Ankhtify

osirisnet.net/tombes/moalla/ankhtifi/e_ankhtifi_05.htm

PILLAR 3

This is circular. On the register at the bottom one finds

the remains of a geometric unidentified figure (see rs-
016 and cm-154). On the middle register, a Nubian
archer leads a white bull with black spots with a curved
stick (see cm-153). In the upper register, can be seen
the legs of three other Nubian archers whose ankles
are decorated with periscelides.
Continuation of the inscription n°8 ""Threatening texts addressed to
the possible violators of the tomb""
Inscription n°9 ""Laudatory description of the tomb" :" (see cm-156
and cm-160)
""Because I acquired for myself this sarcophagus and all elements of
this tomb, because there is not, in this tomb, a door which is due to a
foreigner (a), no pillar which is due to a foreigner, because I showed in
Upper Egypt how it was necessary to fight and in this country how
necessary it was to seal one’s heart and I made so that one praised my
strong doors and my sarcophagi, because I made this sarcophagus
with wooden boards coming from trees of Coptos (b). Let no one say
as much. It is because, I am a brave one who doesn't have (his)
equal"."
(a) usurped.
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(b) which should not have been easy, seen the state of war with
Coptos.
The satisfaction of the nomarch can seem exaggerated, but it is
necessary to place oneself in the context: with its coloured decoration
and its thirty pillars, the tomb of Ankhtifi was certainly the most
beautiful and the most prestigious of Upper Egypt.

PILLAR 4

Section 1
Inscription n°10 ""The great famine" :" (see cm-169 and cm-170)
""The hereditary prince, the count, the chancellor of the king of Lower
Egypt, the sole companion, the lector-priest, the leader of the army,
the leader of the mountainous region, the leader of the interpreters,
the great chief of the nomes of the Throne of Horus and the rural
area, Ankhtifi the Brave, says: 'I gave bread to the one who was
hungry and clothing to the one who was naked; I anointed the one
who was not anointed; I gave sandals to the bare-footed; I gave a wife
to him who had no wife. I took care of the towns of Hefat [i.e, Mo'alla]
and Hormer at the moment when the sky was clouded and the earth
[was parched (in the wind) and when every man would die] of hunger
on this sand-bank of Apophis. [The south came] with its people, the
north came [with] its children. I reported this… in exchange (?) for my
Southern corn and I arranged that this Southern corn (?) made haste;
towards the South, It reached the land of Wawat and, in the North, it
reached the Thinite Nome. The whole of Upper Egypt was dying of
hunger to the point that every man was forced to eat his own children
but I, I caused that nobody died of hunger in this nome. I gave a loan
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of corn to Upper Egypt and (I gave) Northern corn to Upper Egypt)
which was received as a ration. This is certainly not a thing that I have
found to have been done by the nomarchs which existed before me;
never (indeed), a leader of the army of this nome has done anything
of the sort. I cared for the house of Elephantine and for the town of
Iat-Negen (Mound of the bulls?) during those years after the towns of
Hefat and Hormer had been satisfied. It is not certainly the thing that I
found to have been made by my fathers who existed before me. I was
like a mountain for Hefat and like a cool shade for Hormer.' Ankhtifi
said: 'The whole country has become like starving locusts going some
upstream and others downstream [in search of food) : but I never
allowed anybody in need to sail from a nome to another one. It is
because I am…'""

The reality of this famine is confirmed by other texts. One observes

the migration of populations avoiding the scarcity towards places
where they think they can find grain. The sandbank of Apophis is a
metaphorical expression which indicates a low Nile, preventing the
harvests on the high lands which are no longer flooded by the flood
waters. Indeed, in the underground world, Apophis tries to make the
barque of the sun sink by swallowing the water of the river. Ankhtifi
also indicates abnormal weather conditions.
The cannibalism reported is probably only an image intended to show
the seriousness of the situation. This will accentuate even more the
prestige of the nomarch. This latter aids his allies by providing them
with grain, but only after having provided the inhabitants of his nome.

Section 2
(see cm-173)

A man carries on his shoulders a burden, maybe a basket of which

nothing remains.

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 Section 6

Section 3
(see cm-174)

We see the legs of a man who, according to his size, could be Ankhtifi.

Section 4
(see cm-175)

Below is a white cow with red spots.

Section 6
There is the upper part of the body of a woman, with her head
covered with a heavy black wig, decorated with a headband. She
holds in her left hand a kind of sceptre finished at the top with a
bulbiform bulge.

PILLAR 5
(see cm-178 and cm-179)

Section 1
Inscription n°11 ""Description of the door of the tomb" :"
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""The hereditary prince, the count, the chancellor of the king of Lower
Egypt, the sole companion, the lector-priest, the chief of the prophets,
the leader of the interpreters, the leader of the mountainous regions,
the great chief of the nomes of the Throne of Horus and the rural
area, Ankhtifi the Brave says: 'I made a door up to the height of the
sky… its summit (literally: its stomach is as the sky when it is covered
with stars; what is on its lintel (?), they are uraeus, and its framework
(?), this is Nehebkau; the uprights (of the frame) and the top (of the
frame) (?), which are made in wood of the fir tree, are higher than the
palms of the mistress of Imet; its threshold was brought back from
Elephantine as the hippopotamus which was set in fury against the
master of the South."."
In this text, rich in metaphors, there are also several economic
references: the fir tree comes from Lebanon, which implies that, even
in these troubled times, the relations with Asia still existed. The
threshold, which relates to Elephantine, is certainly in prestigious pink
granite from the quarries of Aswan, but which no longer functions.

