74 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 75

Two Hymns to Isis from Philae Revisited

(Žabkar, Hymns 1-2)
David KLOTZ
University of Basel, eikones

Nouvelle traduction de deux hymnes à la déesse Isis de Philae, avec analyse des
principes (crypto-)graphiques propres aux textes du début de la période
ptolémaïque.

Just over thirty years ago, Louis Žabkar first published and translated six
fascinating hymns from the Isis temple at Philae, all dating to the reign of
Ptolemy II Philadelphus.1 The calculated simplicity of these short texts can be
visually deceptive, since abbreviated phonetic spellings, frequent use of
ideograms, and peculiar expressions render many passages problematic. Žabkar
later republished these texts in an expanded monograph, in which he also
analyzed their significance for understanding the theology of Isis during the
Hellenistic era,2 and Jean-Claude Goyon suggested many alternative readings,
particularly for the longer hymns, in an extended book review.3
Despite the commendable efforts of both eminent scholars, multiple passages
in the first two hymns resisted interpretation and can still be improved, not just
regarding the cryptography, but even the identification of certain hieroglyphic
signs. These hymns are exceptionally challenging because of the specific type of
sportive writing. Temporally, they fall between the minimalist, archaizing script
of the Late Period, and the graphically dense system used in the Ptolemaic and
Roman periods, but somehow they still managed to combine difficulties of both
traditions. A more detailed analysis will follow the new translations and
commentary.

1
L. V. ŽABKAR, “Six Hymns to Isis in the Sanctuary of Her Temple at Philae and Their
Theological Significance. Part I,” JEA 69 (1983), pp. 115-137.
2
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae, Hanover 1988.
3
J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), pp. 87-93.
76 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

Texts and Translation

Both hymns occur in symmetric position on the middle register of the
sanctuary’s rear wall, precisely in the most prominent field of view upon
entering the shrine. 4 The texts were originally published in a faulty typeset
edition by Georges Bénédite (Philae, 61-62), but Žabkar produced more
accurate hand copies. Although not quite facsimiles, they at least respected the
layout of signs and accurately rendered certain epigraphic details. These copies
are reproduced here with several modifications, resulting from collations with
the detailed photographs Žabkar himself published, 5 as well as Berlin
Photographs (hereafter: “B.Ph.”) 1031-1032, recently made available by Horst
Beinlich.6

Hymn 1 (Plate 1)7

iAw n=t Is.t wr.t (a)
mw.t-nTr nb.t p.t
Hnw.t (b) nTr.w nb
(iAw) n=t
mw.t-nTr (c) n ¡r kA-nxt
nD n it=f mw.t=f (d)
sxr sbi.w
(iAw) n=t
mw.t-nTr n ¡r kA-nxt (e)
pr-a Hwi xfty(.w)=f
ir s(t) n/m tm-wn (f)
(iAw) n=t
mw.t-nTr n @r kA-nxt
iwa (?) n Ra (g)
nsw bity nHH (h) D.t
nb tA-sty HoA xAs.wt
Praise be unto you, Great Isis,
Mother of god, Lady of heaven,
Mistress of all the gods!
(Praise be) unto you,
Divine Mother of Horus, the Mighty Bull,
guardian of his father and his mother,
who fells the rebels.
(Praise be) unto you,
Divine Mother of Horus, the Mighty Bull,
forthcoming of arm, who smites his enemies,
and makes them non-existent.
(Praise be) unto you,
Divine Mother of Horus, the Mighty Bull,
heir (?) of Re,
king of cyclical and linear eternity,
lord of Nubia, ruler of foreign lands.

4
PM VI, p. 243, (358)-(359); for the context of these scenes, see G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae,
Pl. XXII, β; L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, Pl. 3.
5
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, Pls. 3, 11-13.
6
H. BEINLICH, Die Photos der Preußischen Expedition 1908-1910 nach Nubien, Teil 6: Photos
1000-1199, (SRaT 19), Dettelbach 2013, B1031-2; Prof. Beinlich also kindly sent the Author high
resolution versions of the published photographs.
7
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 17-25, Pls. 11-12; B.Ph. 1031; G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 61, ult.
-62, 4.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 77

PLATE 1
HYMN 1 : Modified from: L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, p. 19, Fig. 2
Previous readings:

(a) Žabkar: Bénédite: (c) Žabkar: Bénédite:

(b) Žabkar: Bénédite: (d) Žabkar: Bénédite:

78 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,

mw.t-nTr n @r kA-nxt Divine Mother of Horus, the Mighty Bull,
smn gs.w-pr.w sHn nTr.w (i) who establishes temples, provisions the gods,
ir irw=s(n) (j) nb and who performs all their rituals.
(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,
mw.t-nTr n @r kA-nxt Divine Mother of Horus, the Mighty Bull,
xwi BAo.t (k) who protects Egypt,
nb spA.t-D.t lord of the District of Eternity.

a. Žabkar translated the first epithet as “Isis-Hathor,” needlessly introducing a

problematic syncretism.8 In the textual notes, he even described the figure as having
“the cow face and the Hathoric horns” citing a similar figure in Berlin Photo 1030.9
Yet closer inspection of the published photographs reveals that this goddess looks
nothing like that bucephalic Hathor (Fig. 1a-b).
Rather, she has a decidedly long snout that extends past her right shoulder, and can
thus be identified as a lioness. Hathoric crowns appear rarely on leonine goddesses,
except for certain representations of Weret-Hekau.10 Accordingly, the present sign
can write wr < Wr.t-HkAw. As in most texts at Philae, particularly the introduction to
the symmetric Hymn 2, the goddess is addressed as “Great Isis (Is.t wr.t).”
In a cryptographic text from the Mammisi at Philae, the same word is written with a
standing, lion-headed male god who wears the double crown (Philä II 401, 5 = B.Ph.
1017).11

8
The proposed syncretism of Hathor-Isis at Dendera was dismissed by Chr. LEITZ, Die
Aussenwand des Sanktuars in Dendara. Untersuchungen zur Dekorationssystematik (MÄS 50),
Mainz 2001, p. 313, n. 4; ID., JEA 91 (2005), pp. 230-231. Similarly, LGG I 75, only records one
reference for Isis-Hathor. Of course the two goddesses shared much in common, including certain
epithets (cf. S. CAUVILLE, Dendara. Le pronaos du temple d’Hathor: analyse de la décoration
[OLA 221], Leuven 2013, pp. 749-750, 760), but such similarities do not imply the existence of a
composite divinity.
9
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 161-162, n. 3.
10
E. g. A. GAYET, Le Temple de Louxor (MMAF 15), Cairo 1894, Pl. XLVII, Fig. 109;
H. H. NELSON, The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, Vol. 1, part 1: The Great Wall Reliefs (OIC
106), Chicago 1981, Pl. 12, Right; THE EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Medinet Habu V, Pl. 343, B; E.
HORNUNG, Zwei ramessidische Königsgräber: Ramses IV. und Ramses VII. (Theben 11), Mainz
am Rhein 1990, pp. 62-63, Pls. 9a, 115.
11
A supposed word wr, “lion,” recorded in P. WILSON, A Ptolemaic Lexikon: a Lexicogra-
phical Study of the Texts in the Temple of Edfu (OLA 78), Leuven 1997, p. 243, did not really
exist: D. MEEKS, “Dictionnaires et lexicographie de l’égyptien ancien. Méthodes et résultats,”
BiOr 56, 5/6 (1999), col. 578.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 79

Figure 1: Details from Hymn 1, line 0

(a) Lion-headed goddess (from: ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, Pl. 12)
(b) Cow-headed Hathor (from: B.Ph. 1040)
(c) Desert god Ha (from: ŽABKAR, loc. cit.)

b. Žabkar rendered this section quite differently, reading: ¡nwt IAt-wabt ityt nTrw,
“Mistress of Abaton, Queen of the Gods.”12 However, the sign on the first head is
not the iA.t-mound ( ), which, being a feminine word, should properly be carried
by a goddess anyway,13 but the similar hill-sign ( ; cf. Fig. 1c). Accordingly, this
figure is not simply an anonymous god carrying a hieroglyph, 14 but a standard
representation of the desert god Ha. 15 Already in the New Kingdom, this god
essentially serves as the uniliteral H (< @A), as do the various mountain signs alone.16
For the second figure, a running man, Žabkar proposed restoring a wab-sign in front
of his left hand, but the published photograph does not show the major damage he
noted. Rather, the running figure simply writes the biliteral group in here, as it had
since the Old Kingdom (Wb. I 89).
The final signs write nTr.w nb, “all the gods,” with the standing king obtaining its
most common value nb, not ity.t as Žabkar suggested.17 When scribes intended the

12
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22, 162, n. 5.
13
For a nearby example, see Philä II 401, 5 (= B.Ph. 1017), in the toponym iA.t-rk, “Philae.”
14
As L. V. ŽABKAR called him: “probably a mere supporting figure” (Hymns to Isis, p. 162, n. 5).
15
For whom, see primarily J. YOYOTTE (ed. I. GUERMEUR), Histoire, géographie et religion de
l'Égypte ancienne: opera selecta (OLA 224), Leuven 2013, pp. 500-508.
16
Ét. DRIOTON, “Recueil de cryptographie monumentale,” ASAÉ 40 (1940), pp. 324, (24-26),
355 (100-102); add also M. BORAIK, “Inside the Mosque of Abu el-Haggag: Rediscovering Long
Lost Parts of Luxor Temple. A Preliminary Report,” Memnonia 19 (2008), p. 133, bottom;
D. KURTH, Einführung ins Ptolemäische (hereafter: D. KURTH, EP), Hützel 2008-9, I, pp. 139,
Nr. 60d, 322-323, Nrs. 42-46, 59.
17
Ét. DRIOTON, ASAÉ 40, 1940, pp. 356-7 (114), 368 (169); S. SAUNERON-J. YOYOTTE, “Le
cynocéphale comme graphie de nom de Thot,” RdÉ 7 (1950), p. 10, n. 1 (with many
examples); M. BORAIK, Memnonia 19 (2008), p. 134, line 3 (nb Hmww); KRI VI 328, 4, and 386, 3
(cf. E. HORNUNG, Zwei ramessidische Königsgräber, p. 53); J. C. DARNELL, The Enigmatic Nether-
80 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

word ity, they “sovereign,” they usually employed the atef crown: (Wb. I 143). A
similarly dressed royal figure, holding a Maat-feather, writes Ptah’s common epithet
nb-mAa.t on an enigmatic scribal palette from the New Kingdom:18

