6.1 The Place of the Tomb in the Memphite Cultural Landscape
Chapters 4 and 5 explored the development of the two main clusters of New Kingdom tombs on the North Saqqara plateau (Fig. 85). In this chapter, the two clusters will be taken out of isolation and studied in their broader environmental setting.1
Figure 85
The North Saqqara plateau with the main clusters of New Kingdom tombs (tpc, Bub, usc)
Image by the author, Projected on the map produced by the Ministère de l’Habitat et de la Reconstruction (MHR) SHEET H 22, Le Caire
Memphis was shaped to a great extent by the presence of its prime local deities. Egypt’s foremost temple complex of Ptah dominated the cityscape, and the elevated desert necropolis—commonly referred to as West of Memphis or Ankhtawy—was considered the ancient, sacred abode of the Memphite deities, primarily Sokar.2 Ptah and Sokar played important parts in the religious life and afterlife of the local residents. Since the Old Kingdom (c. 2543–2120 bce), the chief deity of Memphis, Ptah, was connected to the chthonic deity Sokar,3 a god of death, and the syncretic connection Ptah-Sokar-Osiris has been well attested since the Middle Kingdom.4 Ptah-Sokar-Osiris gained further significance during the reign of Amenhotep III, a rise to prominence which coincided with grand construction works initiated by the king in the temple of Ptah at Memphis, and with construction works at the site of the temple(s) and burials of the Apis bulls, located in the Wadi of Abusir, c. 1200 m south of its mouth. This complex is today better known by the name given in the Ptolemaic period, namely Serapeum: the tombs made for the successive sacred Apis bulls, the living earthly manifestations of the god Ptah.5 In the 18th Dynasty, the latter consisted of individual underground Apis tombs each marked by a chapel above the ground. In the second half of the reign of Ramesses II, the individual tombs made way for a large communal underground vault accommodating the individual burials.6 The collection of buildings that made up the Serapeum was of the foremost sites of religious significance at Saqqara. It was even considered the entrance to the netherworld and, by extension, every tomb shaft or cavern accessed from the elevated desert plateau at Saqqara could be designated as r-sṯꜣ.w, ‘mouth of subterranean passages’.7 Rosetau is also where the so-called štꜣy.t shrine and ḥnw bark sanctuary of Sokar were located, supposedly in the desert between Saqqara and Giza.8 It is very likely that other sites associated with the cults of Ptah, Apis, Sokar, and other Memphite deities, still lie undiscovered under the desert sands of Saqqara. All these sacred sites were visited at set times during annual festivals,9 or—as in the case of the Serapeum—at irregular intervals, connected to the funerals of the successive Apis bulls.10 Their funerals were major social events, in particular for Memphis’s elite,11 and the carefully laid out necropolis infrastructure facilitated easy access for all who participated. The impact of the event on the landscape can still be recognised in the local toponymy today. For example, the name Mit Rahineh, the town built on the site of the ruin fields of northern ancient Memphis, derives from the ancient Egyptian words mi҆.t (way, road) and rhni҆ (sacred ram). The place names Ṭariq Al-ꜤIjl, ‘road of the bull’, and Mijar Al-ꜤIjl, ‘tug-way of the bull’, are mentioned in a Medieval Arabic ‘manual of treasure hunters’; according to Okasha el-Daly, these names suggest possible knowledge of the ancient Egyptian sacred way that was used in relation to the Memphite cults and/or funerals of the sacred Apis bull.12 During the Sokar festival (see Section 6.2), high officials had the honour of ‘following Sokar’, and even expressed the wish to bear the god’s mefekh sledge along with the ‘perfect god’ (i.e. the king) to the necropolis (i҆mḥ.t) on the desert plateau (wꜥr.t).13 Tomb owners reckoned with the (future) living visitors to the plateau, for example by strategically positioning their publicly accessible cult chapels in ‘streets’ crossing the cemetery, hoping to catch their attention. More generally, a tomb presented an ideal place for the self-representation of its owner,14 and it enabled the individual to make their name endure among the living.15 The tomb owners availed themselves of several visual16 and textual17 strategies to attract prospective visitors.18 In texts inscribed on tomb walls and stelae, wishes are expressed for one’s “soul to become divine among the living” and that one may “mingle with the virtuous spirits and walk with Osiris in Rosetau on the day of the feast of Sokar”.19 Other tomb inscriptions express the wish for the gods to grant the deceased’s ba’s or statues to continue following Sokar after they had passed away. Thus, an inscription carved in the pyramid panel of the tomb of Maya (028/usc) expresses the wish: “may my ba leave the Sacred Land (i.e. necropolis) in order to follow my lord at [his] festival”.20 Such texts indicate that the deceased tomb owners were not simply expected to passively wait for visitors, they also continued to actively participate in social life (e.g., religious festivities). The connection between the prime Memphite deities and the tombs for the elite is also made explicit in a text inscribed in the tomb of Huynefer (045/usc), from the 19th Dynasty reign of Ramesses II, which reads:
Be pleased with the food and provisions of Ptah in the tomb of the necropolis of the revered one before Sokar.21
A lengthier text which firmly grounds the tomb in its landscape setting (real and imagined), is found in the tomb of Pay (017/usc), from the late 18th Dynasty reign of Tutankhamun. The deceased tomb owner is situated
in the presence of the Lord of Truth, Ptah the Great, Who is south of his wall, and of all the gods of the Great Hall (ḥw.t wr.t), the Osiris, the royal scribe, Pay. May he (i.e. Ptah) grant that you may rest in the Land of the Righteous (tꜣ n.y mꜣꜥ.tyw, i.e. the necropolis) together with those who are in his following, that your ba may prosper in the following of his lord, Osiris, Lord of Rosetau, that your provisions (ḏfꜣ.w) may daily be in your hand from the offering table of the Lords of Perpetuity (nb.w nḥḥ), that you may see the sun disk at its rising and that you may behold Re at its setting, that you may walk about as you please in every transformation that you may wish, that one may say “Welcome!” to you, that you may not be set apart from the possessors of offerings, that you may follow Sokar when the Henu bark is being dragged, […] Horus that he may throw (?) all your enemies to the ground, that you may pass perpetuity in happiness and in the favour of the god who is in you, that you may receive provision in the Field [of Rushes]22
The text contains a number of points of interest. The Memphite city god, Ptah, is addressed at the start of the formula. It mentions Osiris, here referred to as the Lord of Rosetau (the Serapeum was also regarded as his burial place), in whose following the souls (ba) of the deceased will forever remain. The topic of the diversion of offerings from temple to tomb hints at the link between cities of the living (where the temples stood) and the dead. The text then references the rising and setting sun, upon whose daily course the main axis of every tomb was (ideally) built. The perpetual participation of the dead in the annual festival staged for the god Sokar is referenced in the dragging of his bark. The god’s festival itinerary included the crossing of the necropolis on the desert plateau (see also further below).
A fair number of inscriptions on the walls of New Kingdom elite tombs at Saqqara express the tomb owner’s wish to ‘rest in Ankhtawy’. This is true for the tomb of the Ptahmose, the early 19th Dynasty mayor of Memphis (027/usc). An inscription in his tomb reads:23
Welcome to the West (i.e. necropolis), may you unite with your house/temple of eternity (ḥw.t=k n.t nḥḥ), your tomb of everlastingness (i҆s.t=k n.t ḏ.t), may you be buried in it after an old age, you being in royal favour to rest in Ankhtawy (i҆w=k m ḥs.wt nsw.t r ḥtp m ꜥnḫ-tꜣ.wy).
Having a tomb in Ankhtawy (which, given the actual location of the tomb, here means the Unas South Cemetery) is apparently linked to royal favour. The favour may relate to the location (an area reserved for the privileged few?), or it may relate to the ability to build a monumental tomb, which was dependent on access to material and human resources (made available as royal favour?). The two possible interpretations of this passage are not mutually exclusive. The detailed analysis of this cemetery’s development in Chapter 4 indicated that with the lateral expension of the burial field, the first tombs to be built beyond the previously existing ‘boundaries’ were those of the high elite. One of the things that differentiates them from the lower-ranking tomb owners are their (long lists of) honorific titles. These titles emphasise and boast a close relationship with the king.
In the following, the spatial patterning of tombs in relation to the Sokar festival and possible routes to religiously significant sites in the Memphite cultural landscape are explored further.
6.2 The Sokar Festival at Memphis
The Memphite deities did not dwell exclusively in their sanctuaries built for the purpose of their veneration; rather, they would leave regularly in processions staged at multiple annual festivals in order to visit locations in the surrounding area. Although we are rather ill-informed about the Sokar festival and its particulars, it must have been one of the highlights on the Memphite temple calendar. We are fortunately much better informed about the Theban Sokar festival, which was modelled after the old Memphite tradition. At Thebes, the festival took place between days 21 and 30 of the fourth month of the Akhet season, which corresponds to the end of the annual Nile flooding. These dates also correspond to the Khoiak festival, celebrated in honour of Osiris, Egypt’s prime netherworld deity.24 Khoiak was performed to promote the successful rebirth of Osiris. At the god’s prime centre of worship, Abydos, Osiris was led in procession from his temple, via a sacred route, to his desert tomb at pḳr (Peqer, modern-day Umm el-Qaab).25 There, his mummified image produced in the previous year was buried. On the way to Peqer, various royal memorial temples and other local shrines were visited by the god and his entourage.26 Non-royal individuals set up stelae and statues in chapels along this sacred route so as to remain present at the processions forever.27 Like Khoiak, the Sokar festival had a funerary role, agricultural significance, and connections with kingship. Memphis was considered the place where kingship ‘resided’,28 and Sokar’s Memphite rituals and festivals were very likely influenced by the rites, mythology, and festival usages of Osiris.29 These facts make the festivals at Thebes and Abydos excellent material for comparison to the Memphite tradition. Much of the Sokar festival took place behind closed temple doors—except for day 26. That day marked the zenith of public celebrations. From Theban sources, we know that the day was considered a ‘public holiday’.30 This suggests that the visit of the god’s bark to the necropolis was a sort of public event, which may have attracted scores of people to watch the god make his way to and through the cemetery.31 What exactly happened on day 26? From early times onwards, the festival on that day included what is referred to as pẖr ḥꜣ i҆nb.w, the ‘circumambulation of the walls’. This is when the god’s image was placed in his so-called Henu bark and dragged (sṯꜣ) on a mfḫ sledge or shouldered by priests (Fig. 86). Prominent officials had the honour of ‘following Sokar’ on the occasion, and they even expressed the wish to bear Sokar’s sledge along with the king around the temple walls and up to the necropolis.32 For example, an inscription on the back-pillar of a statue of Ray (043/usc), great steward of the king (i҆m.y-r pr wr n.y nsw.t), found in the temple of Ptah at Memphis,33 reads:
Figure 86
Representation of the Sokar procession as depicted on relief-decorated blocks from the chapel of Ptah-Sokar at Memphis, dated to the time of Amenhotep III and reused in another temple structure dated to the time of Ramesses II
Drawings by Will Schenck, Reconstruction by W. Raymond Johnson, reproduced with kind permission
may you follow Sokar and unite with the Lord of the Henu bark. May you lay your hands upon the draw-ropes (…) when [he] encircles the walls of Ptah.
