The mastaba of Ptahshepses79hosted a few New Kingdom graffiti. The first to deal with them was Georges Daressy, who noted ìdiverses inscriptions malheureusement en mauvais Ètatî.80 G. Daressy indicated that only one graffito was well-preserved. This graffito was found on the west wall of the second room discovered by de Morgan, which is the current ìroom 3î, and the graffito is on its west wall, on the part north of the doorway leading further to the room with three niches. Daressy published a hieroglyphic transcription of the graffito, author being the scribe Ptahemwia (Daressy mistook the reading of his name and of the name of the goddess Sakhmet of Sahure).81
Spiegelberg (1904) noted that ìIn der erw‰hnten Mastaba befindet sich eine Reihe hieratischer Graffiti, deren wichtigstes von Daressy vor l‰ngerer Zeit verˆffentlicht worden ist.î82This indicates that some graffiti in the mastaba of Ptahshepses have not been properly registered and published. Spiegelberg noted in addition to the graffito of Ptahemwia, a cartouche of Ramesses II,83 and fragments of other Besucherinschriften, such as sS Hsyw m Hw.t nTr84; he made hieroglyphic transcriptions of these graffiti.
79 Compare PM III/I2, 340ñ342.
80 Daressy, M. G., Inscription hiÈratique díun Mastaba díAbousir, BIE 5, Annexe 5, 1894, 107ñ113, in particular p. 108.
81 Daressy, op. cit., 1894; 107ñ113.
82 Spiegelberg, W., Varia ñ LXXIX, Die hieratischen Graffiti der Mastaba des Ptahschepses zu Abusir, Rec. de Trav.
XXVI, 1904, 152ñ154, 152.
83 Spiegelberg, op. cit., 154.
84 Spiegelberg, op. cit., this graffito could correspond to the scratched graffito in room 3, see further, »ern˝ note-book 118.15, schematic ink drawing of the graffito.
The mastaba of Ptahshepses with indicated graffiti position
Jaroslav »ern˝ visited the mastaba of Ptahshepses in end of the 1930s and beginning of the 1940s and recorded the graffito of scribe Ptahemwia and of the scribe Hesi (or ìscribe praised in the templeî). The more recent works in the mastaba of Ptahshepses noted other fragments of hieratic inscriptions, which can be found registered by ZbynÏk é·ba.85 This is confirmed also with later observations by Miroslav Verner86and JaromÌr KrejËÌ. Some of them may be the remains of other visitorsí graffiti, but it is not always possible to detect the age and origin of these fragmentary inscriptions. Furthermore, in Room 4 ìgraffiti of later date have been discovered on its walls.î87 The graffiti in room 4 are not further specified ñ J. KrejËÌ88 observed that these were mainly if not exclusively figural graffiti (ships etc.); their parallels are known both from the complex of Djoser and from Medum in complex of Snofru.
M.1.5.M.19.1.1
The graffito was photographed and transcribed by Jaroslav »ern˝. Moreover, he compared the signs visible at the time of his visit with those registered previously by Spiegelberg.89 The graffito has been in a significantly precarious state. Even »ern˝ was able to contribute ìno significant new readingsî90, and many earlier readings of Spiegelberg were uncertain. This fact confirms again the vulnerability of the graffiti and the need for their documentation.
Place
The mastaba of Ptahshepses, room 3, southern part of the northern section of the the west wall.
Dating
The recorded regnal year is relatively high, and might have pointed to the Ramesside rulers. The length of rules as in indicated by J. Beckerath91 could point to Ramesses II. Ramesses IIís period activities on the necropolis are so far known as significant.
Text
Photo by J. »ern˝, Notebook 17.118, p. 20 verso and »ern˝ Mss 2.95 (black and white photograph) and 2. 96 (black and white photograph, inverted colours), see also Plate 2 and 3.
85 Notebooks of Z. é·ba, Ptahshepses, Archives of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Prague.
86 ìUnder the lower edge of this register, several visitorsí graffiti have been found. One of them has been published by Spiegelberg in RT 26, pp. 152ñ154. Other graffiti discovered on this wall as well as in other parts of the Mastaba will be published in a separate study.î Verner, M., The Mastaba of Ptahshepses, Reliefs (Abusir I), Charles University, Prague 1977, 23, note 1.
87 Verner, Abusir I, 46.
88 1. 6. 2007, personal communication.
89 »ern˝ Mss, 2.95ñ6, Mss 6.3 and »ern˝, notebook 118, 21, 20 (transcription), collated with original 1stof March 1942.
