Harkuf and the Dancing Pygmy

A while back I posted about finding an electronic version of James Breasted's history of Egypt, which was the first book I had read on the subject. I still remember how the book brought the subject to life for me many years ago. One of the sections of the book that I have remembered over the years is the story of Harkuf and the dancing Pygmy he brought back from Nubia to the court of Pepi II.

Harkuf had led an expedition south of Egypt and was returning north to the royal court with the Pygmy. Dring the return trip, he received a letter from the child king Pepi II. Harkuf was so proud of the letter that he had a copy of it placed in his tomb.

In the letter, Pepi told Harkuf to "come north to the residence at once. Bring with you this Pygmy...When he goes down with you into the ship, get worthy men to be around him, lest he fall in the water. When he lies down at night, get worthy men to lie around him in his tent. Inspect ten times a night. My majesty desires to see this Pygmy more than the gifts of the mine-land and Punt!"

The thing I love about this letter is  the obvious joy of a child that the letter preserves. So often the study of history can seem dry, but occasionally you get a reminder like this that the kings, generals and politicians who made history were real persons.

Old Kingdom Port Found

Egyptian and French archaeologists have found a port on the Red Sea, about 18 km away from Suez, that dates to the reign of Khufu in Egypt's Old Kingdom. They have also found a number of papyri, some of which date to year 27 of Khufu's reign.

You can find more information here.

The Contribution of Tutankhamen's Tomb to the History of Ancient Egypt

Figure 1 - Copy of Tutankhamen's Sarcophagus

     Dr. Marianne Eaton-Krauss gave a talk on Friday, April 5 at the Egyptological Seminar of New York entitled "The Contribution of Tutankhamen's Tomb to the History of Ancient Egypt".  The lecture covered some interesting material and acquainted me with a few facts and objects that I did not already know.

     One of the objects I had not seen before was a stele top that showed Tutankaten (yes, Tutankhaten) worshiping Amun and Mut. Clearly the return to religious orthodoxy started even before the young King changed his name to Tutankhamen.

     A new fact that Dr. Eaton-Krauss discussed (new to me anyway) was that the highest known regnal year for Tutankhamen before the discovery of his tomb was year six. A reference to year nine was found in the tomb.

     Some of the objects in the King's tomb may have been made for a female successor to Akhenaten. Dr. Eaton-Krauss mentioned a pectoral and the King's sarcophagus in particular as fitting into this category.

     All in all, the talk was informative and well presented and I was quite happy that I attended it.

New Discovery Made at Ur

British archaeologists have found a large public building near the ziggurat of Ur. The building is roughly 260 feet square and dates to about 4,000 years ago. The discovery was made at one of the very few archaeological digs being conducted in Iraq right now.

The link below will provide more information:

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/04/04/ancient-site-unearthed-in-biblical-home-abraham/?intcmp=features

Be a Scribe

Fig 1 - Old Kingdom Scribe, Louvre Museum

     Writing was taught in ancient Egypt by having students copy the the well respected works of other writers. Some of the most famous Egyptian texts are known to us from school boy copies (the Carnarvon  Tablet detailing some of the war between Kamose and the Hyksos King is just one example).

     The Papyrus Lansing contains a work extolling the virtues of being a scribe. The papyrus tells a student about the virtues of being a scribe and the miseries of having any other profession. Some of these miseries include:

• The Washerman - "his limbs are weak (from) whitening his neighbors clothes every day..."
• The Maker of Pots - "is smeared with soil..."
• Merchants - "are a busy as can be.. but tax collectors carry off the gold..."
• Peasants - they have crops that fail, and when the scribe comes to collect the taxes the poor peasant is "beaten savagely" for not being able to pay the taxes

But the profession that must be avoided at all costs is that of a soldier. His commanding officers are after him "...as (after) a donkey...". He has no clothes and sandals while serving in Syria. "His march is uphill through mountains. He drinks water every third day." And if he dies in a foreign land he will not "...know his resting place...".

     The teacher of scribes has a much different life. His barns "are supplied with grain, are bulging with abundance". The teacher of scribes is "...loved by all, and praised by the king..."
 
     All in all, it is so much better to be a scribe!

     In figure 1, we see a statue of a scribe from the Old Kingdom. Notice the rolls of fat shown on the scribe's chest. This is meant to show that the scribe is prosperous and does not do physical labor like the unskilled peasants. His papyrus roll is open on his lap in the traditional pose of Egyptian scribes, a pose that will not change in Egyptian art for thousands of years.


Photos copyright 2013 by John Freed. Translations of the Papyrus Lansing are from Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. 2, Berkley: University of California Press, 1976, pp. 167 - 175.
   

The Sphinx Dream Stela

Figure 1 - The Dream Stela of Tuthmose IV

     Over 3,000 years ago a young Egyptian prince fell asleep in the shadow of the Great Sphinx. At the time the sphinx was mostly covered with drifted sand that had been accumulating for over 1,000 years. The sphinx appeared in the prince's dream and promised that he would make the prince the next Pharaoh of Egypt if the prince would clear the sand away.

Figure 2 - Lunette of the Dream Stela

     This story is told on a stela located between the paws of the sphinx. It was allegedly erected there by the young prince after he became the Pharaoh Tuthmose IV of Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty. However, Breasted (Ancient Records, Vol. 2, pp. 322 - 324) and Erman both rejected this, claiming that the stela dates, most likely, to a later period (Dynasty 21or 22?) and might have been a restoration of the original stela erected by Tuthmose IV. Breasted also indicated that the entire story could be a fabrication invented by the local priesthood as a way of increasing the prestige of the god Harmakhis, since the same story was told about a prince named Amenemose, who was a son of Tuthmose I.

Figure 3 - Another view of the lunette of the stela

     In any event, the stele is made of red granite. The bottom half of the inscription has flaked off, while The lunette of the stele (see figures 2 and 3) shows Tuthmose as prince and as Pharaoh doing homage to Harmakhis in the form of a sphinx.

     The inscription (after a long series of titles and bombastic platitudes directed at the king) tells us that prince Tuthmose was out hunting and decided to rest in the shade of the sphinx.
The god Harmakhis appeared to the prince in a dream saying to Tuthmose that he would "give to thee my kingdom..." and that Tuthmose would "wear the white crown and the red crown..." provided that the prince would clear "the sand of this desert" from the god.

     The story is a wonderful folk tale from ancient times, but one wonders how much truth there is in it. Breasted's suspicion that the priests of Harmakhis made this story up is quite possible, although no proof either way is available.

A Discovery from the War against the Hyksos

     A discovery has been made at Tel Habuwa east of the Suez canal that shows possible evidence of an Egyptian campaign there against the Hyksos.

     The discovery includes administrative buildings dating to the Hyksos and New Kingdom periods (some of them burned), as well as numerous bodies of men who died violently. Archaeologists think this may represent a battle in Ahmose's campaign against the Hyksos.

For more information, click on this link:  

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/66979/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Hyksos-buildings-are-the-latest-ancient-discovery-.aspx