Challenges in Biometric Recognition

It appears that Ramesses II, the third ruler of the 19th Dynasty, was already worshipped during his lifetime and that his cult continued at least until the end of the Ramesside Period.

A cult of Ramesses II may have also existed at Deir el-Medina.

The Khenu built by the scribe Ramose next to the Hathor temple was dedicated to this particular king.

In an inscription in the Khenu, this building is called ‘Chapel of Meryamun Ramesses’.

Furthermore, the verso of P. Turin Cat. 1879 + 1899 + 1969

contains a letter that appears to refer to the cult of Ramesses II in this building. A Scribe of the Tomb wrote to Ramesses VI hoping that the king would assign a certain man to perform the cult of his own royal statue in the pr of Ramesses II.

This temple of Ramesses II is said in the papyrus to be the ‘temple of Wesermaatra Setepenra the great god [at the side of the temple of Hathor] the mistress of the West’.

The scribe also referred to the statues of Ramesses II, Merenptah, and of ‘all the kings who had worn the white crown’ which had been in this building.

The Khenu-chapel may have served as the location for the rituals of the accession feasts of Ramesses II and other kings. With regard to the cult of Ramesses II, one may mention a stela pertaining to Deir el-Medina which is now housed in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow (no. 5627, date attributed to the reign of Ramesses II).

This stela depicts Sobek, Taweret, and Hathor sitting behind an altar. Opposite them stands the statue of Ramesses II.

In O. DeM 743

(date attributed to the Ramesside Period after the reign of Ramesses II

), Ramesses II, moreover, is mentioned as the recipient of grain for offerings.

1 Habachi, Features of the Deification (1969), 44. For the cult of Ramesses II, see also, for example, Radwan, Ramesses II as Mediator (1991), 221–225; for the name (wsr-mAat-ra stp-n-ra), see also Leitz (ed.), Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter II (2002), 574–575; for ra-ms-sw, see also idem, Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter VIII (2003), 333–334.

2 For the cult of Ramesses II at Deir el-Medina, see Exell, The Senior Scribe Ramose (2006), 51–67.

3 Bruyère, Rapport 1935–1940 I (1948), 72–79, 85–89; Porter & Moss, Topographical Bibliography I².2 (1973), 696–697; for a discussion of the term ‘Khenu’, see Hovestreydt, A Letter to the King, LingAeg 5 (1995), 115 note 26.

4 2nw (mry-imn ra-mss) di anx; Bruyère, Rapport 1935–1940 II (1952), 63–65, pl. 30; Kitchen, KRI II (1979), 705, 6–7.

5 P. Turin Cat. 1879 + 1899 + 1969, vs.; see Hovestreydt, A Letter to the King, LingAeg 5 (1995), 107–121.

6 6wt nfr n...(nb-mAat-ra mry-imn)...iw.tw r rdit Htp=f m pr (wsr-mAat ra stp-n-ra); P. Turin Cat. 1879 + 1899 + 1969 vs. I, 3, 9.

7 Pr (wsr-mAat-ra stp-n-ra) pA nTr aA [m pr Hwt-Hr] Hnwt imnt; P. Turin Cat. 1879 + 1899 + 1969 I, 9–

10; the restoration is based on the assumption that the building mentioned in P. Turin Cat. 1879 + 1899 + 1969 is the ‘Khenu’ (Hovestreydt, A Letter to the King, LingAeg 5 (1995), 108, 115).

8 NA twwt i.irw nAy=i itw n nsw (wsr-mAat-ra stp-n-ra) pA nTr aA m-mitt [nsw (wsr-mAat-ra mry]-imn) pA nTr aA m-mitt nswy nb TAy HDt nty nAy=sn sSmw dy Htpw; P. Turin Cat. 1879 + 1899 + 1969, vs. I, 10–

11.

9 Stela Moscow 5627; see Hodjash & Berlev, The Egyptian Reliefs and Stelae in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (1982), 135–136.

