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VICINO ORIENTE - QUADERNO 1

L'IMPERO RAMESSIDE

CONVEGNO INTERNAZIONALE

IN O N O R EORE DI SERGIO DONADONI

RO MA 1997



DJPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE STORICHE ARCHEOLOGICHE E ANTROPOLOGICHE DELL'ANTICHITA

SEZIONE VICfNO ORIENTE

Comito o scientifico: M.G. Amadasi Guzzo, A. Archi, A. Ciasca, M. Liverani, P. Matthiae, A. Roccati

Redazione: I Brancoli, E. Ciampini, A. Roccati, L. Sist

Composizione a/ computer: I Brancoli

Copertina: M. Necci (riproduzione da stampa)

VOLUME PUBBLICATO CON IL CONTRIBUTO DEL C.N.R.

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA «LA SAPIENZA»

Stnm Jn : Tipolitografia di Ascolinio Giuseppe- Via Chieti, 26 - 00161 Roma - Tel. 44.23. 11 .11 - Finito di stampare nel diccmbre 1997



I HAVE NOT DIVER1ED MY INUNDATIONLEGITIMACY AND THE BOOK OF THE DEAD IN A

S1ELA OF RAMESSES IV FROM ABYDOS

Francesco TIRADRITTI - Roma

The following remarks partly depend on suggestions tha t Professor Donadoni

made in a translation of th e text stu died here. The analysis is part of a work

on roy a l ste lae of the XXt h Dynasty which I begun under his guidance. I hope

that he will accep t this as a small sign of gra titude, since it is due to him that I

can now write about an Egyptological subj ect.

The importance of the monum ent of Ramesses IV, named by Kitchen ''Great

Stela to Osiris and the Gods is demonstrated by th e interest it h as a lways

aroused among the scholars.3 The large limes tone stela (2,60 m high, 1,20 m

w ide ; 0,38 m in depth) is ro und -top ped and was found by Auguste Mariette in

the Middle Cemetery of Abydos. reused as paving of a la ter private tomb, with

the inscr ibed side facing down t is safe to assume that the s tela was

or iginally se t in a v isib le place, such as the ci ty temple of Os iris , or in a chapel

S. Donadoni. Testi religiosi egizi, Torino 1970 , pp . 434 - 439.

2 KRI VI. 20 .

3 The fit:st edition of th e stela is in A. Mariette, Abydos. Description de

fouilles. Tome II, Paris 1880, p. 41, tavv. 54-55 e 56a-b . Translations of thetex t . other than by Donadoni, h ave been given by K. Piehl (Stele de J'epoque

de Rameses I V: ZAS, 23 [1885]. pp . 13-19) , M. Korostovtsev (Stele de

Ramesses IV : BIFAO. 45 [19471. pp . 155 - 173) and A.j. Peden (Egyptian

Historical In scriptions of the Twentieth Dynasty [Documen t a Mund iAegyptiaca 3], jonsered 1994 , pp . 159 - 174 and The Reign of Ramesses IV,

Warminster 1994 . pp . 94 - 100). Furthermore the stela is mentioned in many

works centred on re ligion topic s.

4 The ste la is now in Cairo Museum (jdE 48831).

193

V Quad. 1 1997



F. Tiradritti

in the necropolis. This latter idea can be inferred by the nature of the text.

written to look like a funerary composition.The stela is inscribed on one side and on the two margins: this speaks for an

original collocation against a wall. On the margins there are two texts: one

dedicated to Osiris and the other one to Re. The surface of the inscribed side is

divided into three parts: on the top is a scene, in the middle are thirty -six lines

of hieroglyphic text and at the bottom a register of adoring Rekhyt facing the

center, where there are two cartouches of Ramesses IV.S

The scene shows the king offering the image of Maat to twelve gods,

identified as Osiris, Horus, Isis. Nephthys, Min, Iunmutef. Horakhty, Onuris-Shu.

Tefnut, Geb, Thoth, and Hathor. The number of deities is quite high for a royalmonument, where the king is usually represented before one god or a triad of

gods.

The peculiarity of this figuration drew the attention of Philippe Derchain

who explained the scene as being allegoricat.6 He thought that the series of

deities before the king could be divided in two groups? Osiris, Horus, Isis.

