REIGN OF PEPI II

CONVEYANCE OF LAND BY IDU, CALLED ALSO SENENIa

337. Idu, or Seneni, was priest of Pepi I, Mernere, and Pepi II, This document recorded in his tomb constitutes a gift of land to his wife, apparently as her mortuary endowment, though it is not so called. Strangely enough, the location, size, and limits of the field are not given.

338. 'Seneni, he saith:

3which I have

"As for this field, which I have conveyed given to my beloved wife, Disnek (Dyy's-nk) ['it is her1] true ['possession. As for any persons1] 4who shall take it from this Disnek, they shall be b for it by the great god, slord of heaven, and I will seize them [like] wild fowl. I am (now) an- and excellent spirit. I know 6. [I have done] this for this Disnek,

because she was so greatly honored in 1omy heart; she said nothing to oppose my heart..

Disnek, she saith:

"I was one amiable

beloved of her entire city. As for any persons who shall take this land from me, I will enter into judgment with them, byd the great god."

SINAI INSCRIPTIONSe

339. There is no relief with the king's titulary, but the queen-mother is depicted with her inscription. The

a Inscription in his cliff-tomb in Kasr-es-Saiyâd; published by Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 114, a; Sethe, Urkunden, I, 115–117.

bSome verb of condemnation is lost.

cSee Harkhuf, § 330.

dWe expect "before."

eCut on the rocks of Wadi Maghara; text: Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 116, a, and Brugsch, Thesaurus, VI, 1496, No. 25; Sethe, Urkunden, I, 112, 113; Morgan, Recherches, 236; Weill, Sinai, 126; see Rougé, Recherches sur les monument qu'on peut attribuer aux VI premières dynasties, 130, 131.

date, the royal names and titles occupy four vertical columns, and beneath these is the inscription of the officers and officials who conducted the expedition.

Date

340. Year of the second numbering of all large and small cattle of the North and South.a

King's Name

Horus: Nuterkhu, Neferkere (Ntr-hw, Nfr-k'-R), who lives forever; King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Golden Horus: Kherep; Neferkere, who lives forever, like Re.

Queen's Name

341. King's-mother, attached to the pyramid: "NeferkereRemains-Living," king's-wife, his beloved, attached to the pyramid: "Merire-Remains-Beautiful," Enekhnes-Merire, whom all the gods

love.

Leader of the Expedition

342. Royal commission, sent with the treasurer of the god, Hepi (Hpy), to the terrace, the name of which is "Malachite:"c

Members of the Expedition

343. Captain, Bekneptah.

Overseer of stone-work,d Uzai (Wḍ'y).

Chief scribe, Senezem.

Captain and

Caravan-conductor

}{

Merire-onekh.

Neke-onekh (N-k3-nh).

aCf. the same fiscal date under Isesi (§ 266). It is remarkable that we find "North" placed first here.

bThis is not a simple genitive n(y)t belonging to the preceding as it has always been rendered, but an independent title: n(y)t Njr-k-R‹ mn ‹nh=“One who belongs to the pyramid, etc.;" compare the title of the princess Henetre: n(y)t Wnys nfr yswt (Mariette, Mastabas, 360). N masculine is employed in the same way with kings' names, as in Sabu's tomb (Mariette, Mastabas, 375).

See duplicate under Isesi (§ 266).

dRead št, see § 239, note.

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.

b

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)t 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 —, 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.