This privilege was not the prerogative of living officials. The deceased, too, wished to participate, in perpetuity. This is what we gather from certain offering formulae carved in tomb walls, statues, and stelae. A text inscribed on the doorjamb of Pay (017/usc), for example, expresses the wish to “make the circuit around the walls” as he dwells in “the sacred land (i.e. the necropolis) together with those who are in the following of the Lord of Perpetuity, Osiris, the Ruler of the Silent Land/Realm of the Dead (ḥḳꜣ i҆gr.t)”.34
The stela from one of the owners of a tomb in the Unas South Cemetery, Ptahmose (167/usc), an overseer of the royal household in the late 18th Dynasty (temp. Tutankhamun–Horemheb), presents a rare source for the spatial arrangements of the Sokar festival as celebrated on day 26 at Memphis. The stela text will be used as a point of departure to further discuss the Memphite cultural landscape in the New Kingdom.
6.3 From Object to Landscape: The Sokar Festival and the Stela of Ptahmose (mma 67.3)
The tomb stela of the senior palace official named Ptahmose (167/usc) is now held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (mma), New York, (inv. no. 67.3; Fig. 87). The lengthy hieroglyphic text carved in sunk relief offers a rare and (comparatively) detailed insight into how the sacred landscape at Memphis was conceptualised and used during the annual Sokar festival. The stela will be used as a point of departure for discussing various aspects of the Memphite cultural geography, even though the tomb of Ptahmose is today lost.
Figure 87
Stela of Ptahmose, Metropolitan Museum of Art 67.3
Photograph © The metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Fund, 1967. Public domain
6.3.1 A Few Notes on the Modern History of the Stela
The most recent episodes in the stela’s biography are rather eventful. The stela was first published in 1905 by Ahmad Kamal (1849–1923).35 His brief communication included a copy of the hieroglyphic text, which he copied from a photograph given to him by a certain M. Fournier, a French mechanic in the Egyptian navy, who had the stela in his possession. Kamal was told that the stela was found at Thebes before 1873, and that the present whereabouts were unknown. A few years later, in 1912, the stela resurfaced in North America, in a private collection in the region of New England.36 It was taken from Egypt to the US by the Lieutenant-Commander Henry Honychurch Gorringe (1879–1881),37 in Egyptology best-known as the naval officer who was granted a contract to remove the obelisk of Thutmosis III from Alexandria (originally from Heliopolis),38 and ship it to New York, where it was erected in Central Park in 1881 opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art.39 The obelisk is now popularly known as ‘Cleopatra’s Needle’. Gorringe spent two years in Egypt (1879–1881), and during that time he amassed a respectable collection of antiquities, which he also shipped to New York. He kept his private collection inaccessible at his residential home where, as time passed, the presence of Egyptian objects gradually disappeared from public memory. Gorringe bequeathed the collection to his daughter, and it subsequently changed hands more than once until the mma purchased Ptahmose’s stela from the heirs of Gorringe’s daughter in 1967.40
It is not known exactly how Gorringe came into possession of the stela, and neither is there any information about how Fournier acquired it before him. The Theban provenance mentioned to Kamal can be ruled out, however. ‘Ptahmose of Memphis’ (Ptḥ-ms(.w) n.y Mn-nfr), as the stela owner is sometimes named, was a Memphite citizen,41 and the scattered tomb elements and texts carved on them all point unambiguously to a funerary monument in the Memphite necropolis at Saqqara, more specifically in the Unas South Cemetery.42 Interestingly, Judge Elbert E. Farman (1831–1911), the US consul general in Egypt who secured with Khedive Ismail the Alexandria obelisk of Thutmosis III in 1877, also possessed Egyptian antiquities, including a stela fragment of Pay (017/usc), overseer of the royal household.43 Pay was a predecessor in the office also held by Ptahmose. Pay’s stela derived from Saqqara with certainty, because his tomb was excavated in the Unas South Cemetery in 1994.44 Given the observed clustering of tombs according to the titles held by their owners, it is likely that the monuments of Pay and Ptahmose stood in close proximity. It is not unthinkable that the stelae of Pay and Ptahmose came from the same source on the antiquities market.
6.3.2 Iconography and Texts
The rectangular stela of Ptahmose is carved from limestone and measures 142.2 cm in height. It sits on a low base and is framed by a torus moulding and cavetto cornice. The stela’s protruding lintel and jambs framing a central recessed panel bear decoration and text. The scene in the upper part depicts the tomb owner standing with his hands raised in adoration before Osiris, ‘great god, ruler of eternity’, enthroned before an offering table. Ptahmose wears a layered wig, elaborate and near ankle-length garment, the two-row shebyu collar,45 also known as the Gold of Honour,46 and sandals.
The contents of the offering formulae inscribed on the lintel and raised jambs are not uncommon, yet give a good indication of what tomb owners wished for after death.
Left-hand side text:
|
ḥtp di҆ nsw Ptḥ-Skr-Wsi҆r ḥr(.y)-i҆b šty.t di҆=f ꜥḳ pr(i҆) m r-sṯꜣ.w ḥtp m ꜣbḏw i҆r(i҆).t ḫpr.w nb mr(i҆)=k wnm t ḫnp mw ṯꜣw drp.tw ḥr ḥw.t=i҆ rꜥ nb n Wsi҆r sš nsw i҆m.y-r i҆p.t-nsw pr-ḫnr.w Ptḥ-ms(i҆.w) mꜣꜥ-ḫrw i҆r(i҆).n sꜣb sš mšꜥ I҆wn.y mꜣꜥ-ḫrw |
An offering which the king gives to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris who is in the Shetyt, that he may cause to enter and leave in Rosetau and to rest in Abydos, to change into anything you wish, to eat bread and take in water and air, and being offered to in my (tomb) chapel every day, for the Osiris, the Royal Scribe and Overseer of the Royal Household, Ptahmose, true of voice, created by the sꜣb (‘official’) and Scribe of the Army Iuny, true of voice. |
Right-hand side text:
|
ḥtp di҆ nsw Wsi҆r ḥḳꜣ ḏ.t di҆=f pr(i҆) bꜣ(=i҆) m ẖr.t-nṯr mꜣ(=i҆) i҆tn tp-dwꜣ.yt m ẖr.t-hrw n.t rꜥ nb šsp(=i҆) snw pr(i҆.w) m-bꜣḥ-ḥr wḏḥ.w n(y) nb mꜣꜥ.t ssn.t ṯꜥw m ꜥntyw snṯr m i҆b n(y) ḫ.t-nṯr n Wsi҆r sš nsw i҆m.y-r i҆p.t-nsw pr-ḫnr.w Ptḥ-ms(i҆.w) n(y) Mn-nfr |
An offering which the king gives to Osiris, ruler of eternity, that he may cause my ba to leave the necropolis, that I see the sun disk at dawn every day, that I receive offerings that are presented before the offering table of the Lord of Truth (i.e. Ptah), to breath air out of myrrh and incense from the god’s offerings, for the Osiris, the Royal Scribe and Overseer of the Royal Household, Ptahmose of Memphis. |
The main text covers the lower two thirds of the stela’s recessed panel and is divided over 17 lines:
|
1 |
ḥtp di҆ nsw Ptḥ-Skr-Wsi҆r ḥr(.y)-i҆b štꜣ.yt bꜣ ꜥnḫ nb r-sṯꜣ.w ḫꜥꜥ sšm(.w)=k |
An offering that the king gives to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, who is in (the) Shetyt (shrine), the living ram, Lord of Rosetau. When your cult image appears |
|
2 |
m Ḥw.t-kꜣ-Ptḥ I҆nb-ḥḏ.t nb.t ḏfꜣ.w ḥꜥꜥ.tw m ḥnw šps(.y) |
in Hut-ka-Ptah (and) Ineb-Hedet,47 lady of provision,48 there is jubilation in the noble Henu bark. |
|
3 |
nn nṯr ꜥḳ ḥr i҆m.y=k ḫpr.w=k ṯni҆(.w) m ḥr ꜣḫ.w psḏ.t ḥr ꜥpr.w |
No god has access to your inner (place?). Your appearance is distinctive in the face of the blessed souls (of the deceased), (and) the Ennead is preparing |
|
4 |
sḫr.w=k ḳꜣ(i҆) ꜥb.wy nb ꜣtf.w sḫm-i҆b ḫꜥ(i҆) m sḫm.ty wr bꜣ.w=f |
your plans (saying): “High of horns, lord of the Atef(-crown). One powerful of heart who appears in the double crown, whose power is great |
|
5 |
m-ḥr.w tꜣ.wy hmhm.t=f pẖr.w m mꜣnw smn Rꜥ r mꜣ(w) nfr.w=k m ḥb=k n(y) sšm |
in the sight of the Two Lands, one whose clamour circulates (echoes) in Manu.” Re stops in the sight of your beauty in your festival of leading |
|
6 |
dwꜣ.t wn.w=k ḥr nty m i҆gr.t i҆mn.tyw ḥr (ḏd) i҆i҆.wy i҆i҆.wy sḥḏ=k p.t |
the Duat (Netherworld) (-procession). You will open the sight of those who are in the Silent Land (i.e. necropolis), and the Westerners (incl. the deceased) will (say): “Welcome! Welcome!” When you brighten the sky, |
|
7 |
i҆db.wy m hnw.w=k stwt=k ḥr ṯs(i҆) i҆b.w ḥbs(.w)w kfꜣ.y |
the Two Banks praise you. When your rays lift up the hearts of those who are covered, uncovered are |
|
8 |
=sn ḥꜥ.w=sn ḫnm=sn ṯꜣw=k n(y) ꜥnḫ sḏm.w ḫrw=k pẖr(.w) m |
their limbs so that they may breathe your breath of life. When one hears your voice going around in |
|
9 |
i҆n.t wr.t n.w Ḥw.t-kꜣ-Ptḥ i҆w=tw ḥr sṯꜣ=k m ḥb=k nṯr nb ḥr rdi҆.t n=k |
the Great Wadi (‘desert feature’, necropolis?) of Hut-ka-Ptah (Memphis) (and) one is pulling you in your festival, every god is giving to you |
|
10 |
i҆ꜣw ꜥ.wy=sn m hṯt/htt n ḥr=k i҆w⟨=sn⟩ ḥꜥ{ꜥ}.w i҆b(.w)=sn |
praise, both their hands in adoration of your face, (while/and) they are rejoiced, their hearts |
|
11 |
nḏm⟨.w⟩ mꜣ=sn ḥꜣw.ty=k n Wsi҆r sš nsw i҆m.y-r i҆p.t-nsw Ptḥ-ms(i҆.w) mꜣꜥ-ḫrw n(y) Mn-nfr |
are happy when they see your face; for the Osiris, Royal Scribe and Overseer of the Royal Household, Ptahmose, true of voice, of Memphis, |
|
12 |