10 Generally, it seems that Ramesses II was portrayed offering to various other deities on the stelae pertaining to the royal artisans’ community; e.g., Stela Bankes 9; Stela BM EA 328; Stela National Archaeological Museum Greece 3356; Stela Turin N. 50030.

11 (Wsr-mAat-ra stp-n-ra) a w s XAr ¼; O. DeM 743, 2.

12 For the date attributed, see Grandet, Ostraca Deîr el-Médînéh VIII (2000), 36–37.

The accession day of Ramesses II was called the ‘Appearance of Wesermaatra’ in P.

Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094

(year 3 of Ramesses X

). In the corpus of this study, there is also another document, O. Cairo CG 25533

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses IV

), containing a reference to the accession of Ramesses II. However, in this particular document, the beginning of the name of the feast is lost in a lacuna leaving only

‘Wesermaatra Setepenra’.

According to the aforementioned documents, the accession day of Ramesses II was celebrated on III Smw 27.

In view of the references to working and inactivity, III Smw 27 seems to have been an annually occurring work-free day at Deir el-Medina.

The scribe of O. Ashmolean Museum 167

(date attributed to the reign of Amenmesse

), a list of men absent or working, omitted III Smw 27. As Qenhirkhopsef, Harnefer, and Khaemseba are said to have been ill both before and after this date,

it is possible that III Smw 27 was skipped in this particular list because the crew was freed from work on the Royal Tomb.

According to O. Cairo CG 25529

(date attributed to year 5 of Seti II

) and O. Cairo CG 25515

(year 6 of Seti II

), the royal artisans were work-free on III Smw 27 but working on the previous and subsequent day. In the aforementioned O. Cairo CG 25533

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses IV

), the royal artisans are said to have been at this feast on III Smw 27 but on days 26 and 28 men working are listed. As maintained by O.

DeM 427

(date attributed to year 28 of Ramesses III

), the crew was freed from work on

1 Wsf tA ist xa n nsw (wsr-mAat-ra[...; P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094 rt. V, 15.

2 For the date of this papyrus, see, for example, Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 687–699; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 541–554.

3 O. Cairo CG 25533, rt. 1 – vs. 17.

4 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 175–177; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 384–386.

5 ...]wsr-mAat[-ra] stp-n-ra; O. Cairo CG 25533, rt. 10–11.

6 O. Cairo CG 25533, rt. 10–11 (date attributed to the reign of Ramesses IV; e.g., Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 175–177); e.g., P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094 rt. V, 15 (year 3 of Ramesses X;

e.g., Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 687–699); see also Helck, Bemerkungen zu den

Thronbesteigungsdaten (1959), 119–120; Barta, Thronbesteigung, SAK 8 (1980), 40; Helck, Drei Ramessidische Daten, SAK 17 (1990), 205–207.

7 The ratio of references to working to references to inactivity on III Smw 27 is 0/5; see also Helck, Bemerkungen zu den Thronbesteigungsdaten (1959), 119–120.

8 O. Ashmolean Museum 167, vs. 3–4.

9 Kitchen, KRI VII (1989), 242–243; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 110.

10 4w 26 sS qn-Hr-xpS=f mr…Hr-nfr mr xa-m-sbA mr sw 28 sS qn-Hr-xpS=f mr…Hr-nfr mr xa-m-sbA mr;

O. Ashmolean Museum 167, vs. 3–4.

11 III Smw 27 is written in black ink which indicates inactivity in this document, days 26 and 28 are written in red ink; O. Cairo CG 25529 rt. IV, 9–11.

12 For the date attributed, see Helck, Die datierten (2002), 133–135.

13 iw sw 26 aHa sw 27 iw III Smw 28; O. Cairo CG 25515 rt. II, 23.

14 For the date of this ostracon, see, for example, Černý, Ostraca Caire (1935), 7; Kitchen, KRI IV (1982), 322–327, 382–384; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 141–147, 160–163.

15 4w 26 iw bAki...sw 27 iw=w wsf [...(wsr-mAat-ra] stp-n-ra) a w sw 28 iw nfr-Hr nfr-Htp bAk; O. Cairo CG 25533, rt. 9–13.

