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Inscribed ostracon
Egyptian
New Kingdom, Dynasty 19
1295–1186 B.C.
Medium/Technique
Limestone
Dimensions
Height x width: 17.5 x 13 cm (6 7/8 x 5 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Miss Mary S. Ames
Accession Number11.1498
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAncient Egypt, Nubia and the Near East
ClassificationsOstraca
DescriptionLimestone ostracon with several brief inscriptions oriented variously; on the recto: two central, vertical lines of hieroglyphic text; to their left are three horizontal lines of hieroglyphic text reading left to right, and to their right are four lines of hieroglyphic text reading right to left; on the verso: at right, four vertical lines of hieroghyphic text with lost beginning; at left twelve lines of hieratic text written in upside-down with repsect to the hieroglyphs at right. The vertical inscription on the recto is an offering formula requesting of the deities Mut & Khonsu: "that they may give everlastingness as King of the Two Lands, eternity as a ruler, and joy" to King [Ramesses-] Siptah. The two other recto inscriptions, as well as the hieroglyphic text on the verso, mention a well-known vizier named Hori, another vizier named Pakhaemwaset, and the herdsman of the latter; the verso hieratic texts appears to note the duration of stay of the Medjay-police. Likely a "monumental ostracon," i.e. functioned as a stele (with hieratic note added later).
ProvenanceBy 1909: purchased in Luxor, Egypt by Joseph Lindon Smith; 1909: on loan to the MFA; 1911: purchased by the MFA through funds provided by Mary S. Ames.
(Accession date: August 3, 1911)
(Accession date: August 3, 1911)