Figure 2: “Ptah Beautiful of Face, Lord of Truth”

(from: SEIDLMAYER, MDAIK 47 [1991], p. 221, Abb. 1b)

From context, then, the preceding two signs should somehow write Hnw.t,
“mistress,” paralleling the identical series of epithets in the beginning of Hymn 2 (cf.
infra).19 Transcribing this word as *HA-in or *Hn is unlikely, since Hnw.t is vocalized
at least once in Greek as –νου.20 Rather, this unique spelling might have developed
through multiple stages:
* (no feminine ending)21 * (elaboration of signs)22

world Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity: Cryptographic Compositions in the Tombs of Tutankhamun,
Ramesses VI and Ramesses IX (OBO 198), Fribourg and Göttingen 2004, pp. 18-19, n. a.
18
St. SEIDLMAYER, “Eine Schreiberpalette mit änigmatischer Aufschrift (Städtische Galerie
Liebighaus / Frankfurt a.M. Inv.-Nr. IN 1899),” MDAIK 47 (1991), pp. 320-322, Abb. 1a, and note
b, who alternatively suggested reading the epithet wTz-MAa.t, but this does not explain the regalia
on the figure; for Ptah in Thebes as “Lord of Truth,” cf. D. KLOTZ, Caesar in the City of Amun:
Egyptian Temple Construction and Theology in Roman Thebes (MRE 15), Turnhout 2012, p. 202,
n. 1357. See similarly KRI III 87, 10 ( ), where the seated figure writes nb, “lord,” in the
divine name “Ptah Lord of Truth.”
19
See already D. KLOTZ, “Remarks on Ptolemaic Epigraphy and Lexicography (§1-4),” RdÉ 64
(2013), p. 31, n. 41.
20
Noted by CDD @ (09:1), p. 159 (in a compound epithet).
21
The feminine ending is rarely marked in these two hymns; cf. the spellings of mw.t, “mother.”
22
For substitution between in and nw, relatively uncommon in Ptolemaic, see H. W. FAIRMAN,
“Notes on the Alphabetic Signs Employed in the Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of the Temple of
Edfu,” ASAÉ 43 (1943), p. 221, Nr. 443. D. KURTH, EP I, p. 428 (Nr. 37), 432, n. 137; note
especially the use of the nw-pot for in- in ink (first person independent pronoun). Their
interchangeability goes back to the earliest stages of Egyptian writing (L. D. MORENZ, “Zur
Pseudo-Polyphonie des Zeichens Nw. Eine Mikrostudie zum frühen ägyptischen Syllabar und der
allmählichen Phonetisierung des Bildes im Alten Ägypten,” DE 53 [2002], pp. 67-69), but an
initial in-sign also occurs in spellings of the goddess Nut in Demotic: H. KOCKELMANN, “A Roman
Period Demotic Manual of Hymns to Rattawy and Other Deities (P. Ashm. 1984.76),” JEA 89
(2003), p. 227.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 81

Just as in other examples of “monumental” or “ornamental” cryptography, the final

stage involved replacing inanimate hieroglyphs with more iconic anthropomorphic
figures.
c. For all five columns, Žabkar argued that the verses began with the independent
pronoun (m)ntt, “you” (2nd fem. sing.). 23 Yet as Goyon already recognized, 24 the
opening strophe establishes the correct prosodic rhythm: (iAw) n=t mw.t-nTr,
“(praise) be to you, Mother of God,” just as in every verse of Hymn 2.
Nonetheless, Goyon claimed the following verses alternated between the fuller “to
you, Mother of God (n=t mw.t-nTr),” and an abbreviated “to the Mother of God (n
mw.t-nTr)” in cols. 1 and 3, based on the different arrangement of signs: (col.
1). However, the tall m-sign ( ), which alone suffices to write mw.t, “mother,”25
was more likely placed in anteposition for calligraphic reasons. All columns thus
begin with the same series of epithets, tabulated as follows:
(iAw) n = T mw.t - nTr

col. 1

col. 2

col. 3

col. 4

col. 5

Here the less common spellings ( = n,26 and = mw.t)27 are book-

ended by conventional orthographies ( , ), permitting readers to recognize

23
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22; in all cases, the pronoun is determined by a seated
woman, as frequently occurs in Ptolemaic texts: D. KURTH, EP II, p. 593 §40.
24
J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), p. 88.
25
Cf. the introductory line of Hymn 2 (mw.t-nTr), and Edfou I 157, 12; see further D. KURTH, EP
I, p. 447, n. 25; D. MEEKS, Les Architraves du temple d' Esna: Paléographie (PalHier 1), Cairo
2004, p. xv. One may wonder whether the uniliteral and ideographic uses of this hieroglyph, which
only began in the New Kingdom, were influenced in part by the nearly identical Akkadian sign:
(MÍ, MUNUS, determinative for “woman,” but also phonetic mín, mim; R. LABAT-
F MALBRAN-LABAT, Manuel d’épigraphie akkadienne, 1994, pp. 228-229, No. 554).
26
Žabkar suggested deriving this value acrophonically from nty, since both phonetic values
occur for the crocodile at Esna during the Roman Period. Nonetheless, the crocodile substitutes for
82 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

the metric structure and deduce the proper readings. Remarkably, only one out of
five spellings of mw.t explicitly notates the expected feminine ending.
d. Žabkar assumed this epithet did not begin with a participle, but a sDm=f verbal form:
“Who causes the rebels to fall (di=f sxr sbi.w).” 28 However this interpretation
presupposes a double causative, when similar epithets use the active participle of the
causative verb sxr (cf. Hymn 2, col. 2: sxr xfty=f, “one who makes his enemy fall.”)
Instead, the arm could simply write mw(.t), “mother,”29 anticipating its use in the
subsequent verse ( = mw.t-nTr). A comparable example occurs in the
column behind the king in Hymn 2:30

Žabkar translated that passage as follows: “The King (...) has come before you, that
he may adore your beautiful face, O Isis (di.f dwA.f-nTr m Hr.t-nfr(t) Ast).”31 Yet not
only is the word “Isis” displaced there, but the syntax includes another superfluous
di=f, which is not reflected in his translation. Both problems can be resolved by
reading the arm (Gardiner D 37) as mw(.t), “mother,” resulting in the following:
ii.n nsw.t-biti (Wsr-kA-Ra mry-Imn)| xr=t That the King has come before you,
mw.t=f Is.t o his mother Isis,32
dwA=f nTr m Hr=t nfr is so he might praise god to your
[beautiful face.
Similarly, other scenes at Philae employ different arms ( , 33 )34 alone to
write “mother.”
e. Žabkar, Goyon, and the editors of the LGG all recognized that the king repeatedly
invokes Isis as Divine Mother of Horus, but they rendered the succeeding epithets
differently for columns 2 and 3. Nonetheless, parallelism demonstrates that Horus
also receives the same standard epithets in each verse:

the water sign (n) in writings of mw and Nwn, at least as early as Dynasty 27: D. KLOTZ, Adoration
of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple (YES 6), New Haven 2006, p. 163, n. B;
ID., “Thoth as Textual Critic The Interrupting Baboons at Esna Temple,” ENIM 7 (2014), p. 46,
n. c.
27
For this rare spelling of “mother,” see primarily H. DE MEULENAERE, “Le vizir Harsiêsis de la
30e dynastie,” MDAIK 16 (1958), p. 232, n. ε (cited by L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, p. 162.
n. 18).
28
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22, 162, n. 22.
29
For similar epithets, see LGG III 590 (nDty n it=f mw.t=f), and 591 (nDty n mw.t=f).
30
G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 62, 7-8; collated with B.Ph. 1032.
31
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 27, 163, n. 1.
32
The same switch to the third person occurs in G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 64, 4 = B.Ph. 1025, top.
33
G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 64, 10 = Urk. II 117, 13 (both incorrectly copied) = B.Ph. 1027, bottom
right.
34
G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 60, 5 (incorrectly copied) = B.Ph. 1019, bottom.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 83

¡r kA nxt

col. 1

col. 2

col. 3

col. 4

col. 5
As discussed above (note c), standard spellings of kA-nxt bookend the less common
ones in columns 2-3.
For column 2, Žabkar proposed “Min-Horus,” while Goyon preferred the more
elaborate Min nswt ¡r nxt.35 Although the latter epithet was relatively popular, it is
unclear what Goyon saw as the word nsw, “king,” unless he mistook the small shrine
behind Min for a throne (ns.t). Both scholars identified the falcon-headed god as
Horus, yet the double plumes most often characterize the god Montu. Indeed, this
exact pair of figures occur at the beginning of several monumental cryptographic
inscriptions from the New Kingdom and later, where they always represent the
epithet kA-nxt, “mighty bull.” 36 Min writes kA < kA-mw.t=f, “Kamutef; Bull of his
Mother,” 37 whereas Montu stands for his common epithet, nxt, “mighty,” via
antonomasia.
In column 3, meanwhile, Žabkar read the relevant epithet as “Khonsu-the-powerful,”
whereas Goyon prefered ¢nsw-wnnxy, one of two baboon manifestations of Chonsu.38
The latter reading is very difficult to reconcile with the existing signs; while the

35
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22; J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), p. 88; both options
were registered in LGG III 292a [21]: Min the King, Mighty Horus, and 293b [16]: Min-Horus.
36
Ét. DRIOTON, ASAÉ 40 (1940), pp. 315-316 (Abu Simbel), 331 (Medinet Habu); ID., “Les
protocoles ornementaux d’Abydos,” RdÉ 2 (1935), p. 4b (Abydos). Another variant occurs at
Abydos where, if the copy of the text is correct, Montu is replaced by Amun wearing double
plumes: É. DRIOTON, RdÉ 2 (1935), p. 12, Fig. 6; M. ÉTIENNE-FART, “‘De rebus quae
geruntur…’” dans deux inscriptions ramessides,” BIFAO 94 (1994), pp. 134-135 (for a different
interpretation, disregarding other monumental parallels, see J. A. ROBERSON, The Awakening of
Osiris and the Transit of the Solar Barques. Royal Apotheosis in a Most Concise Book of the
Underworld and Sky [OBO 262], Fribourg and Göttingen 2013, pp. 113-114, n. b). In a similar
inscription from Edfu, Min is replaced with a bull-headed god: A. GUTBUB, “Les inscriptions
dédicatoires du trésor dans le temple d’Edfou,” BIFAO 50 (1952), pp. 35, 39; D. KURTH, EP I,
p. 160, n. 483.
37
See also J. C. DARNELL, The Enigmatic Netherworld Books, p. 27, n. b, Pl. 1d.
38
For which, see recently D. KLOTZ, Caesar in the City of Amun, pp. 95-100.
84 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

former is at least graphically possible, “Mighty Chonsu” is hardly a common

designation of Horus.
Based on the context, the seated figure of Chonsu must also write the word kA,
“bull,” due to well-established taurian associations of the moon in ancient Egypt.39
Elsewhere, Chonsu serves as an ideogram for other lunar epithets, including iaH,40
and wHm-ms.wt. 41 A similar principle underlies an enigmatic figure from the
Mammisi at Philae (Philä II 401, 8 = Berlin Photo 1017):

