The Block Statue of Djedhor son of Tjanefer (Cairo JE 37200)

moHamed Gamal raSHed

Abstract

The article represents the first publication of a block statue of the Theban priest Djedhor son of Tjanefer dated
sometime between the late Thirtieth Dynasty to the early Ptolemaic period. The statue, from the Karnak Cachette, is
now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (JE 37200). It follows a style that is common to block statues of this period.
Its hieroglyphic inscriptions are rich with paleographical characteristics of the period. The inscriptions include the
regular formulae to the gods of Karnak whom the owner’s family served for decades. In addition to the titles of the
owner, it provides information about his family’s priestly ranks. Though its inscriptions do not give enough informa-
tion to prove his genealogy with certainty, a suggested genealogical tree up to the fourth generation of his family has
been drawn with possible links to other monuments of a well-known family of this period.

The statue was found in Karnak at the court of the Cachette,1 cleared by Legrain on June 5, 1904. It was entered
into the Egyptian Museum under the number JE 37200 (with additional numbers CK 377 and K. 416). The
statue is published here for the first time (fig. 1). It is made of limestone.2 Its height is 32.5 cm, its depth 22.5
cm, and its width 16 cm. The statue is in good condition, although a few small parts have been damaged or lost.
The current condition of the statue in comparison with the black and white photographs taken at the time of its
discovery shows no change, although cracks in the material have resulted in the loss of portions of the surface.
The upper part of the statue was broken and restored, a large missing part can be seen in the right part of the
head with the eyebrow and outer end of the right eye. Another large crack is seen on the back through the top of
the back pillar that extends to the position of the crossed hands on the front. Traces of old restoration are seen
from the front, in addition to several small missing parts from the edges of the base. The damage is clearly seen
also on the crossed hands above the squatted knees, and at several other spots on the statue.

General Description

The statue depicts the squatting figure of Djedhor son of Tjanefer, who, according to his inscriptions, held the
same offices as his father: god’s father, priest of the third phyle of Amun-Re of Karnak, servant of the White
Crown, and servant of Horus. The owner has a middle social rank, which was common among people pos-
sessing block statues from the Thirtieth Dynasty and the early Ptolemaic period.3 Though it is difficult to give

1
Cachette de Karnak: http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/?id=377.
2
The use of limestone for Late period sculpture has been under-emphasized. Bernard V. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period.
700 B.C. to A.D. 100 (New York, 1960), 11; Edna R. Russmann, “Late Period Sculpture,” in Alan B. Lloyd (ed.), A Companion to Ancient Egypt
2 (Oxford, 2010), 944.
3
Bothmer and Schulz assumed that Block statues became again a favorite type during this period, particularly for middle-ranking of-
ficials, though there are many Late period statues whose precise dating remains uncertain until now and in the light of recent publications.
Thus, the popularity of block statues during the Thirtieth Dynasty is evident, but it is difficult to assume their decline during the Persian
period. See R. Schulz, “Block Statue,” UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology (Los Angeles, 2011), 4; Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period,
95–96. Henry P. Colburn also commented on this matter in his discussion of the biographies of Egyptian Late period statues and the

Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 55 (2019), 117–136

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5913/jarce.55.2019.a008 117
118 JARCE 55 (2019)

a precise date to the statue,4 a date can be suggested based on its

style, together with certain paleographical characteristics that
imitate the style of the Saite period. The Karnak Cachette da-
tabase suggests a date to the early Ptolemaic period, a reason-
able dating based on the paleography. In the current discussion,
a date sometime between the second half of Thirtieth Dynasty
and the reign of Alexander up to the early Ptolemaic period is
suggested. This dating is confirmed according to the following
discussion of its style and paleographical peculiarities, which
are common from the Thirtieth Dynasty until the early Ptol-
emaic period.5 Moreover, the assumed genealogy of his family
supports the suggested dating while recommending that Djed-
hor was active probably by the end of, or after, the Thirteenth
Dynasty.
The statue of Djedhor is characterized by the squatting pos-
ture. Its style can be compared to some well-dated parallels from
this period that might support a more precise date.6 Among
these parallels, three statues are suggested to be for family mem-
bers. The first is a granite statue of Tjanefer son of Nespamedu
(CK 971)7 registered as AZ152 in the Pierpont Morgan Library
Fig. 1. The statue of Djedhor Cairo JE 37200. Courtesy & Museum, New York. It is dated to the reign of Nectanebo
of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. I.8 A second parallel is statue JE 37861 (CK 545)9 of Djedhor
son of Nespamedu, and the brother of Tjanefer of the Morgan
Library statue.10 A third example is the block statue of Djedhor son of Tjanefer JE 37354 (CK 369).11 The three
parallels share the same style with a few minor differences that are common in block statues of this period. For
instance, the feet are bare, not covered with the garment, and the texts on the garment are incised in vertical col-

problem of the cycle of life, or “biographies” of Egyptian Late period statues. He noted that Late period statues, which were often dedicated
to be placed in the gods’ temples, experienced several journeys after that. Numerous examples were buried in the foundations of temples,
others were transferred to other places, including many that were transferred to Italy during the Roman period. Cf. Henry P. Colburn,
“Roman Collecting and the Biographies of Egyptian Late Period Statues,” World Archaeology 48.2 (2016), 226–28; Henry P. Colburn, “The
Archaeology of Achaemenid Rule in Egypt,” Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 2014.
4
Particularly since the statue has not been found in situ, which would provide more information. Most of the Late period Egyptian stat-
ues were found in a secondary context. Likewise, this statue was found among others in the Karnak Cachette, which covers a wide historical
range. The combination of visual and epigraphic evidence provided by such statues suggest they were intended by their owner to be placed
in temples, but not much more can be traced about their biographies. See Colburn, “Roman Collecting and the Biographies of Egyptian
Late Period Statues,” 228–29.
5
See text notes s, t, y below.
6
Compare the statue of Ankhpa Cairo JE 36735 (CK 57), from the Late period, more precisely post-Persian period: http://www.ifao.
egnet.net/bases/cachette/?descr=Statue-cube&os=19#galerie.
7
The Karnak Cachette online database, see http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/?id=971; PM II, 165; Maarten J. Raven, “The
30th Dynasty Nespamedu Family,” OMRO 61 (1980), 21. The Morgan statue’s measurement are: 45.5 cm in height, 17.5 cm in width, and
21.2 cm in depth. See the online Morgan Library collection catalog: https://www.themorgan.org/objects/item/214096. My sincere thanks
goes to the curators of the Morgan Library for their permission to access images of the statue and the inscriptions on the base and the back
pillar.
8
Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 95–96 (no. 76), pls. 72–23 (figs. 189–191).
9
PM II, 159; K. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit aus dem Ägyptischen Museum Kairo, ÄAT 45 (Wiesbaden
2001), 1:94–96 (Nr. 17); 2:372 (Nr. 17). This statue of Djedhor in Cairo (CK 641 = T.R. 8.12.24.5) holds another striding statue. See Jansen-
Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:97–100; 2:373 and pls. 38–39 (Nr. 18); See also http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/
cachette/ck641.
10
Raven, “The 30th Dynasty Nespamedu Family,” 22.
11
PM II2, 158; Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:77–88; 2:366–69 and pls. 31–34 (Nr. 15).
 RASHED 119

