CHRISTIAN LEITZ, ZEINAB MAHROUS AND TAREK TAWFIK

(EDITORS)

CATALOGUE OF LATE AND

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD ANTHROPOID
SARCOPHAGI IN THE GRAND
EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
CHRISTIAN LEITZ, ZEINAB MAHROUS AND TAREK TAWFIK
(EDITORS)

CATALOGUE OF LATE AND PTOLEMAIC PERIOD

ANTHROPOID SARCOPHAGI IN THE
GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
First published 2018 by the Publication Department
Ministry of Antiquities
3 Adel Abu Bakr Street, Zamalek, Cairo 11561,
Egypt Tel: (+2 02) 27354870 Fax : (+2 02) 27354870
e-mail: scientificpublication@moantiq.gov.eg

General Director of Publication Department

Nagwa M. Metwally

Editors
Christian Leitz
Zeinab Mahrous
Tarek Tawfik

Editorial Assistants
Noura Aboda
Victoria Altmann-Wendling
Stefan Baumann
Susan Böttcher
Fatma Hassan
Nader El-Hassanin
Mostafa Nagdy
Jan Tattko

Graphic Design
Marcel Kühnemund

Director of Printing
Mostafa Aly

Printed in Egypt by MoA Press 2018

© 2018 by MoA (Ministry of Antiquities)

DAR EL KUTUB NO.
ISBN.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording
or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher.
 GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS

VOLUME I

CHRISTIAN LEITZ, ZEINAB MAHROUS AND TAREK TAWFIK (EDITORS)

CATALOGUE OF LATE AND

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD ANTHROPOID
SARCOPHAGI IN THE
GRAND EGYPTIAN MUSEUM

Noura Aboda, Victoria Altmann-Wendling, Stefan Baumann,

Susan Böttcher, Fatma Hassan, Nader El-Hassanin,
Mostafa Nagdy, Jan Tattko

with photos by Ahmed Amin

Ministry of Antiquities

CAIRO 2018
 Preface

This joint project of Cairo University and the University of Tübingen began officially
in 2015 and was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The
real starting point was indeed some years earlier, in 2012, shortly after the Egyptian
revolution in 2011. At that time, the Egyptological Department of the University of
Tübingen started a teaching program in electronic drawing at Cairo University, with
the financial support of the DAAD, supported by the former Dean of the Faculty of
Archaeology, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Hamza el Haddad, the Head of the Department,
Prof. Dr. Zeinab Mahrous, and directed by – at that time – Dr., now Prof. Dr. Tarek
Tawfik. The members of the teaching staff from the German side were Victoria
Altmann-Wendling, Stefan Baumann, Alexa Rickert, and Carolina Teotino during
the years 2012 to 2014. As part of the program several courses were offered in Cairo
and in Tübingen for more than 15 advanced students and staff members from Cairo
University as well as from the Egyptian Museum. The photos were provided from
the Egyptian Museum, the editors would like to thank the former director Dr. Wafaa
el Saddik and the photographer Ahmed Amin for their support. We would also like
to thank the members of the Database Project of the Cairo Museum, Safy Samir and
Marwa Abdel Razek, as well as Elhamy Ali from the Grand Egyptian Museum. After
this fruitful cooperation, the editors applied for a new project, which was grounded in
the skills acquired in the past three years. This time, the aim was more ambitious. The
plan was to initiate a joint publication project of both young Egyptian and German
scholars, using modern technologies like electronic drawing boards, photo merging,
3D-modeling etc. A suitable subject was the late anthropoid stone sarcophagi in the
Cairo Museum. Most of this collection was known only from the entries in M.-L.
Buhl, The Late Egyptian Anthropoid Stone Sarcophagi, Copenhagen 1959. This was at
that time a very useful monograph, which contains basic information and also some
photos of these sarcophagi from collections all over the world. This book, however,
was never intended to be a full publication of all the texts and reliefs on all of these
sarcophagi – a task which would be impossible for one single person. Our application
to the DAAD and the Egyptian Museum for the publication rights was successful,
and the work of the eight team members, four Egyptians and four Germans, started
in 2015. Every chapter of the catalogue was prepared by a joint Egyptian-German
team. The drawings were made by the Egyptians, the translations were provided by
the Germans, the work was only possible through close cooperation. The ever helpful
photographer of the Egyptian Museum, Ahmed Amin, provided the teams with
hundreds and thousands of photographs, which were later merged together with
the help of Adobe Photoshop. The hieroglyphic texts were composed by JSesh, for
which we thank Serge Rosmorduc. We are also indebted to Angela Murock Hussein
for correcting the English text. We would like to thank also Marcel Kühnemund for
composing the layout. The printing of this first catalogue of the Grand Egyptian
Museum (a second should follow with the sarcophagi housed in the Tahrir museum)
was made possible through financial support from the DAAD. We would like to thank
Mostafa Ali, the director of the printing house of the Ministry of Antiquities for all of
his practical assistance.

