Crystal domains and surface analysis

From the New Kingdom on, IV prt, the eighth month of the ancient Egyptian civil calendar, was called pn-rnn-wtt (Greek Pharmuthi) after the Feast of Renenutet celebrated at the beginning of the subsequent month.

¹

In the astronomical ceiling in the tomb of Senmut (TT71, 18th Dynasty),

²

the eponymous feast of IV prt was entitled rnn-wtt.

According to the Medinet Habu Festival Calendar

³

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses II

⁴

), this particular feast was called Hb rnn-wtt. In the documents pertaining to Deir el-Medina, there also appear to be references to the eponymous feast of IV prt. In O.

IFAO 1088

⁵

(no date attributed), pn-rnn-wtt is mentioned in the first line before the Feast of Ipip. The occasions in this document seem to be eponymous feasts and, hence, we may have here a reference to the Feast of Renenutet.

⁶

In the upper parts of the Valley of the Kings wadi with the tomb of Merenptah

⁷

is Graffito 265

⁸

(no date attributed) which gives only the name pn-rnn-wtt. As the name is written with the determinatives for a goddess,

⁹

this is probably a reference to the eponymous Feast of Renenutet or to the month of IV prt rather than to a man with the same name.

¹⁰

Renenutet was a nourishing fertility goddess, a nurse who sometimes was shown suckling Nepri, the personification of grain.

¹¹

The eponymous feast pn-rnn-wtt was a harvest festival also commemorating the birth of Nepri.

¹²

In the Greco-Roman temples,

1 Černý, Origin of Tybi, ASAE 43 (1943), 175; Parker, Calendars (1950), 45–46; Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (1971), 64.

2 See, for example, Parker, Calendars (1950), 42–43, pl. I; Leitz, Studien zur Astronomie (1989), 35–

48; for the date of TT71, see Porter & Moss, Topographical Bibliography I².1 (1960), 139–142.

3 Festival Calendar of Medinet Habu, 1402 (list 64); e.g., Kitchen, KRI V (1983), 181.

4 For the date attributed, see Nelson, The Calendar at Medinet Habu (1934), 25–29; Spalinger, Sovereignty and Theology, Saeculum 47 (1996), 226; Haring, Divine Households (1997), 53–55..

5 Pn-rnn-wtt; O. IFAO 1088, 1 (Černý, Notebooks, 110.56); see van Walsem, Month-Names (1982), 242 (O. DeM reg. no. 1088).

6 See van Walsem, Month-Names (1982), 222; for a discussion of this document, see Chapter III 1.2.1.

7 Félix & Kurz, GMTh II (1970), pl. 11.

8 Pn-rnn-wtt; Graffito 265, 1.

9 X1 and H8 in Gardiner’s Sign List.

10 A Penrennut, son of Nakhtmin, is known from the reign of Ramesses IV (Davies, Who’s Who at Deir el-Medina (1999), 212–213).

11 Beinlich-Seeber, Renenutet, LÄ V (1984), 232; see also Hermann, Das Kind und seine Hüterin, MDIK 8 (1939), 171–176; Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (1971), 67–85, 96–98; for Renenutet, see Broekhuis, op. cit.; Derchain, Review of Broekhuis, De godin Renenwete, Cd’É 47 (1972), 134–

138; Wildung, Review of Broekhuis, De godin Renenwete, BiOr 29 (1972), 291–293; Collombert, Renenoutet et Renenet, BSÉG 27 (2005–2007), 21–32. For scenes where Renenutet is suckling Nepri, see, for example, Leibovitch, Gods of Agriculture, JNES 12 (1953), 82 figs. 1–2; see also the scene in the tomb of Amenemhat, called Sunero, (TT48) where Renenutet is suckling the king (e.g., Davies, The Graphic work of the Expedition 2. The King as Priest of the Harvest, Bulletin of Metropolitan Museum of Art. Supplement: The Egyptian Expedition 1928–1929 (1929), 46–48;

Säve-Söderbergh, Private Tombs at Thebes I: Four Eighteen Dynasty Tombs (1957), pl. 42). For the name and epithets of rnn-wtt, see Leitz (ed.), Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter IV (2002), 686–689;

idem, Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter VIII (2003), 338–340.

12 Leibovitch, Gods of Agriculture, JNES 12 (1953), 73–74; te Velde, Erntezeremonien, LÄ II (1977), 3. For npr, see also Leitz (ed.), Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter IV (2002), 202–203.

the Feast of Renenutet was part of a festival cycle ending with the birth of the child of the respective god of the temple.