umns on the statue JE 37354, instead of the horizontal lines on JE 37200,12 while no inscription appears on the
front of the garment on CK 971. They also show common paleographical characteristics in the inscriptions on
the base and the back pillar; and the inscriptions deal with the same subject and contents.13 On these examples,
the inscriptions are incised roughly in bas relief showing similar graphical characteristics such as the inscriptions
are bordered with roughly not quite straight incised lines, the writing of certain signs in the cursive hieroglyphic
inscriptions on the statues of Tjanefer CK 971 and Djedhor 37200 are similar, e.g., the hieroglyphs ( , , and
), and the use of several orthographies of words, for example, the writing for imn as ( , ). The absence of
evidence about the original or first contexts and the history, or biographies, of these statues makes it harder to
prove if these objects came from the same workshop or not, although the visual and epigraphic characteristics
may suggest that.14 The shared or similar titles of the owners of the three aforementioned statues support the
suggestion that these individuals belonged to the same family (see further, below).
On the statue of Djedhor son of Tjanefer (Cairo JE 37200), Djedhor is shown wearing a wide bag wig which
extends behind the ears and ends just below the shoulders. His body and legs to his feet are completely covered
by his garment,15 and only the hands are indicated. The arms are crossed over each other on his knees, and both
hands resting flat, palms down, holding a lettuce in each hand, as a symbol of renewal and fertility.16 The mouth,
eyes, eyebrows, and cosmetic lines are slightly formed in bas relief; the nose is partly broken. The short beard
can be traced, although restoration covers this area. The distance between the head of the statue and the block
indicates a short beard, as shown on the statue of Tjanefer son of Nespamedu (CK 971 in the Morgan Library),
otherwise it is modeled freely without the supporting beard.17 The statue is on a rectangular base made of the
same block as the statue.
Some of these stylistic and iconographical characteristics are seen during the Thirtieth Dynasty, but they are
not exclusive to it. For instance, one may note the style of the garment, which is much less distinct whether the
arms are meant to be bare or covered. The head is raised and supported with a false beard.18 The pose of the two
hands holding symbols is also common at this period,19 although the left hand seems often to lay flat, palm down
throughout the fourth century Bce. The depth of the base is reduced in relation to the height of the statue, which
was also one of the characteristics of this period.20 The body and base of JE 37200 are covered with incised
inscriptions, together with figures of the god Amon-in-Karnak on the sides of the statue, both which are labeled
with the god’s name. These depictions are not attested on any other Late to Ptolemaic period statues as far as I
know. The inscriptions are roughly incised, and the text, which is also damaged, is sometimes unclear and hard
to read. The graphical form of the inscriptions are very similar to these on the statue of Tjanefer CK 971 from
the Thirtieth Dynasty. Generally, the inscriptions recall the archaic inscriptions of the Saite period, which are
used along with certain characteristics of this later period,21 as discussed below.

12
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:77–88; 2:366–69 and pls. 31–34 (Nr. 15); Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture
of the Late Period, 96, 100, 103.
13
Compare to this, the inscriptions of the statue of Djedhor JE 37354. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit,
1:77–88; 2:366–69 and pls. 31–34 (no. 15).
14
Colburn, “Roman Collecting and the Biographies of Egyptian Late Period Statues,” 228–29.
15
Both types, the bare feet, and the feet covered by a garment, were revived during the Thirtieth Dynasty. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture
of the Late Period, 95.
16
Schulz, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 4; Olivier Perdu, Les statues privées de la fin de l’Égypte pharaonique (1069 av. J.-C.–395 apr. J.-C.).
Tome I: Hommes (Paris, 2012), 173–75.
17
On a block statue, the chin either sits directly on the block or sometimes it is raised and supported by a beard, or it is modeled freely,
without the supporting beard. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 96, pl. 72 (fig. 189).
18
Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 95–96, cf. (e.g., JE 37681); Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit,
2:372 (no. 17).
19
On the statue of JE 37861, Djedhor holds a Dd-sign in the left hand and ankh-sign in the right one. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und
religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:94.
20
Compare, for instance, the same proportions of the statue of Djedhor son of Nespamedu (JE 37861); Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of
the Late Period, 96.
21
E.g., the use of the hieroglyph for DD in the writing of Djedhor, see above for the discussion on the owner’s name. H. De Meulenaere,
“Une statue de prêtre héliopolitain [avec 1 planche],” BIFAO 61 (1961), 41.
120 JARCE 55 (2019)

Inscriptions

The inscriptions are distributed on the front of the garment, between the hands, on the back pillar, its two sides,
and on the side of the base.

The Text on the Front of the Statue (figs. 2–4)

The inscription on the front of the man’s garment consists of eleven horizontal lines separated from each other
by thin slightly wavy lines. Eight lines appear on the garment itself and the other three on top of the man’s feet.
The text is an offering formula to Amun-Re, Tatenen, and “all gods and goddesses,” while it ends with Djedhor’s
titles and genealogy. The text is incised in very rough hieroglyphs that are hard to read in certain spots, and in
particular in the middle and the last three lines. A few signs are damaged, while many other signs are marred by
small holes in the surface, which makes it difficult to determine the reading of certain signs.
The text reads:

(1) Htp-di-nsw n Imn-Ra xnty Ipt.f &A-*nn ms(w)

(2) pAwtyw nTrw nTrwt nbwt imyw Hwt(-nbw)-nTrw
(3) di.sn mw n kA.k Sbw n twt.k m sn.w
(4) pri m-bAH tp Hb r-xnt.k m Hwt-nTr.f xr tA drp
(5) [Hn] ra nb xft xa.f xAx.w r wAH jxt n
(6) Ax iqr Wsir It-nTr Hm n Imn-m-Ipt-swt
(7) Hm HDt @r wr WADty imy Abd.f
(8) (n pr n ) Imn-Ra Hr sA 3-nw +d-Hr mAa-xrw
(9) sA mi nn *A-nfr mAa xrw ir(.w) n
(10) nb(.t) pr iHj.t n Imn-Ra tA-Imnt
(11) mAa-xrw Dt

(1) An offering which the king gives to Amun-Re, at the front of his Ipt,a (to) Tatenenb who
gives birth to (2) the primordial gods,c (and to) all gods and goddesses, and (to) the foremostd
of the temple of gods.e (3) May they give water to your ka and foodf to your statue consisting
of breadg (4) which comes forth on eachh feast before youi in his temple j from bread and the
offeringsk (5)l every day when he (the god) appears, when one hurries m to make offeringsn to
(6) the glorified spirit, and blessedo deceased, the god’s father, priest of Amun of Karnak (7)
the servant of the White Crownp and (the servant of) Horus, great of the two diadems,q in his
monthr (8) [in the temple of] Amun-Re from the third phyle, Djedhor, justified, (9) son of the
 RASHED 121

Figs. 2 and 3. The inscription on the front of the statue and on the up- Fig. 4. Facsimile drawing of the front of the statue. Drawing by Eman
per surface of the foot of the statue. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Elsaeed.
Cairo.

like-titleds Tjanefer, born of (10) the mistress of the house, the sistrum playert of Amun-Re,
Ta-Amunetu (11) Justified forever.

