The Development of the ‘hry(w) wdb(w)’ Beginning in the Archaic Period /
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The present paper is concerned with the title Hry wDb and its holders during the Old and Middle Kingdom. The title’s earliest attestations date from the Early Dynastic period, yet most of its holders lived during the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties. It enjoyed the greatest popularity during the Fifth Dynasty. The title has always deserved attention, as one of those frequently incorporated into the titularies of officials related to the king or his palace. Its meaning has been debated by a number of scholars, as has the function assigned to its holders, nevertheless, it remains uncertain. After discussing the various scholarly interpretations of the title Hry wDb , the present study examines as many of its attestations as possible, in order to establish its inherent meanings, the nature of activities assigned to its holders, and to trace the development of their institution, the “pr ?ry w?bw. ”
The Stela of ??rwt and Her Two Late Husbands from the Middle Kingdom: Cairo CG 20105 /
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This paper is the publication of a remarkable stela from Abydos currently displayed at the Cairo Museum CG20105. The stela can be dated to the early Twelfth Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat I, on the basis of its iconographical, stylistic, epigraphical, and palaeographical details, without excluding the possibility of a little earlier date (i.e., end of the Eleventh Dynasty). The stela is interesting in that it was commissioned for a lady called ??rwt and thus officially owned by that lady, who decided to broaden the concept of ownership by including her two deceased husbands on her monument. It is especially important in furnishing an important example of levirate marriage from ancient Egypt, since the lady’s husbands were brothers or at least half brothers. The author describes the stela, deals with it artistically and discusses the names of its individuals, and the title assigned to the lady’s second husband ‘b-k3w(’I?w?).
An Interesting New Kingdom Stela from Thebes Cairo Museum (CG 34045) /
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The object of this paper is to make known a New Kingdom stela from the Theban necropolis, currently displayed at the Cairo Museum (CG 34045, JE. 4746). The stela belongs to a s?m ‘š n ’Imn named Userhat. It has a distinctive shape showing an outer frame with a rounded top surrounding a representation in high relief of a false door mounted by a human head with two hands raised in adoration. With such unusual composition the object, I assume, was intended to fulfill the roles of two important funerary architectural elements: a false door and a stelophorous statue. The twofold function of the object is supported by the arrangement of its textual and iconographical details that are clearly touching on two themes: the endowment of funerary requests, and the facilitation of the deceased’s daily resurrection with the rising sun, on two main parts (the false door and the round topped outer frame), so that each part would achieve a function. Cairo Museum (CG 34045) can be assigned a date early in the reign of Thotmoses III, on the basis of internal evidence combined with the information provided by two other objects that are very likely belonging to the same s?m ‘š n ’Imn Wsr-h3t (stela St. Petersburg Ermitage no. 1093, and stela National Museum Stockholm, no 42).