Investigation of surface post-treatments

According to O. Cairo CG 25275,

the date of which is attributed to the sixth year of Ramesses IV,

an ‘Appearance of Amenhotep I’ took place on I Axt 29. As stated in O.

Cairo CG 25276,

another procession of Amenhotep I occurred on the subsequent day, I Axt 30. This latter document has been attributed a date in the same year as O. Cairo CG 25275, i.e., in the sixth year of Ramesses IV.

The ‘Appearance of Amenhotep I’ referred to in these Cairo ostraca have been interpreted as denoting a feast occurring annually on fixed civil calendar dates. Wolfgang Helck

interpreted this feast at the end of I Axt as marking the accession day of Amenhotep I, whereas Franz-Jürgen Schmitz

believed that it was the first appearance of the king in public that was commemorated on these days.

Winfried Barta

had another theory regarding the interpretation and the classification of the festivals of Amenhotep I. In his opinion, the feast on I Axt 29–30 commemorated the coronation of the deified king who had ascended the throne some eighty days prior to this event, on III Smw 9.

In order to obtain oracle statements from Amenhotep I, processions of the deified king were also organized at Deir el-Medina on days other than feast days.

Thus, it is possible that the processions of Amenhotep I on I Axt 29 and 30,

were one-time occasions and organized ad hoc to acquire such oracle statements.

However, due to the propositions that these processions marked the accession

or coronation

of Amenhotep I, one might consider the possibility that a feast taking place annually on a fixed civil calendar date was celebrated at Deir el-Medina on I Axt 29–30.

The processions referred to in O. Cairo CG 25275 and 25276 came about on a

‘weekend’, i.e., on days that were usually work-free at Deir el-Medina.

As the Feast of

1 2a in nsw (imn-Htp); O. Cairo CG 25275, 2. For this reading, see Černý, Le culte d’Amenophis, BIFAO 27 (1927), 182.

2 For the date attributed, see Helck, Die datierten (2002), 399.

3 2a n nsw (imn-Htp); O. Cairo CG 25276, 1.

4 For the date attributed, see Helck, Die datierten (2002), 400.

5 Helck, Zur Chronologie Amenophis I (1968), 71–72.

6 Schmitz, Amenophis I. (1978), 28–30.

7 Barta, Thronbesteigung, SAK 8 (1980), 45; the 80 days would consist of the 70 days of the embalming and the days needed for the funeral of his predecessor Ahmose.

8 Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 161–162; Vleeming, The Days on which the Qnbt used to Gather (1982), 187–189

9 O. Cairo CG 25275, 2; O. Cairo CG 25276, 1.

10 This possibility was recognized by Schmitz, Amenophis I. (1978), 30 note 34.

11 Helck, Zur Chronologie Amenophis I (1968), 71–72.

12 Barta, Thronbesteigung, SAK 8 (1980), 45.

13 Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 141; Janssen, Absence, SAK 8 (1980), 132; Janssen, Village varia (1997), 115. The ratios of references to working to references to inactivity on I Axt 29–30 are 0/4 and 0/2, respectively; O. Cairo CG 25515 rt. IV, 9 – V, 3 ([aHa] I Axt 7 wsf...II Axt 1 wsft wsf hrw 25; year 6 of Seti II; e.g., Černý, Ostraca Caire (1935), 7); O. DeM 633, rt. 6 (st tn; date attributed to later years of Ramesses III; e.g., Gutgesell, Die Datierung I (1983), 370); P. Milan E 0.9.40127 + P. Turin Cat. 2074 rt. II, 3–4 (I Axt 29 wsf.n tA ist m st tn...arq wsf n tA ist n pA xr; date attributed to year 8 of Ramesses IX; e.g., Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 608–609); P. Turin Cat. 1898 + 1926 + 1937 + 2094 rt. VII, 24 ([I Axt] 2[9] wsf tA ist; year 3 of Ramesses X; e.g., Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 687–699).

Thoth, the eponymous feast of I Axt, was celebrated on I Axt 19 instead of at the beginning of the subsequent month, no eponymous feast is known to have taken place at the beginning of II Axt. If a feast of Amenhotep I was celebrated annually on the fixed civil calendar dates of I Axt 29–30, the feast may, at least occasionally, have continued through the first few days of II Axt.

In O. Cairo CG 25515

(sixth year of Seti II

), it is said that the draftsmen and the sculptors went to work on II Axt 2 while on II Axt 1, the whole crew was work-free. According to O. Turin N. 57026

(year 23 of Ramesses III

), the crew was

‘in this place’ on II Axt 1. The men seem to have been work-free on this day, despite the fact they were probably already on the so-called col or in the Valley of the Kings.

There are, furthermore, certain lists of men absent or working which might indicate that the royal artisans were freed from work on the Royal Tomb on II Axt 1. In O. Cairo CG 25779,

the date of which is attributed to the reign of Amenmesse,

I Axt 29 – II Axt 1 have been omitted. Anakhtu and Nakhtsu, who were ill on I Axt 28, are said to have come to work, iw r pA bAk, on II Axt 2.

