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Inventory number

Cat.1784

  • Document
  • Writing Recto

General description

Amduat papyrus of Tanedjemetmut

Turin papyrus Cat. 1784 presents a complete version of the Amduat's Eleventh and Twelfth Hours. On the manuscript’s far right-hand side, the so-called etiquette shows an offering scene between Amenophis I and the papyrus’ owner. 

The treatise’s structure consists of three horizontal registers. From left to right its describes the last two netherworld regions through a multimodal composition of visual and linguistic signs.

On the manuscript’s left-hand side, the Eleventh Hour displays a predominantly apotropaic characteristic, particularly in the bottom register, presenting the following scenes: Atum and the Winged Serpent, The Twelve Gods, The Goddesses on Snakes, The Solar Boat, The Bearers of Mehen, Isis and Nephthys depicted as Urei, The Shapes of Neith, The Punishment of the Damned and The Goddesses of the Desert.

On the manuscript’s right-hand side, the Twelfth Hour describes the end of the Sun-god Re’s nocturnal journey through the Netherworld. Here, the Sun’s rejuvenation process takes place inside the life-regenerating serpent anx-nTr.w (Life of the gods). On the far right-hand side of the manuscript we see a beetle, Khepri, representing the Sun-god’s rebirthed form. Hence, Re in his renewed appearance exits the Netherworld travelling through the air-god Shu’s outstretched arms to be reborn as the sun disk at dawn. Many deities witness the end of the Sun-god’s journey in the top and bottom registers, praising the Great God and protecting him from the danger of his nemesis, the serpent Apophis. This hour of the night presents the following scenes: The Twelve Goddesses with Snakes, The Twelve Worshipers, The Solar Boat, The Twelve Gods of Tow, The Snake of Rejuvenation, The Thirteen Goddesses of Tow, Khepri and Shu, The Primordial Deities, The Row of Rowers, The Ten Worshipers and The Mummy of Osiris.

On the manuscript’s far right-hand side, the etiquette shows the deceased, Tanedjemetmut, offering a perfume-burner, a nebris (the skin of a feline, perhaps a leopard), funerary supplies and lotus flowers to Amenophis I who is identified by the throne name Djeser-ka-Re in the cartouche.

Epoch

Third Intermediate Period (1076-664 BC)

Dynasty

Dynasty 21 (1076-944 BC)

Pharaoh

Siamun/Psusennes II

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, Twelfth Hour

Place name

Unified Darkness (kkw-smAw)

Epoch

Third Intermediate Period (1076-664 BC)

Dynasty

Dynasty 21 (1076-944 BC)

Pharaoh

Siamun/Psusennes II

Drawing

Yes

Drawing description

The manuscript’s visual representation describes the Sun-god Re’s nocturnal journey through the last two 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, but the scribe struggled to maintain the linguistic features of the cosmography. Besides, several deities are missing (deities 754, 757-758, 763-765, 770, 777, 781-782, 788, 792, 797, 802, 805, 811 in the Eleventh Hour and deities 833, 844-845, 847, 851, 874-882, 903-907 in the Twelfth Hour). The treatise’s structure consists of three horizontal registers presenting Re, in his nocturnal shape as a ram-headed deity, travelling on the solar boat through the last two netherworld regions. In the Eleventh Hour, the top register’s first vignette shows Atum emerging from a winged serpent. Here, the reader can observe the absence of the snake of time Sd-wnw.t (He who takes away the hours) who represents the flowing concept of time. In the following scenes, eight gods guard and protect the Sun-god’s mysteries, and four goddesses, riding double snakes, bring Re’s bidding in the sky to fruition. Ten deities tow the solar barque in the middle register and carry the serpent Mehen over their shoulders; two crowned serpents resembling Isis and Nephthys, and three deities bearing Neith’s forms, accompany the Sun-god’s path through this region. The bottom register presents one of the Netherworld’s apotropaic features where Horus’ hypostasis orders the destruction and annihilation of the hostile forces that interfere with establishing the natural order (Cfr. the Maat principle). In the first scene, one lion-headed goddess and three anthropomorphic fire-spitting and knife-wielding goddesses slaughter Re’s enemies over their fire-pits, while in the second scene, five anthropomorphic deities punish Osiris’ enemies in the western desert. In the Twelfth Hour, the top register presents eleven goddesses with fire-spitting snakes on their shoulders, punishing Re’s nemesis Apophis and brightening the Netherworld’s darkness, while ten worshipers, characterised by the typical adoration gesture with raised hands, praise the Great God. In the middle register, to complete Re’s rejuvenation process, fourteen gods and four goddesses tow the solar barque through the entire body of the life-regenerating serpent anx-nTr.w (Life of the gods). On the register’s far right-hand side, we see the accomplishment of this deed: a beetle known as Khepri, who is the Sun-god in his renewed form, exits the Netherworld by travelling through the outstretched arms of the air-god Shu to be reborn as the sun disk at dawn. The bottom register presents seven primaeval deities with wAs sceptres and nine rowers of the solar barque alongside the serpent nsr-m-ir.t=f (He who burns with his eye). In the final scenes, five worshippers adore and praise sSm-iwf (Image of the flesh), the corpse of Osiris who is restricted into the boundaries of the Netherworld. On the manuscript’s far right-hand side, the etiquette shows the deceased, Tanedjemetmut, offering a perfume-burner, a nebris (the skin of a feline, perhaps a leopard), funerary supplies and lotus flowers to Amenophis I who is identified by the throne name Djeser-ka-Re in the cartouche.

Bibliographical reference

Berman Lawrence M., Catalogue of Egyptian Art: the Cleveland Museum of Art, New York: Hudson Hill Press 1999, p. 324, fn. 3 (OEB 43959).


Dautant A and Amenta A., “The Coffin of Djedmut, Nurse of Khonsu the Child (Vatican, La Rochelle and Padua Museums)” in: Amenta A. and Guichard H. (eds.), Proceedings First Vatican Coffin Conference 19-22 June 2013, Città del Vaticano: Edizioni Musei Vaticani 2017, pp. 113-122 (OEB 247300)


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).


Naguib S.-A., Le clergé féminin d’Amon thébain à la 21e Dynastie (OLA 38), Leuven: Peeters 1990 (OEB 33024).


Niwinski A., 21st Dynasty Coffins from Thebes. Chronological and Typological Studies (THEBEN 5), Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp Von Zabern, 1988, p. 175 (OEB 32953).


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).


Onstine S., The Role of the Chantress (Smay.t) in Ancient Egypt (BAR International Series 1401), Oxford: Archeopress 2005 (OEB 154482).


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).


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