90 Baines, J., The destruction of the pyramid temple of Sahure, GM 4, 1973, 12.
91 Beckerath, J. von, Chronologie des pharaonischen ƒgypten, Mainz 1997, 104, 117ñ118.
There are three stages of decay in this graffito, which are expressed in the transcription as well-visible signs (black signs in transcription), signs, whose outlines or traces are still well-visible, but much less clear (gray signs) and parts where only discolouring is visible (gray signs marked as destroyed).
Eventually there are places where no signs or traces were discernible (marked as destroyed).
Transcription
Transliteration
1. hA.t sp 50, Abd 1 pr.t, sw 16, ij in sS ptH-[m-wiA] Hna it jwpA r mAA Sw.t m[H]r.w m nx.t iwt.tw-sn Hna Dd Hs.j r wdn.t ////// [n sxm.t] n sAHw-ra m ra pn Hna sS nA[//////////] [det. A1]
2. ir nfr ir nfr sxm.t n sAHw-ra ir nfr ir nfr n sS [ptH-m]-wiA sS jwpA imm in.tw./// . ///-n iw.n aHa.w-n m-bAH-T (i.e. Sakhmet) an nri ///////
3. mtw-n Dd wAH sw ra tw.n m bAH tAj-n Hnw.t mtw-n //////// sSw an r wxA r ? sp sn mi-T r pH-n rnp.t 110 iw-n Hr dbH mi-T
4. iwi.ir-n Dd tAj-n spr.w iw-n txw-n m-[bAH ?92] mi Hs.jw nt.j rf iw.n-n nA sS.w n ptH pAj.n it i.Dd-n st n-f iw-n Hr spr r [Hs.t] Hsj-f /// ptH ///// [////Lost]
Translation
1. Regnal year 50, month 1 of Peret, day 1693, coming of scribe Ptahemwia and (his) father Yupa to see all of the powerful pyramids94, they came and said praises and offerings ÖÖ.. for Sakhmet of Sahure on this day, with scribe NaÖ.95
2. Do good, do good, Sakhmet of Sahure, do good, do good for the scribe Ptahemwia and scribe Yupa, let there be broughtÖ. ///// Ö./// we/for usÖ, as [?] we are in front of you again96, Terrible One, ///////
3. May we say ìLet her endure like Re!î We are in front of our Lady, we will ////Ö.
script/inscription again wishing reward once more, let us reach 110 years as we please you to give [?]
4. as we are speaking our petitions, as we are [as if] drunk [ in front ?], singing praises, those who are scribes of Ptah, our father, we are saying this to him, we came to sing praises ÖÖ Ptah (rest is lost).97
92 The sign might also be D 54, both options are presenting certain difficulties in the translation.
93 This date was a feast day of Shu, cf. Daressy, Inscription hiÈratique, 10.
94 Spiegelberg, Varia ñ LXXIX, translated ìSchatten (?) der Pyramideî. Sw.t here means ìallî, ìGesamtheitî, see also HWb, 808.
95 Perhaps Nashuy, as filled in by Kitchen; one Nashuy left a graffito in the complex of Khendjer, see KRI III, 436.
96 So the visits seem to be regular?
97 Translated also by Peden, Graffiti, 96.
Commentary
This graffito confirms the visits, which in this case seem to be a sort of worship routine (ìwe are in front of you againî); it seems these were no exceptional tours to the zone but that they happened in the context of the cult of Sakhmet of Sahure. In addition, the visit occured on a feast day. However, the motive of ìseeingî the monuments is present as well. The graffito contains no hint or note on the owner of the tomb. ìDass sie sich in dem Grabe des Ptah-schepses befindet, ist wohl nur ein Zufall, f¸r den es viele Erkl‰rungen gibt.î98
The graffito combines the phraseology set iw.t (pw ir.n) X r mAA and the prayer formula, including ir nfr. It is furthermore interesting to compare phraseology, which these scribes used in the Ptahshepses graffito, which speaks chiefly about ñ and to ñ Sakhmet of Sahure. The goddess, the consort to Ptah, to whom the scribes speak to as well, is asked in the same phrases for ìdoing goodî, as is King Djoser (compare graffito M.2.13.P.NK.1, scribe Nashuy, Table 1). Her cult is attested further in the 19th dynasty by numerous finds, fragments of stelae and inscriptions, invocating her, or Ptah, in the neighbouring sanctuary within the precinct of Sahure.99The later post-New Kingdom tradition of that cult has been discussed.100 For the period of the New Kingdom the Sakhmet of Sahure seems to be a fixed point in the map of Saqqara necropolis. However, the first lines of the graffito, namely the passage saying that the scribes went to see all of the powerful pyramids, indicates possible more reasons behind this visit: i.e. not only his reverence to Sakhmet, but also their interest in the monuments.