ḏd=f i҆nk mꜣꜥ(.w) m šms.w=k hrw pn n(y) sṯꜣ.t=k i҆w=i҆ gr ḥꜣ.t=k mi҆ ḥs.yw=k |
he says: “I am a true one in your following (on) this day of pulling you, because I am in front of you (i.e. ‘your processional image’) like your praised ones (the ones whom you praise), |
|
13 |
di҆.w.n šb.t sšd di҆=k ḥtp=i҆ ⟨m⟩ s.t n.t nḥḥ ḥr i҆mn.tt n⟨.t⟩ ni҆w.t=i҆ Ḥw.t-kꜣ-Ptḥ |
to whom food offerings and (ritual) fillet are given. May you cause that I occupy/rest in a place of eternity (i.e. tomb) on the west of my city, Hut-ka-Ptah, |
|
14 |
pḥ.y=i҆ i҆t=i҆ i҆t.w=i҆ šm.w m ḥtp i҆w ḥꜥ.w(=i҆) ḏd.wy m |
(and) that I reach my father and forefathers who have gone in peace, my limbs enduring in |
|
15 |
ḥs.wt nsw.t di҆=f n=i҆ i҆ꜣw nfr pḥ=i҆ i҆mꜣḫ nn ḏw.t nb.t (i҆)r(.y) ḥꜥ.w=i҆ šms.w=f |
royal favour, that he gives to me a good old age, that I reach the state of veneration, without any evil in my limbs; al his followers |
|
16 |
nb m-sꜣ wi҆ ḥr sṯꜣ wi҆ r i҆mn.tt wꜣḏ.wy ḥs.y i҆r(i҆).tw n=f nn |
behind me while pulling me to the west. How fortunate is the praised one for whom these things are done.” |
|
17 |
ḥtp di҆ nsw m ḫ.t nb.t nfr.t wꜥb.t ṯꜣw nḏm n(y) mḥ.yt n kꜣ n(y) ḥs.y pr(i҆)(.w) m ẖ.t ḥs(.w) sš nsw i҆m.y-r i҆p.t nsw Ptḥ-ms(.w) mꜣꜥ-ḫrw |
An offer that the king gives of all good and pure things and the sweet breeze of the north wind to the ka of the praised one who came forth praised from the womb, the Royal Scribe, Overseer of the Royal Household, Ptahmose, true of voice. |
Figure 88
The events and places mentioned in the stela of Ptahmose, mma 67.3
Satellite images by Google earth (february 2007), adapted by the author
6.3.3 Attempting to Contextualise the Sokar-Festival Proceedings in the Landscape
The stela text starts with an offering formula addressing Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, followed by references to the start of the Sokar festival at Memphis. From line 6 onwards the text makes reference to the god’s cult image visiting the necropolis, variously described as Manu and the Great Wadi of Hutkaptah. The text concludes with Ptahmose expressing the wish to continue to participate in the festival forever, which requires the living to pull him (his image) to the west, much the same way he pulled the god’s image during his lifetime. The course of event described in the stela text in combination with the places mentioned and the most likely location of the tomb of Ptahmose are graphically illustrated in figure 88. The festival celebrated for the god Sokar starts in the city, Memphis, where the cult image makes the circumambulation of the walls of the temple of Ptah (Hutkaptah). The cult image then makes a journey through the wider Memphite landscape, the precise itinerary of which escapes us presently. In my reconstruction, the cult image leaves the temple of Ptah49 in procession in a straight line,50 which may or may not have been possible at the time, for example due to the presence of the largely dried-up western channel of the Nile, and/or the presence of (seasonal) lakes close to the desert escarpment. The procession party departs the temple of Ptah for the city of the dead on the west of Memphis, where the god’s voice (or rather the voices of those attending the god’s procession) circulates (echoes) in Manu.
Since the 18th Dynasty, Manu was regarded as the place where the sun set, the Western Mountain.51 References to Manu are found in multiple religious compositions, for example in BD 15B,52 essentially a collection of sun hymns. Fittingly, it is also mentioned in sun hymns carved in pyramidions, the capstones of tomb-pyramids,53 such as that from the late 18th Dynasty tomb of Amenemone (213/tpc), the overseer of craftsmen:
O Re, you have arisen renewed, ⟨until⟩ you go to rest [in life] in your field, which is in Manu, the gods of the Netherworld praising you, the ba-souls of the Westerners kissing the earth for you, they saying at the approach of your majesty: “Welcome, welcome!”, you having gone forth that you may rest in Manu! You have appointed me as an honoured one before Osiris.54
Related to Manu was the toponym Per-Manu (pr-Mꜣnw), a reference to the Memphite necropolis.55 Khaemwaset, the fourth son of Ramesses II and High priest of Ptah at Memphis, held the title of Iunmutef (priest) of Per-Manu (i҆wn-mw.t=f n.y pr-Mꜣnw) inscribed on a statue base excavated from the ruins of the monastery of Apa Jeremias at Saqqara.56
Precisely opposite the entrance pylon to the temple of Ptah, which processions such as that of the Sokar festival left in a straight line, lay the prominent Wadi Meryre—perhaps the Great Wadi (i҆n.t wr.t),57 mentioned in Ptahmose’s stela text. The (remains of) the pyramid of Pepi I stood high on the southern ‘bank’ of the wadi, serving as a landmark in the landscape. The very gentle slope of the wadi lent the procession easy access to the southern edge of the Unas South Cemetery (Fig. 89–91).
Figure 89
Approaching the Unas South Cemetery through the Wadi Gamal from the south, facing north
Photograph by the author, 2019
The southern wadi ‘entrance’ to the New Kingdom necropolis may not only have had practical advantages. It may also have had religious connotations, possibly linked to the locality named Naref, which, according to a gloss of BD 17 was considered as the ‘southern gate’ of the necropolis of Memphis:58
Figure 90
The Wadi Gamal seen from the southernmost part of the Unas South Cemetery, facing south
Photograph by the author, 2019
Figure 91
The mouth of the Wadi Gamal marked by palm groves, facing east
Photograph by the author, 2019
I set out on the road that I have come to know towards the Lake/Island (š var. i҆w) of the Righteous;
What does it mean?
As regards Rosetau, it is the southern gate at Naref, it is the northern gate at the mound of Osiris.
A reference to Naref occurs, for example, in the tomb of Horemheb (046/usc), a contemporary of Ptahmose. The text in question, a hymn to Osiris, carved on the south wall of the doorway to the inner courtyard, states that the god is seated upon his throne in Naref. Jacobus van Dijk observes that whoever recited the hymn (Horemheb or anyone else) was actually facing Osiris himself,59 thus forging a relationship between the contents of the hymn inscribed on the tomb wall, and the wider landscape in which the tomb was embedded.
Figure 92
Relief-decorated block of a Ramesside high priest of Ptah, Berlin ÄM 12410
Photograph © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin—Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Inv. NO. ÄM 12410, Photo: Sandra Steiß
The Lake of the Righteous may similarly have been linked to a feature in the Memphite landscape. It is mentioned on a relief-decorated block deriving from the tomb of a high priest of Ptah (Berlin äm 12410; Fig. 92), which probably dates to the early Ramesside period.60 The block was found in a secondary context, reused as building material in a farmer’s house in the village of Saqqara,61 located at the mouth of the Wadi Merire, in this study tentatively identified as the Great Wadi of Hutkaptah. The name of the main figure depicted on the block, supposedly the tomb owner, is not preserved. Two of his sons, Pahemneter and Ptahemwia, both wab priests of Ptah, feature as offering bearers. The six framed columns of text carved behind the main figure are of particular interest, reading:
(1) receive me in the Island of (2) the Righteous (i҆w n.y mꜣꜥ.tyw), the necropolis (ḥr.t)62 of Ankhtawy (3) I have come in peace (4) upon the sand (where) I have been equipped (5) with the collar. (6) I have approached the Land of the Justified (tꜣ n.y mꜣꜥ-ḫrw, i.e. necropolis), (while) I am a true beneficial one (ꜣḫ mꜣꜥ), (…) I live of the food-offerings of Ptah, I …
The Land of the Justified63 as a designation for the Memphite necropolis at Saqqara is also found in the ‘Berlin Trauerrelief’ (äm 12411), two joining relief-decorated blocks from the now-lost tomb of the High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, Ptahemhat Ty [408], which was found together with block äm 12410. The funeral procession of the first high priest of Ptah after the Amarna period is accompanied by the following words:64
To the West, to the West, the Land of the Justified, High [Priest of Ptah,] Lord of Truth (i.e. Ptah), you are indeed our father ///
Figure 93
Relief-decorated block of an anonymous high-ranking Memphite official, dated to the late 18th Dynasty, Berlin ÄM 12412
Scan of a photograph held in the geoffrey thorndike martin memphite new kingdom archive
In tomb iconography, the funeral procession from Memphis to the necropolis in the west is sometimes also accompanied by a scene depicting a journey by boat. Coincidentally, the third relief-decorated block found reused in the farmer’s house from Saqqara offers an example (Fig. 93).65 The name of the deceased is not preserved on the block, so we do not know what late 18th Dynasty tomb it derives from. The block is divided in three registers. The lower register depicts the scene of the funeral procession moving west. The single line of text above the scene reads as follows:
May they take him to the beautiful West, to his house of eternity (pr=f n.y nḥḥ), that he be united with his father and (his) mother; the lords of the necropolis (nb.w ẖr.t-nṯr) (will) say to him: “welcome, welcome in peace!”