16 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 175–177; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 384–386.

17 Wsf; O. DeM 427, rt. 12–16. The subsequent entries have been destroyed. The reason for the lengthy inactivity in this year is not readily apparent (see also Janssen, Village varia (1997), 158).

18 For the date attributed, see Černý, Ostraca Deir el Medineh V (1951), 23; Kitchen, KRI V (1983), 521–523; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 293–295.

the Royal Tomb on III Smw 23–29. According to P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094

(year 3 of Ramesses X

), the Appearance of Ramesses II on III Smw 27 fell within a long work-free period from III Smw 19 through IV Smw 2. There is also one document that appears to indicate that the royal artisans were working on III Smw 27 but which may perhaps be interpreted otherwise. In O. DeM 209

(date attributed to the late 19th Dynasty

), Patjauemdiamun is said to have been absent in Thebes due to the illness of a woman called Sent-nefer from III Smw 25 through IV Smw 1. If a statement about the absence of a workman is taken to mean that most of the crew was working during the days in question, the royal artisans may have been working on the accession day of Ramesses III in the year O. DeM 209 was written. However, on the verso side of this particular document, the crew is said to have been work-free from III Smw 29 through IV Smw 2.

One would, indeed, expect the royal artisans to be freed from work on the Royal Tomb on the ninth and tenth days of the decade

while on IV Smw 1–2, the crew seems generally to have been work-free for the Feast of Ipip.

It appears, thus, that the absence of Patjauemdiamun mentioned on the recto of O. DeM 209 does not necessarily indicate that rest of the crew was working.

As regards the feast of Ramesses II, one may additionally mention O. DeM 898

(date attributed to the reign of Amenmesse

) according to which Nakhy was absent from work on III Smw 26 in order to brew beer for the Pharaoh. Although the word ‘Pharaoh’

was normally used of the ruling king at Deir el-Medina,

it is tempting to associate the action of brewing performed by Nakhy with the Appearance of Ramesses II on the following day.

1 Wsf tA ist; P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094 rt. V, 7–19. The inactivity at the end of III Smw may have been due to lack of rations: at the beginning of IV Smw, the crew went to Thebes to see the vizier and later, it seems, they searched for grain rations (rt. V, 19 (IV Smw 3 DA in tA [ist pA xr]

r niwt), VI, 1 (...] r wxA diw); see also Valbelle, Les ouvriers (1985), 218–219).

2 For the date of this papyrus, see, for example, Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 687–699; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 541–554.

3 aHa.n pA-TAw m niwt m wsf iw snt-nfrt mr.ti…sw 1 aHa.n pA-TAw-m-di-imn n pAy=f dmH; O. DeM 209, rt. 1–5. For reading pA-TAw as a diminutive of pA-TAw-m-di-imn, see Janssen, Village varia (1997), 93, note 42. Jaana Toivari-Viitala has suggested that pA-TAw-m-di-imn was perhaps the village doctor or someone very close to the woman in question (Women at Deir el-Medina (2001), 213, 221).

4 For the dates attributed, see Janssen, Two Personalities (1982), 112 (Amenmesse or Seti II);

Kitchen, KRI IV (1982), 217–219 (Amenmesse); Krauss, Sothis- und Monddaten (1985), 130 (year 2 of Seti II); Helck, Die datierten (2002), 103–105 (year 2 of Amenmesse).

5 aHa.n tA ist m wsf; O. DeM 209, vs. 3–4.

6 See, for example, Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 140; Janssen, Absence, SAK 8 (1980), 132;

Janssen, Village varia (1997), 115.

7 P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094 rt. V, 19; see Chapter III 1.2.1.11.

8 NAxy Hr atx n pr-aA a w s; O. DeM 898, vs. 1.

9 For the date attributed, see Grandet, Ostraca Deîr el-Médînéh IX (2003), 70–71.

10 Černý, Community (1973), 13.