Nephthys, Min and Iunmutef formed the first one. In Derchain's opinion, the

presence of Min and Iunmutef could be explained by their representing the

double function which legitimizes the king ("la force virile du pere et J'appui

que Je fils doit sa mere B) and not, as seems more probable, because they are

gods worshipped in the Thinite nomos. Following again Derchain's theory, the

second group of gods is differentiated from the first one because each god lays

a hand on the shoulder of the one preceding him. Nevertheless. carefully

observing the scene, one realizes that the position of the deities is organized in

relation to the narrow figurative space, and does not have the value of

differentiating the two groups. On the other hand, the interpretation given by

Derchain for each single deity of the second group is not consistent at all: the

sequence of Re-Horakhty, Shu and Geb est d 'ordre cosmique. Elle signifie Ja

s This .kind of decoration seems to be typical of the stelae in Abydos. See, i.e.,the stela of the Second Hittite Marriage of Ramesses II (K .A. Kitchen - G.A.Gaballa. Ramesside Varia II: ZAS. 96 [1969], tavv . II-III) .

6 Ph . Derchain. Comment les Egyptiens ecrivaient un traite de la royaute:

BSFE. 87 -88 (mars et mai 1980), pp . 14 - 17.

7 L. - A. Christophe (Onouris et Ramses IV: MDAIK. 15 [1957]. p. 36) divides the

series of deities into three groups. according to the places where each of

them was worshipped

8 Derchain: BSFE . 87 - 88 (mars et mai 1980), p. 15 .

194



A Stela of Ramesses IV from Abydos

continuite du regne ; Thoth is "Ie Fonctionnaire qui sait tout ecrire and Hathor

represents Je plaisir que le createur eprouve a creer .9 This interpretation

does not derive from elements endogenous to the figuration, but from a

preconceived theory resulting from the reading of the text and aimed at

pointing out the function of the st ela as plaidoyer de celui qui se pretend

J'heritier Jegitime .lO Although this is correct, it canno t be inferred only from

the scene , the meaning of which is quite different . Derchain is wrong in

exp laining the presence of every single god choosing, each time, a single

different contextua l se lection and using encyclopaedic competencies possessed

only by an "intelligent reader with the knowledge of a XXth century

Egyptologist. To give ju st one example, the presence of Hathor on the scene can

be in terpreted as being worshipped in Abydos, without hav ing recourse toexplanations involving extra -contextual connotations.ll

Knowing the "model reader" to whom the stela is addressed is the only way

of understanding the meaning of the scene . As the identity of the "actual

reader" of the stela mainly depends on the place where it was set, we can

safely assume that he could be any inhabitant of Abydos. Further, the scene

and the text re ly upon tw o different kinds of language in order to convey their

messages. The scene is based on figuration and it can be read without the need

of literacy: the tex t, on the contrary , requires a process of learning. This creates

a differentiation in the content of the message (generic vs. specific), and in the

iden tity of the "model reader" (illiterate vs . literate ). On the basis of theseassumptions we can affirm that the scene is understandable to everyone living

in th e Abydos cultural milie u, whereas the text is understandable only to

literate people and, for th is reason, belonging to the elite.

In this stela, the scene sh ows the king before a large numb er of gods. The

"mode l reader" is able to recognize each deity by the fact that every one of

them is worshipped in the area of Abydos and Thinis. For him , the simp le

figurative message conveyed by the scene, is that the king is the only human

9 Derchain: BSFE, 87 -88 ( mars et mai 1980), p. 16.

o Derchain: BSFE, 87 -88 (mars et mai 1980). p. 14.

11 The cult of Hathor is attested in Abydos at least from the Midd le Kingdom,when some funerary stelae of citizens (Cairo Museum, CG 20219, 20397,

20713, 20748) mention Hathor "mistress of the High House" (l jw.t -l j r nb.t

pr - qs), maybe a worshipping place of the goddess. In these documents

Hathor is connected to Osiris (Cairo Museum, CG 20219, 20713) and Min

(Cairo Museum , CG 20397, 20748 ). For a discussion of the role played by

the cult of Hathor in Abydos, see ]. Spiegel, Die Gotter vom Abydos (GOFIV.l ), Wiesbaden 1973, pp. 64 -65.