The scene in the middle register depicts the funerary booths that probably lined (part of) the route to or in the necropolis. In the upper register, we observe two boats navigating a stretch of water, perhaps a lake. The palm trees included in the scene may perhaps be suggestive of a location close to the eastern escarpment of the North Saqqara plateau. The large boat may have transported a statue of the tomb owner, as is visible on parallels such as a scene included in the contemporary tomb of Ipuia (212/tpc), overseer of craftsmen (i҆m.y-r ḥmw.w) (Fig. 94). This scene depicts the stretch of water from a different perspective, indicating we are dealing with an (artificial?) lake, which had an island in the centre, and was used to perform various rituals related to the funeral (the so-called ‘Inselheiligtum im Gartenteich’).66 Actual seasonal lakes existed at various locations along the eastern escarpment near the Unas South Cemetery, in an area today characterised by palm groves (see Section 3.1). It is therefore not too far-fetched to suggest that the stretches of water known from tomb iconography are in fact the seasonal lakes that existed near the Memphite necropolis. We may even surmise that these were locally equated with the Lake/Island of the Righteous known from religious compositions.
Figure 94
Relief-decorated blocks from the tomb of Ipuia (121/tpc)
After Quibell, J.E., Hayter, A.G.K. (1927), Excavations at Saqqara: Teti Pyramid, North side, Cairo: IFAO, PL. 10, reproduced with kind permission
6.4 The Cemetery En Route to the Serapeum
In the previous section, the landscape setting of New Kingdom cemeteries was discussed in relation to texts centred on the Sokar festival and funerals. A third reason for crossing the cemetery would have been to visit the Serapeum. Three texts carved on monuments from the North Saqqara plateau suggest that the Unas South Cemetery lay en route to the Serapeum.67
The first text is inscribed on the two-sided, red granite stela erected by (Pa-)Rahotep (020/usc), vizier and high priest of Ptah in the late reign of Ramesses II, which stood in his ‘temple of eternity’ (see Section 4.12.6).68 One side of the stela shows the vizier, clad in the distinctive garment of his office, standing in adoration before Ptah and Anubis. The other side shows him standing in adoration before Osiris and the living Apis.69 The latter is depicted as a man with the head of a bull. Below the scene of (Pa-)Rahotep in adoration before Ptah and Anubis is a text carved in twelve framed lines of hieroglyphs. The first nine lines enumerate a selection of the many titles held by the vizier, including that of festival-conductor of He-who-is-south-of-his-wall (sšm.w-ḥb n(y) rs.y i҆nb=f).70 This title points to his involvement in the annual festivals celebrated for the god Ptah(-Sokar), which may have included the Sokar festival. After the list of titles follows the speech of the stela owner:
(9) Rahotep, he says: “O all lector priests, mourners (ṯs.w) of the living Apis (10) herald of Ptah, may you turn your faces, every (time) you come (11) (to) the temple of Apis (r-pr n(y) Ḥp) (and) to the temple of eternity of the overseer of the town and vizier Rahotep, to perform censing and libation (and) to say: ‘For your ka (12) (and) for your name, vizier Rahotep’. You will say (so), daily.”
Figure 95
Hypothetical (processional) routes crossing the North Saqqara plateau
The UCL Institute of Archaeology, Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (Photo AP 1333), Taken by the Royal Air Force, 1927, adapted by the author
The so-called Appeal to the Living specifically targets priests involved in the daily ritual proceedings conducted in the temple of the Apis. They came from Memphis, ascended the desert plateau, and on their way to the Serapeum crossed the existing New Kingdom cemetery (Fig. 95). By the time (Pa-)Rahotep arrived at the scene, the Unas South Cemetery was already rather crowded with funerary monuments, and perhaps already difficult to navigate (see Section 4.12). The choice of location for his ‘temple of eternity’, far south from the ‘centre of gravity’ in the northern section of the Unas South Cemetery, might be due to his wish to be close to the entry/ies to the cemetery and the existing paths and tracks leading northwest towards the Serapeum, rather than being close to the tombs built for his peers. The route taken by the priests towards the site of the Serapeum ran past the southern side of the pyramid of Unas. It may not be entirely coincidental that Khaemwaset, (Pa-)Rahotep’s predecessor in the office of high priest of Ptah, placed the monumental restoration text (boasting that he embellished the king’s monument which he found in ruins) on the south side of the pyramid of Unas.71 As such, the text was prominently on display to people on their way to the Serapeum, and to the high-status officials buried in the adjoining Unas South Cemetery (Fig. 96). The route to the Serapeum continued west of the pyramid complex of Netjerikhet Djoser through the so-called ‘deep sandy wadi’.72 The latter may not be an entirely natural feature, and may have been in use as early as the Early Dynastic period, when the royal monuments built on the North Saqqara plateau were accessed from the north, through the Wadi of Abusir (see below, section 6.6).73 The large, mud-brick platform built on the west side of the Step Pyramid complex, built in the space between the enclosure wall and the so-called ‘dry moat’, may perhaps hold a connection to the ‘deep sandy wadi’ route. The platform, dated on ceramic evidence to the late 18th Dynasty, measures at least 40 m north-south. From this place, one would have had an excellent view on the wadi route, with the Serapeum and the hill-top monuments further to the north (Section 3.8.1) in full view.
Figure 96
View of the pyramid of Unas from near the south-western corner of the tomb of Horemheb (046/usc), facing north
Photograph by the author, 2019
The second text alluding to the living crossing the New Kingdom cemetery on their way to the Serapeum is inscribed on the red granite statue base of Khaemwaset (192/usc), high priest of Ptah and son of Ramesses II.74 This monument may have stood at the other end of the New Kingdom ‘Serapeum Way’, close to the actual site of the Apis burials. The rectangular base has, on its upper surface, an oblong depression which accommodated the now-lost statue. Its find spot has not been recorded; however, on account of the text’s contents it very likely derived from the temple associated with the burial site of the Apis bulls.75 The text carved along the right-hand side of the base contains an Appeal to the Living:76
The Iunmutef, sem priest, and king’s son Khaemwaset, says: “All (people) who will come to the temple of the living Apis (ḥw.t-nṯr Ḥp ꜥnḫ), may they see this temple that I have made for this god (and) may they see all that which I have made that is carved/inscribed on its wall (and) may they adore the processional statue (ẖn.ty) of the sem priest and king’s son Khaemwaset, …”
Another statue base of Khaemwaset, made of calcite, was found reused in the ruins of the monastery of Apa Jeremias. Its find spot may suggest that Khaemwaset erected another statue in the Unas South Cemetery, perhaps as part of a larger structure.77 An inscription in three lines includes another two Addresses to the Living. The second addresses “all you god’s servants and lector priests who will later be in the temple of the living Apis (ḥw.t-nṯr n.y Ḥp ꜥnḫ) in every month”, which is reminiscent of the text carved on the stela of (Pa-)Rahotep. His chapel probably stood nearby that of Khaemwaset, whom he succeeded as High priest of Ptah.
6.5 Temples of Millions of Years and Their Relationship to the Necropolis
The Memphite landscape has changed markedly since the New Kingdom (Chapter 3). Today, the desert edge Unas South Cemetery has the appearance of a rather isolated place, far from the ruin fields of Memphis, the site with significant archaeological remains attesting to the presence of the living. The situation will have been rather different in the New Kingdom. In my view, a series of temples of Millions of Years stood at the western edge of the Nile floodplain, along a length of the eastern escarpment (Figs 97 and 88), much the same way as was the situation in contemporary Thebes and Abydos.78 The main source underlying my proposed evaluation of the cultural landscape west of Memphis is the autobiographical text inscribed on the statue of Amenhotep Huy (141/usc), whom we have met before as a key official in the late 18th Dynasty reign of Amenhotep III.79 The statue depicts Huy as a seated scribe. It may have stood in the temple of Ptah at Memphis, where it was found (perhaps in a secondary context).80 The titles-of-office inscribed on the statue identify Huy as, inter alia, chief steward in Memphis (i҆m.y-r pr wr m Mn-nfr) and overseer of works in ‘United-with-Ptah’ (i҆m.y-r kꜣ.t m ẖnm.t Ptḥ). Excerpts from the autobiographical text relevant to the Memphite cultural landscape are given below in translation:
[This statue was] given as a favour [from the king] (and placed) in the temple of Neb-Maat-Re “United-with-Ptah” (hw.t Nb-mꜣꜥ.t-Rꜥ-ẖnm.t-Ptḥ) which His Majesty, life, prosperity, health, made anew for his father [Ptah-Who-is-South-of-His-Wall in] ⸢the cultivated land⸣ [on] the West of Memphis (Ḥw.t-kꜣ-Ptḥ) on behalf of (…) Amenhotep (Huy).
Figure 97
Natural depression to the southeast of the Unas South Cemetery, facing east
Photograph by the author, 2019
The statue, a gift from the pharaoh, was originally set up in a temple named Neb-Maat-Re (prenomen of King Amenhotep III) “United-with-Ptah”—a temple constructed under the supervision of Huy:81
… he (i.e. the king) promoted me (13) to direct the construction works in his house of Millions of Years, which he made anew in his cultivated land West of Memphis (14) upon the bank/foreshore of Ankhtawy.
This temple is exclusively known from textual sources. There is no archaeological evidence of its former existence—and the same goes for all the temples of Millions of Years of kings of the New Kingdom at Memphis (see below). The description given by Huy provides us with a good indication for the temple’s former location: it was built ‘in the cultivated land of the West of Memphis, upon the banks of Ankhtawy’ (m bꜥḥ n.y i҆mn.tyt Ḥw.t-kꜣ-Ptḥ ḥr i҆db n.y ꜥnḫ-tꜣ.wy). This is a very specific reference to the edge of the Nile valley at the foot of the escarpment of the Saqqara plateau.82 The temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep III stood there not alone. In papyrus Sallier IV, verso 2,1, titled ‘A letter concerning the wonders of Memphis’, mentions ‘the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt who are in the West and who are in the West of Memphis’ (nsw.w-bi҆.tyw n.ty(w) i҆m.y-wr.t n.ty(t) ḥr i҆mn.t n(.yt) Ḥw.t-kꜣ-Ptḥ).83 The kings who were ‘in the west of Memphis’ resided in their temples of Millions of Years.84 Interestingly, the same text also includes a reference to ‘Ptah-who-is-under-his-moringa-tree-of-Men-Maat-Re-united-with-Ptah’,85 a reference to the temple of Amenhotep III which, given the date of the papyrus in the reign of Ramesses II, was over a century old when the text was composed.
