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Inventory number

Cat.1790

  • Document
  • Writing Recto

General description

Amduat papyrus of Ankhefenkhonsu

Turin papyrus Cat. 1790 presents scenes from the Amduat's Tenth and Eleventh Hours. On the manuscript's right-hand side the so-called etiquette shows an offering scene between Osiris and the papyrus’ owner.

The treatise’s structure consists of three horizontal registers. From left to right it describes the Netherworld's reality through a multimodal composition of visual and linguistic signs.

On the manuscript's left-hand side, the Tenth Hour presents significant concepts. In the top register we see the healing of the Sun-god’s eyes and, in the bottom register, Horus' intervention in preserving the drowned corpses of the deceased who share the same destiny as Osiris (cfr. the death of Osiris in the Nile). This hour presents fragments of the following scenes: The God and the Beetle, The Eyes of the Sun, The Mighty, The Solar Boat, The Ba of Sokar, The Ba of Osiris and The Drowned.

On the manuscript’s right-hand side, the Eleventh Hours displays a predominantly apotropaic characteristic, particularly in the top and bottom register, presenting fragments of the following scenes: The Twelve Gods, The Goddesses on Snakes, The Bearers of Mehen, Isis and Nephthys like Urei, The Shapes of Neith and The Goddesses of the Desert.

On the manuscript’s right-hand side, the etiquette shows fragments of the deceased, Ankhefenkhonsu, offering funerary supplies and lotus flowers to Osiris.

Epoch

Third Intermediate Period (1076-664 BC)

Dynasty

Dynasty 21 (1076-944 BC)

Pharaoh

Amenemope/Siamun

Provenance

Thebes (?)

Acquisition: Drovetti, Bernardino

Acquisition Date: 1824

Joining object(s) (log into TPOP)

Image(s)

Image

  • Text 1

Hieroglyphs

  • Hieroglyphs
    • Hieroglyphs
    • Hieroglyphs

Editor

Enrico Pozzi (EP)

Contributor

Shenali Boange (SB)

Script

cursive hieroglyphs

Text type

Amduat

Keywords

Eleventh Hour, Tenth Hour

Place name

Hidden Chamber (a.t-imn.t), Unified Darkness (kkw-smAw), Netherworld (dwA.t), Sais (zAw), With deep water and high banks (mDw.t-qA.t-wDb.w)

Epoch

Third Intermediate Period (1076-664 BC)

Dynasty

Dynasty 21 (1076-944 BC)

Pharaoh

Amenemope/Siamun

Drawing

Yes

Drawing description

The manuscript’s visual representation describes the Sun-god Re’s nocturnal journey through the Tenth and Eleventh Hours of the night. The treatise’s visual model resembles the prototype established that decorates the 18th Dynasty royal burial chambers in the Valley of the Kings. However, some deities are missing (deities 701-702, 704-707, 718-732 and 747-748 in the Tenth Hour and deities 759-763, 770, 774, 786-797, 802-803 and 817-818 in the Eleventh Hour). The treatise’s structure consists of three horizontal registers representing Re in his nocturnal shape as a ram-headed deity travelling on the solar boat through the last netherworld regions. In the Tenth Hour, the top register’s first vignette shows the deity pan-irw (Who acts clever) with a beetle, bearing the oval-shaped representation of the Netherworld itself (i.e.: the Duat), while the following episode (partly missing) presents the healing of the Sun-god’s eyes. The left eye, mann.wy (The double-coiled), emerges from two snakes that are between two deities - one bearing the red crown and the other (now lost) bearing the white crown (symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt), whereas the right eye, sdfy.t (The wrapped (staff?)) (now lost too), comes out from the top of the hieroglyphic sign for “god”. In the following scene (which is in two fragments), excerpts of eight deities, who represent the goddess Sekhmet’s unpredictable nature (both destructive and healing), head towards the mummy-shaped canine-headed god iwf-fA-ir.t=f (Flesh who carries his eye) to examine, heal and protect the Sun-god’s eye he bears in his hands. The middle register presents the solar barque and its crew: we see four deities at the vessel’s stern, while the texts state excerpts from the following episodes, namely The bA of Sokar and The bA of Osiris. The bottom register presents fragments of one of the Netherworld’s merciful feature in which Horus’ hypostasis uses magic spells to assist several drowned corpses. This scene shows how the divine intervention of Horus can intercede for those who do not have the required funeral ritual arrangements as they have died an unfortunate or violent death or their bodies are missing or have drowned (like Osiris). In the Eleventh Hour, the top register’s first vignette presents six deities guarding and protecting the Sun-god’s mysteries, while three goddesses, riding double snakes, bring Re’s bidding in the sky to fruition. In the middle register, two crowned serpents resembling Isis and Nephthys, and four deities bearing Neith's shapes accompany the Sun-god’s path through this region. The bottom register presents one of the Netherworld’s apotropaic features set in the western desert, where three anthropomorphic deities punish Osiris’ enemies. The scribe also places an anonymous fourth figure behind Hry-wHA.wt=f (He above his kettles), probably a representation of the deceased itself. On the manuscript’s right-hand side, the etiquette shows the deceased, Ankhefenkhonsu, offering funerary supplies and lotus flowers to Osiris.

Bibliographical reference

Hornung E., Das Amduat: die Schrift des verborgenen Raumes, Teil I–III (ÄA 7 und 13), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1963-1967 (OEB10071-12422).


Hornung E., Texte Zum Amduat, Teil I-III: Kurzfassung und Langfassung, 1. bis 12. Stunde, Autographiert von Lotty Spycher und Barbara Lüscher (AH 13–15), Genève: Éditions de Belles-Lettres 1987–1994 (OEB 28504, 35567, 36111).


Niwinski A., Studies on the Illustrated Theban Funerary Papyri of the 11th and 10th Centuries B.C. (OBO 86), Fribourg / Göttingen: Universitätsverlag / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht 1989 (OEB 32792).


Sadek, A-A F., Contribution à l’étude de l’Amdouat: Les variantes tardives du Livre de l’Amdouat dans les papyrus du Musée du Caire (OBO 65), Freiburg / Göttingen: Universitätsverlag / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht 1985 (OEB 29751).

Museo Egizio