Personages
Yupa Name not listed in Ranke, PN. A person named Yupa, from a family with foreign roots, was a steward to Ramesse II and also a steward of the Ramesseum in Thebes (see Lƒ III, 275), but his inscriptions do not name a relative Ptahemwia (KRI III, 195ñ198).
Ptahemwia Ranke, PN I, 139.18. A contemporary (era of Ramesse II) Ptahemwia attested on a stela (BM 167), provenance unknown, possibly Memphis (the high priest of Ptah among personages on stela). Published by T. G. H. James, The British Museum Hieroglyphic Texts, Part 9, p. 29ñ30 and KRI III, 206, 2. Identification of the two Ptahemwias is, however, hypothetical.
Documentation
The documented graffito of Ptahemwia refers to the pyramid of Sahure and to the cult of Sakhmet. To sum up its documentation history, the graffito has been published by Daressy101, then by Spiegelberg (hieroglyphic transcription), photographed by »ern˝102and also transcribed again by
»ern˝.103The graffito has suffered much in the meantime and »ern˝ was able to confirm a sighting of a few signs only as his photograph proves also.
»ern˝ Mss, 2.95-6 and »ern˝, notebook 118, 21, 15, 20 verso (transcription).
Larger and more clear photos ñ »ern˝ Mss, 2.95, 2.96, a positive and an inverted (negative) photo of the graffito, the ìnegativeî shows some lines more clearly, best available photograph probably is
»ern˝ Mss 6.3.
References
Daressy, M. G., Inscription hiÈratique díun Mastaba díAbousir, BIE 5, 1894, 107ñ113 Spiegelberg, W., Varia ñ LXXIX, Rec. de Trav. 26, 1904, 152ñ154.
KRI III, 437.
PM III2, 342/8, 9.
Peden, Graffiti, 95ñ96.
98 Spiegelberg, Varia ñ LXXIX, 154.
99 Cf. Borchardt, Das Grabdenkmal des Kˆnigs S`a3-hu-re, 126 ff. Including votive stelae and a lot of objects made of fa-ience etc.
100 Baines, The destruction, 9ñ14, regarding also the extensive archaism inspiration taken from the reliefs of the fu-nerary temple of Sahure.
101 Daressy, Inscription hiÈratique, 107ñ113.
102 Photographs are in his Mss in Griffith Institute archives, »ern˝ Mss, 2.95-6 and 6.3.
103 Hieroglyphic transposition in KRI III, 437.
M.1.5.M.19.1.2
Place
The mastaba of Ptahshepses, Entrance passage?104
ìAusser der grossen Inschrift ist noch der Name Ramses II in schwarzer Farbe in dem Grabe zu sehen Öî105 Transcription
(after Spiegelberg, Varia ñ LXXIX, 154)
Transliteration
nswt bitj wsr-mAa.t-ra stp-n-ra sA raÖÖÖÖ..
Translation
King of Lower and Upper Egypt, Wesermaatre Setepenre Son of Re ÖÖÖÖ.
Commentary
The cartouche had been for Daressy a key to the dating of the longer graffito (our M.1.5.M.19.1.1).
References
Daressy, Inscription hiÈratique, 110 Spiegelberg, Varia ñ LXXIX, 152ñ154
M.1.5.M.19.1.3 AND M.1.5.M.19.1.4
These two graffiti are not included in the statistical overview yet. Their texts are mentioned in the publication by W. Spiegelberg and the graffito of ìHesiî also in material of Jaroslav »ern˝ ñ on p. 15 of notebook 17.118 and on photographs »ern˝ Mss 2.95 and 6.3 ñ there is this scratched graffito which we see photographed over the ink-written longer graffito of Ptahemwia. The wall is that with reliefs of men bringing furniture. Under those men is a scratched graffito sS (?) Hs.j (?) m Hwt nTr fol-lowed by the M.1.5.M.19.1.1.
The scratched graffiti are visible till today (see Colour plates).
Place
The mastaba of Ptahshepses; The graffito of the scribe Hesi (or ìpraisedî) is above M.1.5.M.19.1.1, the other graffito position has not yet been identified.
Transcription
3. 4.
104 Daressy, Inscription hiÈratique, 110.
105 Spiegelberg, Varia ñ LXXIX, 154.
Transliteration
3. sS Hs.jw m Hw.t nTr Ö 4. Sms Ö
Translation
3. the scribe praised (or Hesi, the A2 might be an A1) in the temple 4. follow Ö. (or, hypothetically, ìa followerî)
Commentary
The inscriptions are fragmentary, and can only confirm a presence of literate people on the spot.
If these were with or without a connection to the author(s) of longer inscriptions, cannot be presently established.
References
Spiegelberg, Varia ñ LXXIX, 152ñ154.
Documentation
»ern˝ Mss, 17ñ118, p. 15, 2.95, 2.96 and 6.3.