Temples of Millions of Years were built primarily for the royal cult and were founded by the ruling king, even though the central sanctuary was dedicated to the prime local deity, which at Memphis would have been Ptah.86 By drawing a parallel to Amenhotep III’s royal memorial temple at Thebes (Kom el-Hettân), the full name of the Memphite temple can be reconstructed to read ‘temple of Millions of Years of “Neb-Maat-Re United-with-Ptah” in the house of Ptah’ (ḥw.t n.yt ḥḥ.w m rnp.wt Nb-mꜣꜥ.t-Rꜥ-ẖnm.t-Ptḥ m pr Ptḥ).87 In my view, the location of the Memphite memorial temple of Amenhotep III mirrors the landscape setting as we know it from Thebes. There, the remains of various temples of Millions of Years are situated, to this day, on the edge of the cultivated land, the ancient bꜥḥ-terrain,88 and the non-royal desert necropolis serves as a backdrop to the scene. Ongoing geoarchaeological research at Thebes now shows that the temple of Amenhotep III was fronted by a minor branch of the Nile, and that the temple itself was relatively safe from the annual Nile flood.89 Such may also have been the situation at Memphis, where a former western branch of the Nile has been detected (Section 3.1).
The Memphite temple of Amenhotep III did not stand in isolation. Text references point to the former existence of several royal memorial temples of predecessors and successors.
The presence of possibly the earliest New Kingdom temple of this type at Memphis is suggested by the texts inscribed on two stelae formerly situated in the limestone quarries of Maâsara (Tura), on the east bank of the Nile opposite Memphis.90 The stelae are dated to year 22 of Ahmose and record the quarrying of white limestone for several temples of Millions of Years, including one at Memphis.
The existence of the temple of Millions of Years of the mid-18th Dynasty King Thutmosis III is known through one of the titles held by the General of the Lord of the Two Lands (i҆m.y-r mšꜥ wr n.y nb tꜣ.wy), Amenemone (005/usc). He officiated in the reigns of Tutankhamun to Horemheb, and his now-lost tomb was located in the Unas South Cemetery.91 He held office as great steward in the temple of Menkheperre (prenomen of Thutmosis III) (i҆m.y-r pr m tꜣ ḥw.t Mn-ḫpr-Rꜥ).92
Evidence for the temple of Thutmosis III’s successor, Amenhotep II, is found in the tomb stela of the late 18th Dynasty (temp. Tutankhamun) Royal Butler (wbꜣ nsw), Ipu [373].93 Ipu’s father, Neferhat, who is also depicted on the stela, bears the title lector priest of Aa-kheperu-Re (prenomen of Amenhotep II) (ẖr.y-ḥb n.y ꜥꜣ-ḫpr.w-Rꜥ). Possible material evidence for the temple is provided by the mud bricks stamped with the name Aakheperure found in the Unas South Cemetery (Section 4.4.1).
The temple of Millions of Years of Horemheb is referenced in the title of a man named Iniuia, who was probably a grandson of the late 18th Dynasty Chief steward of Memphis, Iniuia (009/usc).94 The relief-fragment identifies the grandson as first prophet of the temple of Djeserkheperure Setepenre (prenomen of Horemheb) Son of Ptah who loves the inundated land (tꜣ ḥw.t Ḏsr-ḫpr(.w)-Rꜥ-stp.n-Rꜥ sꜣ Ptḥ mr.y-bꜥḥ). The reference to the bꜥḥ-terrain likely points to the same place as where the temple of Amenhotep III was located. The tomb of Iniuia’s grandfather, Iniuia, is located immediately south of the former private tomb of Horemheb, which in the Ramesside period acted de facto as another memorial temple of the deified king.
The Memphite Ramesseum, the temple of Millions of Years of Ramesses II, was probably built by the Mayor of Memphis, Ptahmose (027/usc).95 The temple was named ‘the temple of Ramesses Mery-Amun in the house of Ptah’ (tꜣ ḥw.t Rꜥ-ms-s(w) mr.y-I҆mn m pr Ptḥ).96 Ptahmose and two other officials after him, father and son Nebnefer and Mahu (130/usc), were affiliated with this temple as steward (i҆m.y-r pr m tꜣ ḥw.t Rꜥ-ms-s(w) mr.y-I҆mn m pr Ptḥ).
Besides being the location of various temples of Millions of Years, the foreshore of Ankhtawy also accommodated a temple of Ptah. The son of Amenhotep Huy, Ipy [372], who succeeded his father in office as chief steward of Memphis, bore the title of first prophet in the temple of Ptah in the bꜥḥ-terrain (ḥm-nṯr tp.y ḥw.t Ptḥ m pꜣ bꜥḥ).97
The recovered tombs of high-ranking officials serving the above-mentioned temples are all situated in the Unas South Cemetery. Their tombs probably stood not only in close proximity to the kings’ temples, but stood also in visual connection with the royal monuments.98 Interestingly, the Unas South Cemetery accommodated not only the tombs of senior officials of the Memphite temples of Millions of Years. The tombs of a fair number of stewards, overseers of the treasury, and overseers of cattle of the Theban Ramesseum were located there also.99
The suggestion of the close spatial relationship between the royal memorial temples and the private tombs of those professionally associated with them is further strengthened by the autobiographical text of Amenhotep Huy (141/usc). This text informs us about the income-generating endowment he created to maintain his tomb-cult and supply it with offerings in perpetuity. This arrangement involves the temple of Amenhotep III (lines 22–40):
Now behold, I appointed property by written deed out of my fields, my serfs, and my cattle on behalf of the statue (twt)100 of Neb-Maat-Re whose name is [‘United-with-Ptah’], which His Majesty [had made] for his father Ptah in this temple (m r-pr pn). (…) I say: “Listen you wab priests, lector-priests and gods-servants of ‘United-with-Ptah’ and every steward of the king who shall exist hereafter in Memphis (I҆nb.w), His Majesty has given you bread and beer (…) and all good things to nourish you in his temple of ‘United-with-Ptah’ in the morning of every day; do not covet my provisions which my own(?) god decreed for me so as to do me honour at my tomb (i҆s=i҆). (…) I appointed property by written deed for this statue (twt) of the king which is in his temple (hw.t=f) in exchange for his giving to me divine offerings that come in and came forth from before his statue (ẖnty) after the ritual sacrifice has been made, so as to establish my provisions for future generations to come.”
In this section of the text, we learn that Amenhotep Huy had donated his property to the statue of the king in the temple ‘United-with-Ptah’. This property was then used by the temple to produce offerings for the statues of Ptah and the king. In an act of ‘diversion of offerings’, the same food offerings were taken up to the necropolis and deposited in the tomb of Amenhotep Huy, an act which had to be repeated daily, forever.101 Those responsible for the maintenance of the offering cult were a wab priest and a lector-priest. They would have been the final beneficiaries of these food-offerings. The same priests may have built their own chapels near the tomb of Huy. Such practice is evidenced by the chapels (each including a stela and offering table) of Yamen (010/usc)and Peraa(er)neheh (024/usc), built in the same Unas South Cemetery. Both men served in the offering cult of Maya (028/usc), the overseer of the treasury in the reigns of Tutankhamun and Horemheb. Their memorial chapels were built against the south exterior wall of Maya’s tomb.102
In sum, the sacred landscape at Memphis included the city-temples of Ptah and other deities, and to the west of the city, at the foot of the desert escarpment, New Kingdom pharaohs built temples of Millions of Years. Prominent citizens of Memphis built their tombs—or ‘temples of eternity’ (ḥw.t n.t nḥḥ)—on the desert plateau, which could be seen from the monument of their kings and the temple of Ptah at Memphis. Based on parallels to festivals celebrated at Thebes and Abydos, the procession of the god Sokar on day 26 of his festival travelled to chapels housed in various royal temples before heading up to the necropolis.103 Easy access to this part of the necropolis was possible via a wadi network just north of the pyramid of Pepi I (Wadi Merire; Wadi Gamal, see Figs 88–91),104 via the gentle slope over the Ras el-Gisr (Fig. 98), or via the depression which also accommodated the 5th Dynasty pyramid causeway of Unas (Fig. 99).105 Arriving from Memphis, the southern wadi-approach would have offered the shortest route. However, different routes may have been taken for different purposes, on different occasions, and during different times of the year, and it is likely that all three routes were used through the New Kingdom.
6.6 On Wadi’s and Pyramid Causeways: Accessing the Teti Pyramid Cemetery
Thus far, the landscape around the Unas South Cemetery has been discussed. Let us now move north and consider the wider landscape setting of the Teti Pyramid Cemetery. Today, visitors to the Saqqara archaeological site start their ascent near the valley temple of Unas, where a tarmac road leads up against the eastern escarpment towards the site of the Bubasteion (see Fig. 18).106 In the past, people would have taken different routes up the plateau. The number of possibilities was not infinite, however, due to the eastern scarp. A series of natural depressions, wadi’s, offered comfortable means of access. The ancient means of accessing the plateau have been studied for the earliest107 and latter periods of Egyptian history.108 All point to the Wadi of Abusir as the most significant point of entry.109 The Serapeum was also situated in the wadi bed.110 The discovery of the foundations of a temple built by Ramesses II on the sand plain bordering on the floodplain halfway between the northern bank of the wadi and the site of the 5th Dynasty pyramids at Abusir,111 further illustrates the continued importance of this point of entry to the plateau.112 The present study will limit itself to the question of how the private cemeteries were accessed, and the Wadi of Abusir appears to have played a marginal part in their biography.113
Figure 98
Possible means of accessing the Unas South Cemetery in the New Kingdom
Photograph by the author, 2019
Figure 99
The stone-paved causeway of Unas, facing west
Photograph by the author, 2019
6.6.1 Notes on the Situation in the Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom
In the Early Dynastic period, the northern approach through the Wadi of Abusir influenced the spatial patterning of royal and private funerary monuments atop the plateau. The wadi accommodated a long processional way. At its southern end lay what is today called the Gisr el-Mudir (see Section 3.2) and the tombs of two or three kings of the 2nd Dynasty, Hetepsekhemwy/Raneb and Ninetjer.114 Two kings of the 3rd Dynasty also constructed their tombs in this area near the southern end of the wadi: Netjerikhet Djoser and Sekhemkhet. The former visually dominated the plateau for the next millennia (as it still does to the present day), while the latter was the last royal tomb to be built on the North Saqqara plateau for a few hundred years. Aidan Dodson suggests that the lack of available space at the south end of the wadi, by that time fully occupied with royal structures, may have been one reason why subsequent kings left Saqqara to construct their pyramid complexes elsewhere in the Memphite necropolis.115 They selected locations on the edge of the Memphite plateau for their pyramid complexes, with a gentle slope towards the edge of the cultivation.116 The selection of these sites along the eastern escarpment was likely linked to the changing architectural lay-out of the pyramid complexes. An artificial causeway connected the pyramid-tomb located atop the plateau with a valley temple sited at the foot of the escarpment. Thus, the natural wadi approach was abandoned.