Figure 3: Sportive writing of TmA-a,

with hieroglyphic annotation
(from: Philä II 401, 8)

In this example, the knife stands for TmA < dm,42 while Chonsu-Lunus represents
aayin, derived from a, “moon,”43 all perhaps recalling the rare lunar epithet tm-a=f,
“he whose limb(s) are complete.”44 At the same time, this brilliantly conceived figure
perfectly represents Chonsu’s traditional role of violent guardian deity, and evokes
his dominion (via his wAs-scepter) over the dangerous wandering demons (xAty.w),
who are frequently spelled in a comparable way (e.g. ).45
f. Žabkar rendered the following signs as: ir ns n-im, “and makes a massacre thereby,”
somehow reading the final group ( ) as Late Egyptian n-im, “therein; thereby.”46

39
Fr.R. HERBIN, “Un hymne à la lune croissante,” BIFAO 82 (1982), p. 277, n. 57; D. KLOTZ,
Caesar in the City of Amun, pp. 86-87. Note especially the scenes depicting lunar bulls of Chonsu-
Thoth on the propylon of Ptolemy III Euergetes at Karnak: J.-Cl. GOYON, “Aspects thébains de la
confirmation du pouvoir royal: les rites lunaires,” JSSEA 13 (1983), pp. 2-9; Fr. LABRIQUE,
“Khonsou et la néoménie, à Karnak,” in D. BUDDE et al. (eds), Kindgötter im Ägypten der
griechisch-römischen Zeit. Zeugnisse aus Stadt und Tempel als Spiegel des interkulturellen
Kontakts (OLA 128), Leuven 2003, pp. 206-210.
40
Val. Phon. I, p. 101.
41
É. DRIOTON, RdÉ 2 (1935), pp. 12-13, n. f; M. ÉTIENNE-FART, BIFAO 94 (1994), p. 134, Fig.
1, 136; J. A. ROBERSON, The Awakening of Osiris, p. 114, n. f.
42
Wb. V 367, 6; compare a similar spelling of TmA-a at Edfu: A. GUTBUB, BIFAO 50 (1952),
pp. 35 and 39.
43
Wb. I 159, 13; 169, 16; P. WILSON, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, 132; D. KLOTZ, ENIM 7 (2014),
p. 40, n. g.
44
Suggested by Fr. DAUMAS, Les Mammisis des temples égyptiens (AUL III 32), Paris 1958,
p. 338, n. 1, citing the unique example: MD III 74b = Dendara VI 127, 13; Wb. V 306, 1. For
similar divine epithets, see LGG VII 426.
45
For these aspects of Chonsu, cf. D. KLOTZ, Caesar in the City of Amun, pp. 80, 97-99.
46
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22, 162, n. 9.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 85

Yet the supposed word ns, “injury,” he cited is a ghost word, since the editors of the
Wörterbuch already suggested it was a mistake for nsp (Wb. II 321, 4).
Instead, one may recognize the common formula: iri m tm wn, “to make non-
existent” (Wb. V 303, 2), with the knife alone writing the negative verb tm (< dm),
as it does often elsewhere.47 The third person plural dependent pronoun (sn, st) is
here reduced to a simple: , as often occurs in the Late Period,48 as nearby at
Philae (Hymn 5, col. 5). Cf. also note j (infra).
g. Damage to the first sign makes the present reading only tentative (Fig. 4a-b).
However, since this is not an epithet of Chonsu (supra, n. f), there is no reason to
expect a mention of his specifically simian manifestation (wnn-nxy),49 nor is nxn-
nsw, “royal child” (Žabkar) a common designation of Horus.
Based on the legibile traces, and comparison with similar royal epithets from Philae
(Urk. II 109-111), one may propose either iwa n Ra, “heir of Re” ( ) or perhaps

iwa mnx, “beneficent heir” ( ). 50 The supposed iwa-sign resembles similar

examples from nearby texts at Philae, although in those cases the sign is not
horizontal, but at an angle (Fig. 4c).

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4: Details of the damaged text in column 3
(a) from: ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, Pl. 12
(b) from: B.Ph. 1031
(c) iwa, “heir” (from: B.Ph. 1134)

47
Wb. V 302, 5; D. KURTH, EP I, pp. 395, 403, n. 171; cf. also supra, Fig. 3.
48
K. JANSEN-WINKELN, Spätmittelägyptische Grammatik der Texte der 3. Zwischenzeit (ÄAT
34), Wiesbaden 1996, p. 137, § 223; ID., Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit aus
dem Ägyptischen Museum Kairo (ÄAT 45), Wiesbaden 2001, I, p. 329; O. PERDU, “Le torse
d’Irethorerou de la collection Béhague,” RdÉ 49 (1998), pp. 252-253, n. e; D. KURTH, EP II,
pp. 606-607, §56.
49
So J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), p. 88; followed by LGG V 767c (8); for this form of
Chonsu, see D. KLOTZ, Caesar in the City of Amun, pp. 95-100.
50
Contrary to what Goyon stated (CdÉ 68 [1993], p. 88), a tall vertical sign in the lower right
corner is clear in the photographs.
86 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

h. Žabkar transcribed the first sign as a falcon, and thus translated “the Lord of Eternity”
(nb D.t).51 Nonetheless, the photographs show a quite different bird. Not only is it
missing the flail that occurs elsewhere for Horus (cols. 1, 5; Fig. 5a-b), but it has a
longer beak, flatter head, and apparently the characteristic wattle of a guinea fowl on
its neck (Fig. 5c).52 The same applies to a similar avian sign in Hymn 2, col. 2, that
Žabkar also copied as a falcon (Fig. 5d).

a b c d
Figure 5: Falcons vs. Guinea Fowl
(a-b) Falcons (Hymn 1, cols. 1, 5)
(c-d) Guinea Fowls (Hymn 1, col. 3; 2, col. 2)

From the context, the birds in both hymns (each: nH) should write the word nHH,
“cyclical eternity.” Similar epithets linking nsw-kingship to nHH-eternity abound
elsewhere. 53 These spellings would be seemingly without parallel, but they are
nonetheless phonetically sufficient, since this word became -neH in Coptic (cf.
eneH, “eternity” < r nHH); one may compare abbreviated Demotic spellings such

as ( ) and ( ). 54 Moreover, the guinea fowl itself,

crowing before sunrise and flying through the sky during the day, could be
conceptually linked to the cyclical journey of the sun, 55 so both spellings also
qualify as sportive.

i. This remarkable hieroglyph ( ) is difficult to explain. Based on the context,

Žabkar quite reasonably proposed transcribing psD.t, “the Ennead,” seeing in this
sign an illustration of Atum spitting out Shu and Tefnut in Heliopolis.56 Presumably,

51
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22, 162, n. 11.
52
For the physiognomy of the guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), see recently. N. BEAUX, “La
pintade, le soleil et l’éternité. À propos du signe (G 21),” BIFAO 104 (2004), pp. 22-28.
53
LGG IV 326 (nsw-bity nHH-Dt), 330-1 (nsw-nHH HoA D.t / nb-D.t); LGG II 752 (bity n D.t); note
especially Philä II 239, 23 (nsw n nHH, ity, bity n D.t); add also Dendara XIV 59, 6-7 (nsw n nHH,
ity n D.t).
54
W. ERICHSEN, DG 224, both examples cited without reference as “Röm.”
55
Cf. N. BEAUX, BIFAO 104 (2004), pp. 31-35.
56
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, p. 162, n. 13.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 87

the head would represent Atum (often called “the Bull of Heliopolis”),57 emerging
from a sort of benben-stone or pillar, and indeed a similar sign ( ) substitues for
58
the iwn-pillar in Iwnw, “Heliopolis,” once at Esna.
Nonetheless, Atum did not expectorate the entire Ennead, only the first generation,
so this mythological explanation is not entirely convincing. One could propose a
phonetic correspondence between psg, “to spit,” and psD.t, “the Ennead,”59 but the
vocalized forms are quite different (Coptic: pwGs, “to spit,” vs. yis, yite,
“nine”), and moreover spitting accounts for only one element of this complex sign.
Alternatively, one might suggest a rebus such as: bS wD, “the stela ( ) spits,” > bs-
(w)D > psD.t, but this solution is equally unlikely.
The editors of the LGG suggested the Osirian epithet “der Pfeiler der Götter (iwn
nTrw),” but acknowledged that the reading was uncertain (III 283c). While this
translation might fit the general context, it does not account for the spitting;
furthermore, the following strophe refers to plural gods (infra, note j).
Schematically, this group also resembles the sHn.t-chapel of Min ( ), with the
bucranium replacing the horned standard usually erected before the chapel. 60 Once at
Esna the bull emerges from within the shrine ( ), similar to the Philae
hieroglyph, obtaining the acrophonic value s < sHn.t in the name Osiris.61