¹

Renenutet was a well-known deity at Deir el-Medina and she was portrayed on several objects pertaining to the royal artisans’ community. In a stela in the Museo Egizio in Turin (N. 50035,

²

date attributed to the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th Dynasty

³

), two women, Mutnofret and Iyinofreti, kneel before Renenutet who is depicted in human form with a snake’s head. In Turin there is also a door jamb of a naos

⁴

(date attributed to the 19th Dynasty

⁵

) dedicated by Anhurkhawy and his wife Henutdjuu to Ptah, Sobek, and the serpent Renenutet. Renenutet is depicted as a serpent in a votive figure now in the British Museum (BM EA 12247,

⁶

date attributed to the Ramesside Period

⁷

).

Renenuet is also mentioned in the Htp-di-nsw formula on a door jamb of a naos in the Museo Egizio (Turin N. 50219,

⁸

date attributed to the Ramesside Period

⁹

). On many of these objects, Renenutet is called ‘lady of sustenance’,

¹⁰

i.e., she was worshipped in her principal aspect of a fertility goddess.

¹¹

This feature of Renenutet is highlighted in O.

Ashmolean Museum 49

¹²

(no date attributed). This particular ostracon contains a magical texts and a picture of Renenutet suckling the young Nepri while a man is making an offering to her.

In the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, there is a double-faced stela

¹³

(no inv.

No.) dedicated to Renenutet by the sculptor Qen and his family during the reign of Ramesses II.

¹⁴

On the recto side of the stela, Renenutet is depicted as a coiled serpent with a human head while on the verso side she is sitting on a throne in human form. The goddess on the verso side is called Renenutet, the Beautiful, Meretseger.

¹⁵

Renenutet here appears to have been equated with the local snake goddess Meretseger,

¹⁶

who was the

1 Grimm, Festkalender (1994), 403–404.

2 Stela Turin N. 50035.

3 For the date attributed, see Tosi & Roccati, Stele e altre (1972), 71.

4 Naos BM EA 597 + Turin N. 50220; see Hieroglyphic Texts X (1982), 28.

5 For the date attributed, see Hieroglyphic Texts X (1982), 28

6 Votive figure BM EA 12247. The upper, separately fashioned, part of the figure is lost but from the base, it can deduced that the goddess was here portrayed as a coiled serpent (Hieroglyphic Texts XII (1993), 16).

7 For the date attributed, see Hieroglyphic Texts XII (1993), 16.

8 Door jamb Turin N. 50219.

9 For the date attributed, see Tosi & Roccati, Stele e altre (1972), 187–188.

10 Nbt kAw; Naos BM EA 597 + Turin N. 50220; Door jamb Turin N. 50219; Votive figure BM 12247.

11 Beinlich-Seeber, Renenutet, LÄ V (1984), 232; see also Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (1971), 67–85, 96–98.

12 O. Ashmolean Museum 49.

13 Stela Bordeaux; see Clère, Un Monument de la Religion Populaire, Rd’É 27 (1975), 70–77.

14 For the date of this stela, see Clère, Un Monument de la Religion Populaire, Rd’É 27 (1975), 70.

15 Rnn-wtt nfrt mrt-sgr; Stela Bordeaux, vs. In the hymn on the verso, Qen urges people to bring a jar of beer to Renenutet on I prt 20 (iry=k pA ds n Hnqt n (t)A rnn-wtt m tpy prt 20). This day was celebrated in honour of another serpent goddess, Wadjet, in the Mut temple in Karnak (Stela of Thutmosis III; see Schott, Festdaten (1950), 94; see also Clère, Un Monument de la Religion Populaire, Rd’É 27 (1975), 76). For mr.s-gr-rnn-wtt-nfrt, see Leitz (ed.), Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter III (2002), 344; idem, Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter VIII (2003), 66–87.

16 For Meretseger, see, for example, Bruyère, Mert Seger (1930); Sadek, Popular Religion (1987), 118–121; Leitz (ed.), Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter III (2002), 343–344; idem, Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter VIII (2003), 259.

goddess of the mountain top or slope

¹

near the village of Deir el-Medina and who was extremely popular in the royal artisans’ community.

²

A Hwt, ‘temple’,

³

of Renenutet is mentioned in O. DeM 908

⁴

(date attributed to the later years of Seti II or to the reign of Siptah

⁵

). The text is incomplete and it remains unclear whether a temple at Deir el-Medina is meant or not. Generally, the religious buildings near the village were called xnw, ‘chapel’, or pr, ‘temple’.

