The Akh-menu of Thutmosis III at Karnak. The Sokarian Rooms¹

Julie Masquelier-Loorius

Tura limestone, exploited 15km south of present-day Cairo, has been extensively used in the architecture of the Old Kingdom, notably for the casing of pyramids and visible parts of temples. By contrast, other parts of contemporary monuments were built in local limestone, exploited in quarries close to the construction sites. Tura limestone is regarded as a ‘prestige’ material, most probably because its fine-grained texture allowed the execution of finely detailed reliefs, and gave the building a plain white, shining appearance. A similar stone procurement/use pattern prevailed at Thebes in the 11th Dynasty, with building stone (sandstone) and fine-grained limestone coming from a nearby upstream quarry (Dababiya), used in visible parts of the monuments. Northern Tura limestone makes its first appearance in Thebes in the reign of Amenemhat I. The chronology of the monuments of this king in the Theban area is unfortunately poorly constrained, but the use of Tura limestone blocks is evidenced at all sites where the king built (or rebuilt) temples: Tod, Armant, Dendera and Coptos, together with Dababiya limestone. Later on, Senwosret I predominantly used Tura limestone at Karnak. The specificity of Amenemhat I is that the king used both stones, from Dababiya and Tura. The reason why he did so is questioned in this paper. Constraints arising from procurement or contrasted geotechnical behaviour are ruled out, as the Dababiya quarry was to provide massive quantities of stone until the mid 18th Dynasty, and Tura and Dababiya limestones are both used for Amenemhat’s monuments, in a wholly similar way, with strongly oversized blocks. It rather seems that the introduction of Tura limestone in Theban architecture results from a mix of political and religious reasons. Politically, the use of Tura limestone helped anchor the new dynasty, just founded by Amenemhat I, in the continuity of the great rulers and builders of the Old Kingdom, and helped create, through the achievement of an ambitious architectural programme, a strong architectural link between the north and south, representing the union of the two lands. In the religious sphere, too, there was an obvious ‘mirror effect’ between northern and southern Heliopolis. This parallelism was, in a typically Egyptian way, materialized by the use of a same ‘prestige’ stone at both locations. As this was unlikely to be noticed at first glance, the kings took care to state that they used Tura limestone in explicit texts carved on Theban monuments. If in the Middle Kingdom there is an agreement between texts and the material used then this is no longer true in the New Kingdom. However, it remains important to state that the temple is built in the ‘beautiful white stone of Anu’, even though the stone comes from a nearby quarry.

The article deals with the problem of interpreting the Egyptian temple space and its correlation with the festive scenes depicted in the temple area. The author considers the relief scenes of the Opet Festival and the Festival of Hathor presented in the temples of Deir el-Bahari and Karnak. It will be shown that the symbolic meaning of the temple space could be extrapolated on the graphic program of the festival and thus, on its ritual program. The main symbolic idea of the festivals studied was the night subterranean travel of the sun-god and the pharaoh, who passed trough the stages of renewal, in order to ressurect on the eastern horizon or (in the case of the pharaoh) arrive to the north - the place of the circumpolar stars.

The Egyptian Museum of Florence, in collaboration with the University of Florence, hosted the Eleventh International Congress of Egyptologists which took place from 23rd to 30th August 2015, under the patronage of the IAE-International Association of Egyptologists. This volume publishes 136 papers and posters presented during the Congress. Topics discussed here range from archaeology, religion, philology, mummy investigations and archaeometry to history, offering an up-to-date account of research in these fields.