57
K. MYYŚLIWIEC, Studien zum Gott Atum, I: Die heiligen Tiere des Atum (HÄB 5), Hildesheim
1978, pp. 31-37; II: Name – Epitheta – Ikonographie, (HÄB 8), Hildesheim 1979, pp. 100-101;
LGG VII 250.
58
Esna I 450, 1 (reading secured from the direct parallel in Esna IV 413, 1); cf. D. MEEKS, Les
Architraves du temple d’Esna, p. 154 § 418. For bucrania on Heliopolitan obelisks and pillars, see
further Chr. M. ZIVIE, “Les rites d’érection de l’obélisque et du pilier Ioun,” in J. VERCOUTTER
(ed.), Hommages à la mémoire de Serge Sauneron (BdÉ 81), Cairo 1979, I, pp. 481-482, 494-495.
59
For interchange between Egyptian g and D in various stages of the language, cf. D. KLOTZ,
“Emhab versus the tmrhtn: Monomachy and the Expulsion of the Hyksos,” SAK 39 (2010), p. 225,
n. 120; J. P. ALLEN, The Ancient Egyptian Language: an Historical Study, Cambridge 2013, p. 49.
60
See Fr. FEDER, “Das Ritual saHa kA sHn.t als Tempelfest des Gottes Min,” in R. GUNDLACH-
M. ROCHHOLZ (eds), 4. Ägyptologische Tempeltagung. Feste im Tempel (ÄAT 33.2), Wiesbaden
1998, pp. 35-36; for this shrine, see recently M. MINAS-NERPEL-M. DE MEYER, “Raising the Pole
for Min at the Temple of Isis at Shanhūr,” ZÄS 140 (2013), pp. 150-166; Fr. FEDER, “Das Ritual
’Errichten des Ka-Symbols der Sehnet-Kapelle (saHa kA sHn.t), in der griechisch-römischen Zeit
Ägyptens,” in J. F. QUACK (ed.), Ägyptische Rituale der griechisch-römischen Zeit (ORA 6),
Tübingen 2014, pp. 47-65.
61
Esna III 208, 24 (54); S. SAUNERON, L’Écriture figurative dans les textes d’Esna (Esna VIII),
Cairo 1982, p. 167, Nr. 266. A traditional sHn-chapel – without the bull – functions as an ideogram
in P. CLÈRE, La Porte d’Évergète, Pl. 44, divine column (cf. Fr. FEDER, Op. cit., p. 52, Abb. 9,
top).
88 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

Elsewhere at Philae, in the kiosk of Nectanebo I, the Min chapel ( ) writes the
62
word iAw.t, “office,” being an elaboration of the normal iAw.t-sign. However, this
term would hardly fit the present context. Instead, one may propose sHn/Hn, “to
provision; supply; protect.”63 The general idea of this passage is that Horus or the
King establishes temples, supplies offerings, and performs divine rituals. 64 In this
case, the spitting bull vividly evokes food offerings (the bull) and libations (the
spitting), while simultaneously recalling harvest and fertility rites for Min via the
sHn.t-chapel, and the primeval creation of gods and their temples by Atum in
Heliopolis.
j. Žabkar rendered this phrase: ir nn nb, “(who) fashions every divine image,” without
further comment. 65 Again, however, the supposed *nn, “image,” is a ghost word,
most likely a mistake for snn, “statue.”66 To defend this translation, one would have
to explain how the plant alone could write snn, and why the determinative is placed
before the word.
A far simpler solution involves reading the mummy with its standard
ideographic value irw, “ritual” (e.g. Wb. I 113, 8), and interpret the following sign as
an abbreviated spelling of the third person plural suffix pronoun: s(n) (cf. supra,
n. f).67 Elsewhere, the third person feminine singular suffix pronoun (=s, “her”) is

spelled: (Hymn 5, col. 2) and (B.Ph. 1023 = Urk. II 111, 8).

k. Žabkar correctly translated this epithet (“[he] who protects Egypt”), but the LGG
subsequently recorded the phrase as xw bA BAo.t, “Der den Ba von Ägypten schützt”
(V 657c), an expression entirely without parallel. Instead, the ram (bA) simply
represents the initial consonants of BAo.t, similar to a nearby example of this epithet
from Philae ( ),68 not to mention other spellings of the toponym.

62
Fr. FEDER, Op. cit., pp. 36, 52, Abb. 9; see now B.Ph. 28. The sign is now partially damaged,
so see the alternate reading by M. LOMBARDI, “Il ‘chiosco’ del re Nectanebo I a File,” in P. GALLO
(ed.), Egittologia a Palazzo Nuovo. Studi e ricerche dell’Università di Torino, Turin 2013, p. 63,
n. b. Note also that Min stands before the more generic shrine earlier in this text (Hymn 1, col. 2;
cf. supra, n. e).
63
Wb. III 101, 4, 7-11; IV 216, 13-16.
64
For this notion, compare (inter alia) the Memphite Theology, where Ptah-Tatenen installs the
newly created gods in their temples and regulates their scheduled offerings (cols. 59-61).
65
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22; followed by LGG I 464: “Der jedes Abbild schafft.”
66
Wb. II 274, 9; P. WILSON, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, p. 522.
67
K. JANSEN-WINKELN noted another example of sw for =sn in the tomb of Psusennes I at Tanis
(Spätmittelägyptische Grammatik, p. 133, § 217).
68
G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 47, 5 = Urk. II 114, 6.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 89

Hymn 2 (Plate 2)69

iAw n=t Is.t wr.t (Praise be) unto you, Great Isis,
mw.t-nTr nb(.t) p.t Divine Mother, Lady of Heaven,
Hnw.t nTr.w nb Mistress of all the gods.
(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,
Hm.t-nsw.t tp.t n Wn-nfr First Royal Wife of Wennefer,
rr(.w)-n-nbw (m) m gs.w-pr.w gilded one in the temples,
zA wr tpy n Gbb first-born, eldest son of Geb.
(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,
Hm.t-nsw.t tp.t n Wn-nfr First Royal Wife of Wennefer,
nb pHty (n) sxr xfty=f lord of strength, who fells his enemy,
nb nHH (o) HoA D.t lord of cyclical eternity, ruler of linear eternity.
(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,
Hm.t-nsw.t (p) tp.t n Wn-nfr First Royal Wife of Wennefer,
Hwnw nfr beautiful youth,
ir aD.t m XAk.w-ib.w who makes a slaughter among the disaffected,
nsw tA.wy king of the two lands.
(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,
Hm.t-nsw.t tp.t n Wn-nfr First Royal Wife of Wennefer,
mk.t sn=s who protects her brother,
ir.t zAw (q) Hr wrD-ib and performs protection over Weary of Heart.
(iAw) n=t (Praise be) unto you,
Hm.t-nsw.t tp.t n Wn-nfr First royal wife of Wennefer,
¡H rnp wTz nHH (r) youthful Heh, who elevates the sun (‘eternal one’),
(s)
iw<=t> r-Hna=f m ¤nm.t <you> are with him in Senmet.

69
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 27-38, Pl. 13; B. Ph. 1032; G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 62, 8–11.
90 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

PLATE 2
HYMN 2 : Modified from: L.V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, p. 29, Fig. 3.
Previous readings:

(e) Žabkar: Bénédite:

(f) Žabkar: Bénédite:

BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 91

m. Žabkar translated this group literally, resulting in the unlikely epithet: “the supreme
overseer of the Golden Ones (imy-r imyw-r nbyw),” without further comment.70 Yet
as Goyon already noted,71 this singular spelling is a variant of a problematic word
( ), and the entire epithet occurs several times in a famous litany for Sokar.

Nonetheless, the precise transliteration and translation of this term has been debated
over the years. In his classic study of the Sokar ritual, Goyon proposed translating
pXr(.w) n nbw, “Emmailloté-d’or,” an allusion to gilded wooden Sokar statuettes.72
Erhart Graefe, meanwhile, found a connection with rr/ll, “necklace; bracelet,”
arguing this was a metaphorical designation of the god. 73 Robert Ritner understood
pXr(.t) n nbw, “golden remedy,” a reference to the materials used to prepare the
Osiris-Sokar mummy during the Khoiak festival, but this would be unusual for a
laudatory divine epithet.74 Sylvie Cauville, for her part, retained the neutral phrase
“le Cercle d’or.”75
All previous translations have their advantages and difficulties, so the epithet merits
further discussion. First, it is important to note that, contrary to what the Wörterbuch
and others have claimed, the word is never spelled with the pXr-sign.76 Instead, it
occurs most often with two r’s ( ), as well as in the present spelling ( ), and

another variant with lions ( ; Dendara X 397, 9). Properly speaking, the tongue

70
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 21-22.
71
J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), p. 88.
72
J.-Cl. GOYON, “Le cérémonial pour faire sortir Sokaris. Papyrus Louvre I. 3079, col. 112-
114,” RdÉ 20 (1968), pp. 65, 89, n. 5; ID., Le Papyrus d’Imouthès Fils de Psintaês au
Metropolitan Museum of Art de New-York (Papyrus MMA 35.9.21), New York 1999, p. 97 (col.
57, 5); followed by H. BEINLICH, “Ein Morgenlied an Osiris aus dem Hathor-Tempel von
Dendera,” RdÉ 32 (1980), p. 28, n. 10 (“Goldumhüllt”); LGG III 108 (“Der mit Gold
Überzogene).”
73
E. GRAEFE-M. WASSEF, “Eine fromme Stiftung für den Gott Osiris-der-seinen-Anhänger-in-
der-Unterwelt-rettet aus dem Jahre 21 des Taharqa (670 v. Chr.),” MDAIK 35 (1979), p. 112,
n. am; followed by G. BURKARD, Spätzeitliche Osiris-Liturgien im Corpus der Asasif-Papyri (ÄAT
31), Wiesbaden 1995, p. 228, n. 7.
74
R.K. RITNER, The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice (SAOC 54), Chicago
1993, p. 55, n. 257; see already the remarks of R. O. FAULKNER: “at first sight the rendering
‘medicament of gold’ suggests itself, but what could such an expression mean?” (“The Bremner-
Rhind Papyrus–II,” JEA 23 [1937], p. 14).
75
S. CAUVILLE, Dendara. Les chapelles osiriennes, III: Index (BdÉ 119), Cairo 1997, pp. 164,
322; R. O. FAULKNER refrained altogether from translating: “O pXr of gold in the temples!”
(JEA 23 [1937], p. 12).
76
Wb. I 549, 13; the only example for such a spelling recorded in the Belegstellen comes from
the Sokar litany (P. Louvre 3057, 29, 5; P. Bremner-Rhind, 18, 5: DZA 23.479.930), but in all the
hieratic examples it is impossible to distinguish between r and pXr in this group; GOYON more
conservatively transcribed it as rr (RdÉ 20, p. 70, line 5; ID., Le Papyrus d’Imouthès, p. 95,
Pl. XLIA, col. 57, 5; so also R. O. FAULKNER, The Papyrus Bremner-Rhind [British Museum
No. 10188] [BiAe 3], Brussels 1933, p. 35, 5).
92 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

usually stands for the group imy-rA, but it can also write l,77 hardly ever r,78 because

that title is frequently spelled with just an r ( or ) in the Late Period,79

reflecting contemporaneous pronunciation (e. g. la-, le-, lo-).80 In a similar
manner, hieraticized owls ( and ), both derived from ligatured imy-rA ( ),81
could render /l/ in Greek and Latin personal names.82
Since the tongue and lion more likely write l than r, a number of options can be
considered. The use of the lion at Dendara recalls spellings of ll, “necklace;
bracelet” (e.g. , ),83 but this would also be an unusual
divine epithet. There is also a late word for child (Demotic: ll, lyl, lla; Coptic:
lelou, leilou), and this would fit a scene from the Dendera Mammisi,
where Hathor also calls the newborn Harsomtous: pA rr/ll n nbw (Mam. Dendara
106, 21 = LD IV 82b). However, this term apparently derives from Egyptian nnw,
“child,” 84 richly attested in temple texts of the Graeco-Roman period, and the
mineral determinative would hardly be appropriate.