⁶

The cult of Meretseger was primarily conducted in the rock chapels on the route from the village to the Valley of the Queens.

⁷

As far as I am aware, no mention of Renenutet has been found in this series of small chapels. Considering Renenutet’s close connection with Meretseger, it is nevertheless possible that the eponymous Feast of Renenutet, or at least some of the rituals conducted during this feast, may have taken place in the rock sanctuary.

In the literary text O. DeM 1265

⁸

(no date attributed), the month of IV prt is described as the ‘one where all the gods are born’. The ostracon is too damaged to see what was meant by this statement. However, the birth of Renenutet is also mentioned in this connection.

⁹

In addition to O. DeM 1265, there is another ambiguous reference to gods, birth, and a month. O. Qurna 633,

¹⁰

the date of which is attributed to the late 19th Dynasty,

¹¹

is a letter concerning the situation with rations at Deir el-Medina. Günter Burkard

¹²

translated the passage in question

¹³

as ‘ihre Götter gebären in diesem Monat’.

The scribe of this letter, however, does not indicate to which month he is referring. In O.

Cairo CG 25535

¹⁴

(date attributed to the end of the 20th Dynasty

¹⁵

), a ‘Birth of Meretseger’ is mentioned as having taken place sometime towards the end of IV prt but before I Smw 4. ‘Birth of Meretseger’ may have been an alternative name of the Feast of

1 For this sense of the word dhnt, see Yoyotte, A propos Méresger (2003), 281-307; Adrom, Der Gipfel der Frömmigkeit?, LingAeg 12 (2004), 1–20.

2 Giorgio Noberasco found 53 stelae dedicated to Meretseger, a number surpassing the number of stelae dedicated to any other deity of the community (Analisi statistica (1977), 13).

3 Erman & Grapow, WB III (1929), 2 (Haus eines Gottes, Tempel, mit folg. Genetiv a) einer Gottheit:

Tempel des Gottes).

4 ...] Hwt rnnyt; O. DeM 908, rt. 1.

5 For the date attributed, see Collier, Dating Ostraca (2004), 117.

6 See Jauhiainen, Religious Buildings (2009), 154–156.

7 Bruyère, Mert Seger (1930), 5–48; Porter & Moss, Topographical Bibliography I².2 (1973), 706–

709. For the position of these chapels, see, for example, Černý, Desroches Noblecourt & Kurz, Graffiti de la Montagne Thébaine I: Cartographie et étude topographique illustrée (1969–1970), pl.

6.

8 IV prt tw.tw [...]ms nTrw nbw im=f; O. DeM 1265 I, 24–25.

9 ...] nbw ptH xa msw rnn-wtt mwt Hr i[...; O. DeM 1265 I, 25–26.

10 O. Qurna 633, 1–8; see Burkard, ‘Die Götter gebären’, GM 169 (1999), 6–11; Burkard, ‘Du kennst doch die Situation der Stadt!’ Alma Mater Philippina (1995), 11–15. O. DeM 611 records that the rations for I prt were delivered on III Smw 19 (lines 1–2; date attributed to year 1 of Siptah; Collier, Dating Ostraca (2004), 25–27), which might indicate problems with deliveries (Deir el Medine online, Qurna 633, Anmerkung B3; see also Janssen, Commodity Prices (1975), 464). A second delivery of rations for I prt in year 1 of Siptah took place on IV Smw 9 (O. Cairo CG 25517 γ, 1; see Collier, Dating Ostraca (2004), 26).

11 For the date attributed, see Burkard, ‘Die Götter gebären’, GM 169 (1999), 7.

12 Burkard, ‘Die Götter gebären’, GM 169 (1999), 10.

13 NAy=sn nTrw Hr ms m pAy Abd; O. Qurna 633, 3–4.

14 Ms(wt) n mrt-sgr I Smw 4[...; O. Cairo CG 25535, rt. 5. The previous surviving date is IV prt 20+

(line 2).

15 For the date attributed, see Černý, Ostraca Caire (1935), 15.

Renenutet since the two goddesses seem to have been associated with each other.

¹

Alternatively, ‘Birth of Meretseger’ might stand for one of the days of the festival just as

‘Birth of Re-Horakhty’ seems to have been the first day of the New Year Festival.

²

From the Greco-Roman temple of Esna there is a reference to the birth of Renenutet. In a hymn called ‘Revealing the face’, Khnum is said to give birth to Renenutet in the first (month) of summer, i.e., in I Smw.