195



F. Tiradritti

being able to act as intermediary with the divine world. This justifies the

existence and the importance of the king himself as guarantor of the cosmicorder .

For a literate .. model reader . the series of gods says something more. He can

recognize the twelve gods as an Ennead, a conclave representing all the gods of

Egypt .12 He can also go further, interpreting the Ennead as a divine tribunal ; in

fact, such is its main function.13 This last reading is also supported by the fact

that Ramesses IV is depicted offering justice to the gods. A comment on the

scene. pointing to this interpretation , can also be found in the text itself: mk wl

nls sbr-1 mb s Q .Q.m•k .Qnc r/SrHt cs.t lmy bt•k Lol I am declaring my conduct

before Your Majesty and the Great Tribunal following you . .l-4

Thus it seems that the scene of this stela has been conceived in order to give

two different messages:

1 the simplest is that the king is necessary to maintain the cosmic order;

2 the most important from the propaganda point of view, is that Ramesses

IV intentionally presents himself before a divine tribunal offering justice.

12 The text is full of references to the Ennead . W. Barta also (Untersuchungenzum Gotterkreis der Neunheit [MAS 28], Mlinchen-Berlin 1973 , p. 60)

explains the twelve gods before Ramesses IV in such a way . t is difficult to

understand why Christophe (MDAIK, 15 [19571. p. 36) and Derchain (BSFE,87-88 [mars et mai 1980], pp . 14 - 17) did not follow that interpretationinstead of analysing the deities as two or three different groups . Further , asthe Ennead is the specific one of Abydos, the absence of Amun remarked by

Peden (The Reign, p. 36) is not astonishing at all.

13 See Barta , MAS 28, pp. 31 - 35 and H. Brunner, s.v ..NeunheiC (LA IV),

Wiesbaden 1982, cc. 476 - 477.

H (1. 12). The translation of s/)r as ..conduct"" (R.O. Faulkner , A Concise

Dictionary of Middle Egyptian, Oxford 1962, p. 242.3) is authorized by the

context itself. Korostovtsev (BI FAO , 45 [19471. p. 126: ..c'est moi qui revele

mes desseins devant Ta Majeste et (devant) le grand Conseil qui est

derriere toi. . ) and Peden (Doc. Mundi Aegyp. 3, p. 16 3 and The Reign, p. 96

··see, it is I who announce my plan(s) before Your Majesty, together with

the Great Tribunal accompanying you .. ) seem not to take into account thenuance of the judgement and, in that way, their traslations fail to indicate

the connection between scene and tex t existing here. Also Derchain (BS FE ,87-88 [mars et mai 1980], p. 15) reports this sentence without perceiving

the ties between writing and image .

196




This second theme is resumed and developed in the text of the stela.

Thesimilarities shared by

the central part of thetext with

the so-called

"Declaration of Innocence" of Chapter 12 5 of the Book of the Dead have already

been stressed .1s But the comparison with the Book of the Dead - especially with

Chapter 12 5 - is more striking and involves the whole text on the stela.

The text of Ramesses IV is conceived as a speech of the king to no explicit

addressee. At the beginning, the king states he read some documents stored in

the House of Life looking for "his father, his lord . At the end of his research,

the king gives a description of the god he found.l6 The god is compared to the

moon. to the flood and it is stated that he is the king of the Netherworld.

This part of the text can be compared with the beginning of Chapte r 12 5,

where the dead states he knows the god ("I know you. I know your name" l7).Evidently, as the text of Ramesses IV is a royal one, the topic is developed in a

quite different way from the funerary composition. The knowledge of the god

is preceded by the search for him. a typical rhetorical means used in the royal

compositions to emphasize the greatness of the king.IS In this case the accuracy

in the search for the god is demonstrated by the large space attributed to the

description of the search itself. The unusual developmen t of the passage serves

the purpose of emphasizing the superiority of the king (who is able to read the

documents of Thoth in the House of Life) and the superiority of the god

(recognized as being the most mysterious and the oldest).19

IS See, i.e., Donadoni, Testi religiosi, p. 434 . Another ste la of Ramesses IV

("Great Stela for Osiris for length of Reign, Year 4 , Abydos") contains a

passage directly following the form of the "Declaration of innocence" (KRI

VI, 18, 7 - 15).

