drawn from the income of the queen mother, Neferhotepes, coming to her from the temple of Ptah.

The bringing of the mortuary offerings to Pharaoh's overseer, Persen, being the payment of heth (ht)-loaves, pesen(psn)-loaves, and sefet(sft)-oil, which comes from the temple of Ptah-South-ofHis-Wall, for the king's-mother, Neferhotepes, every day, as a perpetual offering, which he gave for making mortuary offerings therewith in the time of Sahure.

REIGN OF NEFERIRKERE

TOMB INSCRIPTIONS OF THE VIZIER, CHIEF JUDGE, AND CHIEF ARCHITECT WESHPTAHa

242. It is much to be regretted that this unusually interesting inscription has suffered so sadly at the hands of time. Weshptah was the greatest man at the court of Neferirkere, being vizier, chief judge, and chief architect. His son Mernuterseteni was called upon to build his father's tomb, and thus narrates how this happened. The king, his family and the court were one day inspecting a new building in course of construction under Weshptah's superintendence as chief architect. All admire the work, and the king turns to praise his faithful minister, when he notices that Weshptah does not hear the words of royal favor. The king's exclamation alarms the courtiers, the stricken minister is quickly carried to the court, and the priests and chief physicians are hurriedly summoned. The king has a case of medical rolls brought; but all is in vain; the physicians declare his condition hopeless. The king is smitten with sorrow, and retires to his chamber, where he prays to Re. He then makes all arrangements for Weshptah's burial, ordering an ebony coffin made and having the body anointed in his own presence. Weshptah's eldest son, Mernuterseteni, was then empowered to build the tomb, the king furnishing and endowing it. The son therefore erected it by the pyramid of Sahure, and, as we have said, recorded the whole story on its walls.

a From his tomb at Abusir; blocks in Cairo (Nos. 1569, 1570, 1673, 1702); published by Sethe, Urkunden, I, 40-45 (from a copy by Erman).

Erection of the Tomb by His Son

243. [It was] his eldest [son], first under the king, 'advocate of the people1, Mernuterseteni (Śtny-mr-ntr), who made (it)a for him, while he was in his tomb of the cemetery.

King Visits a New Building

when he came forth upon them 4

Neferirkere (Njr-yr-k'-R) came to see the beauty —. His majesty

[caused] that it be -1 5.

the royal children [s]aw 6.

and they wondered very greatly beyond [everything]. Then, lo, his majesty praised him because of it."

Weshptah's Sudden Illness

245. His majesty saw him, however, that [he] heard not.

8

[__ When the royal children and companions, who were of the court, heard, great feare was in their hearts.

246.

He is Conveyed to Court, and Dies

['He was conveyed to1] the court, and his majesty had the royal children, companions, ritual priests, and chief physicians His majesty [had] brought for him a case of writ

come 2.

ingsf 3.

They said before his majesty that he was lostg [The heart of his majesty was] exceedingly ['sad']

beyond everything; his majesty said that he would do everything according to his heart's desire, and returned to the privy chamber.

bEvidently some new building in course of erection by Weshptah should here follow, as Sethe has surmised.

The fine tomb.

dA speech of the king is lost in the lacuna, as is shown by a pronoun of the second person singular still discernible.

eLit. "fear beyond everything."

f This is, of course, a medical papyrus, like the great Papyrus Ebers. This confirms the claim of this papyrus that some of its recipes were made and used already in the Old Kingdom.

& Mortally sick.

made for him al coffin of ] ebony wood, sealed. Never ['was it done to

His Eldest Son Builds the Tomb

248. [It was] his eldest son, etc., ['made] for him a flight of steps 3

a

there was

-plenty. When 4

he

one caused

that he ['might be consigned1] therein to the earth 5.

had him come 6

all from the court 7

that it be put into writing upon [his tomb]

["His majesty

praised him on account of it, and he praised the god for him (thanked him) exceedingly.

King Endows His Tomb

249. From the scanty fragments of a fourth inscriptiond of the same length, it is evident that the king established a mortuary endowment for Weshptah's tomb "which was by the pyramid: The-Soul-of-Sahure-Shines."

aAs above 243, l. 1.
bSee 1. 6, § 247.

The son.

dSethe, Urkunden, I, 44, 45. D.

REIGN OF NUSERRE

SINAI INSCRIPTION

Relief

250. King in crown of Upper Egypt smiting a Bedwi as in § 168. The texts, as in the similar Sinai tablets, contain only names and titles of the king.

Great God, Lord of the Two Lands, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Favorite of the Two Goddesses: Favorite (Ys t-yb);b Golden Horus: Nuter (Ntr); Nuserre (N-wśr-Red;

all countries.

Smiter of

Horus: Favorite of the Two Lands (Yst-yb-t' wy), Nuserre, who is given life forever; smiter of the Asiatics of every country.

TOMB INSCRIPTIONS OF HOTEPHIRYAKHET

251. Hotephiryakhet was a priest of Neferirkere and of the sun-temple of Nuserre at Abusir. The motive which he proposes to future visitors in his tomb, to induce

aCut on the rocks of the Wadi Maghara in the Peninsula of Sinai. Text: Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 152, a; Brugsch, Thesaurus, VI, 1495 (inscriptions only); Sethe, Urkunden, I, 53, 54; Weill, Sinai, 107.

bElsewhere Ys t-yb-t'wy, meaning "Favorite of the Two Lands."

This name is to be read N-wsr-R. It is of the same formation as the name of Amenemhet III: N-mct-R for which we have the Greek Aaμapns. It is a common formation in proper names, e. g., N-kɔw-Re, N-kɔw-Ptḥ, N-nh-Shm't, etc., in all of which the divine name, written first, is to be read last.

dThere is uncertainty in the arrangement of signs here; the title "Son of Re," inserted at this point, is later followed by the name "Yn" (Cf. Rougé, Recherches sur les monuments qu'on peut attribuer aux VI premières dynasties, 88, 89), and the cartouche containing it perhaps stood under the title in the space now broken away. Likewise the following "Buto" must belong to something lost below. The order of the fivefold titulary of the Middle Kingdom has not yet developed. eMariette, Mastabas, 342; Sethe, Urkunden, I, 49-51.