The last king of the 4th Dynasty, Shepseskaf (c. 2441–2436 bce), built his sarcophagus-shaped tomb on the South Saqqara plateau, at a site just south of the wide Wadi Taflah.117 The first king to return to the North Saqqara plateau was Userkaf, the first king of the 5th Dynasty. He selected a plot inside the Step Pyramid complex, squeezed between the eastern enclosure wall and the so-called ‘dry moat’. The limited space available at the site meant that the pyramid temple was built not east of the pyramid (as was usual), but on the south.118 The causeway connecting the pyramid and valley temples probably followed the course of a natural wadi. The possible remains of the causeway were noted in 1839 by Perring.119 On his map of the Saqqara necropolis, he indicated an ‘inclined road to pyramids 2 & 3’ (i.e. Userkaf and Netjerikhet) running through the depression south of the Bubasteion cliffs.120 The causeway ran precisely parallel to the southern enclosure wall of Late Period and Ptolemaic Bubasteion.121 It may suggest that the old road continued to provide access to the plateau in the later periods of pharaonic history.122 It lay conveniently in front of the southern cliff (dhn.t of Ankhtawy), where in the New Kingdom a series of rock-cut tombs were made (Section 5.10). As such, the old infrastructure may have influenced the clustering of tombs in this area, on one of the access ways to the plateau.
A little to the north of the causeway of Userkaf were situated the causeway(s) of Teti and Menkauhor. Nothing remains beyond a small section of the upper part of the causeway of Teti, running south of the pyramid of Menkauhor. It has been suggested that the lower part of Teti’s causeway appropriated the extant causeway of Menkauhor, which was built earlier.123 The lower end(s) of the causeway(s) of the two kings may have coincided with one of the entrances to the later Anubieion (‘Way 1’).124
6.6.2 Accessing the Teti Pyramid Cemetery and the Cliff of Ankhtawy in the New Kingdom
The Ptolemaic Serapeum Way ascended the plateau c. 100 m further to the north of the hypothesised lower end of the pyramid causeway(s) of Teti and Menkauhor, labelled ‘Way 3’ in the plan of the Anubieion.125 It thus clearly did not reuse pre-existing Old Kingdom infrastructure.126 One wonders if the Serapeum Way had a New Kingdom forerunner. In Chapter 5, it was observed that the spatial patterning of tombs in the cemetery north of Teti’s pyramid does not hint at a similarly formal road cutting across the necropolis. This renders it unlikely that the course of the later Serapeum Way was used in the New Kingdom to access the necropolis. Furthermore, since the New Kingdom development of the Teti Pyramid Cemetery must be seen in connection with the rock-cut tombs in the dhn.t of Ankhtawy, with tombs in the latter cliff occupying prime necropolis real estate in terms of landscape phenomenology (in terms of visibility, accessibility), one probably needs to search further south to locate the preferred access route in the New Kingdom. The visitor departing Memphis likely first passed by the cliff-side tombs before continuing the ascend up the plateau.127 Thus, the depression which also included the lower course of the causeway of Userkaf—if indeed still (partly) extant in the New Kingdom—offered a gradual slope upwards to the dhn.t of Ankhtawy. From there, the visitor may have walked passed the west and/or east side of the rocky outcrop of what would later become known as the Peak of Ankhtawy,128 continuing northwards, through the ‘gate’ formed by the pyramids of Teti and Menkauhor. Beyond this monumental gate lay the core of the New Kingdom cemetery, which, over time, grew laterally to the north and west, and gradually filled the space between the two Old Kingdom pyramids. The Serapeum could be reached by crossing the desert in a westward direction, probably following much the same course as the later and well-preserved Ptolemaic paved way (Fig. 100). What the built landscape looked like beyond the western edge of the Teti Pyramid Cemetery cannot be stated with certainty based on the presently available archaeological data. However, on present evidence, it would seem that in the New Kingdom, (one of the) main route(s) towards the Serapeum lay in the south (Section 6.4).129
Figure 100
A selection of the major Ptolemaic (infra-)structures projected on the New Kingdom Teti Pyramid Cemetery
Image by the author
6.7 Closing Note on the Landscape of the Living East of the Teti Pyramid Cemetery and the Cliff of Ankhtawy
The Unas South Cemetery lay west of a zone occupied with temples built for gods and kings. A fair number of the owners of tombs in the cemetery held high-ranking positions in these temples. The proximity of the temples and tombs thus created an eternal link between the individuals and the institutions that they were affiliated with in life. What was the situation in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery and the dhn.t of Ankhtawy like? In Chapter 5, it was found that a number of the owners of tombs held positions in the king’s palace, and that the cemetery accommodated many individuals engaged in ‘the arts’. One wonders whether a relation existed with Djed-sut-Teti.130 The town was established in the early 6th Dynasty to accommodate the workers involved in the construction of the pyramid complex of Teti, which bore the same name, ḏd-sw.t-Tti҆, ‘Teti’s places are enduring’. In the Teaching of Merikare, which is set in the Herakleopolitan Period (c. 2118–1980 bce), the town is described as having a population of 10,000, including officials that had resided there ‘since the time of the (royal) residence’ (ḏr rk ẖnw).131 No archaeological remains of the pyramid town have been found to date, and so its precise location remains unknown. Jaromir Málek suggests that the town lay at the foot of the escarpment immediately east of the pyramid of Teti, and that it may have been a natural extension of the Early Dynastic settlement of White Wall (I҆nb-ḥḏ), which he situates at the site of the present-day town of Abusir.132 Were the palaces of the New Kingdom also located in this northern area? This is perhaps not very likely, because the only archaeologically attested Memphite palace is that of Merenptah. His palace is situated east of the sacred temple precinct of Ptah, on the contemporary west bank of the Nile.133 At present, the question of what the wider landscape looked like east of the northern section of the North Saqqara plateau thus needs to remain open.
The recent work by Sullivan (2020) also aimed at recontextualising built spaces at Saqqara within the larger ancient landscape. The temporal scope adopted in her study is much broader, ranging from the 1st Dynasty until the Late Period. This broad scope results in a much less detailed study, however. For example, her treatment of the New Kingdom activity at Saqqara includes only a fraction of the tombs that were built during that period. As such, the present study does not overlap, but rather complements Sullivan’s study.
See also Staring (2019), 209–210.
Statue Florence 1790 of the 18th Dynasty (temp. Amenhotep III) High Priest of Ptah, Ptahmose [413], mentions a ḥw.t Ptḥ-Skr, ‘temple of Ptah-Sokar’. In the statue inscription, Ptahmose addresses “… all future High Priests in the temple of Ptah-Sokar”.
Te Velde (1982), col. 1179.
First explored by Auguste Mariette on behalf of the Musée du Louvre, 1850–1854: Mariette (1857). For an overview, see e.g., Vercoutter (1984); Malinine et al. (1968). The Louvre has just returned to the Serapeum to further investigate the so-called ‘petits souterrains’, the underground burial complex constructed during the reign of Ramesses II: Guichard et al. (2021). For work conducted on behalf of the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation in the 1980s, see: Ibrahim Aly Sayed (1991). For blocks taken, in antiquity, from New Kingdom tombs and reused in the Serapeum, see: Ibrahim Aly (2000). Every deceased Apis bull was assimilated with the god-king of the underworld, Osiris, becoming Apis-Osiris and Osiris-Apis respectively. This practice followed the ancient Egyptian tradition that every justified being was identified with Osiris after death. See e.g., Marković (2016), 58, with further references to relevant literature.
For the Serapeum in the Ramesside period, see e.g., Thijs (2018). The first two Apis bulls that died in the reign of Ramesses II were buried in what would prove to be the last isolated tomb (chamber G). These burials are dated to the king’s 16th and 30th regnal years. The first dateable burial in the lesser vaults took place in year 55 of Ramesses II (chamber I, Apis X).
Schneider (1977), I, 277.
Abd el-Aal (2009), 5 and pl. 3b, suggests that this is the place where some New Kingdom chapels were dedicated in the New Kingdom, at modern-day Kafr el-Gebel or Nazlet el-Batran, to the south of the Giza plateau. See also Abdel-Aal/Bács (forthcoming); Bács (2019); (2008); Pasquali (2008). Edwards (1986), 36, considers the Shetayet shrine at Rosetau as the Lower Egyptian counterpart of the Abydene tomb of Osiris.
The hieroglyphic inscriptions carved on the façades of Old Kingdom tombs at Saqqara (and elsewhere) commonly mention a whole list of festivals. See, for example, the text carved on the lintel over the entrance doorway to the tomb of Hetepherakhty (Leiden, F 1904/3.1-b), which includes the day of the opening of the year, the Thoth festival, the Wag festival, the Sokar festival, the Great festival, the Flame festival, and the procession of Min. For notes on the Apis processional ways in relation to the Apis funeral at the Serapeum, and the Sokar festival, largely during the New Kingdom, see Sullivan (2020), ‘Ritual Movement’.
Thijs (2018), with further references.
Frood (2016).
El-Daly (2005), 39. The manuscript (ms Arabe 2764, folio 16b) situates the Ṭariq Al-ꜤIjl nearby Deir Abu Hermes, i.e. the monastery of Apa Jeremias, which is where the Unas South Cemetery is located.
Gaballa/Kitchen (1969), 68.