16 Nowhere does the text clearly state the identity of the god. The addresses of

the king to the god are always made by epithets It- nb -1 I. 2, 12 , ,flm -k I.

[ 4], 8. 11. 12) or by the pronoun of I I sing. m. This feature matches the very

nature of Osiris whose name has to be secret . That the monument is

dedicated to him is stated only at the very end of the text : lr.n-f m mnw-f

n It wslr .(Jnty-lmnt.t Mr cg flks g.t I. 35) . The non -explicit addressee led

Piehl ZAS. 23 [18851. pp . 18-19 to explain the first part of the text as an

hymn dedicated to Thoth.

17 R. Lepsius. Das Todtenbuch der Agypter nach dem hieroglyphischen

Papyrus in Turin, Leipzig 1842, pl. XLVI,l.

18 A knowledge of the god deriving from an act of learning of the king is to be

found in "The Invocation to the Nile", written on ste lae of Sety I. Ramesses

II. Merenptah and Ramesses III in West Silsila (KRI I. 89. 13 - 16).

19 /p .n-1 m lb -l l t-1 nb-1 [m mgs.tlgn.wt] n.t g,flwty my pr- 'nb bw ws,fl-1lmy.w r -gr.w r tm dgs st r .fl.fly wr .w r ngs.w m Mr.w ntr .wt gm.n-1 [.Qm-k]

197



F. Tiradritti

At this point. there is a change in the tex t: Ramesses IV claims to present

himsel f before the divine tribunal and pronounces a short preamble w here heintroduces a Declaration of Innocence developed around the themes of

legitimacy and correct behaviour towards the god. These topics are very

different from those of the funerary literature for they derive completely, once

more, from the royal rhetorical speech.

As in Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead all the arguments in the

Declaration of Innocence of the stela of Ramesses IV are expressed by means of

negative sentences. As for the meaning, the tex t of the stela, based on

propagandistic topics, can be roughly divided into three sections:20 in the first

the king reaffirms his legitimacy (1. 15 • KRI VI. 23, 8 -9); in the second he

states he has not committed any evil against the gods (11. 15 - 18 • KRI VI. 23,9 -14), and in the third one he goes back to the sub ject of legitimacy (11. 18 - 9

KRI VI. 23, 14- 15 .

In the first section , legitimacy is affirmed by the sentences tl bw osf-1 it-i

bw §nc-1 mw.t - I I .have not denied my father and I have not rejected my

mother". On the contrary, the following sentence ( = : : : ± ~ J g . , ~ Q ~ seems

to change the topic of the text. But that is only apparently true .

Strangely enough the word Hapy is followed by the hieroglyphic sign

representing the king ( 1 instead of the determinative for the god ( fJ ).21 In

m psg.t tmm .t(l) lJpr.w-k nb §t5.w r•st "I recognized with my thought my

father. my Lord [in the book/annals) of Thoth which are in the House ofLife. I ha ve not neglected what is in them so as to complete their

co nsultation to look for the great and the lesser among the gods and the

goddesses. I found [Your Majesty) among the entire Ennead, your forms, oLord, being more mysterious than their ones (11. 2 -4 • KRI VI. 22, 4-7). The

t r a n ~ l a t i o n is mine and partially differs from the others given until now .

20 In the Stela of the Year 4. where another Declaration of Innocence appears,

an exac t division into topics cannot be detected, though "legitimacy" and

"correct behaviour towards the gods" are the central themes of the speech.

