Texts in Translation # 17: The stela of Pawerem (Acc. no. 8134)

Although without a certain archaeological provenance, this fine basalt stela (H: 40.5cm) illustrates a concern for commemorations to be legible for eternity. It shows the donor adoring the figures of Osiris and his wife-sister Isis and their sister Nephthys, captioned in hieroglyphs. Although Osiris was increasingly a god worshipped by the living in the First Millennium BC, the character of this stela carries a funerary function too.

Acc. no. 8134. Photo by Julia Thorne (@Tetisheri)

The stela’s main inscription opens with a short line in Demotic, the everyday script of Egypt from around Seventh Century BC onwards. This identifies the owner as Pawerem, son of a man called Djedhor and a woman named Tahor. Beneath, the longer text in hieroglyphs gives an offering prayer: An offering which the kings gives (to) Osiris, Foremost of Westerners, Great God, Lord of Abydos, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, who is in Sha(?)-hetep(?), Isis the Great, Divine Mother, Nephthys, divine sisters doing protection for the Osiris Pawerem, son of Djedhor, born of Ta[hor].

While Demotic script was most likely more easily read by a greater number of people, hieroglyphs provided the age-old magical activation for the words carved on the stela. These explicitly state that the ‘divine sisters’ – Isis and Nephthys – will act as protectors for the deceased Pawerem as they did for their deceased and reborn brother, the god Osiris. This role is made explicit in a number of funerary motifs, especially during the Late, Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. By associating with Osiris, Pawerem hoped to join in his rebirth. Although the use of Demotic may have made the text easier to read – and therefore to commemorate Pawerem by reading his name aloud – by more people, one wonders if perhaps the Demotic text was a more functional notation to a sculptor to include the correct personal details in hieroglyphic signs.

The stela was acquired in Egypt by a German shipping merchant and émigré to Manchester named Max Emil Robinow (c.1845-1900) and formed part of a significant collection of Egyptian antiquities donated by the Robinow family to Manchester Museum in the middle of the Twentieth Century. Robinow seems to have had a particular taste for items from the Graeco-Roman Period, and it is to this time that the stela of Pawerem should be dated.

Max Emil Robinow

Pawerem’s stela is one of more than 100 objects currently travelling in the United States as part of Manchester Museum’s first international touring exhibition, ‘Golden Mummies of Egypt’. The show is at Buffalo Museum of Science for an extended period, and will open at North Carolina Museum of Art thereafter. A book to accompany the exhibition – Golden Mummies of Egypt. Interpreting Identities from the Graeco-Roman Period (Manchester Museum/Nomad Exhibitions) will be published later this Summer.

Object Biography #17: An Anonymous Gilded Mummy Mask (Acc. no. 7931)

The mask on display

This striking gilded cartonnage mummy mask (Acc. no. 7931) came into the Manchester Museum from the collection of William Sharpe Ogden in 1925, and reputedly derives from the Luxor area. At some point after its arrival in the Museum the mask was subject to modern reconstruction for display. The mask’s unusual appearance resulted in it being given a ‘Late Period’ or ‘Ptolemaic’ in some records.

In fact, based on the work of Aidan Dodson, the mask is likely to be one of a small number of examples from the early New Kingdom (c. 1550 BC). The feathered (or rishi) pattern is a distinctive feature of many of these, which exhibit proportionately rather small faces. A comparison may be drawn with a well-known gilded mummy mask in the British Museum (EA 29770), identified by John Taylor as belonging to Queen Sit-djehuty of the 17^th Dynasty. Based on this comparison, it may be suggested that our mask belonged to a very high-status women, perhaps even a member of the royal family.

A common feature of such early New Kingdom masks is a projecting ‘tab’ or ‘bib’ at the bottom of the broad collar. By chance, a fragment is preserved in Manchester (Acc. no. 8106) that is a strong contender for our missing ‘tab’.  This fragment was also part of the Sharpe Ogden collection and, although the fragment bore a different sale number than the mask, a join is likely because of the pattern of the edge of both mask and fragment. The mask was in poor condition when it arrived at the museum and it is conceivable that the ‘tab’ snapped off long before it arrived, being given a separate number for sale because it carried a visually appealing set of inked hieroglyphs. These spell out a standard offering formula for the ka of the deceased. Unfortunately, like several other examples of this type, it does not carry a name, almost as if it was a prefabricated piece awaiting magical personalisation (and activation) through the addition of a name. The high quality of the masks with anonymous tabs would seem to argue against an ‘off-the-peg’ arrangement – perhaps  the filling in of the name was a ritualised part of the funerary preparations and was never (properly) completed, or done in less durable pigments than those that have survived?