Christian Leitz, Zeinab Mahrous, Tarek Tawfik

Cairo and Tübingen, Summer 2018
 Conventions and technical notes

Presentation of the sarcophagi

Each sarcophagus is presented with photographs and drawings of the entire object as
well as of individual scenes. The only exceptions are GEM 2758 and GEM 39790 since
both of them have already been treated in detailed publications.
The sides and back are only shown if they contain depictions or inscriptions. Colour
images of each sarcophagus and of special features of certain sarcophagi are found
in extra plates at the end of the book. After a general overview of the sarcophagus,
every scene is treated with 1) a description, 2) a concise commentary, 3) printed hi-
eroglyphs, 4) transliteration and translation. As the main objective of this book is to
provide a first edition of texts and depictions, the commentary is kept brief; neither a
comprehensive study of each sarcophagus nor a detailed comparison between them
is intended. An index of the funerary texts attested on the sarcophagi is given at the
end of the volume.
The numbering of the scenes (§§) starts on the front and is ordered from top to bot-
tom. The sides follow, always starting with the right, from the point of view of the
sarcophagus/the deceased himself. For reasons of clarity, every scene is assigned a
separate §-number. If scenes on both sides of the sarcophagus correspond to each
other (e.g. in the case of groups of protective gods on each side), they are given suc-
cessive §-numbers and their commentary is summarised under the first of these §§. If
it is preserved, the bottom of the sarcophagus is treated lastly.
The drawings and photographs can differ, when, for instance, a scene is engraved on
a curved part of the sarcophagus. In such cases, the drawing will be based on several
photographs taken from different angels, while the corresponding image will only
show one perspective. In some cases, long lines of inscriptions were composed by
merging several photos with image processing software. Even though these long texts
may follow the curved shape of the sarcophagi, they will appear as straight lines in
the images.

Transcription
The use of the brackets in the transcription basically follows the Leiden system. Since
the imprecise notification of the feminine and plural endings is very common in the
Late Period, they are emended without the use of brackets. The feminine and plural
endings as well as the endings of the nisbes are not separated by a dot, however, pro-
nominal suffixes including the stative endings are. The endings of the tertiae infirmae-
verbs are omitted.
 Table of Contents
Preface...................................................................................................................................... V
Conventions and technical notes...................................................................................... VII
The Sarcophagus of Nesmin (GEM 2652)............................................................................ 1
S. Böttcher/N. Aboda
The Sarcophagus of Padienisis (GEM 2751)­­........................................................................ 9
S. Baumann/F. Hassan
The Sarcophagus of Djedher (GEM 2756)......................................................................... 15
V. Altmann-Wendling/F. Hassan
The Sarcophagus of Hekenut (GEM 2757)........................................................................ 39
S. Böttcher/F. Hassan
The Sarcophagus of Horemhab (GEM 2758)..................................................................... 57
The Sarcophagus of Nestefnut (GEM 2759)...................................................................... 59
S. Böttcher/N. Aboda
The Sarcophagus of Hor-Re (GEM 2761)........................................................................... 67
V. Altmann-Wendling/N. El-Hassanin
The Sarcophagus of Tithoes (GEM 2762)........................................................................... 83
J. Tattko/N. Aboda
The Sarcophagus of Ahmose (GEM 3246)......................................................................... 89
S. Baumann/N. El-Hassanin
The Sarcophagus of Dienefer (GEM 3262)...................................................................... 143
S. Baumann/M. Nagdy
The Sarcophagus of Imhotep (GEM 3265)....................................................................... 149
J. Tattko/M. Nagdy
The Sarcophagus of Nesptah (GEM 39790)..................................................................... 155
The Sarcophagus of Tabaiti (GEM 45817)........................................................................ 161
S. Baumann/N. El-Hassanin
Index of funerary texts....................................................................................................... 185
Bibliography........................................................................................................................ 187
Colour Plates.............................................................................................................................I
 The Sarcophagus of Tithoes (GEM 2762)

Translation and commentary by Jan Tattko, drawings by Noura Aboda

Fig. 1: General overview (see also plate VIa)