21 It could be interpreted as a scribal oversight. In 1 12 • KRI VI. 23 ,5) one

finds i t ~ ttl instead of H ~ ~ an d , in lw rdl.n · n•k nry etc. (1. 23 • KRI VI.2 4,8 , the suffix pronoun I sing., usually written t ]. appears as Such

exchanges of signs seem to be derived from a phenomenon of attraction: in

fact the oversight of the lapicide intervenes in points of the text where the

signs of the king (1. 12) or that of the god (l. 23) recur many times. This also

could be the case of the sentence here considered . However it is verystrange to find such an error in a place where it gives a further meaning to

the text. In support of the hypothesis that the sign of the king at the end of

the word .(l'py has to be considered here a choice and not an oversight of

198




this case the sign can be explained as the lst singular suffix pronoun rather

than a determinative. Thus the sentence can be read as nn /)sf-l l)cpy•l iJd·f l m··1 have not diverted my inundation from where it flows ··. In that way the

pre sence of the suffix pronoun creates a sentence that , in order to be

unders tood, need s a metaphorical read ing.22

In a royal context, as is the case of the stela of Ram ses IV , Nile·· and

inundation·· are frequently employed to refer metaphorically to the king and

to kingship.23 The terms can be connected to each other beca use all of them are

necessary to the ex istence of Egypt. That the Nile and the inundation are

necessary is univer sa lly true ; as for the king and kingship, their necessity is

affirme d in royal text s and the related literature. In this peculiar case ,

speaking about ··my inundation·· can be interpreted as the will of the writer torefer not to a general kingship but rather to a specific one, that is to say, the

kingship directely deriving from the family. Further the flowing of water is

frequently used in Egyptian li tera ture to mean a good situation, a correct

the sc ribe , another occurence of the same word can be brought forward (1. 7- KRI VI, 22 .12 ). The or thography is quite different and can also correspond

to a different meaning: in 1. 7 ( l r J ) it can refer to the actual god and

can be translated as Nile ··; while in 1. 15 ( c : : r ) it can refer rather to the

man ifestation of the god and can be transla ted as inundation ··.

Furthermore , as the text is certainly a copy from a hieratic original, wherethe sign of the god is we ll differen tiated from that of the king, it is hard to

imagine confusion occurring. Another orthography of l)cpy ~ ~ ~ • 132 - KRI VI, 25.4 ) seems to be derived from the for mer two. In this case it

can be translated as Nile-floods··or Nile-inundations·· (see also Peden , Doc.

Mundi Aegypt. 3, p. 171 and The Reign, p. 100 .

22 In Ch ap ter 125 of the Book of the Dead a very similar sentence can be

fo und : ....... ... -- ~ ~ Q ~ · have not diverted the water in its season··

(Lepsiu s. Todtenbuch, pl. XLVI. 10 . The substitution of ··w ater ·· for

inund ation ·· (generic vs . specific) can be attributed to the wr iter "s intention

of adding a further meaning to the passage and supports a metaphoricalreading.

23 For discussions on the metaphorical value of Nile ·· and inunda tion ·· like

king an d kings hip , see H. Grapow , Die Bildlichen A usdrucke des

Agy ptischen . Vom Denken und Dichtern einer altorientalischen Sprache,

Leipzig 1924, pp . 6 1-62 and F. Haikal, L ·eau dans Jes metaphores de J £gypte

ancienne : B. Menu (ed .), Les problemes institutionnels de J eau en £gypte

ancienne et dans J"antiquite mediterraneenne, CoJJoque AIDEA, Vogue 1992

(B dE CX), Le Ca ire 1994, p. 207.

199



F. Tiradritti

development of affairs.24 In this frame, the sentence ··1 have not diverted my

Inundation·· takes the value of reaffirming the legitimacy of the king: he keeps

maintaining the function of the kingship because this comes to him , flowing

from his father. In such a way the text of Ramesses IV resumes the topic of

the two previous sentences, bringing it to a conclusion.

Having accepted the metaphorical reading of this sentence we could draw

o ur attention to the third section, going back again to the topic of legitimacy.

This time Ramesses IV says: bw tkn· i s Q r ns.t i t • f rb.kwi bw.t n•k is pw ··I

have not attacked someone on the throne of his father , because I know that it

is an abomination to you·· (1. 18 KRI VI, 23, 14 - 15). The following sentence

runs as nn 'd.n• l bd.t m ktt=st mst.t tp .Qsbw-sn '' I have no cut barley while it

was little and the mst.t- plant25 before it was counted'' (1. 18 - 19 • KRI VI. 23,

15 ). In this case also. it seems that the sentence has nothing to do with the

context . But a metaphorical reading is possible based on the topic of legitimacy:

Ramesses IV states that he waited for harvest time before picking the fruits:

that is to say that he did not seize power before the time had come for him.

