Scarabs by Franco Magnarini, section 2, page 2

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THE KING BE PRAISED

This nice scarab has been sent by a collector who asked us for explanations.

It measures 17 x 12 x 8 mm. and has a Tufnell classification B4/vIv/d81.

It's made in grey steatite with the glaze faded to off-white, but it's still possible to see minor traces of the original green glaze. A loss of material on the top left of the base doesn't prevent the reading of the composition. Showy widespread craquelure.

The prothorax is divided from the elytra by a T-trace. The wing-cases are bordered and endowed with V-marks. Legs mid-high, deeply carved and slightly jutting out the body; fore and hinder are hatched. The engraving is levelled, well done and with diagonal hatching inside the signs.

The vertically arranged motif shows a human headed sphinx, lying down, bearing the ritual beard and the nemes headdress (the mythical being is a personification of the pharaoh = nb). It is surmounted by a h. s sign (Gardiner W14). Under the sphinx a ' h. sign (Gardiner O11 = palace).

The obtained writing: h. sj nb ' h . , renders: praise to the Lord of the palace with evident allusion to the king.

As for the dating, we are inclined to the Ramesside period or slightly later.

For parallels see: HORNUNG 2; PETRIE 3.

BAPEF or AMON?



1,2 and 3 (see text)

1 Tufnell O., "STUDIES ON SCARAB SEALS" vol. 2, part 1 Warminster, UK - 1984, 32-37 (we adopt this classification method because it seems to us the most appropriate to typological description, even if it has been conceived for Second Intermediate Period scarabs).

Gardiner A., "EGYPTIAN GRAMMAR", Third edition Oxford UK-1988 p.459.

Ibidem, p. 528.

Wallis Budge E.A., "THE GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS" vol. 2, reprint by Dover, New York USA-1969, p. 301.

Hetepheres II: the daughter of king Cheops and mother of Meresankh III, among her numerous titles had that of priestess of Bapef (hmt-ntr-b3-pf). Meresankh III: wife of Chefren and daughter of Hetepheres II, she too confered herself upon the same title.

A PERSON PAYING HOMAGE TO MENKHEPERRE ?

This piece is made in a greyish steatite with very small residual traces of turquoise glaze. It measures 15 x 10 x 6,5 mm. and has a Tufnell classification1 D8/dec/e6a.

On the back there is engraved an oval with the name Menkheperre. The horizontal cut which one can still see below the oval, where it is chipped, is probably part of a nb sign. Flanking the oval, two elongated S-shaped engravings adorned with diagonal dashes. The high legs are peculiar: mid-feathered and mid-hatched.

On the belly is a vertical arranged motif: inside a rope border, a male person wearing a pleated dress which reaches to the knees, tight at the waist with a belt. He wears the - nemes wig and, with raised right arm, pays homage to an oval which has in it inscribed the name Menkheperre. Above the oval there is the title ntr nfr = perfect god. At the top the horizontal line could be a schematization of the winged sun disc and bottom there is a nb sign

I have my doubts that it's the king Thuthmoses III. In fact, some signs suggest a dating to the Late Period. Typical of this time are: the "rope border" realized with diagonal dashes and the motif engraved on the back

A WISH TO A PILGRIM

This fine, well shaped, intact and skilfully engraved scarab's inscription seems to evoke a wish to a person on his way. Thus it belongs to the group of wishing sentences.

It is made in steatite with the colour faded to off-white with, here and there, light brown staining. It measures mm 14 x 10 x 7 and has a Tufnell classification 1 C7/vIv/d5.

The rather narrow pronotum is separated from the elytra by a T-shaped trace, the horizontal line of which is arched towards the rear. The wing-cases are bordered and marked by small V-signs. The legs are smooth, square bordered, high and deeply carved. The tail is shown. The engraving is medium-deep, sharp and carefully realized with details hatched inside the basket sign k. A good quality work.

On the belly, vertically arranged, the sinistrorse (spiraling upward from right to left) writing: imi.k Ra anx wAti niwt tn for which we propose, with all due reservations, the translation "Re give you life [in the] walk [towards] this City" 2.

If this translation can be considered reasonable, one might think that this kind of scarab had been manufactured and sold in places far from Thebes. Persons who bought them were those who faced a journey, perhaps a pilgrimage, towards this city and wanted to ensure to themselves an apotropaic protection, against dangers which the journey could involve.

As far as a dating, we think the scarab belonging to TIP.

The only parallel found is a scarab almost similar in the Fitzwilliam Museum 3 at Cambridge, but lacking the final n sign; unfortunately neither transliterated nor translated.

2 Maybe Thebes, considered "the City" for antonomasia.

3 www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguedetail.html.

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