P RO C E E DI N G S OF T H E X I Maria Cristina Guidotti Gloria Rosati and INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EGYPTOLOGISTS (eds) The Egyptian Museum of Florence, in collaboration with the University of Florence, hosted the Eleventh International Congress of Egyptologists which took place from 23rd to 30th August 2015, under the patronage of the IAE – International Association F l o r e n c e , I t a l y 23 - 30 A u g u s t 2 0 1 5 of Egyptologists. This volume publishes 136 papers and posters presented during the Congress. Topics MUSEO EGIZIO FIRENZE discussed here range from archaeology, religion, philology, mummy investigations Florence Egyptian Museum Proceedings of the XI International Congress of Egyptologists and archaeometry to history, offering an up-to-date account of research in these fields. Gloria Rosati is Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Florence, Department of History, Geography, Archaeology, Fine and Performing Arts. Her research topics are Middle Kingdom history and art, as well as funerary texts and rituals. Gloria has been working in Egypt, at El-Sheikh Abadah / Antinoupolis, in edited by both Roman town and at necropoleis, in the temple of Ramesses II, and in the Theban necropolis, Asasif. Gloria Rosati and Maria Cristina Guidotti Maria Cristina Guidotti is the Director of the Florence Egyptian Museum, and is a specialist in Egyptian pottery from the Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman periods. In her publications she studied material from the Florence collections, from excavations at Saqqara, from the funerary temple of Thutmosis IV-western Thebes, and from the Roman town of Antinoupolis. Archaeopress Archaeopress Egyptology 19 ICE XI cover.indd 1 26/09/2017 16:51:50 CAMNES Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies Proceedings of the XI International Congress of Egyptologists Florence Egyptian Museum Florence, 23-30 August 2015 edited by Gloria Rosati and Maria Cristina Guidotti Archaeopress Egyptology 19 Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Gordon House 276 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978 1 78491 600 8 ISBN 978 1 78491 601 5 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the authors 2017 Cover: Giuseppe Angelelli, The French-Tuscan Expedition to Egypt (1828-29). 1830. Oil on wood, 230 x 347cm. Florence, Egyptian Museum. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. Printed in England by Oxuniprint, Oxford This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Contents XI International Congress of Egyptologists�� x Preface�� xiii Papers Development of Old Kingdom pottery: three cases studies (‘Cemetery of the Workers’, Heit el-Ghurab and the Khentkawes Town)��1 Sherif M. Abdelmoniem Of Min and moon – cosmological concepts in the Temple of Athribis (Upper Egypt)��7 Victoria Altmann-Wendling Les relations entre l’horloge stellaire diagonale et le corpus des Textes des Sarcophages dans le sarcophage intérieur de Mésehti : le temps et les décans��14 Bernard Arquier The Qubbet el-Hawa casting moulds – Late Period bronze working at the First Cataract��19 Johannes Auenmüller Overlapping and contradictory narratives in Ancient Egyptian visual programs��26 Jennifer Miyuki Babcock Sāmānu as a human disease in Mesopotamia and Egypt��29 Susanne Beck The pyramid as a journey – cultic encounters between father and son in the Pyramid of Pepy I��35 Nils Billing The Ancient Egyptian dialects in light of the Greek transcriptions of Egyptian anthroponyms��41 Ana Isabel Blasco Torres Dalla sabbia alla teca: esempi di interventi conservativi eseguiti su alcuni papiri del Museo Egizio di Firenze��46 Paola Boffula Alimeni New evidence on the king’s son Intefmose from Dra Abu el-Naga: a preliminary report��53 Francisco L. Borrego Gallardo The Merenptah Sarcophagi restoration project��59 Edwin C. Brock and Lyla Pinch Brock Egyptian names and networks in Trismegistos (800 BC – AD 800)��64 Yanne Broux The Ptolemaic dedication of Archepolis in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina: materiality and text��69 Patricia A. Butz Bernard V. Bothmer and Ptolemaic sculpture: papers on Ptolemaic art from his archives held at the Università degli Studi di Milano��75 Giorgia Cafici The Tell el-Maskhuta Project ��81 Giuseppina Capriotti Vittozzi and Andrea Angelini Silence in the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant: themes and problems��87 Ilaria Cariddi Progetto Butehamon. Prospettive e ricerche nella necropoli tebana��92 Giacomo Cavillier Notes on the inscribed Old and Middle Kingdom coffins in the Egyptian Turin Museum�� 103 Emanuele M. Ciampini i Rethinking Egyptian animal worship (c. 3000 BC – c. 300 AD): towards a historical-religious perspective�� 107 Angelo Colonna