77
O. A. KAPER, “Departing from Protocol: Emperor Names in the Temples of Dakhleh Oasis,”
in J. HALLOF (ed.), Auf den Spuren des Sobek. Festschrift für Horst Beinlich zum 28. Dezember
2012 (SRaT 12), Dettelbach 2012, p. 140, with n. 33.
78
D. KURTH, EP I, p. 225, Nr. 42, 234, n. 148, but the only positive reference he cites is from
Esna, where it occurs twice in the Osiris litanies (S. SAUNERON, L’Écriture figurative, p 137,
Nr. 118). In the other examples he mentions, the sign also renders l (e. g. Dakke I 331, 343: both in
“Pselkis”), and the supposed attestation in Dendûr (pp. 8, top [III, d], and 67), is contradicted by
the published photograph of that text (Op. cit., Pl. XIV).
79
Chr. KUENTZ, “Remarques sur les statues d’Harwa,” BIFAO 34 (1934), pp. 154-157; D. KLOTZ,
“The Peculiar Naophorous Statuette of a Heliopolitan Priest: Hannover, Museum August Kestner
1935.200.510,” ZÄS 139 (2012), p. 138, n. 20.
80
Wb. I 94, 5; CDD M (10:1), p. 130.
81
D. KURTH, EP I, p. 250, Nr. 55, 262, n. 190.
82
I. GUERMEUR, BiOr 60/3-4 (2003), cols. 337-338; G. VITTMANN, “Zwischen Integration und
Ausgrenzung. Zur Akkulturation von Ausländern im spätzeitlichen Ägypten,” in R. ROLLINGER-
B. TRUSCHNEGG (eds), Altertum und Mittelmeerraum: Die antike Welt diesseits und jenseits der
Levante. Festschrift für Peter W. Haider zum 60. Geburtstag (Oriens et Occidens 12), Stuttgart
2006, pp. 587-588. The second owl also writes /l/ in cartouches of Lucius Livius Sulpicius Galba
from Dakhla Oasis (O. E. KAPER, “Galba's Cartouches at Ain Birbiyeh,” in K. LEMBKE et al. (eds),
Tradition and Transformation: Egypt under Roman rule (CHANE 41), Leiden 2010, pp. 192-193,
Figs. 7-9); while Kaper correctly identified this special hieroglyph in his discussion (p. 196, n. 42),
he simplified it to the regular owl in the typeset hieroglyphic font (pp. 190-191, 197), leading him
to speculate about a local, dialectical variant in which Egyptian m could render Latin /l/ (pp. 196-
198).
83
E. GRAEFE-M. WASSEF, MDAIK 35 (1979), p. 112, n. am; see also D. MEEKS, ALex I 77.2392;
ALex III 79.1768; CDD L (01.1), pp. 10-11; the derived word (lhl) occurs only rarely in Coptic
(CRUM, CD 140b).
84
W. WESTENDORF, Koptisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg 1977, p. 78; CDD L (01:1), pp. 9-10.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 93

Instead, this verb is most likely the same word attested in Demotic (lala) and Coptic
(lale, loole), “to smear; paint; overlay; gild.”85 Although not otherwise
attested in hieroglyphs, this determinative fits perfectly for such a verb. Most
importantly, the set phrase lale nnoub, “to cover with gold” (corresponding
to Greek: χρυσόω, καταχρυσόω, περιχρυσόω) is amply attested in Coptic (CRUM,
loc. cit.). Semantically, this translation is very similar to Goyon’s original suggestion
(“emmaillotée d’or”) but it avoids any confusion with pXr, “to surround,” and finds
an exact parallel in Coptic phraseology.
All the various divinities invoked by this epithet (i. e. Sokar-Osiris, Harsomtous the
Child, Amun-Re) could be golden because of their solar, newly reborn status.
Moreover, as Sylvie Cauville remarked, this epithet usually occurs in company with
other phrases exulting “l’image glorieuse” of the divinity, including nb-Hr.w, aSA
xprw, “possessor of (different) faces, numerous of manifestations” (Sokar Ritual). 86
n. Žabkar read both signs ideographically (kA-mAi, “The Bull, the Lion”), but as Goyon
already suggested, this combination could also write the epithet nb-pHty, “lord of
strength.”87 A similar rebus occurs on a curious Late Period statue from Hermopolis
Parva (Baqliya) in Lower Egypt. 88 On the front of the owner’s wrap-around robe, a
long inscription is surmounted by larger figures of a bull (left) facing a lion (right)
(Fig. 6). In the only discussion of this unusual piece, Dieter Kessler classified the
accompanying text, which he did not fully translate, as “ein hymnischer Anruf auf
den Schützer der Stadt, auf Thot,” and assumed these two animals represented local
manifestations of the god.

85
CDD L (01:1), p. 3; CRUM, CD 141a; W. WESTENDORF, Koptisches Handwörterbuch, p. 78,
suggested deriving these verbs from Late Egyptain arar, “to accomplish; finish” (Wb. I 209, 8-15;
L. H. LESKO, A Dictionary of Late Egyptian2, Providence 2002-4, I, p. 72), but a direct connection
between those terms is doubtful.
86
S. CAUVILLE, Dendara. Les chapelles osiriennes, II: Commentaire (BdÉ 118), Cairo 1997,
p. 183. Note the frequent mentions of gold and other minerals in a related hymn to the newly
reborn Osiris: Dendara X 311, 11; 312, 14; 313, 1 and 12 (rr.w n nbw); cf. H. BEINLICH, RdÉ 32
(1980), pp. 22-24, 26-27. For the mineral constitution of newborn gods, see also D. KLOTZ,
Adoration of the Ram, pp. 71-73, n. A.
87
J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), p. 88; followed by LGG III 634-5, with similar spellings. The
full lion, not just its head or rear, can write pHty, “strength” as early as the Coffin Texts
(D. MEEKS, BiOr 56, 5/6 [1999], col. 578; D. KURTH, EP I, p. 200), as well as the derived term
pHty, “lion” (P. WILSON, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, p. 363; B. VENTKER, Der Starke auf dem Dach.
Funktion und Bedeutung der löwengestaltigen Wasserspeier im alten Ägypten [SSR 6], Wiesbaden
2012, p. 225). In the cryptographic titularies at Philae, a standing lion-headed god writes pHty,
“strength,” twice: Philä II 401, 2 and 8; note also that the cow writes nb.t, “lady,” in the nearby
Hymns 5 (col. 1), and 6 (col. 1).
88
PM VIII, p. 924 (801-768-430); CHARLES EDE LTD, Egyptian Antiquities, 2008, No. 11;
collated by the author in New York, 2008; illustration of the animals in D. KESSLER, “Der Gott
Thot – Stier,” in D. KESSLER-R. SCHULZ (eds), Gedenkschrift für Winfried Barta: Htp dj n Hzj
(MÄU 4), Frankfurt am Main 1995, p. 232, Abb. 1.
94 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

Figure 6: Excerpt of “Bull and Lion” statue from Baqliya

(from: KESSLER, in Gs. W. Barta, p. 232, Abb. 1)

However, the inscription lacks any dividing lines, and Kessler chose to separate the
text into columns, resulting in a highly problematic and grammatically unconvincing
interpretation of “Zeile 5,” the section containing the hieroglyphs of “bull over
lion.” 89 Dividing the inscriptions into horizontal lines yields a far more coherent
translation,90 particularly for the group in question (line 5):

As the following egg and diacritic stroke indicate, the bull and lion should write the
personal name Nb-pHty, resulting in the following interpretation:
Hz=w irr.t=f They reward his actions,
mr=sn D(d).w=f and love his speeches:
Nb-pHty zA Ns-Mnw (namely) Neb-pehty, son of Nesmin.
In other words, the bull and lion above the main text constitute an emblematic
writing of the dedicant’s name.
o. As discussed above (cf. supra, n. h), the falcon Žabkar copied here is actually a
guinea fowl, with the phonetic value nH(H), “eternity.” This new reading yields a

89
D. KESSLER, Op. cit., p. 233: “Jedermann, er schaut ehfürchtig auf die Erscheinungen und die
Gunst des Thot (z nb snD.f xprwt Hs.t +Hwtj), der stolz macht den an seinem Herz Stolzen (saA aA Hr
jb.f). Dein/Jeder (?) Stier und jeder Löwe ist Abbild der Liebe (mAjw k/nb [??] snn mrwt).”
Similarly the anonymous translator in CHARLES EDE LTD, Egyptian Antiquities, 2008, No. 11:
“Every man, he fears the manifestations and favour of Thoth, who makes great the one proud in
his heart. Every bull and lion is the image of love.”
90
For another passage of this text, see briefly D. KLOTZ, “The Statue of the dioikêtês
Harchebi/Archibios: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 47-12,” BIFAO 109 (2009), p. 298, n. 121.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 95

standard pair of Osirian epithets, 91 rather than Zabkar’s problematic: nb HoA Dt, “The
Lord and ruler of Eternity.” 92
p. Žabkar copied this unusual sign as a simplified adze, and subsequently transcribed:
stp.t tp.t n Wnn-nfr, “The First Elect One of Onnophris.” 93 However, such an epithet
is not attested elsewhere for Isis or other goddesses (cf. LGG VI 689-90). More
importantly, just as in Hymn 1, the rigid parallelism between columns assures that
this epithet must also be “First Royal Wife of Wennefer.”
No phonetic or ideographic values for the adze would appear to fit here, but
collation with photographs shows that Žabkar’s copy is not entirely accurate (Fig.
7a); nearby versions of that sign from Philae are decidedly more angular (Fig. 7b-c),
and the handles on the present hieroglyph are convex rather than concave.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 7: Details of walking legs (a) and adzes (b-c)
(a) Retreating legs (from: B.Ph. 1032)
(b) from: B.Ph. 1074
(c) from: B.Ph. 1134