Comments
(a) The signs above the suffix pronoun (f ) in the epithet of Amun-Re is damaged. Mostly it reads xnty Ipt.f,
which is a common epithet that occurs often with Amun-Re at such a context. It also occurs in the inscription on
the back pillar, which supports this suggestion.
122 JARCE 55 (2019)

(b) tA-Tnn/ Tnn,22 the god Tatenen,23 whose name is often written with the logogram form ,24 which is attested
as early as the New Kingdom on the inscriptions of Seti I at the great temple of Abydos.25 The hieroglyph
tA-Tnn26 represents a crowned seated figure of Tatenen, and it occurs as an ideogram and determinative for the
name of the god Tatenen. The reading of the hieroglyph tA-Tnn is assured through several instances where the
sign occurs as a determinative for the god’s name. 27
(c) The first two signs at the second line are partly damaged, and thus, several readings for this divine epi-
thet are possible. The sign under the p-sign suggests several hieroglyphs, however, the attested epithets of the
god Tatenen support the suggested reading above, in which, the sign under the “p”-sign is , The epithet of
Tatenen, which begins at the end of the first line continues, and thus the hieroglyph reads: 28
hence ms(i))-
pAwtyw,29 “who gives birth to the primordial gods.” However, there is another possible reading, in which the sign
under the “p”-sign is , and accordingly the text would read: (or )30 (msw)-psDt, “who gives birth to the
Ennead.” This reading is attested as an epithet to Tatenen from the New Kingdom onwards.31
(d) A small hole at the upper part of the sign makes it difficult to determine whether the sign is or , but
from the context, it should probably be read . Alternatively, the shape of the sign also suggests that it could
be read anx. However, if an anx, a preposition (m) after the sign would be expected, although it is omitted in this
case. But if so, it would read anx(.w) (m) Hw.t-nbw-nTrw), “the living in the golden house/ temple of the gods.”
(e) The sign is partly damaged and the hieroglyph inside the rectangular sign cannot easily be recognized. The
traces suggest Hwt-nbw, “the golden house,” which probably occurs here as a designation of the temple in
general, so that Hwt-nbw nTrw simply means “temples of the gods.”32 It is noted also that Hwt-nbw, “the golden
house,” occasionally occurs in the epithet xnty Hwt-nbw, “the foremost of the golden house.”33 The epithet oc-
curs, for example in a parallel formula on two statues from the cachette JE 36918,34 and JE 37853.35 Hwt-nbw oc-
curs also in reference to “the Gold House,” which encompasses rooms or a workshop used for producing divine
statues for the temple.36

22
François Daumas, Valeurs phonétiques des signes hiéroglyphiques d’époque gréco-romaine, 2 (Montpellier, 1988), 105; WB 5, 227.16–228.5; Urk.
VIII 142 Zl.3; Christian. Leitz, Lexikon der Ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen, vol. 7, OLA 116 (Leuven, 2002), 346–48. (Hereafter LGG 7).
23
For the god Tatenen, see Hermann A. Schlögel, Der Gott Tatenen : nach Texten und Bildern des Neuen Reiches, OBO 29 (Freiburg/Göttingen,
1980); E. A. E. Reymond, “The Children of Tanen. Part 1,” ZÄS 92 (1966), 116–17, 127–28.
24
Schlögel, Tatenen, OBO 29, 166, 169–70; Amice M. Calverley and Alan H. Gardiner, The Temple of king Sethos I. at Abydos IV (Chicago
1958), pl. 39; Alan H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar (Oxford, 1958), 449, sign list C15.
25
Calverley and Gardiner, The Temple of king Sethos I. at Abydos IV, pl. 39. It occurs also on other places from the New Kingdom, e.g., on
the Karnak temple from the region of Ramses II, see Hans Wolfgang Helck, Ritualszenen auf der Umfassungsmauer Ramses II in Karnak, ÄA 18
(Wiesbaden, 1968), 93; and again on a Ramesside Stela CG 34512; KRI II, 308.2; V, 76.2, 72.2, 68.2, 91.4, 116.8, 192.11, 221.7.
26
Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, 449, sign list C15; James P. Allen, Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs
(New York, 2010), 428 (sign C 18); Daumas, Valeurs phonétiques des signes hiéroglyphiques d’époque gréco-romaine, 2:105.
27
Schlögel, Tatenen, 166, and 157–84; KRI, I, 127, 6.
28
LGG 3:403.
29
The expression msi pAwty(w) is listed in LGG 3:403.
30
LGG 3:403 “Der die Neunheit erschafft.”
31
For msw-psDt, see Schlögel, Tatenen, 186; Gunter Roeder, Aegptische Inscriften aus Staatliche Museen zu Berlin II (Leipzig, 1924), 135.7 (left).
32
LÄ 2:739; Alan H. Gardiner, “The Founding of a New Delta Town in the Twentieth Dynasty,” JEA 34 (1948), 21, n. 1.
33
LGG 5:833. This epithet is also associated with the Osiris Chapel in Dendara. It occurs from the New Kingdom onwards. For this
epithet, its orthographies, and attestations, see LGG 5:833, and references therein. In other occasions, it often occurs in association with Osiris
of Coptos, who was also worshiped at Karnak and probably has a dedicated chapel there. Claude Traunecker, “Coptos: Hommes et dieux
sur le parvis de Geb,” OLA 43 (1992), 98, n. 456; Paul Barguet, Le temple D’Amon-Rê à Karnak. Essai d’exégèse, RAPH 21 (1962), 15; Jean Leclant,
“Recherches sur les monuments Thébains,” BdE 36 (1965), 282.
34
Karl Jansen-Winkeln, “Drei Statueninschriften einer Familie aus frühptolemäischer Zeit,” SÄK 36 (2007), 59–60 (on the right side),
66, n. 23.
35
Where it is associated with Osiris, “Osiris, le Coptite que préside au Château de l’Or.” Herman De Meulenaere, “Trois Membres
d’une Famille Sacerdotale Thébaine,” CdE 68 (1993), 51–52, fig. 5a.
36
It occurs also on the inscriptions of the statue of Ser-Djehuty, the master sculptor in Karnak from the Ptolemaic period. See David
Klotz, “The Cuboid Statue of Ser-Djehuty, Master Sculptor in Karnak,” RdE (2015), 79, and 81 note (ff); Claude Traunecker, “Le “Château
de l’Or” de Thoutmosis III et les magasins nord du temple d’Amon,” CRIPEL 11 (1989), 89–111.
 6.

8. (or
RASHED 123
or

(f) The
10.
group signs in the middle of the third line are damaged and unclear. Traces of the signs suggest read-
ing Sb.w, “food,” or “main meal.”37
(g) The
11.
group-signs at the end of the third line are unclear and might be the three strokes for plural or the
group 12.[ ]. It is suggested that this is a writing for sn.w, “bread offerings,” an offering of bread to a god or a
temple, and particularly the offerings to the deceased as a part of the offerings to deities.38
(h) 13.
The preposition m-bAH, “before, at the front of.”39 The sign below the phallus sign, beside the stoke, is
damaged, but it should be the usual rolled papyrus sign (Y1). Though the damage to the surface makes it hard
to see the sign, it cannot be Y1 because sign must fit within a short square space rather than a longer rectangle
that would accommodate the papyrus roll. The context suggests the sign tp.
(i) The signs are again unclear due to the holes and damaged spots on the surface in addition to the paleo-
graphical ,characteristics
, and of the signs. After m-bAH tp Hb, it is suggested to read r-xnt.k, “before you.”40
(j) The sign f, in m Hwt.f, appears to be reversed.
(k) The damaged sign may be the rolled papyrus sign, (Y1) acting as a determinative for drp, “provisions” or
“offerings.” The word occurs with different variations, e.g., , .41
(l) The traces suggest a reading of Hn “an offering,” and thus it reads with the last phrase as Hr drp Hn, “pre-
42

senting offering.” According to this reading, drp occurs as a verb after the preposition with the meaning of “to
offer,” “to feed,” or “to present.”43
(m) Probably xAx.w, “to hurry, to be fast,”44 a very tentative reading.
(n) wAH jxt, “to make an offering,” this expression is often written as: .45
(o) The first sign is damaged, but its traces indicates jqr, “the blessed dead or worthy one,” an epithet that
occurs often with the deceased or with gods.46 It is noted also that the determinative sign for the seated god indi-
cates the very close graphical writing to that on the statue of Tjanefer CK 971.
(p) The title Hm HDt, means “the servant/ priest of the White Crown.” The name of the White Crown of
Upper Egypt, is often written , , and .47 HDt is the name of Nekhbet, the vulture goddess and mistress
of Nekheb who is attributed with the white crown. The king, as well as priests in the Late and Ptolemaic periods,
bear the title “Servant of the White Crown.”
(q) The title wr wADty,48 “the great of the two diadems’ occurs here and once more on the back pillar.49 The