The idea expressed in th is sentence finds its parallel in the one preceding it.

Both are built around the theme of immaturity ( the heir and the fruit) and

co lour the topic of legitimacy giving a more specific meaning to the words of

Ramesses IV: he denies seizing the throne from him who was the legitimate

heir .

Thus the two affirmations of legitimacy open and close the Declaration of

Innocence that , from the semantic point of view, is to be considered as

composed as a chiasmus (legitimacy - correct behaviour towards the gods -

24 Haikal, BdE CX. pp. 205 -206. The deviation and the barrage of the

inundation and the Nile, on the contrary, are usually employed to describe

an ex tr emely critical situation. Some examples of such descriptions are

briefly discussed in R.A. Caminos, A Tale of Woe. From a Hieratic Papyrus in

the A.S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moskow, Oxford 1977, p. 51 . In

'The Instruction of the King Amenemhat I to His Son Sesos tris r·. the

troub les in royal succession, deriving from the plot against the king , are

described as an interruption of the water canalisation (see N. Grimal. Le

sage, J'eau et Je roi: B. Menu (ed.), Les problemes institutionnels de reau en

Egypte ancienne et dans rantiquite mediterraneenne, Colloque AIDEA.

Vogue 1992 [BdE CX] , Le Caire 1994 . p. 202).

25 Peden (Doc. Mundi Aegypt . 3. p. 165 and The Reign, p. 97) transaltes mst.t

as "mandrakes". But the identification with the Calatropis procera proposed

by Daumas (Note sur la plante MAT}ET: BIFAO, 56 [19571. pp . 59 -64) seems

more correct. See also D. Meeks. Annee Lexicographique. Egypte ancienne,

Paris 1981. p. 154 [n. 78.1648].

200



A Stela of Ramesses IV fro m Abydos

legitim acy). The stylistic coherence of the passage is to be fo und al so in the

choice of the ter ms on which the two methaphors are built. In fact .(lcpy andm5[.t occur in a si milar context. once again in funerary litera ture : ink .(lcpy imy

rnp .t - f i l .n i min m t5-nl r iw mss.n-i idb m5I. t "I am the Nile who is in his

year . I have come here from the Land of the God after having seen the bank of

the mst.t -pl an t "26 sta tes the Spell 317 of the Coffin Texts . This coincidence

could be fortuitous but one cannot dismiss the possibility that it derives from a

definite will of the tex t writer .

The references to the Book of the Dead and the Coffin Texts. the composition

in chiasmus and the use of the metaphor make the Declaration of Innocence in

the s te la of Ramesses IV a very elaborate piece of literature. f ully appreciable

only by learned people. Since the stele is in Abydos. this is not surprising. t ispossible that the text has been composed in the local House of Life and that. as

possible reader. i t tak es into account also the personnel of th is learned

is titution. being able to catch the little nuances of me aning and sty le too.

However, all these textual artifices are but secondary to the transmission and

comprehension of the main message and represent just an enrichmen t to the

tex t.

The similar it ies be tween the st ela and Chapter 125 do not stop here. The

fo llow ing invocations to each god of the Ennead depic te d in the scene27 find a

parallel in the in vocations to the for ty -two gods of the divin e tribunal of the

Book of the Dead. thus giving another formal connection between the two texts .

As for the content . in Ch apter 125 the dead declares again his innocence before

every god; in the stela of Ramesses IV. the king states he perfor med some

peculiar rite for each god.

From thi s point on. the two texts diverge in for m and content. The stela of

Ramesses IV continues and ends with a prayer where the king proclaims all

the good deeds he ha s done and asks for the protection of the gods upon him

and his offspring.

26 A. De Buck. The Egyptian Coffin Texts IV : Texts of Spells 268 - 35 4 (OIPLXV I1 , Chicago 19 51 . 120g - 121 c. My translation differs f rom th at given by

Faulkner (The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts. Vol. I. Warminster 1978, p.244 ). I took into account the version in S lP that seems to me the morecorrec t and I chose to traslate the m as a preposition of motion rather than

of predication. Although the read ing of Faulkner cannot be rejec ted (on the

basis of S 1C). in my op in ion. it is better to understand the passage as adescription of the inundation coming from the south.