A tomb’s “communicative character”: Assmann (1987).
A tomb’s “memory function”: Assmann (2005), 41–56 (‘Gedächtniskultur’).
Den Doncker (2012), 23.
For example Appeals to the Living, see e.g., Salvador (2014).
Staring (2018), 88–90.
pAnastasi IV, 4,5.
Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden ap 55: Martin (2012), [70b], 40, 69, pls. 37, 93.2.
Gohary (2010), 161 (inscribed on the funerary stela).
Inscribed on the stela now in Florence, Museo Egizio 1606 (2601), see: Raven (2005), 28 [20], pls 32–33. The relief was probably set in the inner courtyard, south wall, east end.
Staring (2014), 469 (text I.13).
Eaton (2006); Gaballa/Kitchen (1969).
Pouls Wegner (2020); Budka (2019a); Effland/Effland (2010); Effland et al. 2010; Eaton (2007).
The temple of Seti I at Abydos contained a chapel dedicated to Sokar (ḥw.t Skr), and we know of various priests of the Ramesside period connected to the ḥw.t Skr in the Theban temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep III: Gaballa/Kitchen (1969), 29. The Saqqara tomb of Ptahmose, mayor and chief steward in Memphis, records an offering formula expressing the wish to ‘partake in the offerings in the ḥw.t Skry’: Staring (2014), 471, text I.17 [2].
Richards (2005), 125–172; O’Connor (1985).
Redford (1986), 298.
Gaballa/Kitchen (1969), 23.
For textual references to inactivity on day 26, see Jauhiainen (2009), 166–167; Helck (1964), 157 (no. 10), 160, as documented in hieratic ostraca from Deir el-Medina, dated to the Ramesside period. The references pertain to the highly specialised community of royal workmen at Deir el-Medina, c. 600 km south of Memphis. The question whether the work-free days could be extrapolated to the rest of Egypt and Egyptian society remains open to debate. One could argue, however, that if the community of workmen at distant Deir el-Medina were allotted a day off during the Sokar festival, a similar situation would have certainly existed at the centre of Sokar’s veneration, at Memphis. For a discussion of the ancient Egyptian concept of ‘public holidays’ (and the dissimilarities to the common national festivals of today), see also: Kemp (2018), 262–270 (references to the Opet festival and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley); Spalinger (1998), 245, 250–251 (references to the Opet festival and the Sed festival).
In stela Paris, Musée du Louvre C 226 the day is referred to as: hrw n(.y) pẖr i҆nb.w r mꜣ ḥb ꜥꜣ m I҆nb(.w)-ḥḏ, ‘day of going around the walls to see the great festival in Memphis’: Pierret (1878), 34.
For example, in the Theban tomb of Neferhotep (TT 50), god’s father of Amun: Hari (1985), pl. 35.
Petrie (1909), pl. 19, right.
Florence, Museo Egizio inv. no. 1605 = 2600: Raven (2005), 31 [27], pls 36, 38.
Kamal (1905).
Mercer (1914), 176–178.
Bierbrier (2019), 186.
The obelisk was given to the US by the Khedive Ismail (1830–1895), ruler of Egypt 1863–1879.
Gorringe (1885).
Fischer (1967), 62, fig. on p. 63.
For the designation n(y) Mn-nfr as a signifier of geographical origin, see Auenmüller (2013), 365. Ptahmose’s father was named Iuny, ‘the Heliopolite’, likewise a local, Memphite name. Iuny was a sꜣb (‘official’) and scribe of the army of the Lord of the Two Lands.
See catalogue entries for 167/usc. For a lengthier discussion of the tomb’s location, see Staring (2014–2015), 58 n. 53. Note that the fragment held in the Vatican, Museo Gregoriano Egizio 251, informs us that Ptahmose renewed the tomb of his mother, Ruy, ‘for the future’ (smꜣwy mi҆ꜥḥꜥ.t n(.t) mw.t=f ⟨n⟩ m-ḫt rnp.wt), perhaps hinting at a family sepulchre.
Stela fragment (left-hand part of the lunette) New York, mma 04.2.527, donated to the mma by Darius Ogden Mills in 1904. See Raven (2005), 42–45 [70], pls 72–73. Additional fragments of the stela were found during excavation of the tomb.
Precisely where the stela was positioned within the tomb’s superstructure cannot be established with certainty.
Usually worn over a plain wesekh collar, which is here absent in relief, but which might have originally been indicated in paint.
Binder (2008).
The juxtaposition of the two toponyms can be understood as conjunction or coordination (Hutkaptah and Inebuhedj), or as possession as expressed by a direct genitive (Hutkaptah of Inebuhedj, in which case the latter is a reference to the nome or town, and the first a reference to the temple).
The designation Lady of Provision is here used in apposition of Inebhedet. Interestingly the toponym usually takes a male form, as either Inebhedj or Inebuhedj, ‘White Wall(s)’. In the Middle Kingdom, the so-called votive zone at Abydos was also known as the wꜥr.t nb.t ḏfꜣ.w, ‘district of Nebet-Djefau’. See, e.g., stela Cairo, Egyptian Museum cg 20153: Simpson (1974), 11. The stela owner narrates how he made his offering chapel at the staircase of the great god (i.e. Osiris) ḥr wꜥr.t nb.t ḥtp.t ḥr wꜥr.t nb.t ḏfꜣ.w, ‘in the district of Nebet-Hetepet, in the district of Nebet-Djefau’. Pouls Wegner (2020), 80, observes that these place names invoke anthropomorphised female entities associated with the provision of food offerings (namely Hetepet and Djefau). She argues that “the identification of the site with these goddesses was integrally related to the function of the mꜥḥꜥ.t chapels as places where the dedicator would continue to receive the offerings that sustained him or her after death”.
The location of the temple of Ptah is based on the temple’s West Gate, built in the early 19th Dynasty, reigns of Seti I and Ramesses II, likely under the supervision of another man named Ptahmose (027/usc): see Staring (2015a), with further references to the archaeological evidence for the West Gate, excavated by the Survey of Memphis expedition. See also Staring (2019), with fig. 13.2.
Procession routes in e.g., Thebes (e.g., Rummel 2018; Ulmann 2007), Abydos (e.g., Cahail 2022; Pouls-Wegner 2020), and Deir el-Bersha (Willems 2020), for which we are well informed through written sources and archaeological remains, indeed show a predilection for crossing the landscape in straight lines.
The counterpart of Bakhu, the Eastern Mountain. It was also the place where the moon set, see pyramid panel Berlin äm 1632 from the tomb of Ptahmose (027/usc): Staring (2016b), 355–361.
Lapp (2015), 2, 18–19; Assmann (1969), 139. See also examples cited in Ockinga (2004), 102 [c].
Rammant-Peeters (1983), 143–144.
Ockinga (2004), 101.
Gomaà (1973), 24–25.
Egyptian Museum Cairo je 40016 = tn 17.11.24.2: Quibell (1909), 4–5. See also Maystre (1992), 315–316, no. 117. Gomaà (1973) 24–25, 81, cat. 36.
Note that Hathor was also associated with the necropolis valley, as can be gleaned from her epithets Lady of the Valley, She who resides in the West, Lady of the Two Lands in the Sacred Land (nb.t i҆n.t ḥr.yt-i҆b i҆mn.tyt nb.t tꜣ.wy m tꜣ ḏsr), inscribed on a limestone socle Cairo, Egyptian Museum JE 14126 of Amenemone/Iny (late 18th/ early 19th Dynasty, probably Saqqara), dedicated to Hathor: Berlandini (1981), 10 [1], pl. 5. At Memphis, Hathor was also known as Lady of the Sycamore, Mistress of the Western necropolis (nb.t nh.t ḥnw.t smi҆.t i҆mn.tyt): Zivie (2000), fig. 5 (rock-cut tomb of Meryre/Sennefer, 356/Bub, late 18th Dynasty, temp. Amenhotep III).
E.g., Naville (1886), 17: 24. Also Urk. V, 26, 8–14. For a comprehensive study of Naref, see now Díaz Iglesias-Llanos (2017). Note that Naref cannot be tied to any single, fixed place in the historical geography; instead, as Díaz Iglesias-Llanos (2017), 570, argues, it should be regarded as a toponym of the mythological and cultic topography, it being meaningful at a cultic level as a stage for the enactment of rites. Naref was used as a toponym in the Underworld, and it was associated with necropolises throughout Egypt, not just at Memphis.
Van Dijk in Martin (2016), p. 59. Naref is mentioned in line 6 of the incompletely preserved text.
Limestone, 58 × 94 × 12 cm. The name of the tomb owner is not preserved on the block. It was acquired in 1894 for the Berlin Egyptian Museum by Karl Reinhardt (1856–1903), dragoman/translator of the Imperial German Consulate General in Cairo. The block was apparently found as part of a group, together with äm 12411 and äm 12412: Erman (1895). äm 12411 is better known as the ‘Berlin Trauerrelief’, from the tomb of the High Priest of Ptah, Ptahemhat Ty [408].
Erman (1895), 18: “in den letzten Jahren scheint irgend ein abgebrochenes Fellachenhaus in Sakkarah eine ganze Ernte von Reliefs und Inschriften ergeben zu haben”.
Wb. III, 143.13–19: “Felsgrab, Nekropole”.
Note that the relief block Florence, Museo Egizio 1606 (2601) from the contemporary tomb of Pay (017/usc), quoted in section 6.1, uses the variant Land of the Righteous (tꜣ n.y mꜣꜥ.tyw).
Limestone, 51.5 × 131 × 10.5 cm. For a copy of the text, see Roeder (1924), 179–180.
Berlin äm 12412. Limestone, 69 × 103 × 12 cm.
For a study of the iconographic theme, see: Gessler-Löhr (1991); Arnst (1989).
It may not be insignificant that Medieval writers situated the Ṭariq Al-ꜤIjl, ‘road of the bull’, nearby Deir Abu Hermes, the monastery of Apa Jeremias and thus also nearby the Unas South Cemetery. See section 6.1, p. 252–253.
Stela Cairo, Egyptian Museum je 48845 = tn 14.4.24.4, measuring 157 × 83 × 34 cm. See Moursi (1981).
Note that the four-sided stela of Samut (052/usc), which stood near the monument of (Pa-)Rahotep, also bears a scene (on its western side) of the Apis bull being adored. See Raven (forthcoming), chapter 3.