37
WB 4, 437.6–9; FCD 264; P. Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon: A Lexicographical Study of the Texts in the Temple of Edfu, OLA 78 (Leuven, 1997),
997. An alternative reading is tA, “bread.” Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, 1116; WB 5, 209.4–211.4; Leonard Lesko, A Dictionary of Late Egyptian
(Providence, 2002), 2:198; 3:143.
38
WB 4, 155.12.
39
For its variation see WB 1, 421.1–422.12.
40
WB 3, 303.1–2.
41
WB 5, 476.4; and 476.1–25; Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, 1203. The writing is attested from the PT onwards.
42
WB 3, 102.16.
43
WB 5, 476.1–25; R. O. Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian (Beirut, 1982), 315. Hence after FCD.
44
WB 3, 232.18–233.15; FCD 185.
45
WB 1, 253.26; also, WB 1, 253.1–257.6 (wAH); Wilson, A Ptolemaic Dictionary, 105–6, 195. The construction wAH-jxt occurs occasionally
as a title for an offering ritual and within offering texts, e.g., at the temple of Edfou. Edfou 1, 382.11–12; 2, 46.9; 5, 131.7–8.
46
C. Leitz, Lexikon der Ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezichnungen, vol. 1. OLA 110 (Leuven, 2002), 566 (hereafter, LGG 1).
47
It occurs from the PT onwards: WB 3, 211.3–7. See also Cairo statues T.R. 18.6.24.1, JE 97196, and JE 38601 from the Late period.
It is often associated with the title wr WADty, see the next note.
48
See the previous note. For this title, see Herman De Meulenaere, “Notes de prosopographie thébaine. Deuxiéme série,” CdE 57 (1982),
229–30; Heinz-Josef, Thissen, Graff. Med. Habu (1989), 25–26; Ramadan El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” BIFAO 84
(1984), 149 (e); Olivier Perdu, “À propos de la statue milanaise du vizir Harsomtousemhat,” BIFAO 88 (1988), 148–49. For the priestly title,
see Claude Traunecker, “Les graffiti des freres Horsaisis et Horemheb,” in Willy Clarysse et al. (eds.), Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years;
Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur, OLA 85 (1998), 1217–18; for the title Hm-WADty, Hm-nTr-WADty, see Pascal Vernus, Athribis:
Textes et documents relatifs à la géographie, aux cultes, et à l’histoire d’une ville du delta égyptien à l’époque pharaonique, BdE 74 (Cairo, 1978), 172–73; and
for the dual, see Hermann Wiesmann, “Zu zwei Schenute-Stellen,” ZÄS 62 (1927), 66–67.
49
The title occurs on several statues of the Thirtieth Dynasty, for example, among the titles of Nesmin and his father Ankhpakhered
on the front and the back pillar of the statue of Nesmin at Glasgow (inv. 13.233). Meulenaere, “Trois Membres d’une Famille Sacerdotale
Thébaine,” 59–61, fig. 11a–b.
124 JARCE 55 (2019)

title is associated with the two Uraeus/ Ladies WADty, the two goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt.50 It is attest-
ed frequently in the priestly titles of the Late period, and occurs in several forms, e.g., .51 , ,
, .52
(q) The signs at the end of the line are unclear and read Abd.f. The space beside the star-sign suggests to have
the sun disk, which often occurs in the writing of the word.
(r) The first group of signs are unclear, and it is hard to determine clearly whether there is a n-sign before
the (in Imn) or not.
(s) mi nn, “the like-titled.” This phrase, that indicates that a person bears the same titles as the one who is
mentioned before him in the text, or vice versa, occurs often on Late period and Ptolemaic statues. It occurs
frequently during this period, e.g., on statues JE 3735453, JE 37353,54 JE 36905b,55 and T.R. 18.6.24.156 from
Karnak. It also occurs with different orthographies such as: ,57 .
(t) The title iHj.t, “sistrum player,”58 is written with the hieroglyph, , for a standing female who holds a
sistrum in her hand. It occurs with the same form on the statue of Djedhor son of Nespamedu (T.R. 8.12.24.5),59
while it is attested with the alphabetic spelling ) instead of its ideogramatic writing on the base of the statue
of his assumed family member Tjanefer son of Nespamedu (CK 971). It is a title that occurs often from the
Twenty-Second Dynasty onward for female priestess who served as musicians of several deities.60
(u) The name of his mother, Ta-Amunet, is common in the Late period when it occurs with different orthog-
raphies. For the name and the genealogy of the family see below.

Texts on the Base (fig. 5)

The rectangular base is inscribed with a hieroglyphic inscription carved in sunk relief. The text, which is bor-
dered by incised lines, starts at the right side of the front of the base and then extends leftwards, and ends on
the right side. It consists of a short version of the offering formula and the owner’s titles. Like the text on the
garment, the text is carved in a very rough manner, and some signs are damaged. It reads:

50
Another reading of the title is seen in the title wrty, the two Uraei, the two great ladies, since wrty is a synonym for wADty. WB 1,
332.1–2; Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, 208–9, and 246. Cf. Edfu VI 337.9; VII 304.17; 305.5.
51
Hassan Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” SAK 32 (2004), 364 (on statue JE 38601), 374, and 376 (on statue JE 97196);
El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” 148 (on Cairo statue T.R. 18.6.24.1).
52
For this title, see Traunecker, “Les graffiti des freres Horsaisis et Horemheb,” 1217–18; Vernus, Athribis, 172–73; Wilson, A Ptolemaic
Lexikon, 208.
53
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 2:367.
54
Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” 369, on the base.
55
Ramadan El-Sayed, “Deux statues de la cachette de Karnak. [I. - Statuette Caire JE 36905 b (K. 272. II. - Statue-cube Caire JE 37413
(K.441)],” BIFAO 87 (1987), 174 (text C).
56
El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” 148. See also, on the statue of Horwedja from the Late Period”; Bothmer, Egyp-
tian Sculpture of the Late Period, 44, no. 37, fig. 80.
57
Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” 369, on the base; El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Musée du Caire,” 148 (on
the front of the garment and the side); T.R. 8.12.24.5 (on the back pillar), see Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit,
2:373 (c).
58
WB 1, 121.18. It occurs also with male priests, from the New Kingdom, as the musicians/sistrum player, of several deities such as
Hathor, and in its masculine form ( iHj). WB 1, 121.9–17; Abdul Rahman Al-Ayedi, Index of Egyptian Administrative, Religious and Military
Titles of the New Kingdom (Ismailia, 2006), 176 (no. 607).
59
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 2:373 (c). Compare also its form on another block statue of the Late
Fourth Century. Jansen-Winkeln, “Drei Statueninschriften einer Familie aus frühptolemäischer Zeit,” 59, 61.
60
WB 1, 121.18. It occurs also on other statues, e.g., on the statue of PA-xAr-#nsw, JE 37353, dated to the Thirtieth Dynasty or the pre-
Ptolemaic period, and in the form: . Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” 370, also, on statue Cairo JE
36905b (K. 272) from the Twenty-Fifth to Twenty-Sixth dynasties, with the form: iHj.t n Imn-Ra. See El-Sayed, “Deux statues de
la cachette de Karnak. [I. - Statuette Caire JE 36905 b (K. 272. II. - Statue-cube Caire JE 37413 (K.441)],” 173. See the title’s occurrence
on statues JE 3754, CK 971, JE 37681, and T.R.8.12.24.5 of individuals suggested to be of the same family.
 RASHED 125