MAES Study Day: Stories, Myths and Hieroglyphs 23rd March 2013

Shabti spell on Acc. No. 3727b.

Manchester Ancient Egypt Society will be running its annual study day on Saturday 23rd of March.

The morning will be dedicated to ancient Egyptian stories and myths, with Joyce Tyldesley and Helen Stewart, a MAES member who is a professional story teller, so you’ll get to hear some of the best tales told as they were in ancient times!

In the afternoon, Claire Ollett from the University of Liverpool (and who runs the Blackburn AE soc, THEBES) will continue the story theme with the tale of hieroglyphs -the origins, development and usage of hieroglyphic writing and a closer look at the stories behind individual signs – why these signs were used, what they meant and their wider meaning in the context of Egyptian thought.

So a great chance to practice your hieroglyphs and find out more about the signs and how they were used.

• The day begins at 9:30 and finishes around 4:30.

• There will be a raffle for charity, book auction to raise funds for MAES and a fun photo-spotting competition.
• Tea / coffee / biscuits provided morning and afternoon.

• You need to make your own lunch arrangements, but there are lots of places in the shopping centre to buy / eat food.

Tickets are £25 for members, £30 guests, from Gillian Cook, 298 Manor Avenue, Sale, Cheshire, M33 4NB (0161 976 1165)

There is a limit on numbers so please book early! Cheques to MAES.

‘Museum Meets’ Egyptology Events: Hieroglyphs and Statues

In the New Year I will be running two workshops for the Museum’s adult ‘Museum Meets’ programme, looking at aspects of the Egyptology collection:

HOW DID ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STATUES WORK?

Saturday 19 January, 10am-4pm

Statues were central to ancient Egyptian religion, but how did the Egyptians use and understand them? This one day course will examine stylistic developments in sculptures of non-royal people, deities and kings, and address the meanings behind them through textual sources. Using the collections of Manchester Museum, Dr Campbell Price will explore the existence of portraiture, the role of sculptors and the rituals designed to bring statues to life.

EVERY OBJECT TELLS A STORY: WHAT DO HIEROGLYPHS MEAN?

Saturday 9 March, 10am-4pm

Ever looked into a museum case and wanted to know what the hieroglyphs mean? Join Egyptology curator Campbell Price to take the basic steps to understanding the ancient Egyptian writing system, and have a go at translating a series of texts on objects on display and in storage at the Manchester Museum.

Book online at bit.ly/TfAm7p , £15, adults

Texts in Translation #3: A statuette of Shesmu-hotep (Acc. no. 6135)

Statuette of Shesmu-hotep (Acc. no. 6135)

This small statuette of an official dates from the late Middle Kingdom (c. 1780-1700 BC). It was found amidst debris in a shaft tomb (no. 606) in Cemetery E at Haraga, close to Lahun. The statue would originally have been set into a brick-built structure belonging to one of the nearby tombs.

During the Middle Kingdom, greater surface areas of non-royal statues were covered with inscriptions than ever before. Here, the text extends from the front of the robe/cloak, across the lap and over the knees.

On cloak/robe

The text begins by associating Shesmu-hotep with Anubis – an important local god at Lahun in the Middle Kingdom – proclaiming the official to be: “Favoured by Anubis, Lord of Life.” It then goes on to give a standard list of provisions for the man’s spirit in the afterlife: “An offering which the King gives (and a) voice offering (consisting of) bread, beer, beef and fowl, alabaster, fine linen, and cool water for the Ka-spirit of the Overseer of […], Shesmu-hotep, justified.” Variants in the writing of this formulaic expression show the statue to belong to the late Middle Kingdom.

On lap (reading right to left)

Shesmu-hotep’s title is not clearly written, but has been read by others ‘overseer of the palace’. The god Shesmu was worshipped in the Faiyum area, and associated with the winepress, perfumed oils and slaughter in the underworld. The deity is rarely attested in names, with only one other example known of a ‘Shesmu-hotep’.