84 Jan Tattko/Noura Aboda

Specifications1234

Inv. nos.: GEM 2762; JE 36435 = TR 23/1/21/4

Dating: Ptolemaic Period1
Provenance: Qift (Coptos)
Material: Schist
Dimensions: Length: 1.61 m; greatest width: 0.56 m
Name of owner: Tithoes (&wtw)2 ♂
Titles: -
Name of father: Unknown (name not on sarcophagus)
Name of mother: Nestefnut (Ns-&fnt)3
Publications: Rowe, in: ASAE 40, 1940, 13-16 with pl. 1; Buhl, Sarcoph-
agi, 44; Totenbuchprojekt Bonn, TM 906934
Description
After years on display in room 48 of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the sarcophagus
of Tithoes ( ) has recently been moved to the new Grand Egyptian Muse-
um in Giza. It is finished and in good condition. The chin of the broad face rests on
the chest.5 Although indicated by a thin line, there was no necklace carved. The gap
between the two lappets of the wig is filled by the beard. A curved line above a plinth
adumbrates the feet.6 The entire front side was decorated with five columns of texts
(§ 1) in sunken relief with what are, for the most part nicely carved hieroglyphs.

Decoration and inscriptions

§ 1: Chapter 72 of the Book of the Dead and the spell for “laying down the offerings”
The inscription begins on the chest directly beneath the wig and ends at the foot
end. The beginning is on the right side (seen from the front). Most of the inscription
consists of a version of chapter 72 of the Book of the Dead.7 In the case of Tithoes the
text is not complemented by a vignette.8 It is using an older version of spell 72, which

1 The use of instead of could be an indication that the sarcophagus dates into late Ptolemaic
Times (cf. for this Derchain-Urtel, Untersuchungen, 248).
2 For the name Tithoes/Tutu as a personal name cf. Kaper, Tutu, 19-25. For the sarcophagus GEM
2762/JE 36435 see ibid. 22, footnote 7 and for the rendering as &wtwA ibid. 23 with footnote 13.
3 “The one belonging to Tefnut” (cf. Ranke, PN I, 179 no. 23).
4 Totenbuch.awk.nrw.de/objekt/tm90693.
5 E, a 6 according to the classification of Buhl, Sarcophagi, 44.
6 Buhl, Sarcophagi, 44.
7 For chapter 72 of the Book of the Dead cf. e.g. Mosher, Book of the Dead IV, 354-384; Vittmann, in: Fs
Thausing, 224-275; Perez Die, in: Aula Orientalis 6, 1988, 61-75; Hornung, Totenbuch, 152-153 and 459;
Allen, Book of the Dead, 65 and the database of the “Totenbuchprojekt Bonn” (totenbuch.awk.nrw.
de/spruch/72).
8 For the vignette see Mosher, Book of the Dead IV, 378-382. It depicts the deceased in adoration before
two (sometimes three) gods sitting on a naos-shaped socle. The first god is Osiris who is identifiable
through the atef-crown.
 The Sarcophagus of Tithoes (GEM 2762) 85

dates back into the New Kingdom.9 At the very end of the inscription, after the name
of the deceased, an excerpt of a popular spell of the New Kingdom was added, the so
called “spell of laying down the offerings” (rA n wAH xt).10 The part cited here (wn n.k pt
wn n.k tA ...) is the beginning of this spell.

Fig. 2: § 1, 1-5

9 For the different versions see Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 224-275 and Mosher, Book of the Dead IV, 354-
384. For a later version of the spell cf. e.g. the sarcophagus of Imhotep (GEM 3265; TR 3/3/21/12) in
this volume.
10 See for this popular spell Assmann, Totenliturgien II, 147-224.
86 Jan Tattko/Noura Aboda

Chapter 72 of the Book of the Dead

a) The figures have similarities to the hieratic signs.

b) The second figure has no beard.11

(1) Dd mdw in Wsir Hs aA11
mnx m Xrt-nTr &wtw mAa-xrw
ms.n nbt pr Ns-&fnt mAat-xrw
i.nD Hr.Tn nbw mAat Sww m isft
wnnw anxw r nHH Hnty Dt
wbA.i r.Tn (2) Ax.kwi m irw.i
apr.kwi m HkAw.i Atp.kwi m Axw.i
nHm.Tn wi m-a Ad
Words to be spoken by the Osiris of the one with
great blessing,
the excellent one in the necropolis Tithoes, justi-
fied,
born of the mistress of the house Nestefnut, jus-
tified:
“Hail to you, lords of maat, who are free from isfet,
who exist and live for all eternity.
I have advanced towards you, I am an akh in my
forms,
experienced with my magic and armed with my
spells,
you may save me from the furious one,

