The Third Intermediate Period in Swansea

The blog post for this week is written by Dr. Krys Williams, a former student at Swansea University, Egypt Centre volunteer, and director of Tehuti Knowledge Services Ltd.

The Third Intermediate Period saw competing dynasties, two being of Libyan origin, priests becoming pharaohs, significant power vested in women (God’s Wife of Amun, Divine Adoratrice) and numerous local potentates. The Kushite kings emerged from Nubia to conquer and rule Egypt as the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Ken selected six fabulous objects from this confusing yet fascinating period for us to examine.

My favourite, EC2018, is a fragment of a symbolic faience palette from the Twenty-fourth Dynasty, which bears the sole known image of Djehuty-em-hat (Thoth-em-hat) of Hermopolis (fig. 1). He is named on only three other objects (Moje, 2013, 402–404). His cartouche and clothing show that he took the status of pharaoh. He worships ibis-headed Thoth on behalf of his scribe, Pay-ef-tjaw-ꜥawy-Iset, who stands behind. I like the triple coincidence of Thoth addressed here as patron of Hermopolis, while also being patron of Pay-ef-tjaw-ꜥawy-Iset and all scribes and patron of Djehuty-em-hat, whose name means “Thoth is in front”. Shen rings surround the two inkwells, for black and red ink. The shen is often explained as protecting the scribe, but it also symbolises eternity, so could be interpreted as conferring eternity on the ink, and thus on the writings of the scribe and the names therein. Troy Sagrillo, Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at Swansea University, discussed EC2018 at the Egypt Centre’s Wonderful Things conference and has published a detailed exposition of the palette and its historical context (Sagrillo, 2017). 

Fig. 1: Model scribal palette (EC2018)

We examined two shabtis from the Twenty-second Dynasty. W1315 (fig. 2) is female and the uraeus shows the owner was a royal woman of the highest rank. It was initially identified as belonging to Divine Adoratrice Karomama. However, while still an undergraduate in 2002, Ken, who is able to distinguish hieroglyphs where us lesser mortals can only see blobs and smudges, recognised a mr sign in the name. Consequently, the shabti must have belonged to Divine Adoratrice Qedmerut, who is known only from her shabtis (Griffin 2017). The shabtis of Qednerut were featured in a previous blog post by Ken.

Fig. 2: Shabti of Qedmerut (W1315)

Shabti W660 (fig. 3) comes from Tehneh (Akoris) and is male. Despite having been broken and repaired, its decoration remains clear. The owner was Ankhwennefer, Priest of Amun, Overseer of the City, and Vizier. Of his 380 shabtis (Aston, 2009, p. 112; Gauthier 1926), this is possibly the only one in a collection outside Egypt. Aston (2009) notes that the use of the 𓊩 hieroglyph for Osiris is rarely seen after about 750 BC, while the green glaze of Ankhwennefer’s shabtis is unknown before about 850 BC, which enables a reasonably accurate dating.

Fig. 3: Shabti of Ankhwenefer (W660)

A cartonnage piece (W944) from the Twenty-second Dynasty shows what Kákosy (1976) called a pair of cryptographic daemons, identified as Wadjet and Nekhbet (fig. 4). The cryptographic element comes from them jointly forming the epithet nb.tj (Two Ladies), which forms part of the royal titulary. Kákosy suggested this could represent the average Egyptian’s aspiration to be a king in the hereafter. His identification is supported by the fact that the red dress of Wadjet is the colour of her territory of Lower Egypt and Nekhbet’s white dress is that of Upper Egypt, her domain. The image of Wadjet with lion head surmounted by a snake emphasises the close identification made by Egyptians between lion-headed goddesses with the epithet Daughter of Re, the uraeus and Wadjet.

Fig. 4: Cartonnage depicting Wadjet and Nekhbet (W944)

The provenance of coffin fragment W1052 (fig. 5), from the Twenty-first Dynasty, is unknown, but the yellow background is typical of Thebes. The text refers to a “lady of the house and Chantress of Amun”, yet the deceased is depicted as a man. The low quality, but naïvely charming, cartoon-like artwork suggests it was produced late in the dynasty (Niwiński, 1988, 87). Coffins were frequently mass produced then, with blanks for the name, and many were re-used due to wood being expensive (Niwiński, 1988, 54–55). Perhaps the chantress’ image was erased and replaced by a male usurper but her name was overlooked, or perhaps her titles were copied onto a mass-produced coffin of incorrect gender by a workshop assistant, who lacked the literacy to recognise they were female. In this period, the title of chantress was not confined to highest-ranking women, but was also given to many wives of minor officials (Onstine, 2005, 36). The low quality artwork would indicate the deceased came from this lesser elite.

Fig. 5: Coffin fragment (W1052)

Finally, another “lady of the house” appears on wooden stela W354 from the Twenty-fifth/Twenty-sixth Dynasties (fig. 6). The worn text defeated me, but Ken said it names Djed-(Khon)su-(iwes)-ankh, daughter of Djedmontuiwefankh, Prophet of Montu. The falcon-headed god with solar disk and uraeus is presumably Re. Ken suggested he is followed by Imsety, Hapi and Qebehsenuef, since the latter two have heads of a baboon and hawk, respectively. If so, the absence of Duamutef, the fourth Son of Horus, is intriguing.

Fig. 6: Wooden stela (W354)

Many thanks to Ken for sacrificing his evenings to give us this amazing opportunity to learn so much through handling objects from the Egypt Centre!

Bibliography:

Aston, D. (2009). Burial assemblages of dynasty 21–25: Chronology - typology – developments (Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie 14; Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean 21). Vienna; Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Gauthier, H. (1926). Note sur les statuettes funéraires trouvées dans les tombes de Tehneh. Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 26, pp. 41–43.

Griffin, K. (2017). The ushabtis of the Divine Adoratrice Qedmerut. In De la mère du roi à l’épouse du dieu. Première synthèse des résultats de la fouille du temple de Touy et de la tombe de Karomama – Von der Königsmutter zur Gottesgemahlin. Erste Synthese der Ausgrabungsergebnisse des Tempels von Tuja und des Grabes von Karomama, ed. B. Lurson. Connaissance de l’Egypte Ancienne 18. Brussels: Safran. Pp. 145–155.

Kákosy, L. (1976). Un couple des démons cryptographique. Studia Aegyptiaca 2, pp. 177–180.

Moje, J. (2013). Herrschaftsräume und Herrschaftswissen ägyptischer Lokalregenten: Soziokulturelle Interaktionen zur Machtkonsolidierung vom 8. bis zum 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr (Berlin Studies of the Ancient World 21). Berlin; de Gruyter.

Niwiński, A. (1988). 21st dynasty coffins from Thebes. Chronological and typological studies (Theben 5). Mainz am Rhein; von Zabern.

Onstine, S.L. (2005). The role of the chantress (šm^cyt) in ancient Egypt. (BAR International Series 1401). Oxford; Archaeopress.

Sagrillo, T. (2017). King Djeḥuty-em-ḥat in Swansea: Three model scribal palettes in the collection of the Egypt Centre of Swansea University in C. Jurman, B. Bader, & D. A. Aston (eds) A true scribe of Abydos: Essays on first millennium Egypt in honour of Anthony Leahy (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 265), pp. 385–414 Leuven; Peeters.