Fig. 5. The inscriptions on the sides of the base, a) front; b) right; c) back; d) left. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

(1) Htp-di-nsw n Imn-Ra KA-mwt-f xnty Ipt.f di.sn

(2) prt-xrw kAw Abdw irp irtt snTr qbH.w xt nb(t) nfrt wabt [nDm bnr anx]
(3) nTr im.sn pr nbwt Hr xAwt n kA n it-nTr Hm Imn
(4) -m-Ipt-swt Hm HDt @r wr WADty imy Abd.f (m) pr Imn-Ipt Dd-Hr mAa xrw sA *A-nfr

(1) An offering that the king gives to Amun-Re, Ka-mut-ef, (who is) at the front of his Ipt;
may they give (2) the offerings of oxen, birds, wine, milk, incense, cool water,v and everything
good, pure, [beautiful and sweet]w (3) on which a god lives, all things to be delivered from/on
the altar(/tray)x for the ka of the god’s father of Amun (4) in Karnak,y the priest of the White
Crown, (the priest of) Horus, great of the two diadems, in his month in the temple of Amun
in Karnak, Djedhor, justified, son of Tjanefer.
126 JARCE 55 (2019)

Comments
This is the regular offering formula of the Late period. For parallel formulae from the same date, compare to the
formulae on the right side of statues JE 3735461 and JE 38601.62
(v) qbH.wa, “cool water,” var. ,63 occurs in the offering formula as early as Old Kingdom, and
often in the plural form.
(w) Though the last sign-group is mostly illegible, traces of the upper parts can be seen. According to these
traces and comparable formulas on parallels from the same period, the reading nDm bnr anx64 is suggested.
(x) This sign is a writing for xAwt, “an offering table, altar or tray.” A stand-altar, or a tray upon a stand with
flared base made of stone or metal. It is often used for food offerings to the deceased. It occurs with several varia-
tions, e.g., , , , xAwt, det. , .65
(y) The form of the sign in Hm Imn-m-Ipt-swt on the inscriptions of the base of the statue of Djedhor (JE
37200) and the statue of Tjanefer son of Nespamedu (CK 971) is similar which suggests the same date for both
statues.

Text on the Back Pillar (figs. 6–7)

The back pillar is incised with two columns of text with columnar separation lines. The text reads from right to
left:

(1) nTr niwty n Wsir it-nTr Hm-nTr Imn-m-Ipt-swt Hm HDt @r wr WADty imy Abd.(f)
(2) n Imn-m-Ipt Hr sA 3-nw @r-m-Hb mAa xrw mi nn &A-nfr mA xrw dd-HA.f
(1) The local godz Osiris, the god’s father, the servant of Amun in Karnak, the servant of the White
Crown, (the servant of) Horus, great of the diadems, in (his) month (2) in/of the temple of Amun of the
Karnak from the third phyle,aa Hor-em-heb,bb justified, soncc of the like-titled Tjanefer, justified, place
(you) behind him.dd

Comments
The text is very close to a datable parallel statue, JE 37354 of another priest called Djedhor.66 On both statues,
the texts indicate that the owner held the same titles as his father.
(z) An epithet usually in reference to the local god of a city or a district. It appears regularly in a formula on
the back pillar of statues from the Late periods.67 It occurs here in reference to Osiris, the local god. Often, the
epithet occurs in one of these variations: , , , .68 Occasionally, it is followed by the name of

61
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 2:367.
62
Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” 364, on the base.
63
WB 5, 27.15–29.4, also “libation water,” or “water,” an offering that often appears in the offering formula. See Winfried Barta, Aufbau
und Bedeutung der altägyptischen Opferformel (Glückstadt, 1968); Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, 1053. For attestations from the Old Kingdom to the
Ptolemaic period, see the online Dictionary of Berlin, http://aaew.bbaw.de.
64
Compare the text of the right side of the statue JE 37354, Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 2:367; Selim,
“Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” 364, on the base; and see also El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” 142.
65
WB 3, 224.14; 226.11–16; Wilson, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, 703.
66
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:81 and n. 3; 2:369. The text on the pedestal of the statue JE 37354
mentions that the statue was made for him by his son, who unfortunately, is not named on the statue. Another parallel, probably of the same
family, can be seen on statue JE 36905b, see El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” 148–49.
67
Meulenaere, “Trois Membres d’une Famille Sacerdotale Thébaine,” 63–64, and attestations therein.
68
C. Leitz, Lexikon der Ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezichnungen, Vol. IV, OLA 113 (Leuven, 2002), 426 (herafter LGG 4), for example, on
statue Louvre A 67; KRI III, 462 11; Statue BM 4; KRI III, 494, 12.
 RASHED 127

Fig. 6. Back view of the statue of Djedhor Cairo JE 37200. Courtesy Fig. 7. Facsimile drawing of the back of the
of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. statue. Drawing by Eman Elsaeed.

a god:69 nTr-niwty n (titles and name, follow-ups possibly of a filiation);70 or to refers generally to the god who
belongs to the city without stating a name, e.g., nTr-niwty, “the local god,” or nTr-aA-niwty, “the great god of the
city.”71
(aa) Hm-nTr is missing at the beginning of the priestly title imy Abd.(f) n Imn-m-Ipt Hr sA 3-nw. It is noteworthy
that the title occurs with the same variation on JE 37354, the statue of the other Djedhor.72 The title occurs fre-
quently during the Late period, often as Hm-nTr imy Abd.f n pr n Imn-m-Ipt Hr sA 3-nw, “the priest in his month in
the temple of Amonope (or: Amun-Re) from the third phyle.”73 This is the most distinguished title of Djedhor,
which indicates his position in the service of Amun at Karnak.
(bb) @r-m-Hb, the nickname of the owner which occurs only here on the statue. It is a proper name during
the Late periods, but also earlier. It occurs as early as the Middle Kingdom and became a common name in the
New Kingdom.74
(cc) The sign, with such rough form, is probably an error committed by the engraver as a writing for the egg
sign [H8] for the word son, as it is shown in the transcription. Also, a stroke is expected beside this sign, and that

69
On the back-pillar of the statue of Pedy-Amun-Ra-Neb-Wser, Twenty-Sixth Dynasty. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period,
45, no. 38, pl. 35 (fig. 82). And also, on the back-pillar of the statue of Djed-Khonsu-Iuf-ankh. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period,
31–32, no. 27, pl. 23 (fig. 53).
70
Meulenaere, “Trois Membres d’une Famille Sacerdotale Thébaine,” 63f, and attestations therein.
71
LGG 4:426.
72
Where it reads: imy Abd n Imn-m-Ipt Hr sA 3 nw, where the (Hm-nTr) is missing at its beginning. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse
Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:86, and n. 49.
73
For example, Hm-nTr Hwt nTr imy Abd.f (m) pr Imn Hr sA 3, on statue JE 38601, Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,”
364–65.
74
PN 1:248.7.
128 JARCE 55 (2019)

space was left unincised. This sign, as well many other incised signs on the statue, reflect the work of an unprofes-
sional engraver who did not give care to his work.
(dd) dd-HA.f was used frequently during the Late period to indicate that a person or officer placed another (his
son) in his position as his successor. Examples are numerous, compare, e.g., the statue of Hor son of Djedhor, who
also holds the same titles as his father.75 Grammatically, the phrase consists of dd or ddw the imperfective passive
participle of the verb di,76 which is followed by the preposition HA, and the third person suffix pronoun. Thus
it has the construction [verb-preposition-pronoun], while it is supposed to follow the pattern [verb-pronoun-
preposition-pronoun], and thus to be read: dd.f sw HA.f, but the dependent pronoun has been omitted.

