthy from the land of spirits, "7for the dances of the god, to rejoice and 'gladden' the heart of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkere, who lives forever. 18When he goes down with thee into the vessel, appoint excellent people, who shall be beside him 19on each side of the vessel; take care lest he fall into the water. When [he] sleeps at night appoint excellent people, 20who shall sleep beside him in his tent;b inspect ten times a night. My majesty desires to see this dwarf more than the gifts of Sinai and 22of Punt (Pwnt). If thou arrivest at court this dwarf being with thee 23alive, prosperous and healthy, my majesty will do for thee a greater thing than that which was done for the treasurer of the god, Burded (B3-wr-dd) 24in the time of Isesi (Yssy), according to the heart's desire of my majesty to see this dwarf. 354. 25Commands have been sent to the chief of the New Towns,d the companion, and superior prophet, to command that sustenancee be taken from him in every store-city and every temple, without stinting therein. INSCRIPTIONS OF PEPI-NAKHT 355. This nobleman of Elephantine was of high rank, and was entrusted with important commissions by King Pepi II. aIt is not necessary to emend dh ́t to dp t; undoubtedly hď ́t, infinitive of hd "sail down-stream" is meant; hd makes feminine infinitive in early texts; see Sethe, Verbum, I, 238. bThis word (hn) is certain from Merneptah's Karnak text, 1. 62 (III, 589), where it also means "tent." cBy, the name of a mining region in Sinai; as it is sometimes used with the demonstrative (pn, “this”), I have rendered it "mine" in the inscriptions of the Middle Kingdom, where it is not uncommon. dSee § 628. eff>=lit.: “a causing to be satisfied;" the reference is to the provisioning of the expedition by the places passed as it returns. The king has sent orders to the proper officer in each place that he shall furnish such provision. From his cliff-tomb opposite Assuan (see § 325, note, on the excavation of this tomb); it is No. 9 in de Morgan's plan (Catalogue des monuments, 142). The inscription occupies the façade, seven columns on each side of the door; and |