the work 'on' [the pyramid, "Divine-is-Menkure"]. 50 men were assigned to do the work on ita every day, besides 'exacting1 of them, 5that which the - desired. His majesty commanded that [no man should be taken3] for any forced labor, except to do the work on it,a to his satisfaction. Building of the Tomb 212. His majesty commanded to clear the place of rubbish1 this tomb. His majesty commanded to hack1. — — 7in order to 'clear] the 'rubbish1 [His majesty commanded] that the two treasurers of the god should come; [said his majesty to 8. given to them 9. them] men, whom his majesty judged, that he should go around the work exacted] 10. in his that there be brought stone from Troja (R-2w) to clothe© with limestone the temple there,d together with two false doors, and a front for this tomb, by the naval commander and the two high priests of Ptah, together with the king's master-builder, who came 12. [that there] be [brought] for me a statue 'much greater than1life 13every every day. It is today - upon its highland, together with the pure house. together with two statues of the assistant, of which one was [the other was] 15. 14. feast of Apis in the temple 16. [He did] this, in for my [order] that I might be his revered one by his lord 17. [father] and my mother, for whom I have maintained 18. green cosmetic, eye-paint ——1. 19outside of the place. Then ['I be1]sought ['from my lord']—— in the Northland, of the cattle in this place — There was issued 2oa command of the king to the chief of [all works of the king to take] people to make it, a tomb of cubits in its length, by 50 cubits in its width,1 by — cubits ['in its height] according to that which this my father did, while he was living. Then the king caused 22. cVerb cyn, meaning "to build or clothe with limestone of Ayan (‹yn).” dThe expedition to the quarry which brought stone for the temple, brought also the false doors, etc., for Debhen's tomb. The temple meant is probably the pyramid-temple of Menkure. eThe remainder of the inscription was never executed. REIGN OF USERKAF TESTAMENTARY ENACTMENT OF NEKONEKHa 213. Besides being the most elaborate document of the kind preserved to us, there are important historical facts contained in these inscriptions. They chiefly concern the disposal of two parcels of land of sixty stat each, given by King Menkure: the one as endowment of the temple of the local Hathor of Royenet (Tehneh); the other as a wakf or endowment of the tomb of Khenuka, a nobleman of Menkure's time. Both endowments were administered by one priesthood, who served at the same time as priests of Hathor and as mortuary priests of Khenuka. At the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty, its first king had honored one of his favorites, a steward of the palace named Nekonekh, by conveying to his single person the offices of priest of Hathor at Tehneh and of mortuary priest of Khenuka. In so doing-though, of course, nothing is said about it in these inscriptions-Userkaf, as the first king of the Fifth Dynasty was plainly dispossessing some supporter of the old dynasty, and strengthening his own house by winning the allegiance of another noble family. 214. Nekonekh, having the right to bequeath the two land-endowments to whom he will, now makes a will, stating the origin of both endowments in Menkure's time, and his own title to them by appointment from Userkaf, and decreeing that they shall now be distributed among his a From his tomb in Tehneh, excavated and copied by G. Fraser in 1890; published by him in 1902 in Annales, III, 122-30, and Pls. II-V (see also Maspero, ibid., 131-38); again from Fraser, with useful restorations and corrections by Sethe, Urkunden, I, 24-32. |