Captions to the Depictions of Amun-of-Karnak, on Both Sides (figs. 8–13)

A short inscription labels the depiction of the god Amonope on both sides. The depictions of the god suggest
that the owner was in the service of Amun-of-Karnak and that the statue was dedicated to the temple of the
god Amun-of-Karnak, and thus it was from Karnak. The orientation of the figures of the god were probably
intended to secure benefits for the owner of the statue from the prayers at the temple. Pious visitors to the temple
who would make offerings to the god Amonope, among other Theban deities, were expected to stop and pray
before the figures of the gods on such statues.
Right side:

Imn-Ipt-(n)*Amt nTr-aA,
Amun in Karnak, of *Amt (Djeme),ee the great god

Left side:

Imn Xnty Ipt

Amun, the foremost of Karnakff

Comments
The god Amonope Imn-n-Ipt (or Imn-Ipt), is depicted in the form of a standing mummified form with the two
feathers crown and the erected phallus, backward raised arm and scourge.77 The god is depicted in the same
form and attitude on both sides of the statue, accompanied by his roughly incised name. This depiction of
Amonope does not appear on any other known Late to Ptolemaic periods private statue as far as I know, for no
parallel depictions were found on the online database of the Karnak Cachette or in any of the publications of
private statues of this period.
(dd) On the right side, the god is associated with his divine place Djeme78 in Medinet Habu (var.
Imn-Ipt-n-*Abt, Amonope of *Amt [Djeme]);79 compare also its occurrence on the statue JE 38009.80
(ff) On the left side, the god is associated with his temple in Karnak. The inscriptions on the statue indicate
that the owner served in the priesthood of the god Amun in Karnak under the god’s different epithets Imn-m-Ipt
and Imn-m-Ipt-swt.

75
Statue JE 36905b, cf. El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” 152 (text D on the back pillar). See also, on the back-pillar
of the statue of Pedy-Amun-Ra-Neb-Waser. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 45, no. 38, pl. 35 (fig. 82).
76
Lesko, A Dictionary of Late Egyptian, 2:240 (di, “to give, to let, to cause” [LEM 13, 4V8]), 259 (dd, “given”).
77
For the god Amonope, see LGG 1:309–11.
78
LGG 1:311; LÄ 1:1109–10; 7:300.
79
For the god Amun-Ipt of Djeme, cf. LGG 1:311.
80
See Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:234; 2:429.
 RASHED 129

Fig. 8. Right side view of the statue of Djedhor JE 37200. Courtesy Fig. 9. The depiction of the right side of the statue. Courtesy of the
of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Fig. 10. Left side view of the statue of Djedhor Cairo JE 37200. Fig. 11. The depiction of the left side of the statue. Courtesy of the
Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
130 JARCE 55 (2019)

Fig. 12 (left). Facsimile drawing of the right side of

the statue. Drawing by Eman Elsaeed.

Fig. 13 (right). Facsimile drawing of the detail of

the left side of the statue. Drawing by Eman Elsaeed.

The Text between the Crossed Hands (fig. 14)

The name of the owner is incised in a very rough manner between his crossed arms atop his knees. Although
some signs are not even carved in certain spots (the one under the first sign, and the last two signs), the traces sug-
gest a reading of the owner’s name Djedhor, a reading which is born out by the writing of the name elsewhere
on the statue.

+d-Hr [zA] §A-nfr […]

Djedhor (gg) [son of] Tjanefer(hh) […](kk)

Comments
(gg) The first group-sign showing only the Hr-sign, while the sign Dd is hardly traced above. The constricted
space under the Hr-sign is supposed to be the egg-sign for sA, son.
(hh) The two signs are clear, and thus this certainly a writing of the name of the father *A-nfr as elsewhere
on the statue.
(kk) At the end of the text, there is a damaged area which makes it difficult to determine whether there is
another group of signs, or if it is just a damage to the surface.

Name and Titles

Name , ,81 +d-Hr82

Nickname 83
@r-m-Hb

81
PN 1:411 (12).
82
It is noted also that the name +d-@r is also written in other ways, for example: , , . It is written with the baboon sign
for the phonetic Dd from the Late period onwards: PN 1:411 (12); 2:334 (21), For instance, in the name of Djedhor on his two statues Cairo
JE 37861, and T.R. 8.12.24.5. Also, in the names of other officials, cf. PN 1:410 (7), 411 (1, 14, 15, 16). Compare the writing of the name
of Djedhor son of Nespamedu on the Cairo statue JdE 37861. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:94; 2:372.
83
PN 1:248.7.
 RASHED 131

Fig. 14. A view from the top for the statue of Djedhor showing text between the
hands. Courtesy of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

The name Djedhor occurs once on the front of the statue

written with the seated man determinative, and once on the
base and between the hands without it. This name is very
common during the Late period,84 and it occurs with the
same variations on statue JE 37354 of another Djedhor.85
The name occurs also on several statues of other individuals
of this period, e.g., Djedhor son of Nespamedu JE 37861
(CK 545),86 and T.R. 8.12.24.5 (CK 641),87 and Djedhor fa-
ther of Nesmin JE 37136 (CK 140). The orthography of his
name and the use of for Dd represents the alphabetical
writing, which is a characteristic of the Thirtieth Dynasty.88
The nickname name, Horemheb, occurs once, on the back pillar.

Titles
The owner holds several priestly titles, which are:
a. it-nTr God’s father [on the front of the garment, back pillar,
and base]
b. Hm-nTr Imn-m-Ipt-swt Priest of Amun at Karnak [on the front of the garment,
back pillar, and base]
c. Hm HDt The servant of the White Crown [on the front of the
garment, back pillar, and base]
d. (Hm) @r The servant of Horus [on the front of the garment, back
pillar, and base]
e. (Hm) wr WADty Great of the Two Diadems [on the front of the garment,
back pillar, and base]
f. (Hm-nTr) imy Abd.f n Imn-Ra Hr sA 3-nw nTr (Servant) in his month in the temple of Amun-Re of
Karnak from the third phyle [on the front of the garment]
g. (Hm-nTr) imy Abd.(f) n Imn-m-Ipt nTr (Servant) in his month in the temple of Amun of Kar
nak from the third phyle [on the back pillar]
h. (Hm-nTr) imy Abd.f (m) pr Imn-Ipt (Servant) in his month in the temple of Amun of Kar
nak [on the base]

84
PN 1:411.12; See also from the same period, the doorkeeper of the estate of Amun Djedhor on the statue of his son Nesmin (JE 37136).
Campbell Price, “Archaism and Filial Piety: An Unusual Pair Statue from the Cachette (JE 37136),” in Laurent Coulon (ed.), La Cachette de
Karnak: Nouvelles perspectives sur les découvertes de Georges Legrain (Cairo, 2016), 489–90.
85
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:77; 2:366, 369 (on the back pillar and pedestal); and on the statue of
Hor from Karnak. T.R. 18.6.24.1, see El-Sayed, “Deux statues inédites du Muée du Caire,” 148.
86
From the Thirtieth Dynasty, see PM II2, 159; Jean Claude Goyon and Christine Cardin (eds.), Trésors d’Égypte, La “cachette” de Karnak
(1904–2004) (Grenoble, 2004), 66–68; Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 2:372; see also the Karnak Cachette
online database: http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/?id=545.
87
See Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 96, 100; Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:97–100; 2:
373, pls. 38–39 (no. 18).
88
Meulenaere, “Une statue de prêtre héliopolitain [avec 1 planche],” 41. For example, on the belt of the Cairo statue of Djedhor son
of Nespamedu T.R. 8.12.24.5. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 2:373 a; and his other statue, JdE 37861, on the
front side of the base. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit aus dem Ägyptischen Museum Kairo, 2:772b. Compare also its
orthographies to the inscriptions on the statue of Ankh-pa-Khered son of Nesmin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 1908.202.1, in
Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 102–3, no. 81, pls. 77–78 (figs. 201, 202, 204), and also statue JE 37354 of Djedhor.
132 JARCE 55 (2019)

Djedhor holds a middle-rank position in the service of the god Amun, Amun-Re and of Amonope at Karnak,
and thus he probably was honored by placing a statue of himself in the temple. It has been noted that several
other individuals of this period, probably from his family, held similar titles, including Tjanefer son of Nespa-
medu (CK 971), Djedhor son of Nespamedu (JE 37861), and Djedhor son of Tjanefer (JE 37354).