The three other known bearers of this title, buried at Saqqara, were all chief stewards of Memphis: (1) Amenhotep Huy (141/usc), 18th Dynasty, temp. Amenhotep III; (2) Netjerwymes/Parakhnawa (359/Bub), 19th Dynasty, temp. Ramesses II, 2nd/3rd decade; (3) Hekaneheh, 19th Dynasty (or later), statue Cairo, Egyptian Museum cg 1014.
The restoration texts of Khaemwaset were embedded in the sides of various pyramids in the Memphite region. The same monuments, including the complex of Unas, were actually being used as stone quarries. Various New Kingdom tombs built in the Unas South Cemetery were found to be built with material reused from Old Kingdom structures, including the pyramid temple of Unas: Staring (in press, a). For the restoration texts, see e.g., Hagen (2013), 203–205, with references to earlier literature. For the Ramesside quarrying activities, see also Navrátolová (2016). Snape (2011), 465, argues that the prince’s “manipulation” of the monumental landscape in the early Ramesside period was motivated by contemporary views of the past, and especially those views stressing the projection of aspects of kingship.
For this wadi, see Reader (2017), 7, fig. 4.
Kuraszkiewicz (2018), 21, figs 1, 13; (2005), 6–7. Note that north and south of the Serapeum stood a number of Late Period temple platforms: Mathieson/Dittmer (2007), 87, fig. 10–12. These may have had New Kingdom forerunners.
The present whereabouts of the statue base and its dimensions are unknown: Gomàa (1973), 81, cat. 39, fig. 14a, pl. 3.
Gomàa (1973), 44–45.
The text along the left-hand side includes Khaemwaset saying “I am a noble (dead) foremost of the city (of the dead)” (Ḫꜥ(i҆)-m-wꜣs.t ḏd=f i҆nk sꜥḥ ḫnt.y ni҆w.t).
Quibell (1912), 45–46; (1909), 2. The base had been used as one of four foundation stones of the main church, laid at its south-west corner. More inscribed stone elements of Khaemwaset were found reused in the monastery, including what Quibell (1909), 4–5, describes as a “dark basalt” block with inscription (now: Cairo, Egyptian Museum je 40016). The fragment measures 110 × 54 × 37 cm. Quibell identified it as yet another statue base; Gomàa (1973), 81, cat. 36 (“black granite”) on closer inspection, identifies it as the lid of a sarcophagus, and suggests it came from the tomb of Khaemwaset. As such, his tomb would be located in the cemetery where many other high priests of Ptah built their tombs and memorial chapels.
See Staring (2019), 213–218; (2014–2015), 80–83.
Murnane (1998), 213–214.
Statue Oxford, Ashmolean Museum inv. no. 1913.163, found by Petrie (1913), 33–36, pls 78 [bottom, right], 79–80; see also Urk. IV, 1793–1801. The fragment of another scribe’s statue of Amenhotep Huy, probably from Memphis (Cairo je 27862 = cg 1169), also contains a reference to the circumambulation of the walls performed as part of the annual Sokar festival: El-Sayed (1982).
Built in the third decade of Amenhotep III’s reign: Murnane (1998), 213.
The Field Museum, Chicago, holds a naos-shaped stela (acc. no. 257; cat. no. 31288) inscribed for a man named Thutmosis (late 18th Dynasty, temp. Amenhotep III), who held office as guardian of the bꜥḥ (sꜣw.ty n.y pꜣ bꜥḥ), temp. Amenhotep III.
Gardiner (1937), 89, 15–16.
According to Caminos (1954), 342, ‘the West’ refers to Thebes (cf. Wb I, 73, 10: i҆m.y-wr.t Wꜣs.t). However, since it is here mentioned as part of a list of deities at Memphis, it seems more likely that ‘the West’ in both cases refers to the Memphite necropolis. See also Wb I, 73,11.
pSallier IV, verso 1,8.
Ullmann (2002), 661–670. The central sanctuary of the royal memorial temples at Thebes was dedicated to Amun-Re. In the Ramesside temples, Amun was worshipped in a specific form identifying him with the king.
The temple was administratively attached to the temple of Ptah at Memphis, see Haring (1997), 169, 390.
As already suggested by Gardiner (1913), 35, and followed by Kitchen (1991), 93 and fig. 1. Others, such as Snape (2011), 466 with n. 6; Angenot (2008), 10; Jeffreys/Smith (1988), 63–64, propose to situate the temple “United-with-Ptah” adjacent to the temple of Ptah at Memphis and hypothesise that it was demolished under Akhenaten. Later, Ramesses II would have built the West Gate of the temple of Ptah on the spot. Garnett (2011) also situates it close to the temple of Ptah, although she argues that the temple almost certainly remained intact during the Amarna period.
Toonen et al. (2019).
For the text, see Urk. IV, I, 24–25. For the quarries, see Harrell (2016).
Staring (2017), 603–608.
Pasquali (2011), 10–12 [A.19]. Members of its priesthood are known as late as the Saite Period. Haring (1997), 432, assigns Amenemone to the Theban memorial temple of Thutmosis III.
Stela Leiden ap 9.
Relief Cairo tn 31.5.25.11: Schneider (2012), 121–122, fig. V.2; early 19th Dynasty.
Staring (2015a); (2014).
Staring (2015a), 178–180.
Pasquali/Gessler-Löhr (2011), 281–299; Pasquali (2011), 93 [B.67].
As has been observed in the Theban necropolis, case study Dra Abu el-Naga: Jiménez Higueras (2020), 171–210. One may also point to the Ramesside priest of the Theban temple of Millions of Years of Thutmosis III (ḥm-nṯr tp.y n.y Mn-ḫpr-Rꜥ), Khonsu, named Ta (temp. Ramesses II). He was one of the priests that had a mud brick structure built inside the temple of the long-dead king: Seco Álvarez (2017), 582–583, fig. 4; Seco Álvarez/Martínez Babón (2015). Khonsu’s tomb (tt 31; Kampp 1996, 219–220; Davies 1948, 11–30) is located on the hill of Sheikh Abd el-Gurna, opposite the temple in which he served during his life.
See Staring (2014–2015) for a comprehensive treatment of these officials.
The twt-statue is usually translated simply as ‘statue’; ẖnty-statue (mentioned below) refers to a ‘processional statue’: Morkot (1990), 331–332.
The quantities transported by them daily have been calculated to amount to over one sack of grain of c. 80 litres (380 sacks annually): Haring (1997), 142. The tomb of Amenhotep Huy may have been accessible for a prolonged period of time following his interment, because he features among the venerated ancestors depicted on the so-called ‘fragment Daressy’, a relief-decorated tomb-block from Saqqara dated to the Ramesside period. The block has not been seen since Egyptologist Georges Daressy (1864–1938) copied it at Saqqara. For the ‘fragment Daressy’, see Mathieu (2012), 819 n. 1, which includes an extensive list of bibliographic references, and pp. 839–841 focus on Amenhotep Huy.
Raven (1997).
Eaton (2007).
See Dobrev (2017), 53 and fig. 1.
Note that the valley temple of Unas is also situated at the edge of the cultivation, on the banks of an ancient lake. The valley temple and pyramid temple of Unas are connected by a causeway measuring 690 m in length.
The tarmac road follows a path in existence when the Prussian expedition led by Lepsius camped at Saqqara in 1843. The sand path is visible in a drawing by Ernst Weidenbach, see: Freier (2013), folded back cover.
Reader (2018); (2017); Dodson (2016).
Williams (2018); Nicholson (2016); Thompson (2012); Jeffreys/Smith (1988); Smith (1974).
The extent of the Wadi of Abusir is defined by the contour line marking an elevation of 45 m above mean sea level (mhr map sheet 22). See e.g., Reader (2017); (2004), 63–68.
The history of the burial complex(es) may go further back in time, although no archaeological evidence for potential earlier phases have been found to date.
Onderka et al. (2020), 130–131, 140–141; Bárta et al. (2018), 10–14.
Note that the entrance to the temple is oriented towards the wadi.
This may have been different for New Kingdom tombs built in the northern extent of the North Saqqara plateau; however, since we have no detailed information about the possible tombs in that area, the question of how the hypothetical tombs were accessed in the past is not addressed in this study.
Lacher-Raschdorff (2014).
Dodson (2016), 10.
The sites are, from north to south, Abu Roash, Giza, Zawiyet el-Aryan, South Saqqara, and Dahshur.
Jéquier (1928); (1925).
Lauer (1955); Labrousse/Lauer (2000).
Perring (1842), pl. 7.
See also Labrousse/Lauer 2000, 40–41, fig. 39.
Perring (1842), pl. 7, erroneously labeled the massive enclosure wall as ‘inclined causeway of crude bricks’. David Jeffreys suggests that the wall was built on the remains of the old causeway: Jeffreys et al. (2000), 9.
Dodson (2016), 12–13.
Dodson (2016), 14.
As suggested by Dodson (2016), 15; cf. Jeffreys/Smith (1988), fig. 62.
Dodson (2016), fig. 1.5, with references to earlier literature.
Although Dodson (2016), 15, explores the possibility, he also deems it unlikely.
Note that the later Bubasteion also had a doorway in its south wall, which is suggestive of a southern approach (in addition to other approaches). For the approaches in the Late Period and Ptolemaic period, see also Williams (2018).
The western and eastern cliffs may have contained rock-cut tombs as well.
In the Ptolemaic period, there were probably a number of paths leading up to the plateau towards the Serapeion. Thompson (2012), 18, singled out two main routes: the Wadi Route through the Wadi of Abusir (a 1,200 m long road may have connected the north side of the Serapeion to the wadi mouth crossing an area then known as Hepnebes) and the Serapieion Way. See also Nicholson (2016), 28, and fig. on p. 21.
See e.g., Knoblauch (2012).
See e.g., Parkinson (1997), 223–224; Quack (1992), 61.
Málek (1997), 95 and fig. 1.
Gräzer Ohara (2020), maps 6–7 (and with further references). Stela Cairo, Egyptian Museum cg 34187, which dates to year 3 of Ay. The stela text records the royal donation of a field to an official (overseer of the royal household?), which is taken from the holdings of several institutions. The precise location of the field is described with reference to the domain of Thutmosis IV (Menkheperure), the domain of Ptah, and the domain of Thutmosis I. It is also noted that there is a body of water in-between them (nwy), and that it borders on the desert plateau in the west (i҆mn.tt m ḫꜣs.t).