The Literature of the Ancient EgyptiansBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
History
The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian literature -- History and criticism; Egyptian literature -- Translations into English
This remarkable inscription is found on a stele which is preserved in
the British Museum (No. 1027), and which was made in the ninth year of
King Ptolemy Philopator Philadelphus (71 B.C.). The text opens with a
prayer to all the great gods of Memphis for funerary offerings, and
after a brief address to her husband's colleagues, Thaiemhetep describes
in detail the principal incidents of her life, and gives the dates of
her birth, death, &c., which are rarely found on the funerary stelæ of
the older period. Thaiemhetep was an important member of the semi-royal,
great high-priestly family of Memphis, and her funerary inscription
throws much light on the theology of the Ptolemaic Period.
[Illustration: The Autobiography of Thaiemhetep, the daughter of
Herānkh.]
1. SUTEN-TA-HETEP,[1] may Seker-Osiris, at the head of the House of the
KA of Seker, the great god in Rāqet; and Hap-Asar (Serapis), at the head
of Amentet, the king of the gods, King of Eternity and Governor of
everlastingness; and Isis, the great Lady, the mother of the god, the
eye of Rā, the Lady of heaven, the mistress of all the gods; and
Nephthys, the divine sister of Horus, the 2. avenger of his father, the
great god in Rāqetit; and Anubis, who is on his hill, the dweller in the
chamber of embalmment, at the head of the divine hall; and all the gods
and goddesses who dwell in the mountain of Amentet the beautiful of
Hetkaptah (Memphis), give the offerings that come forth at the word,
beer, and bread, and oxen, and geese, and incense, and unguents, and
suits of apparel, and good things of all kinds upon their altars, to the
KA of 3. the Osiris, the great princess, the one who is adorned, the
woman who is in the highest favour, the possessor of pleasantness,
beautiful of body, sweet of love in the mouth of every man, who is
greatly praised by her kinsfolk, the youthful one, excellent of
disposition, always ready to speak her words of sweetness, whose counsel
is excellent, Thaiemhetep, whose word (or voice) is truth, the beloved
daughter of the royal kinsman, the priest of Ptah, libationer of the
gods of 4. White Wall (Memphis), priest of Menu (or Amsu), the Lord of
Senut (Panopolis), and of Khnemu, the Lord of Smen-Heru (Ptolemaīs),
priest of Horus, the Lord of Sekhem (Letopolis), chief of the mysteries
in Aat-Beqt, chief of the mysteries in Sekhem, and in It, and in
Khā-Hap; the daughter of the beautiful sistrum bearer of Ptah, the great
one of his South Wall, the Lord of Ānkh-taui, Herānkh, 5. she saith:
"Hail, all ye judges and all ye men of learning, and all ye high
officials, and all ye nobles, and all ye people, when ye enter into this
tomb, come ye, I pray, and hearken unto what befell me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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