³

From the New Kingdom on, the Feast of Renenutet occurred at the beginning of I Smw,

⁴

i.e., at the time one would expect to find the eponymous feast of IV prt.

⁵

In the Medinet Habu Festival Calendar

⁶

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses II

⁷

) and in various Theban tombs,

⁸

the feast is said to have taken place on I Smw 1. In the Festival Calendar of the Greco-Roman temple of Esna, I Smw 1 is said to be a Feast of Khnum. The feast day, however, is also here said to be called the Feast of Renenutet.

⁹

In this temple, the Feast of Renenutet was, furthermore, part of a festival cycle starting on IV prt 30 and ending with the birth of Heka-the-child on I Smw 25. In the temple of Kom Ombo, the festival cycle of the birth of pA-nb-tAwy already commenced on IV prt 10, ending with the birth on I Smw 1.

¹⁰

As far as I am aware, there are no dated references to the Feast of Renenutet from Deir el-Medina. As this eponymous feast was celebrated in Thebes on I Smw 1,

¹¹

it is reasonable to assume that the feast was simultaneously celebrated at Deir el-Medina.

¹²

O.

Cairo CG 25815a

¹³

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses II

¹⁴

) seems, indeed, to contain a reference to a feast celebrated at the beginning of I Smw. On the first, partly eroded, line on the verso side of this document, the word Hb features, namely, before the date I Smw 6.

¹⁵

There are, additionally, some indications that the beginning of I Smw might have been an annually occurring work-free period at Deir el-Medina.

¹⁶

The scribe of O. Cairo CG

1 E.g., Stela Bordeaux, vs. (reign of Ramesses II; Clère, Un Monument de la Religion Populaire, Rd’É 27 (1975), 70); see above in this chapter.

2 See Chapter III 1.2.1.1.

3 Sauneron, Les fêtes religieuses d’Esna (1962), 159.

4 Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (1971), 64–66; Altenmüller, Feste, LÄ II (1977); see also Schott, Festdaten (1950), 103; Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 158

5 E.g., Parker, Calendars (1950), 43–47, 57–60; Altenmüller, Feste, LÄ II (1977), 173–174;

Spalinger, The Lunar System, BSÉG 19 (1995), 30–31.

6 Festival Calendar of Medinet Habu, 1402 (list 64); e.g., Kitchen, KRI V (1983), 181.

7 For the date attributed, see Nelson, The Calendar at Medinet Habu (1934), 25–29; Spalinger, Sovereignty and Theology, Saeculum 47 (1996), 226; Haring, Divine Households (1997), 53–55.

8 See, for example, Schott, Festdaten (1950), 103; Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (1971), 64–66;

Altenmüller, Feste, LÄ II (1977).

9 Sauneron, Les fêtes religieuses d’Esna (1962), 21; Grimm, Festkalender (1994), 101, 403.

10 Grimm, Festkalender (1994), 403–404.

11 Festival Calendar of Medinet Habu, 1402 (list 64) (e.g., Kitchen, KRI V (1983), 181); various Theban tombs (see, for example, Schott, Festdaten (1950), 103; Broekhuis, De godin Renenwetet (1971), 64–66; Altenmüller, Feste, LÄ II (1977), 178.

12 See also Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 158.

13 O. Cairo CG 25815a, rt. 1 – vs. 6.

14 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI III (1980), 567.

15 ...1]b [I Smw] 6; O. Cairo CG 25815a, vs. 1–2.

16 The ratios of references to working to references to inactivity on days I Smw 1–3 are 1/1, 0/1, and 1/1, respectively.

25509

¹

(date attributed to year 1 of Siptah

²

) noted down that the crew was freed from work on the Royal Tomb from IV prt 29 through I Smw 3. Certain documents may also be interpreted as indicating that the royal artisans were work-free at the beginning of I Smw.

In O. Cairo CG 25782,

³

the date of which is attributed to the third year of Amenmesse,

⁴

the days IV prt 29 – I Smw 3 are omitted. As this document is a list of men absent or working, the days not included might have been days when no one was absent. In this case, however, Nebnefer is said to have been ill both before the ‘weekend’ and on I Smw 4.