11 For the phrase Hs cf. the discussion in the contribution of Böttcher, The Sarcophagus of Nesmin (GEM
2652), footnote 10 in this volume.
 The Sarcophagus of Tithoes (GEM 2762) 87

imy iw(sic)12 pn <n> mAaty
iw n(.i) rA.i mdw.i im.f13
di.Tn <n.i> Awt-a m-bAH.Tn
Hr-ntt i<w.i> rx.kwi rn nTr pf aA
(3) di.Tn DfAw r fnD.f Rkm rn.f
14
iw.f wbA.f m Axt iAbtt nt pt
iw.f xp.f m Axt imntt nt pt
n rwi.f n rwi.i 15
wDA.f wDA.i
n dr.Tn wi Hr msqt 16
(4) nn sxm sbi im.f 17
nn Sna wi Hr sbAw.Tn18
nn xtm.T(n) aAwy.Tn Hr.i
<Hr->ntt tA.i pw m P Hnqt(.i) m _p for this my bread is in Pe and (my) beer is in Dep.
19
who is on this island of the twin truths.
My mouth belongs to me, so that I speak through
it,
may you grant <me> the offerings in your pres-
ence,
for I know the name of that great god,
at whose nose you place provisions, whose name
is Rekem.
He is travelling through the eastern horizon of
heaven,
he is promenading the western horizon of heaven,
If he does not leave, I do not leave,
if he proceeds, I proceed.
You will not banish me from the mesket,
no rebel shall take possession of him,
there is no one, who drives me away from your
gates,
you may not seal your door leaves in front of me,

smA n.i awy.i m Hwt-nTr20 What my arms have collected for me (scil. the of-
ferings), is in the temple,
rdi n.i it(.i) &m tA Hnkt iHw Apdw snTr my father Atum has given to me bread, beer, cattle
qbHw21 and fowl, incense and cool water.
xd.i xnt.i r-mrr.i 22
According to my wish I travel downstream and
sail upstream.”
(5) xd Wsir Hs aA m Xrt-nTr &wtw May the Osiris of the greatly blessed in the ne-
mAa-xrw cropolis Tithoes, justified, travel downstream,
xnt.f m sxt iArw23 may he sail upstream in the field of reeds,
Xnm.f mAaty may he be united with the twin truths,
ntf pw Rwty 24
12131415161718192021222324
for he is Ruti,

12 Cf. Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 238-239 with footnotes 72-74.

13 Cf. Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 239-240.
14 Cf. Rowe, in: ASAE 40, 1940, 15, note 3. For &kmy or Rkm see LGG VII, 445a. See as well the text on the
sarcophagus of Imhotep (GEM 3265; TR 3/3/21/12) in this volume and Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing,
242.
15 In other variants of the spell this phrase is positive (cf. Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 243-244).
16 According to Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 244-245 with reference to further literature mesket is the
entrance to the Duat.
17 Sic: scil. the deceased? In the other versions of the spell, the first person pronoun is used (cf. Vittmann,
in: Fs Thausing, 245).
18 For variants with nn Sna.tw.j Hr sbAw.Tn “I will not be driven away from your gates” cf. Vittmann, in: Fs
Thausing, 245.
19 For the use of <Hr->ntt in this expression cf. Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 246 and Mosher, Book of the
Dead IV, 373.
20 The phrase is problematic (cf. for the discussion Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 246-247).
21 Cf. Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 247 for a discussion of the phrase.
22 A part of the spell is omitted here.
23 Cf. for the so called field of reeds, Weill, Champ, passim.
24 For Rwty cf. the remarks of Vittmann, in: Fs Thausing, 252 and LGG IV, 654a-656a.
88 Jan Tattko/Noura Aboda

Wsir Hs aA m Xrt-nTr the Osiris of the greatly blessed in the necropolis

&wtw mAa-xrw Tithoes, justified.

“Spell of laying down the offerings”

25

wn n.k pt wn n.k tA wn n.k dwAt25 For you the heaven, earth and underworld shall
be open,
wn n.k wAwt imt Xrt-nTr for you the ways in the necropolis shall be open.

25 This part does not belong to BD 72 but to the “spell of laying down the offerings” (cf. footnote 10).
The addition wn n.k dwAt in this phrase is rare and attested only in late records (cf. Benedite, Philae,
151, 2-3 = Assmann, Totenliturgien II, 176 no. 52).