Sections 2 and 3
Inscription n°12 ""New reference to the famine (scarcity of food) " :"
""I made live the nomes of the rural area and the Throne of Horus,
Elephantine and Ombos. Also true is that Horus of Nekhen favours
me, and that Hemen lives for me, my wheat of the south has reached
the nome of Dendera, Dendera and Shabet after these three nomes
had been helped thanks to (?)… Never any nomarch, which has
existed in this nome, has done this. It is because I am a brave one who
has not his equal"."
The oath corresponds a desire to place the autobiographical speech
under the protection of local gods. This practice compensates in this
context to the absence of institutional guarantee equivalent to that of
the kingship of the old Empire.

Inscription n°13 ""New personal praise"", beginning of the integral

text below (see cm-181 and cm-182)
""I am a rich, possessor of wealth; I am an Apis, master of cows, a
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Sechat (?) -Hor, master of goats, a Nepri, master of wheat of Upper
Egypt, a Tait, master of clothes. I say all this in truth and not as a
function of the necropolis. I protected the unfortunate against the
powerful and I listened to the widow's speech. The hereditary prince,
the count, the chief of the prophets, the great chief of the nomes of
the Throne of Horus and the rural area, the chief of the army Ankhtifi
the Brave says: 'I performed the functions of 'mouth of the army' of
these (nomes?) as far as the limit of Elephantine (in the South) and
until the limit of Ermant and Iusut (in the North), and never had
anything bad happened by me. I performed the functions of 'mouth of
the army' of the conscripts in Hefat and in any dangerous place where
I happened to go, and never anything (of /// evil) arrived by me, thanks
to my victorious bow and to my excellent plans. As for the one who
obeys my plans, nothing happens (of evil) to him. (Indeed), the one
who obeys me produces thanks to the god, (but) the one who does
not obey me [says]: Alas! and // complaining is what he is doing.
Because I am the protection of the one who is afraid and the fortress
of the one who flees far away. It is because I am a brave one who has
no equal"."
The familiarity of Ankhtifi with the named divinities is the assurance
for him to have, in the other world, sexual power (Apis), milk (Sechat-
Hor), bread (Nepri), clothing (Tait). Then the nomarch feels the need
to affirm that he has told the truth. The 'function of necropolis', of
which it is question, is an expression designating the false allegations
of Egyptian autobiographies (J.J. Clère). This need for justification
indicates a loss of credibility of the autobiographic speech, coinciding
with the crisis of the royal institutions of the time period.
In the second part, Ankhtifi presents a chief protecting his customers
(those who obey) and punishing those who dare to not be in
agreement.

Sections 4 to 8
No decoration. (see cm-186)

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 Section 1

PILLAR 6
(see cm-187)

Section 1
A man carries a calf on his shoulders and holds it by one the hind legs
and by the neck (see cm-191).

Section 2
Inscription n°13 ""New personal praise"",
continuation and end.
Inscription n°14 ""Various biographical records"",
beginning in engraved and painted hieroglyphs
(see cm-194), but only painted at the end.
Section 2
""[Purification?] of the chief of the prophets, Hieroglyphs
Ankhtifi, in the evening of his birth. There is no painted
longer an evening when he has purified himself,
because his love is [in] the heart of the men with [which] I lived… I
fought with the faithful conscripts and [with] the children who existed
then (?). I don't have… As for the one who descends… of notables…
Mo'alla… the night of the new year. I have discussed (?)… with the
valiant conscripts, and I have made sure that it recognised the one
who was the first in his [place ?], the harmful genius (or: the
misfortune) having been repulsed, during the night of the New Year. I
have ensured that the nome of the Throne of Horus fought in the face
of the country: it had not happened since the time of Re (?), (and it has
happened) thanks to the strength of the faithful and valliant
[conscripts]. It is because I, who am a brave one, who doesn't have
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(his) equal"."
It is from this text, in which has been issued the hypothesis, according
to which the mother of Ankhtifi would have died whilst giving birth to
him in the darkness of the night. We can suppose that the nomarch, in
the evening of his birthday, had to purify himself with natron, and that
the achievement of this ritual had a favourable result, not only for the
nomarch himself, but also, indirectly, for his citizens who were thus
freed from all "obscurity", that is to say from any sadness and fear. In
any event, one can say that it is about, in this passage, a religious
ritual, because the nomarch is designated under his ministerial title of
leader of the prophets, and under this title only. The second part of
the speech shows the little esteem which the people of Hefat had for
the warrior value of the habitants of Edfu because 'since the time of
Ra' is equivalent to our expression 'since Methuselah'.

Section 3

Section 3
A man leads a gazelle which he keeps on a lead, the man holds the tail
of the animal in his left hand (see cm-196)

Section 4
End of a call to the living: "“[o living ones etc]…and who detest
death…”"

Section 5
Cow nursing its calf and turning around to lick it (see cm-201). Above,
same scene but very damaged.

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Section 6
Funeral inscription formula : ""[An offering which he] gives [the king]
and (which he gives) Osiris, master of Djedu in all his pure places to
leave to the voice (of the officiating priest) by the great god, master of
the sky. The hereditary prince, the count, the leader of the soldiers,
the great chief of the nomes of the Throne of Horus and the rural
area, Ankhtifi."."

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