⁵

It is, thus, possible that the royal artisans were work-free from IV prt 29 through I Smw 3. The scribe of the lamp account O. Cairo CG 25511

⁶

(date attributed to year 6 of Seti II

⁷

) started the records on I Smw 5, a day when wicks were fetched from the warehouse. As the scribes of the Tomb occasionally closed the records at the end of a week, month, or year to open a new one at the beginning of the subsequent time period,

⁸

one might tentatively suggest that the men may have gone back to work on I Smw 5 after having celebrated a feast at the beginning of the month in the year O. Cairo CG 25511 was written. According to P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094

⁹

(year 3 of Ramesses X

¹⁰

), the crew ascended to the Valley of the Kings on I Smw 3 after having been work-free for most of IV prt and receiving rations on IV prt 29. According to O. Cairo CG 25245

¹¹

(no date attributed), the royal artisans were working on I Smw 1. One might, nevertheless, tentatively, suggest that the Feast of Renenutet may have been celebrated at Deir el-Medina on I Smw 1–2.

With regard to the terminology attached to the eponymous feast of Renenutet, note also P. Ebers

¹²

(year 9 of Amenhotep I

¹³

) where a month called rn-wtt is mentioned. In the Cairo Calendar (P. Cairo JE 86637,

¹⁴

date attributed to the beginning of the 19th Dynasty

¹⁵

), the month of IV prt is called pn-rnn-wtt. In documents pertaining to Deir

1 Iw=w wsf; O. Cairo CG 25509 rt. II, 24–28.

2 For attributing O. Cairo CG 25509 a date in year 1 of Siptah instead of Seti II, see Donker van Heel

& Haring, Writing in a Workmen’s Village (2003), 61–64.

3 O. Cairo CG 25782, rt. 5–9.

4 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI IV (1982), 221–223; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 116–119;

Donker van Heel & Haring, Writing in a Workmen’s Village (2003), 49–52.

5 IV prt 28...nb-nfr 2 mr...I Smw 4...nb-nfr sA wAD-ms mr; O. Cairo CG 25782, rt. 5–11.

6 Inyt (m) pA wDA Hbs 125...hn Hbsw...; O. Cairo CG 25511, rt. 3–6.

7 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI IV (1982), 311–313.

8 For scribes opening the book at the beginning of the week or month, see Donker van Heel & Haring, Writing in a Workmen’s Village (2003), 67.

9 IV prt 2 wsf tA ist...IV prt 29 wsf tA ist dit diw...[I Smw] 3 Ts in tA ist; P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094 rt. I, 20, II, 12–16. Medjay Nesamun stopped the men from starting to work, citing a letter which had been received the previous day from the high priest of Amon (rt. II, 15–17).

Notwithstanding this incident, the crew seems to have had the intension to start working on I Smw 3, perhaps after celebrating the Feast of Renenutet on I Smw 1–2.

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

11 ...] Smw 1 bAk; O. Cairo CG 25245, 11 (Černý, Notebooks, 101.3). As the subsequent date preserved is I Smw 5 (line 13), the month of the partly preserved date must be I Smw.

12 P. Ebers vs. I, 10; see Parker, Calendars (1950), 38 fig. 16; see also Spalinger, Return to Ebers, BES 10 (1992), 137–144.

13 For the date, see P. Ebers, vs. I, 1.

14 [Pn-]rnn-wtt; P. Cairo JE 86637, vs. XIV, 8; see Bakir, Cairo Calendar (1966), pl. 54.

15 For the date attributed, see Leitz, Tagewählerei (1994), 7–8; see also Bakir, Cairo Calendar (1966), 6.

Medina, there are also references to the month name of IV prt.

¹

The scribe of O. DeM 35

²

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses III

³

) added pn-rnn-wtt after the date IV prt 1.

This might be one of the early examples of referring to months by their name in a date.

⁴

A clearer case of using the name of the month in a date can be found in O. Berlin P 14263

⁵

(date attributed to the mid-20th Dynasty

⁶

), where grain rations delivered on ‘pn-rnn-wtt day 1’ have been listed.

1 Shafik Allam takes the second occurrance of pn-ipt in O. BM EA 29560 (rt. 12; date attributed to the 20th Dynasty; Demarée, Ramesside Ostraca (2002), 27) to stand for the month pn-rnn-wtt, i.e., IV prt (HOP (1973), 52).

2 IV prt 1 pn-rnn-wtt; O. DeM 35, 14. As the eponymous feast pn-rnn-wtt was celebrated at the beginning of the subsequent month of I Smw, this cannot be a reference to the feast.

3 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI V (1983), 520–521; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 299–300 (year 28 of Ramesses III).

4 Parker, Calendars (1950), 45; van Walsem, Month-Names (1982), 220 note 49.

5 PA diw pn-rnn-wtt sw 1; O. Berlin P 14263, vs. 1.

6 For the date attributed, see Gutgesell, Die Datierung I (1983), 446; Deir el Medine online, Berlin P 14263, Beschreibung.

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