Instead, the present sign depicts the ordinary retreating legs (Gard. D 55). While this
hieroglyph has few ideographic or phonetic values, 94 it determines various verbs of
motion, including Hmi, “to retreat; cause to flee” (Wb. I 79). This word alone does
not suffice to render the title Hm.t-nsw.t, since the latter was vocalized in Hittite as
-ḫamunzu, namely in the famous letter of an Egyptian queen to Šuppiluliluma I.95
To properly decode this rebus, one must consider the scene depicted above the
hymn, in which Ptolemy II praises an enthroned Isis. Because of the direction of
writing – the hieroglyphs face the same direction as the speaking king – these two
legs appear to run away from the large figure of Isis, and thus the single hieroglyph
could be labeled: Hm(w) n=s, “one who flees from her (sc. Isis).”96 From this rebus,

91
LGG V 531-532; D. KLOTZ, “A Theban Devotee of Seth from the Late Period – Now
Missing. Ex-Hannover, Museum August Kestner Inv. S. 0366,” SAK 42 (2013), p. 171, n. m.
92
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, p. 30.
93
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, p. 30.
94
D. KURTH, EP I, p. 176, Nr. 88.
95
See recently Fr. BREYER, “Egyptological Remarks Concerning Daḫamunzu,” Ägypten und
Levante 20 (2010), pp. 445-451.
96
Wb. III 79, 4: Hmi n NN, “vor jemandem zurückweichen (aus Angst, aus Respekt).”
96 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

one easily obtains the correct reading via the Consonantal Principle: Hm(.t)-nsw <
Hm(w)-n=s.
Such elaborate derivations would be nearly impossible to identify out of context.
Accordingly, the scribes treated this highly original spelling with special care,
bookending it horizontally between four standard orthographies in the other
columns, and writing the remaining elements of the epithet (tp.t n Wn-nfr) conven-
tionally within this column.
q. Žabkar interpreted this composite sign as Dsr, citing other Ptolemaic spellings of that
word involving snakes . 97 Goyon, meanwhile, noted that the tall serpent is
specifically the sA-tA snake,98 and suggested deriving the word zAw, “protection,” a
reading which fits the context well. The editors of the LGG expressed doubt
(“Lesung sA nicht sicher”; LGG I 525c), but another example of this sign occurs at
Edfu, further supporting Goyon’s proposal (Edfou I 410, 4):

Ra-Ra.w sTi zAT m [stw.t=f] Re of Res, who brightens the earth with [his rays],99
wDA.ty=f(y) m zAw=f his wedjat-eyes being in his protection.100
r. As Žabkar noted, these two epithets occur in a widely attested hymn to the youthful
Osiris as living sovereign, attested on various Egyptian and Nubian monuments. 101
Nonetheless, their precise meaning has confounded previous translators,102 particularly
the first two words:

97
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 30, 163, n. 5.
98
J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68, 1993, p. 89. The vertical serpent alone suffices to write zA-tA:
D. KURTH, EP I, p. 282, Nr. 3.
99
This word was copied by Rochemonteix and Chassinat, but indicated as a lacuna in the newer
edition, perhaps because it was subsequently damaged. Nonetheless, it fits the general context and
accords with the assonance in the epithet.
100
For the notion of Re protected by the feminine eyes, even traveling within the wedjat-eye, see
D. KLOTZ, Adoration of the Ram, pp. 176-178.
101
Most parallels listed in LGG V 470b; for the hymn in general, see primarily L. V. ŽABKAR,
“A Hymn to Osiris Pantocrator at Philae,” ZÄS 108 (1981), pp. 141-168; ID., Hymns to Isis,
pp. 34-36; Fr.-R. HERBIN, “La renaissance d’Osiris au temple d’Opet (P. Vatican Inv. 38608),”
RdÉ 54 (2003), pp. 106-107, n. 145; K. H. PRIESE, “Ein Osirishymnus der Spätzeit: Textfragmente
vom Gebel Barkal,” JSSEA 32 (2005), pp. 139-152; Cl. TRAUNECKER, “La chapelle d’Osiris
“seigneur de l’éternité-neheh” à Karnak,” in L. COULON (ed.), Le Culte d’Osiris au Ier millénaire
av. J.-C.: Découvertes et travaux récents (BdÉ 153), Cairo 2010, pp. 164-172, 193, Fig. 9; R. EL-
SAYED-Y. EL-MASRY (eds), Athribis I: General Site Survey 2003 – 2007 (Athribis I/1), Cairo
2012, pp. 151, n. 6, 175, n. 146.
102
See already the long discussions by L. V. ŽABKAR, ZÄS 108 (1981), p. 143, n. 16; ID., Hymns
to Isis, pp. 164-5, n. 42.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 97

Fr. Hintze: “Ewiger sich Verjüngender.”103

H. Junker, E. Winter: “Der junge ¡Hw (Urgott?).”104
C. de Wit: “Heh qui se rajeunit.”105
L. V.Žabkar: “The eternally Youthful” (1981)
and “Eternal One rejuvenating himself” (1988)106
E. Graefe: “(am Leibe) der Ewigkeit, Sich-Verjügender.”107
J.-Cl. Goyon: “l’éternel qui (dénombre) les années (HH (Hsb) rnp(w).t).”108
E. Rogge: “Millionenfach an Verjüngungen.”109
Cl. Traunecker: “Éternellement (neheh) jeune, qui exalte l’éternité-neheh.”110
LGG V 470: “Der mit millionenfacher Verjüngung.”111
Many of the previous translators assumed the first word (HH, almost always spelled
with the Heh-figure), somehow stood for nHH, “eternity; eternal.” Yet while both
words are certainly related, they were not interchangeable in this manner. Moreover,
for much of Egyptian history, Osiris was explicitly linked with D.t-eternity, and his
ideogram sportively wrote that word (Wb. V 507, 5), so an equation with nHH-
eternity is unlikely. Admittedly, one example of this hymn comes from the temple of
Osiris Lord of nHH-eternity (nb-nHH), but being Lord of something is not the same as
being that thing.
The more literal nfr-Hr-construction proposed by Eva Rogge and others (i. e.
“infinite of rejuvenation”) could aptly designate the newly (re)born Osiris.
Nonetheless, the subsequent phrases suggest a slightly different interpretation.
Although not included in the present text, the most extensive versions of the hymn
include another strophe after wTz nHH,112 continuing: “he who elevates nHH, after he
encircled the lands with his arms (pXr.n=f tA.wy/tA.w m a.wy=fy).” The latter epithet
portrays Osiris as a giant, cosmic deity whose arms embrace all of creation, and

103
Fr. HINTZE, Die Inschriften des Löwentempels von Musawwarat es Sufra (ADAWB 1962,
Band 1), p. 27.
104
Philä II 393, 18.
105
C. DE WIT, Les Inscriptions du temple d’Opet, III (BiAe 13), Brussels 1968, p. 27.
106
L. V. ŽABKAR, ZÄS 108 (1981), p. 143; ID, Hymns to Isis, pp. 32, 164, n. 42.
107
E. GRAEFE, Untersuchungen zur Verwaltung und Geschichte der Institution der Gottes-
gemahlin des Amun vom Beginn des Neuen Reiches bis zur Spätzeit (Wiesbaden, ÄgAbh 37), 1981,
I, pp. 240-241, with n. g.
108
J.-Cl. GOYON, CdÉ 68 (1993), p. 89.
109
E. ROGGE, Statuen der Spätzeit (750 - ca. 300 v. Chr.) (CAA Wien 9), Mainz 1992, p. 72.
110
Cl. TRAUNECKER, in L. COULON (ed.), Le Culte d’Osiris, p. 166, with n. 62, remarking:
“Littéralement ‘Éternel de rajeunissement’.”
111
Followed in Athribis I/1, p. 175.
112
A. H. ZAYED, “Painted Wooden Stelae in the Cairo Museum,” RdÉ 20 (1968), Pl. 10, line 3;
L. V. ŽABKAR, ZÄS 108 (1981), p. 143; E. GRAEFE, Untersuchungen zur Verwaltung und
Geschichte der Institution der Gottesgemahlin, pp. 240-241, with n. g; E. ROGGE, Statuen der
Spätzeit, pp. 72, 74, cols. 5-6; Cl. TRAUNECKER, in L. COULON (ed.), Le Culte d’Osiris, pp. 166-
167; Athribis I/1, pp. 172-173, 175, col. 9.
98 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

whose body stretches from the Duat up to Heaven. This magnified Osiris appears in
various cosmographic texts, and in certain examples, Osiris takes the place of the
usual Himmelsträger, Shu, at the Eastern horizon, supporting the sky and lifting Re
from the netherworld with his gigantic arm. 113 According to P. Carlsberg I and
various cosmographic temple scenes, Osiris would receive Re into his hands at night
and release him again in the morning, suggesting that Osiris’s arms were in both the
western and eastern horizons, just like the additional epithet claims (pXr.n=f tA.wy m
a.wy=fy).114 In the tomb of Ramesses IX and elsewhere, Osiris is even represented as
ithyphallic, underscoring his youthful (rnp) status.
Another problem relates to the word nHH; most translators have rendered it as
“eternity,”115 but the notion of “elevating eternity” is imprecise. One might think of
the Heh-figure himself, since he literally carries years (i. e. an eternity) in his hands.
Yet the subsequent cosmic epithet suggests nHH might refer to the sun, literally “the
eternal one.”116 The standard hymn to Osiris-Pantocrator thus likens him to a virile,
gigantic Heh-god, capable of elevating the sun to the sky in the morning, and
receiving him in the evening. Furthermore, these praises emphasize the god’s spatial
grandeur, appropriate for Osiris as linear D.t-eternity, contrasted in the present text
with solar, cyclical nHH-eternity.
Incidentally, this translation was already suggested by Junker, Winter, and De Wit,
especially since this epithet once designates Osiris in a scene of offering the Heh-
symbol (Philä II 393, 18). Yet Žabkar argued that, despite the ideographic spelling
in almost every copy of the hymn, the direct references to Heh could only be late
interpretations of an earlier Osirian epithet (i. e. “Eternal One”), 117 apparently
unaware that Osiris was likened to Shu-Heh already in the New Kingdom.
s. The present reading follows a suggestion from Žabkar (Hymns to Isis, p. 163, n. 6),
but one might alternatively propose a minor emendation:

