Stela dedicated to Re
From Deir el-Medina
19th dynasty
Limestone
Stela of painted limestone, showing an
unidentified couple adoring "The Cat of the
god Re", and "The Great Cat, the peaceful
one, in his perfect name of Atum" - two
aspects of the same solar divinity.
Ashmolean museum, Oxford.1961.232
Former Armytage collection
From Deir el-Medina
19th dynasty
Limestone
Stela of painted limestone, showing an
unidentified couple adoring "The Cat of the
god Re", and "The Great Cat, the peaceful
one, in his perfect name of Atum" - two
aspects of the same solar divinity.
Ashmolean museum, Oxford.1961.232
Former Armytage collection
The page was last modified on October 31th 2008.
Sources:
- www.ashmolean.org
- Museum's own label
- McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs
| The Egyptian collections of the Ashmolean Museum are one of the most extensive in England. Objects from all periods of Egyptian civilisation from prehistory to the 7th century AD are represented in the collection. Although several objects were part of the original collection, most holdings come from British excavations in Egypt between 1880s and 1930s. Oxford University excavations in Southern Egypt and Sudan from 1910 added a substantial collection of Nubian material. The Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan houses a vast collection of papyri, ostraka, writing boards and wooden labels, including the Bodleian Library's ostraka collection. |
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Driving a bull to pasture
From Deir el-Medina
A figured ostrakon of a herdsman dressed in a
pleated linen kilt walks behind a "neg" - bull. In
his left hand he holds a short crook and the
end of a double tether which was probably
attached to the bull's nose ring. In his raised
hand he perhaps holds another crook. Above the
bull's back is an inscription in hieratic. Above
are a pair of copulating goats and two kids.
Ashmolean Museum, 1938.915
Former N. de G. Davies collection
Bibl. J. Vander d'Abbadie, loc. cit. pt. 3, pp.
22-27, pls. IX-XIII.
From Deir el-Medina
A figured ostrakon of a herdsman dressed in a
pleated linen kilt walks behind a "neg" - bull. In
his left hand he holds a short crook and the
end of a double tether which was probably
attached to the bull's nose ring. In his raised
hand he perhaps holds another crook. Above the
bull's back is an inscription in hieratic. Above
are a pair of copulating goats and two kids.
Ashmolean Museum, 1938.915
Former N. de G. Davies collection
Bibl. J. Vander d'Abbadie, loc. cit. pt. 3, pp.
22-27, pls. IX-XIII.
Lists of deliveries
From Deir el-Medina
19th dynasty, about 1213-1204 BC
Papyrus inscribed in hieratic with accounts
concerning the workmen on the Royal tomb. It
lists deliveries of food, tools, wood, and
metalworking carried out for them. Most of
the entries begin with a date in the season of
peret (winter).
Ashmolean Museum, 1960.1283
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
From Deir el-Medina
19th dynasty, about 1213-1204 BC
Papyrus inscribed in hieratic with accounts
concerning the workmen on the Royal tomb. It
lists deliveries of food, tools, wood, and
metalworking carried out for them. Most of
the entries begin with a date in the season of
peret (winter).
Ashmolean Museum, 1960.1283
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
[Reporting by] the workman Wen-nefer (and) the
work[man...saying] there be given to me the hut (of)
my father [...] in the presence of:
the chief workman Khonsu
the deputy [...]
[...] And they said to me, "Give him grain [...for the
construction] that he made in it." List of the silver
[given to him...]
box: 2 deben, 3 oipe of it belonging to me
[...from his?] wood
And I made for him a staff [...from?] his wood
and [...] hen-box, X deben [...]
work[man...saying] there be given to me the hut (of)
my father [...] in the presence of:
the chief workman Khonsu
the deputy [...]
[...] And they said to me, "Give him grain [...for the
construction] that he made in it." List of the silver
[given to him...]
box: 2 deben, 3 oipe of it belonging to me
[...from his?] wood
And I made for him a staff [...from?] his wood
and [...] hen-box, X deben [...]
