Erection of the Tomb by His Son

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

King Visits a New Building

Neferirkere (Njr-yr-k'-R) came to see the beauty

when he came forth upon them 4——

[caused] that it be -1 5.

His majesty

the royal children [s]aw 6

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

Wesh ptah's Sudden Illness

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

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

246. 1.

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

come

2

ingsf

3.

4.

His majesty [had] brought for him a case of writ

They said before his majesty that he was lostg [The heart of his majesty was] exceedingly [sad1]

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

King Furnishes Him Sepulture

247. 5. on his tomb 7.

he prayed to Re 6

['put into writing ['His majesty commanded that there be

aThis inscription.

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."

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.

the northern 10.

made for him a1 coffin of ] ebony wood, sealed. Never ['was it done to

one like him before]]

laid therein. 9 these of His majesty had him anointed by the side

of his majesty.

His Eldest Son Builds the Tomb

248. [It was] his eldest son, etc., a

there was

-plenty. When 4

he

had him come 6

all

-

from the court 7

one caused

["His majesty

['made] for him a flight of steps 3

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

that it be put into writing upon [his tomb]b

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. I. bSee 1. 6, § 247.

The son.

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

REIGN OF NUSERRE

SINAI INSCRIPTIONa

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-R)c d;

all countries.

Smiter of

Horus: Favorite of the Two Lands (Ys t-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 Yst-yb-t' wy, meaning "Favorite of the Two Lands."

<This name is to be read N-wsr-Rc. It is of the same formation as the name of Amenemhet III: N-mct-R for which we have the Greek Aauapns. It is a common formation in proper names, e. g., N-kw-Re, N-kw-Ptḥ, N-nh-Shm‍t, 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.

them to make mortuary offerings to him, is of especial interest. He offers to commend them to the god, just as Seti I later intercedes with the gods for Ramses II, his son (III, 253), and as Ramses III also did for his son (IV, 246 et passim).

252. 'Judge, attached to Nekhen, Hotephiryakhet (y' hwt-ḥtphr); he saith:

possession, and never have I Whosoever shall make offer

"I have made this tomb as a just taken a thing belonging to any person. ing to me therein, I will do (it) for them; I will commend them to the god for it very greatly; I will do this for them, 3for bread, for beer, for clothing, for ointment, and for grain, in great quantity. Never have I done aught 4of violence toward any person. As the god loves a true matter, I was in honor with the king.

253. 'Judge, eldest of the hall, Hotephiryakhet; he saith: "I have made this my tomb upon the western arm in a pure place. There was no 'tomb of any person therein, in order that the possessions of him, who has gone to his ka, might be protected. As for any people who shall enter into 3this tomb as their mortuary property or shall do an evil thing to it, judgment shall be had with them for it, "by the great god. I have made this tomb as my shelter; I was honored by the king, who brought for me a sarcophagus."

INSCRIPTION OF PTAHSHEPSESa

254. This document is especially important for the concluding history of the Fourth Dynasty, and the chronology of the first half of the Fifth. Ptahshepses was born under Menkure, of the Fourth Dynasty, and was still living under Nuserre, the fifth king of the Fifth Dynasty; thus deter

a From a false door in his mastaba, discovered at Sakkara by Mariette, published by Mariette, Mastabas, 112, 113; Rougé, Recherches sur les monuments qu'on peut attribuer aux VI premières dynasties, 66–73; Rougé, Inscriptions hieroglyphiques, 79-80; Sethe, Urkunden, I, 51-53.

bHe was priest in Nuserre's sun-temple (Mariette, Mastabas).

mining that the period from the last years of Menkure to the first of Nuserre was not longer than a man's lifetime. Unfortunately, the upper ends of the eight vertical lines containing the inscription are broken off at the top. The first two lines are occupied by two reigns, showing that Ptahshepses is narrating his life by reigns. Now, ll. 4, 5, 6, and 7 all begin alike at the point where the loss at the top ends. It is perfectly clear, therefore, that they each contain a reign. Line 3 is different and has "his majesty" so close to the top that it can hardly refer to a new king, but probably continues the reign of Shepseskaf from 1. 2. As we know that Ptahshepses lived into the reign of Nuserre, we must insert this king at the top of the last line. Omitting the brief reign of Shepseskaf's successor, and the probably equally brief reign of Khaneferre in the Fifth Dynasty, b the kings enumerated by Ptahshepses were not improbably as in following section.

aConfer the same wording in the reigns of Menkure and Shepseskaf.

bPtahshepses has omitted two reigns between Menkure and Shepseskaf, hence the other omissions assumed are not wholly arbitrary.