27 Tefnu t is here replaced by Sekhmet.

201



F. Tiradritti

But also the texts on the two margins of the ste la recall the funerary

literature. They are very similar to the solar hymns appearing in the Book ofthe Dead and in the Theban tombs of the New Kingdom. t is noteworthy that

in the post - Amarna period the hymns in the tombs are dedicated to Re

(Sonnenaufgang) and Osiris (Sonnenunt ergang)28 like the texts in the

monument of Ramesses IV. However, after the address to the gods and some

common themes , the texts of the margins differ completely from the solar

hymns and they end in a prayer where the king asks the god for a long life .

Conclusion

The Abydos larger stela of Ramesses IV has no parallel in contemporary

documents and in other royal stelae erected at Abydos before the XXth

dynasty. The stela can be related to the typical method of propaganda of the

end of the New Kingdom, when the royal administration sends messages in a

way which comes up to the reader 's expectations. Such a rethorical behavior is

mainly detectable in documents found in the Theban area where it is possible

to single out a realistic picture of the linguistical identity of the inhabitants, as

to differentiate various addressees. So the topics and the language of the texts

are usually used to point to a peculiar category of people . The most striking

examp le is represented by the stela carved by Ramesses J29 in the rock

shrine of Mertseger at Deir el-Medina. In that case, the language is the same

attested by the writing documents found among the ruins of the work men

village. And the subject of the text is an answer to the worries of the workmen

about the dangerous proximity of fore ign tribes. The form of the text is very

schematic and repe titive as to make the text easier to understand. All these

rethorica l means work together to carry ou t a se lection among the possible

addressees and give more effectiveness to the message .

In Abydos , the use of a textual form reflecting the Book of the Dead is a very

effective means of better attaining a high number of literate readers, that are

identifiable with the people living in the town and frequenting the necropolis

28 J. Ass mann , Sonnenhymnen in Thebanischen Gr;ibern. Band 1. (T heben 1).

Mainz am Rhein 1983: p. xv. In the tombs of the previous period Atum

appears instead of Osiris . Usually, the hymn dedicated to Re is to the left of

the entrance or on the southern stela , whereas the hymn dedicated to Atum

- or Osiris - is to the right or on the northern stela.

29 KRI V, 90 -91.

202




and the places of worship. In this stela the royal speech becomes mimetic and

t bends to the rules dictated by the funerary literature. fo llow ing the form andhandling the themes of the more we ll -known and w ide spread composit ions of

the Egyptian f unerary li tera ture .

The tex t and the scene concur in presenting Ramesses IV su bmitted to

ju dgment before a div ine tribunal where he asserts hi s legitimacy in different

ways. This proves tha t the ste la belongs to a period of the re ign when there

was the need to s tress this topic and that cannot be mu ch after the death of

Ram esses III. The almost complete absence of the leg itimacy theme in the

l atter doc um ents of the reign of Ramesses IV could also suppor t this

hypo th esis.30

30 Peden (Doc. Mundi Aegyp t. 3. p. 159 and The Re ign. p. 35) has tentative ly

dated th is st e la to the year 4 of Ramesses IV. In my opinion. this date is too

far from the dea th of Ramesses III to be right. The prenomen .Qks- ms<.t - r<

stp -n - lmn. written under the s un -disk in the scene. does not prove that themonument was written after the second year of the re ign because t is

attested also in year 1 (Ostracon Cairo Musem CG 25651: see j. Cerny ,

Catalogue General des Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire. N.os

25501 - 25832: Ostraca hieratiques. Tomes I et II. Le Caire 1935. pp . 49 . 70•

and Pl. LXV 1). Furthermore . the st e la of year 4 from Abydos is distant - in

the l anguage, the com position and the themes - from the one here

considered. This makes the possibility that the two documents are to be

considered as contemporary very unlikely.

203

f. tiradritti, "i have not diverted my inundation". legitimacy and the book of the dead...

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