Genealogy
The data that the inscriptions on JE 37200 provide does not, however, contain enough detail to allow these
individuals, namely Djedhor, his father Tjanefer, and mother Ta-Amount, to be securely identified with same
named individuals on other firmly dated monuments. Unfortunately, the names of his mother and father are
given with no distinguishing titles or other data that might allow the genealogy of this family to be more fully
and securely constructed.

His Father , *A-nfr, Tjanefer

As noted above, his name is attested three times on the statue. The name is attested also with the same orthog-
raphy in the inscriptions on the base and the back pillar of the statue of Tjanefer son of Nespamedu (CK 971).
According to the inscription on the back pillar of that statue, Tjanefer held the same titles mi nn, “like his son”
and as did father of the other Djedhor son of Tjanefer (owner of JE 37354), where the father and son also share
the same titles.89
Although the name Tjanefer occurs on several statues of this period, no certain connection between them can
be proved at the present.90 Perhaps Tjanefer son of Nespamedu, whose statue dating to the reign of Nectanebo I,
is at the Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum,91 is the father of Djedhor JE 37200. This suggestion is based on
their titles and the style of both statues, as is discussed below. Unfortunately, the inscriptions do not have fuller
genealogies of the owners that would prove such a relationship.

His Mother &A-Jmnt, Ta-amunet

The name occurs only once at the end of the inscription on the front of the statue. She holds a common title
of the period:

nb(t) pr IHj.t n Imn-Ra

The lady of the house and sistrum player of Amun-Re92

Family
Although there is no direct evidence for Djedhor’s full genealogy, there are some features that help to draw a
suggested genealogy based on his titles, rank, the style of the statue, and paleography. A comparison with other
parallels, as well as with other individuals who bear similar titles that are dated between the Thirtieth Dynasty
and the early Ptolemaic period, can suggest a few alternative genealogy(s) for this family.
Since the names and titles of the owner and his father are common during the Thirtieth Dynasty and later, it
is difficult to prove the assumed connections with certainty. The following documents introduce individuals who
may be family members.

89
Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:77.
90
See for instance, CK 971, and JE 37357. The last statue, JE 37357 (CK 233), of Djedhor son of Hor, dated to the Ptolemaic period;
PM II 158; Perdu, Les statues privées, 69, n. 118.
91
Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 95–96, no. 76, pls. 72–73 (figs. 189–191).
92
For the same title, see Selim, “Three Unpublished Late Period Statues,” 32, 364–65 (third column on the back-pillar [JE 38601]); 370
(on the base of the statue JE 37353: it reads: ir n nb(t) pr JHjt TA-n-Imn-Ra); compare also the same title on JE 37354, cf. Jansen-Winkeln,
Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:77.
 RASHED 133

Doc. 1: Tjanefer son of Nespamedu (CK 971)

Granite block statue (CK 971)93 at the Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum, New York,94 is dated to the reign of
Nectanebo I.95 Since he is referred to in the texts as Osiris—which means he was already dead when the statue
was made for him, and thus the statue was made and dedicated to him in the temple by his son or one of his
descendants. Unfortunately, the name of the son/descendant who dedicated the statue to him is not mentioned
in the inscription.96 On his statue, Tjanefer holds the titles it-nTr, Hm-nTr Imn-m-Ipt-swt, “the god’s father and the
priest of Amun in Karnak,”97 while the inscription on the base of the statue indicates that his father Nespamedu
held the same titles as well.98 Also, his mother and wife of Nespamedu, Khonsu-irdas bears the same title as the
mother of Djedhor, 99 nb(t) pr IHj.t (n) Imn-Ra, “The mistress of the house, the sistrum player of Amun-Ra.”100
This Tjanefer son of Nespamedu is assumed to be of the same family, even if he is not actually identified as
the father of Djedhor son of Tjanefer of JE 37200. It is noted that both individuals hold the same titles, and
their statues are stylistically similar. Although the two statues are made of different materials and are of different
sizes, the inscriptions on the base and the back pillar are incised with the same rough manner, both are bordered
with roughly incised lines in bas relief, and they also share common paleographic characteristics, for example,
the very typical graphical forms of the hieroglyphs , , , and , among others,101 which suggests the same
period, and probably the same engraver or workshop.
A close relation is assumed between the two individuals, and probably they belong to the same family. If so,
Djedhor, owner of JE 37200, is assumed to be son of Tjanefer son of Nespamedu of CK 971. Thus, Djedhor
is can be introduced as a third generation of the family of Nespamedu that Raven102 has drawn (see a modified
version here, table 1).

Doc. 2: Djedhor son of Tjanefer (Cairo statue JE 37354)103

This statue belongs to another individual, probably of the same family, who is also named Djedhor son of Tjane-
fer. He also shares the same titles: it-nTr, Hm-nTr Imn-m-Ipt-swt, Hm-HDt, Hm @r, wr WADty, imy Abd.f n pr Imn-Ipt
Hr sA 3-nw, (Hm-nTr) imy Abd.f n Imn-Ipt Hr sA 3-nw.104 The texts and the common titles of the owner and his

93
The Karnak Cachette online database, cf. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/?id=971; PM II, 165; Raven, “The 30th Dy-
nasty Nespamedu Family,” 21.
94
Inv. (no. 10), according to the online Morgan Library collection catalog it has the acquisition number (AZ152), see https://www.
themorgan.org/objects/item/214096.
95
Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 95–96, no. 76, 103, 112, 113, 152, pls. 72–73 (figs. 189–191); PM II2, 165; Jerome M.
Eisenberg, Art of the Ancient World: Greek, Etruscan, Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities (New York/London, 1999), no. 184, dated this
statue to the Twenty-Ninth Dynasty.
96
It is important to note that the statue of Djedhor JE 37354 was also made for him by his son. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse
Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:81; 2:366, pls. 31–34. While there is not much evidence to determine whether the statue of Djedhor JE 37200 was
made by him or dedicated to him by his son. It is interesting to speculate whether these statues were made at the same time, and in the same
workshop, and then dedicated to the temple of the god who the family served.
97
He holds the same titles also on his other statue CK 117 (K. 141; ex-Collection Omar Pacha no. 398; ex-Cairo JE 36976). http://www.
ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/?id=117, see Olivier Perdu, “Les statues thébaines d’époque tardive de la collection Omar Pacha,” in Laurent
Coulon (ed.), La Cachette de Karnak: Nouvelles perspectives sur les découvertes de Georges Legrain, BdE 161 (Cairo, 2016), 465–70, fig. 1.
98
Nespamedu holds the same titles also on the statue of his other son Djedhor (Cairo statue JdE 37861), which reads: it-nTr Hm (nTr) Imn
(m) Ipt-swt. Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:94; 2:372, 373. It is noteworthy also that these aforementioned
titles are very common among the priests of Amun during the Thirtieth Dynasty, but also in the Late periods in general, for instance Ankh-
pa-Khered son of Nesmin holds the same titles on his standing statue at the Metropolitan. See Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period,
102–3.
99
Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 96.
100
My sincere thanks to Jennifer Tonkovich, Eugene and Clare Thaw Curator, at the Morgan Library & Museum, for sharing the
pictures of the statue which allowed me to read the unpublished inscriptions on the base and the back pillar of the statue CK 971, and to
compare the forms of the writing with those on JE 37200.
101
For the style of the statue, see also Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, pls. 72–73 (figs. 188–191).
102
Raven, “The 30th Dynasty Nespamedu Family,” 20–31.
103
PM II2, 158; Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:77–88; 2:366–69 and pls. 31–34 (no. 15).
104
He holds additional titles which are not attested on JE 37200: “sS xtmt-nTr n pr Imn (Hr zA 4-nw, rxyt-nswt.” Jansen-Winkeln, Biogra-
phische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:78.
134 JARCE 55 (2019)

Table 1. Suggested genealogy of the family of Djedhor son of Tjanefer and Ta-amun up to the
fourth generation.

