EA374

• EA374

• Description

  Amennakht's votive stela: this round-topped limestone stela was dedicated by the Scribe of the Place of Truth, Amennakht, and depicts him kneeling in adoration before the enthroned figure of the goddess of the Theban Peak, Meretseger, holding a lotus-flower and ankh sign. Neither figure has eyes, which may be an oversight, or may relate to the substance of the text. There
  
  
  EA374
  

  

  
  
  

  • 20th Dynasty

  
  

  • Praises for your spirit, Meretseger,
    Mistress of the West, by the Scribe of the
    Place of Truth, Amennakht true-of-voice;
    he says: 'Be praised in peace, O Lady of
    the West, Mistress who turns herself to
    grace! You made me see darkness in the
    day. I shall declare your power to other
    people. Be gracious to me in your grace!'

  • Inscription Comment

    Incised in seven vertical lines in yellow. These express the donor's personal piety in Middle Egyptian. Such hymns and prayers are characteristic of the Ramesside Period, but the phenomenon can be traced back to the Middle Kingdom and was not necessarily a religious innovation of the New Kingdom. The text is a penitential prayer to the local goddess; other stelae record instances of divine grace where penitence was rewarded, but here only the donors request is recorded. The text mentions 'darkness by day'; this may refer to literal blindness (a common affliction in Egypt, and one dreaded by visual artists such as the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina), but 

  
  
  
  
  The donor is possibly the Amennakht who was the author of 'The Teaching of Amennakht', but the name was common at Deir el-Medina. The scribe Amennakht, son of Ipuy, is well known from Deir el-Medina. He was appointed to office in year 16 of Ramses II and is last attested under Ramses VI (M. L. Bierbrier, 'The late New Kingdom in Egypt (c. 1300-664 B.C.): a genealogical and chronological investigation' (London, 1975), 39-40; K.A. Kitchen, 'Ramesside Inscriptions' Vol. 5 (Oxford: Blackwell Press), 645-53, K.A. Kitchen, 'Ramesside Inscriptions' Vol. 6 (Oxford: Blackwell Press), 202-4, 376-9). It is uncertain where the stela was set up, but it was presumably in a sacred context, where it could be dedicated to the goddess.
  Bibliography:
  B. Porter & R. Moss, 'Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings' I (Part 2) (Oxford: Clarendon Press), 716;
  B. Gunn,'The religion of the poor in ancient Egypt', in 'Journal of Egyptian Archaeology' 3 (1916), 81-94, esp. 87;
  K.A. Kitchen, 'Ramesside Inscriptions' Vol. 5 (Oxford, 1983), 645;
  A.I. Sidek, 'Popular Religion in Egypt during the New Kingdom', in 'Hildesheimer ägyptologische Beiträge' 27 (Hildesheim, 1987), 201, 203, 205;
  M. Bierbrier and R.B. Parkinson, 'Hieroglyphic Texts from Egyptian Stelae etc. in the British Museum' 12 (London, 1993), pls. 50-1;
  'Les artistes de Pharaon : Deir el-Médineh et la Vallée des Rois', (Paris, 2002), p. 281 [227];
  The British Museum, 'A guide to the Egyptian galleries (Sculpture)' (London, 1909), 150 (no. 541).
  
  britishmmuseum.org