<*

113
See the thorough discussion by J. C. DARNELL, The Enigmatic Netherworld Books, pp. 374-
411.
114
J. C. DARNELL, Op. cit., pp. 391-2; A. VON LIEVEN, Grundriss des Laufes der Sterne. Der
sogenannte Nutbuch (The Carlsberg Papyri 8 ; CNIP 31), Copenhagen 2007, I, pp. 137-139, for
the Graeco-Roman depictions of a god, most likely Osiris, holding the sun at both horizons, most
notably G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, Pl. L; Dendara X Pls. 204, 235.
115
E. GRAEFE alone suggested nHH was a designation of the sky goddess, Nut (Untersuchungen
zur Verwaltung und Geschichte der Institution der Gottesgemahlin, p. 241).
116
NHH was a standard designation of the sun (Wb. II 302, 10-11; Fr.-R. HERBIN, Le Livre de
parcourir l’éternité [OLA 58], Leuven 1994, p. 97), while an ideogram of Re suffices to write the
word nHH (D. KURTH, EP I, pp. 141, Nr. 74, 161, n. 524). Note also that in Opet I 59, these epithets
(HH rnp, wTz nHH), are continued as follows: “everyone lives from his shining (anx Hr-nb m
wbn=f)”; in this context, the masculine pronoun likely refers to the sun (nHH), the most immediate
antecedent, rather than to Osiris.
117
L. V. ŽABKAR, Hymns to Isis, pp. 164-165, n. 42.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 99

iw=t Hna=f, “you are with him.”

Confusion between t and r, in hieroglyphs and hieratic, is attested in most periods.118

Discussion
Sylvie Cauville recently explained the special appeal of these early Ptolemaic
inscriptions from Philae:119
“La créativité des prêtres, en ce lieu reculé du pouvoir spirituel, est fort grande,
en témoignent plusieurs hiéroglyphes judicieusement utilisés dans la graphie de
mots communs ou de toponymes.”
The key word here is “judicieusement”: the various offering scenes, building
inscriptions, and particularly the Isis hymns, employ a minimal number of
hieroglyphs. At first view, these elegant and evenly spaced texts recall classic
monuments of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, or the archaizing texts of the Late
Period. Yet while the system of writing at Philae had already developed beyond
the alphabetic Saite and Nectanebid royal inscriptions, it still did not quite
resemble the standard “Ptolemaic” orthographies used at Edfu. This is perhaps
why the hymns to Isis, particularly Hymns 1-2, posed so many challenges to
previous translators.
Beginning in the Amarna period, hieroglyphic inscriptions became
increasingly cluttered and dense, as scribes abandoned the traditional cuboid
sign arrangement in favor of rectangles, while spellings expanded with
additional determinatives and phonetic complements. After centuries of this
rococo style, archaizing scribes turned to Old Kingdom models, favoring
minimalist orthographies and evenly-spaced texts, already in the Third
Intermediate Period, but more intensely in the Late Period. 120 Ideographic
writings are relatively common during the Saite period (Dynasty 26), but
innovative uniliteral spellings are more characteristic of that era. 121 These
archaizing texts do not just revive Old Kingdom spellings; rather the almost
alphabetic script often – but not always – represents contemporaneous pronuncia-
tions. In addition to these problems, scribes generally eschewed determinatives
or other traditional morpheme boundaries, making the identification of purely

118
E. g. D. KURTH, “Der Einfluss der Kursive auf die Inschriften des Tempels von Edfu,” in
D. KURTH (ed.), Edfu: Bericht über drei Surveys; Materialien und Studien (Edfu Begleitheft 5),
1999, p. 78.
119
S. CAUVILLE-M. I. ALI, Philae: Itinéraire du visiteur, Leuven 2013, p. 243.
120
Fr. PAYRAUDEAU, “Les prémices du mouvement archaïsant à Thèbes et la statue Caire JE
37382 du quatrième prophète Djedkhonsouiouefânkh,” BIFAO 107 (2007), pp. 150-152.
121
For a more detailed analysis of Late Period writing (Dynasties 25-30), see O. PERDU, “L’aver-
tissement d’Aménirdis Ière sur sa statue Caire JE 3420 (= CG 565),” RdÉ 47 (1996), pp. 48-54.
100 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

phonetic or entirely ideographic spellings exceedingly difficult in some cases.

As Olivier Perdu remarked about texts from this period:122
“Recherchées pour leur caractère plus inhabituel qu’énigmatique, elles
poursuivent le même but que les cryptographies du Nouvel Empire tout en se
gardant d’être aussi complexes pour ne pas compromettre leur lecture et risquer
alors de provoquer un effet inverse de celui escompté.”
Paradoxically, the more simplified the inscriptions become visually (less
determinatives and phonetic complements, increased alphabeticism), the more
challenging they are to decipher. One may compare a statue base of Horiraa
from Dynasty 26 (Cairo N 9107), first published in 2010, that elicited two
separate articles by leading experts devoted to improving the difficult text.123
By Dynasty 30, the script became even more complex, with words still written
purely phonetically (i. e. with no determinatives), but sometimes even
employing unconventional uses of multiliteral signs to do this. Without the aid
of context, how could one ever identify certain spellings in the Naukratis
Stela 124 : = bAk, “to serve” (< bik, “falcon”) or = ib.w,
“hearts”?
In the Ptolemaic and Roman period, scribes continued to construct novel
combinations of unliteral and multiliteral signs, while introducing many new
variations on earlier hieroglyphs; consequently the number of potential spellings
for each word increased exponentially. Yet the Egyptians themselves seem to
have realized how unreadable the system was in danger of becoming, and
accordingly introduced a corrective counter-measure. 125 Unlike in the Late
Period, Graeco-Roman texts once again employed determinatives and phonetic
complements regularly. Even at Esna, the most difficult texts (i. e. the notorious
crocodile and ram hymns, or the enigmatic litanies to the major divinities)126 all

122
O. PERDU, Op. cit. p. 48.
123
A. M. ABDALAAL, “A Granite Statue Base of @r-jr-aA (Cairo N 9107),” BIFAO 110 (2010),
pp. 1-11; K. JANSEN-WINKELN, “Die Stiftung von Privatstatuen mit Königsnamen in der 26.
Dynastie,” GM 231 (2011), pp. 57-64; O. PERDU, “Une faveur royale concernant les statues du
précepteur Horirâa,” BSÉG 29 (2011-2013), pp. 112-129.
124
B. GUNN, “Notes on the Naukratis Stela,” JEA 29 (1943), p. 55, n. 2.
125
Cf. the pertinent comments of B. GUNN: “at the end of the Thirtieth Dynasty [the alphabetic
principle] was abandoned for one of three reasons: the weight of millennial tradition; a nationalistic
reaction against Greek ways (...); the consideration that writing Egyptian with only an alphabet of
consonants sacrificed legibility to simplicity, and thus did more harm than good.” (JEA 29 [1943],
p. 56).
126
S. SAUNERON, L’Écriture figurative; Chr. LEITZ, “Die beiden kryptographischen Inschriften
aus Esna mit den Widdern und Krokodilen,” SAK 29 (2001), pp. 251-276; ID., “Les trente premiers
versets de la litanie d’Osiris à Esna (Esna 217),” RdÉ 59 (2008), pp. 231-266.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 101

make frequent use of determinatives, cluing readers into word divisions, parts of
speech, even making it possible to recognize conventional groups of signs.127
Within the Philae hymns, particularly numbers 1-2, examples of Late Period
alphabetic spellings are rare (e. g. = tftf, “to drip”: 3, 5), and so are the more

typically “Ptolemaic” sign values 128 (e. g. = msdm.t, “galena.”) 129 In

general, words are spelled with maximum economy, favoring ornate ideograms
and abbreviated spellings, while eschewing determinatives or traditional endings.
Ideographic spellings with no determinatives are most common,130 particularly
in Hymn 1, which hearkens back to earlier examples of monumental
cryptography where such signs are the norm (cf. 1, 0; 1, 2).131 While some of
these spellings occur in standard texts of earlier periods, and only a few can be
called “cryptographic,” the high density of such signs, stripped of their
conventional phonetic and semantic reading aids, must have considerably
slowed down the reading process.132

zA=T, “your son” (6, 6)133

sTy ¡api, “to make the Inundation flow” (4, 2)134

127
Note especially a singular text (Esna III 393), in which several words are written purely
phonetically using acrophonic values of rare signs, but determined with more traditional full
spellings of the same words, rendering a potentially illegible text quite sensible, as briefly
discussed by S. SAUNERON, Quatre Campagnes à Esna (Esna I), Cairo 1959, p. 48.
128
The latter point briefly noted by D. KURTH, EP I, pp. 15-16.
129
G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 60, 5 = B.Ph. 1019, right.
130
For earlier periods, cf. K. JANSEN-WINKELN, Spätmittelägyptische Grammatik, pp. 12-14;
Fr. PAYRAUDEAU, BIFAO 107 (2007), p. 150; O. PERDU, RdÉ 47 (1996), p. 49.
131
Examples of monumental cryptography are best known from the Ramesside Period, but the
practice continued into the Ptolemaic Period, primarily in bandeau texts: e. g. A. GUTBUB, BIFAO
50 (1952), pp. 33-48; S. CAUVILLE, “Les inscriptions dédicatoires du temple d'Hathor à Dendera,”
BIFAO 90 (1990), pp. 83-114; EAD., “Entre exigence décorative et significations multiples: les
graphies suggestives du temple d’Hathor à Dendara,” BIFAO 102 (2002), pp. 91-135; EAD., Dendara.
Le pronaos du temple d'Hathor, pp. 490-497; D. BUDDE, Das Götterkind im Tempel, in der Stadt
und im Weltgebäude: eine Studie zu drei Kultobjekten der Hathor von Dendera und zur Theologie
der Kindgötter im griechisch-römischen Ägypten (MÄS 55), Darmstadt 2011, pp. 203-205.
132
The following examples, without pretending to be exhaustive, are chosen from Žabkar’s
Hymns to Isis (cited by text number and column), and other inscriptions from the Ptolemaic
sanctuary at Philae.
133
L. V. ŽABKAR only translated Xrd, “the child” (Hymns to Isis, pp. 80-81) while J.-Cl. GOYON
read zA=s, “her son” (CdÉ 68 [1993], p. 91).
134
For the same ideographic spelling of Hapi, see also G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 9, 1-2 = B.Ph. 1121.
102 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

iAw, “praise” (1, 0; 2, 0)

sHm, “to hack up” (5, 4)135

zAw, “protection” (2, 4)

nb, “all” (1, 0; 2, 0)

sxr, “to smite” (2, 2)

xfty, “enemy” (1, 2; 2, 2)

sbi, “rebel” (1, 1)

irw, “ritual” (1, 4)

rnp, “to rejuvenate” (2, 5; 4, 4)