* The name of his wife is not attested on his statue. If he is the father of Djedhor JE 37200, as is suggested here, his wife would to be
Ta-amunet, because her name is attested on statue JE 37200 of her son Djedhor. Otherwise, his wife might be Dj-si-Ast, the mother of the
other Djedhor (JE 37354).
** The name of his wife is not attested on his statue, but it is assumed to be Ta(ent)amun-neb-nest-tawy(?) the mother of Hor, according
to the attestation of her name on the statue of Hor.
*** This Hor is assumed to be the son of Djedhor (JE 37200), or the son of the other Djedhor (37354). The name of his wife is not at-
tested on his statue nor on any other known monument of the period.
**** The relationship of these individuals to the family of Nespamedu has been established by Raven in his study of the family of Nes-
pamedu: Raven, “The 30th Dynasty Nespamedu Family,” 19–31. The names of this couple occur on the statue of their daughter Tanetirt
in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden (Inv. AH 10).

father indicate a close relation to the owner of JE 37200, and it is assumed that they belong to the same family.105
However, no evidence is known that might determine what the possible degree of the relationship between both
individuals is.

Doc. 3: Hor son of Djedhor (Cairo statue T.R. 18.6.24.1)106

The last possible individual of this family is Hor son of Djedhor and Ta(ent)amun-neb-nest-tawy, from the early
Ptolemaic period. He holds similar titles: it-nTr, Hm-nTr Imn-m-Ipt-swt, Hm n @r, wr WADty.107 Also, the inscrip-
tions on his statue are very similar to those on JE 37200, including even the same orthography of the names and

105
See http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/?id=369
106
See El Sayed, “Statue Caire No Temporaire 18/6/24/1,” BIFAO 84 (1984), 147–53, pls. xli, A–B, xlii, A–C, which is probably from
the same family. Although, El Sayed pointed out that he belongs to a priestly family who served the god Amun at Karnak, but he did not
identified his father Djedhor on any other monuments.
107
El Sayed, “Statue Caire No Temporaire 18/6/24/1,” 148, 150.
 RASHED 135

titles. Compare, for instance, the use of the alphabetical writing for Dd in the form of the name +d-Hr, the
different writing for the name of Amun, the use of the same orthographies in the writing of the aforementioned
titles, as well as the same forms of certain terms such as mi nn, and dd-HA-f.108 Thus, this individual
who served in the temple of Amun at Karnak is probably another family member. Unfortunately, the wives of
both Djedhor, JE 73200 and JE 37354, are not named on their statues. If there is a possible relation, no evidence
indicates the degree of this family relationship, and whether is he the son of Djedhor (JE 37200) or Djedhor
(JE 37354),109 or Djedhor son of Nespamedu JE 37861 (CK 545). The absence of any textual evidence proving
a possible family relation makes this suggestion uncertain.
To sum up, it has been noted that three generations of the family of Nespamedu in Thebes have been identi-
fied by Raven,110 while two of them are suggested here to be Djedhor’s family members. Thus, in case the above-
assumed relationship is correct, one or two more generations can be added to this family that resided in Thebes
and was employed in the Amun temple at Karnak over centuries. Table 2 shows the titles shared by individuals
who are suggested to belong to the family of Djedhor.

Table 2. Table showing the titles shared by individuals who are suggested to be of the family of
Djedhor, son of Tjanefer and Ta-amunet.

Tjanefer son Djedhor son of Hor son of

Djedhor Djedhor son of
of Nespamedu Nespamedu Djedhor
Title/Holder Tjanefer Tjanefer
(CK 971 + (JdE 37861 + (Cairo statue
(JE 37200) (JE 37354)
CK 117) T.R. 8.12.24.5) T.R. 18.6.24.1)
it-nTr ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Hm-nTr Imn-m- ✓
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Ipt-swt
Hm HDt @r, wr
✓ ✓ ✓
WADty
(Hm-nTr) imy
Abd.f n Imn-Ipt ✓ ✓
Hr sA 3-nw
other titles Hm-nTr wab Imn-Ra
nb nst tAwj (m) Hwt-
bA m sA 4-nw

Hm-nTr Imn m Ipt- Hm-nTr Wsir pAj TAw,

Hm-nTr Imn m
swt aA wab n Imn Hr sS xtmt-nTr n pr Imn
Ipt-swt
sA 2-nw (Hr sA 4-nw)

Hm-nTr n BA-nb-+dt
HAt-mHyt Hrj-jb
WAst

108
El Sayed, “Statue Caire No Temporaire 18/6/24/1,” 148–52.
109
It has been noted that the inscriptions on statue JE 37354 state that the statue was made for him by his son, but unfortunately, the
inscription does not mention the name of this son. See Jansen-Winkeln, Biographische und religiöse Inschriften der Spätzeit, 1:81; 2:366, pls. 31–34.
Though the distribution of inscriptions all over the state, and the incised lines between lines and columns are common, in addition to the
style, titles, and the paleographical inscriptions, but few differences in style are seen, for instance, the feet are bare on the statue of Djedhor,
while covered on the statue of Hor.
110
Raven, “The 30th Dynasty Nespamedu Family,” 20–31.
136 JARCE 55 (2019)

Dating

Based on its style and its paleography, the statue is dated sometime between the late Thirtieth Dynasty and the
early Ptolemaic period. Whereas the Karnak Cachette online project suggests a date to the early Ptolemaic
period based on the paleography of its inscription, the inscriptions do not employ many Ptolemaic spellings,
nor many of the alphabetic spellings characteristic of the Twenty-Sixth and Thirtieth Dynasties. The suggested
genealogy together with the comparison to datable parallels and other private statues throughout the discussion
help to suggest a closer date.
Its style, together with certain paleographic characteristics which imitate those of the Saite period, are very
common to the reign of Nectanebo I and the early Ptolemaic period. Among these characteristics which imi-
tate the Saite period statues is the use of alphabetic spellings (see above). Among the graphical characteristics
that distinguished this period are the use of for Dd in +d-Hr, the ideogramatic writing for ‛IHj.t, “sistrum
player,” and the typical graphical forms of signs such as , , and , which are repeated on more closely
dateable private statues. Compare also the forms of the signs to the dateable private statues of Tjanefer son of
Nespamedu, Djedhor son of Tjanefer (JE 37354), and Hor son of Djedhor (T.R. 18.6.24.1). Thus though the
content of JE 37200’s inscriptions do not reveal much, its paleography, together with the suggested genealogy,
suggest a date for it sometime between the second half of the Thirtieth Dynasty to the early Ptolemaic period.

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