Poem on a flake
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
Limestone
Limestone ostrakon inscribed in hieratic by
scribe Amennakht with two poems composed by
him. This side contains a poem praising the city
of Thebes: "the bread there is finer than
goose-fat doughnut, her water is finer than
honey..." The red dots above the lines are
"verse points", which were used to indicate
rhythmic units in literary texts, possibly similar
to line-breaks in a poem.
Ashmolean HO 25
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
Limestone
Limestone ostrakon inscribed in hieratic by
scribe Amennakht with two poems composed by
him. This side contains a poem praising the city
of Thebes: "the bread there is finer than
goose-fat doughnut, her water is finer than
honey..." The red dots above the lines are
"verse points", which were used to indicate
rhythmic units in literary texts, possibly similar
to line-breaks in a poem.
Ashmolean HO 25
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
Hieratic papyrus
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
A letter from the draughtsman Hormin to his father
the draughtsman Hori. Hormin asks Hori to
"...speak with the leaders, to call up that servant
of yours, so he may give me a hand in the drawing:
I am alone, for my brother is ill. Those of the right
side have carved a chamber more than the left..."
This papyrus reveals how a decorative scheme
(here, carving and painting a royal tomb) was usually
executed. Two gangs of masons, draughtsmen, and
sculptors - "the left" and "the right" - would have
set to work on opposite sides of the royal tomb.
Hormin came from a family of draughtsmen; the
posts were often passed on from father to son.
1958.112
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
A letter from the draughtsman Hormin to his father
the draughtsman Hori. Hormin asks Hori to
"...speak with the leaders, to call up that servant
of yours, so he may give me a hand in the drawing:
I am alone, for my brother is ill. Those of the right
side have carved a chamber more than the left..."
This papyrus reveals how a decorative scheme
(here, carving and painting a royal tomb) was usually
executed. Two gangs of masons, draughtsmen, and
sculptors - "the left" and "the right" - would have
set to work on opposite sides of the royal tomb.
Hormin came from a family of draughtsmen; the
posts were often passed on from father to son.
1958.112
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
Limestone ostrakon
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
The ostrakon is inscribed with hieratic signs,
numbers and unusual marks. These marks probably
represent personal names, and the numbers record
the amount of items (probably pots) made by or
delivered to them.
Ashmolean HO 1093
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
The ostrakon is inscribed with hieratic signs,
numbers and unusual marks. These marks probably
represent personal names, and the numbers record
the amount of items (probably pots) made by or
delivered to them.
Ashmolean HO 1093
Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner
Stela of Amenpahapy
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
Limestone
This stela was dedicated by the Servant in the
Place of Truth Amenpahapy. The six serpents
represent the cobra-goddess Meretseger. The stela
may have been placed in a rock-cut shrine along the
path from Deir el-Medina to the Valley of the Kings.
1945.15
Gift of Nina de Garis Davies
From Deir el-Medina
20th dynasty
Limestone
This stela was dedicated by the Servant in the
Place of Truth Amenpahapy. The six serpents
represent the cobra-goddess Meretseger. The stela
may have been placed in a rock-cut shrine along the
path from Deir el-Medina to the Valley of the Kings.
1945.15
Gift of Nina de Garis Davies
| Dispute over a hut From Deir el-Medina Mid 20th dynasty, Ramesses III Limestone Fragmentary limestone ostrakon with a hieratic inscription recording the resolution of a dispute over a hut inherited by the workman Wennefer. The writer of the text, Wennefer, claims ownership of his father's hut, which at the time was being lived in by another workman, who also claimed rights to it. They both went to see the chief workman Khonsu and his deputy to settle their dispute. It was decided that Wennefer had the right to the hut but that he should compensate the other party for any improvements made while he lived there. There follows a list of items made in payment. The inscription is not written in ink. It is unusual in being cut into the limestone and filled with blue frit, a technique used for formal hieroglyphic inscriptions. Perhaps Wennefer set this ostrakon into a wall of the disputed hut like a stele to publicize his claim to the building. Ashmolean HO 655 Gift of Sir Alan Gardiner |
Photography © 2008 Jana Tejkalová