Tni, “to distinguish” (6, 6)

kA, “bull” (1, 3)

kA-nxt, “mighty bull” (1, 2)

msi, “to give birth” (B.Ph. 1023, left)

iwr, “to conceive; be pregnant” (B.Ph. 1023, left)

p.t, “sky” (1, 0)

135
The top of the handle turns into an s-cloth bolt, thus serving as a mater lectionis; J.-Cl.
GOYON’s epigraphic criticism (CdÉ 68 [1993], p. 90) is contradicted by the published photographs.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 103

mw.t, “mother” (1, 0)

nb.t, “Lady” (1, 0)

wr, “great” (1, 0)

dwAw, “morning” (5, 2)

Hwn.t, “little girl” (3, 4)

Snw.t, “hair” (3, 5)

, , mw.t, “mother” (1, 2; 1, 3; supra, n. d)

xwi, “to protect” (1, 5; G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 64, 4

= B.Ph. 1025, top)

Hm.t-nsw, “Royal Wife” (2, 3)

nb.t, “Lady” (5, 1; 6, 1)

nb-pHty, “Lord of Strength” (2, 2)

nb.t, “Lady” (5, 4)

nb, “Lord” (G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 61, 2 = B.Ph. 1023)

sr, “to foretell” (G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 61, 2 = B.Ph. 1023)

Sps.t, “august Lady” (6, 6; 7, 4)

A.t, “moment of rage” (5, 4)

104 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

P ¨p, “Pe and Dep (Buto)” (G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 60, 15.
= B.Ph. 1024)136

nTr.w rmT.w, “gods and men” (6, 1)

mw.t, “mother” (8, 2)

mki, “to protect” (2, 4)

nHH, “eternity” (1, 3; 2, 2)

^Ay, “Shai” or Rnn.t, “Renenutet” (G. BENEDITE, Philae, 64, 6
= B.Ph. 1025, top)

aApp, “Apophis” (5, 4)

mHn, “to encircle” (5, 4)

bA, “Ba” (4, 5)137

136
This reading was noted by J.-Cl. GOYON, “Une formule solennelle de purification des
offrandes dans les temples ptolémaïques,” CdÉ 45 (1970), pp. 273-274, n. j. A similar group
occurs already at Hibis temple in Dynasty 27 (Ph. DERCHAIN, “Le crocodile et l’hippopotame,”
GM 135 [1993], pp. 27-29; D. KLOTZ, Adoration of the Ram, p. 114, n. G; D. KURTH, EP I, p. 230,
nn. 7-8; cf. Mam. Edfou 101, 13; KO I 181, left, col. 3), but in those instances the first sign is a
hippopotamus head (writing _p < db, “hippo”). Bénédite originally copied a hippopotamus head
at Philae as well, but a detailed photograph (S. CAUVILLE–M. I. ALI, Philae, p. 243) confirms it
belongs to a lion. Perhaps it simply interchanged with the panther head, which elsewhere writes
b(A) (D. KURTH, EP I, p. 223, Nr. 19). The crocodile head, meanwhile, writes _p, derived either
from dpi, “crocodile,” or from dp, “head” (material variation): D. KURTH, EP I, p. 281, n. 87.
137
L. V. Žabkar copied this sign accurately in his hand copy, and even mentioned a very similar
serpentine creature at Esna (S. SAUNERON, L’Écriture figurative, p. 151, Nr. 187); nonetheless, he
concluded this hieroglyph was a “simplified drawing of a leopard or panther,” in his commentary
(Hymns to Isis, pp. 53, 167, n. 5). However, photographs confirm this is a hornless viper with four
legs (ibid, Pl. 15; B.Ph. 1034), apparently a variation of the same snake that writes bA at Dendera
(D. KURTH, EP I, pp. 282, Nr. 2, 288, n. 14).
Note further that Žabkar’s translation of the following strophe is grammatically impossible:
“Watching over her son Horus (wp-Hr.s Hna sA.s @r)” (IBID, p. 51). Instead, this is an example of
the phrase wpw-Hr, “except,” beginning a phrase, with the extended meaning “only; alone.”
Compare a very similar example cited by the Wörterbuch (DZA 22.283.030 = P. Berlin 3055, 21,
2-3):
ntk nTr pn ir m a.wy=ky You are this god who acts with his hands
wpw-Hr=k nn ky Hna=k you alone, nobody else with you.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 105

tA.wy, “two lands” (6, 5; also G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 60, 13)

wHm, “to repeat” (Urk. II 111, 7 = G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 61, 2

= B.Ph. 1023)

Ra, “Re” (8, 2)

dwA, “to praise” (5, 1; 8, 1)

nTr, “god” (1, 1; 1, 4)

dwA.t, “the netherworld” (4, 3)

wiA, “bark” (8, 6)

im=, “in” (G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 64, 4 = B.Ph. 1025, top)

sHn, “to provision” (1, 4)

nfr, “good” (2, 1)

smn, “to establish” (1, 4)

xsf, “to repel” (8, 6)

wTz, “to lift up” (2, 5)

mw.t, “mother” (1, 4)

In addition to such ideograms, several words are written in abbreviated

fashion, dropping one or more consonants, or representing only part of a sign:

if(dw), “four (corners)” (Bénédite, Philae, 64, 4

= B.Ph. 1025, top)

Accordingly, the Philae hymn in question should read: “She is the Ba that is in every city; she
alone, together with her son Horus and her brother Osiris.” In other words, the Osirian triad is the
only divine group worshipped universally throughout Egypt.
106 David KLOTZ BSÉG 30 (2014-15)

(i)Hy, “Ihy” (B.Ph. 1048 = Urk. II 111, 1

= G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 68, 10)

an(ty)w, “myrrh” (3, 6; G. BÉNÉDITE, Philae, 61, 11

= B.Ph. 1032, top)

wr(D), “to tire” (2, 4)

Hn(w.t), “mistress” (1, 0)

sSm, “to lead” (3, 5)138

sk(t.t), “night bark” (8, 2)

D(d)=s nb, “all she says” (5, 5; correct reading by Goyon, p. 90)

While these latter words can be difficult to identify, some of them at least
contain determinatives. For the more obscure spellings (e. g. ), and most
importantly for the numerous ideographic spellings, readers have no semantic or
phonetic clues to help establish the correct readings. Lacking any conventional
word shapes at the micro-level, one must rely on textual context, parallelism,
and hymnic patterns specific to the genre to recognize individual words. In these
two hymns from Philae, the ancient scribes arranged the texts visually to draw
maximal attention to the parallel phraseology.
This compositional strategy is most evident along the horizontal axes, where
each hymn repeats the same epithets of Isis (Hymns 1-2), Horus (Hymn 1), and
Osiris (Hymn 2), in the same position in each column. As noted several times in
the commentary, the most conventional orthographies usually occur in the outer
columns, bookending or sandwiching the bizarre, innovative spellings in the
middle (e. g. = Hm.t-nsw, “Royal Wife”: 2, 3).139

138
Žabkar suggested the egg could have substituted for the expected knife or phallus in this word
(Hymns to Isis, p. 165, n. 5); the former option seems more likely considering graphic variants at

Esna: (Esna II 184, 22), (Esna III 366, 5 §20), and (Esna IV 404, 4; reading
confirmed from parallels such as Urk. VIII 11b and 94b).
139
For a similar example of bookending at Esna, see D. KLOTZ, ENIM 7 (2014), p. 53, n. e.
BSÉG 30 (2014-15) TWO HYMNS TO ISIS FROM PHILAE REVISITED 107

Discussions of Ptolemaic and Roman hieroglyphic inscriptions often focus on

the complexity of the writing system, assuming a desire by the late priests to
conceal their sacred knowledge from their foreign rulers, thereby restoring their
dwindling prestige within local communities. Granted, some ancient texts enjoin
their readers to secrecy, while esoteric compositions like the “Book of Thoth”
demonstrate that only those scribes who were deeply initiated into the
hieroglyphic mysteries could hope to understand the many layers of meaning.140
Yet for all the challenges these late inscriptions pose, one may assume that the
ancient scribes intended, among other things, for others to actually read their
compositions. This intention can be deduced from the subtle reading aids
mentioned above (e. g. hieroglyphic annotations; parallelism; bookending),
which gently direct the reader’s mind – ancient or modern – to the correct
interpretation.

331 Beacon Street, Unit 1

USA-Somerville, MA 02143
david.klotz@unibas.ch

Addendum
Page 96, text note q:
Yet another example of this sign occurs with the same value zAw (Edfou I 176,
10), and guardian deities in the Sokar-Osiris chapels at Edfu are depicted in
similar fashion (Edfou I, Pls. XXIII-XXIV). The object is not a sA-tA snake as
Goyon argued, but a serpentine staff or wand traditionally held by Egyptian
magicians. The whole sign thus represents “protection” via rebus. See:
R. K. RITNER, “‘An Each Staff Transformed into a Snake’: The Serpent Wand
in Ancient Egypt,” in K. SZPAKOWSKA (ed.), Through a Glass Darkly: Magic,
Dreams & Prophecies in Ancient Egypt, Swansea 2006, pp. 205-225, especially
p. 213, Fig. 5, and p. 217 (noting the present example from Philae as a “unique”
attestation for this hieroglyph).

140
R. JASNOW, “‘Caught in the Web of Words’–Remarks on the Imagery of Writing and
Hieroglyphs in the Book of Thoth,” JARCE 47 (2011), pp. 297-317; Chr. LEITZ, “Die
Geierweibchen des Thothbuches in den 42 Gauen Ägyptens,” RdÉ 63 (2012), pp. 137-185;
R. JASNOW-K.-Th. ZAUZICH, Conversations in the House of Life: a New Translation of the Ancient
Egyptian Book of Thoth, Wiesbaden 2014.