As this expression was generally used when someone came back to work after an absence,

it seems that these men were still not working on II Axt 1. The omission of this particular day in O. Cairo CG 25779 was, thus, probably not due to no one being absent. The scribe of O. Cairo CG 25793

(date attributed to the reign of Siptah

) opened a new account on II Axt 2, perhaps indicating that the work for the decade in question started on that day.

There are, however, several documents according to which the royal artisans were working on II Axt 1. According to O. Turin N. 57025

(date attributed to the reign of Ramesses III

), lamps were used by both sides of the gang on I Axt 1 and, thus, the crew seems to have been working on this day. According to P. Milan E 0.9.40127 + P. Turin Cat. 2074

(date attributed to year 8 of Ramesses IX

), the royal artisans were also working on I Axt 1. The scribe of O. Cairo CG 25575

(date attributed

1 See Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 156; see also the eponymous feasts, the length of which changed from year to year (Chapters 1.2.1.1–1.2.1.11).

2 [aHa] I Axt 7 wsf...II Axt 1 wsft wsf hrw 25 iw II Axt 2 hrw pn iw ir.n nA sS-qdw nA TAy-mDAwt r bAk iw tA-ist wsf; O. Cairo CG 25515 rt. IV, 9 – V, 6.

3 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

4 M st tn; O. Turin N. 57026, rt. 3.

5 For the date of O. Turin N. 57026, see López, Ostraca ieratici I (1978), 24–25; Kitchen, KRI V (1983), 487–488.

6 For st tn, see Janssen,Village varia (1997), 97–98.

7 O. Cairo CG 25779, rt. 9–10.

8 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI IV (1982), 211–216; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 100–102;

Donker van Heel & Haring, Writing in a Workmen’s Village (2003), 49–51.

9 I Axt 28...aA-nxt mr nxt-sw mr...II Axt 2...aA-nxt iw r pA bAk nxt-sw iw r pA bAk; O. Cairo CG 25779, rt. 9–11.

10 See Janssen, Village varia (1997), 87–88.

11 O. Cairo CG 25793, 1.

12 For the dates attributed, see Kitchen, KRI IV (1982), 361 (Siptah-Tausret); Helck, Die datierten (2002), 165 (year 1 of Siptah); Collier, Dating Ostraca (2004), 92–93 (mid – late reign of Siptah).

13 For the scribes opening a book at the beginning of a decade, month, and year, see Donker van Heel

& Haring, Writing in a Workmen’s Village (2003), 67.

14 O. Turin N. 57025, rt. 1.

15 For the dates attributed, see López, Ostraca ieratici I (1978), 24; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 276–

281 (year 26 of Ramesses III).

16 BAk m pA xr n pr-aA; P. Milan E 0.9.40127 + P. Turin Cat. 2074 rt. II, 5.

17 For the date attributed, see Kitchen, KRI VI (1983), 608–609; Helck, Die datierten (2002), 488.

18 7s r mH bAk m st tn in tA ist; O. Cairo CG 25575, 1–2.

to the end of the 20th Dynasty

) writes, moreover, that the men ascended to work on I Axt 1. Thus, there seems to be four possible references to inactivity on II Axt 1 while three documents note working on this day. In documents pertaining to Deir el-Medina, there are generally fewer references to working at the beginning of a decade than at the end of a decade. It can, thus, perhaps be deduced that the royal artisans may have been in a habit of prolonging the ‘weekend’.

The references to inactivity on II Axt 1 may have resulted from such lengthening of a ‘weekend’. Based on the references to inactivity and working, it is impossible to determine whether the royal artisans celebrated a feast on I Axt 29–30, continuing occasionally through II Axt 1, or not. If the accession of Amenhotep I did, indeed, occur at the beginning of III Smw, this might, nevertheless, have been the time to commemorate his coronation.

The name of the supposed feast on I Axt 29–30 might have been ‘Appearance of King Amenhotep I’, xa n nsw (imn-Htp). This is what the event is called in O. Cairo CG 25275 and 25276.

This would be a fitting name for the feast commemorating the coronation of the deified king.

Alternatively, this expression was a description of the main ritual of the feast

or a description of a procession organized to obtain an oracle from Amenhotep I.

1 For the date attributed, see Černý, Ostraca Caire (1935), 27.

2 See also Chapter III 1.1.1.

3 See Barta, Thronbesteigung, SAK 8 (1980), 45.

4 O. Cairo CG 25275, 2 (xa in nsw (imn-Htp)); O. Cairo CG 25276, 1 (xa n nsw (imn-Htp)).

5 See also Barta, Thronbesteigung, SAK 8 (1980), 43–45.

6 See, for example, Černý, Le culte d’Amenophis, BIFAO 27 (1927), 184–192.

7 Processions of Amenhotep I at Deir el-Medina were also organized outside the feasts of this deified king; Helck, Feiertage, JESHO 7 (1964), 161–162; Vleeming, The Days on which the Qnbt used to Gather (1982), 187–189.