Before and after the Temple: the long-lived necropolis in the area of the Temple of Millions of Years of Amenhotep II – Western Thebes��112 Anna Consonni, Tommaso Quirino and Angelo Sesana Papyri with the Ritual of the Opening of the Mouth in the Egyptian Museum in Turin�� 120 Federico Contardi Notes for a building history of the temple of Ramesses II at Antinoe. The architectural investigation�� 124 Michele Coppola Animal mummies in South African collections�� 131 Izak Cornelius, Salima Ikram, Ruhan Slabbert, Liani C. Swanepoel, Frank Teichert and Tiffany van Zyl Nouvelle lecture d’une scène de la théogamie d’Hatshepsout�� 137 Alice Coyette Worship and places of worship in the Greco-Roman town at Marina El-Alamein�� 140 Grażyna Bąkowska-Czerner and Rafał Czerner Middle Kingdom coffin of Khnum from the National Museum of Warsaw�� 148 Dorota Czerwik Non-destructive analysis on 11 Egyptian blue faience tiles from the 2nd and 3rd Dynasties�� 154 Joseph Davidovits and Frédéric Davidovits Scenes from the Amduat on the funerary coffins and sarcophagi of the 21st Dynasty�� 159 Cássio de Araújo Duarte Votive pottery deposits found by the Spanish Mission at Dra Abu el-Naga�� 166 Elena de Gregorio The building activity of Pinudjem I at Thebes�� 172 Gabriella Dembitz The ‘Book of Going Forth by Day’ in the funerary chamber of Djehuty (TT 11): past, present, and future�� 177 Lucía Díaz-Iglesias Llanos The pre-Egyptological concept of Egypt as a challenge for Egyptology and the efforts to establish a research community ��184 Florian Ebeling The Gebelein Archaeological Project, 2013–2016�� 188 Wojciech Ejsmond Trois nouvelles harpes découvertes à Thèbes ouest: Quel apport pour l’égyptologie ?�� 192 Sibylle Emerit The ‘pantheistic’ deities. Report from research on iconography and role of polymorphic deities�� 198 Grzegorz First Études sur le cadre de vie d’une association religieuse dans l’Égypte gréco-romaine : l’exemple de Touna el-Gebel�� 203 Mélanie C. Flossmann-Schütze Forme di imitazione egizia nella decorazione architettonica di Nea Paphos�� 209 Leonardo Fuduli Ahmose-Sapair in Dra Abu el-Naga: old and new evidence�� 215 José M. Galán The Moon god Iah in ancient Egyptian religion�� 222 Gudelia García-Fernández Expression of loyalty to the king – A socio-cultural analysis of basilophoric personal names dating to the Old and Middle Kingdoms ��228 Christina Geisen ii Love and gold in cross-cultural discourse in the Amarna letters�� 233 Graciela Gestoso Singer Some unpublished inscriptions from Quarry P at Hatnub�� 237 Yannis Gourdon and Roland Enmarch Names of eye parts in different text genres: a contribution to technical language in ancient Egypt�� 242 Nadine Gräßler The transformation of Theban Tomb 39 (TT39). A contribution from a conservation viewpoint in terms of its history after dynastic occupation �� 247 Dulce María Grimaldi and Patricia Meehan The complete corpus of viticulture and winemaking scenes from the ancient Egyptian private tombs�� 254 Maria Rosa Guasch-Jané, Sofia Fonseca and Mahmoud Ibrahim Des étoiles et des hommes : peurs, désirs, offrandes et prières�� 260 Nadine Guilhou Cracking a code: deciphering the marks of the royal necropolis workmen of the New Kingdom�� 266 Ben Haring The Egyptian Dionysus: Osiris and the development of theater in Ancient Egypt�� 271 Allison Hedges The Abydos Dynasty: an osteoarchaeological examination of human remains from the SIP royal cemetery�� 276 Jane A. Hill, Maria A. Rosado and Joseph Wegner You up – I down: orientational metaphors concerning ancient Egyptian Kingship in royal iconography and inscriptions��283 Shih-Wei Hsu Image processing. Elaboration and manipulation of the human figure in the Pyramid Texts�� 287 Francesca Iannarilli Hieroglyphic inscriptions on precious objects: some notes on the correlation between text and support�� 291 Agnese Iob Predynastic precursors to the Festival of Drunkenness: beer, climate change, cow-goddesses, and the ideology of kingship��296 Victoria Jensen Crowdsourcing in Egyptology – images and annotations of Middle Kingdom private tombs�� 303 Peter Kalchgruber and Lubica Hudáková ‘To build a temple in the beautiful white stone of Anu’. The use of Tura limestone in Theban architecture�� 308 Christina Karlshausen and Thierry De Putter The motif of the kiosk during the first half of the 18th dynasty�� 313 Edyta Kopp A heritage in peril: the threat to Egypt’s urban archaeological sites�� 318 Peter Lacovara Le sḏm.f circonstanciel. Une forme verbale rare en néo-égyptien littéraire�� 320 Vincent Pierre-Michel Laisney Amduat type papyri in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow�� 325 Nika Lavrentyeva Carving out identities in the Egyptian desert: self-presentation styles adopted by the ancient travelers of Kharga Oasis��328 Nikolaos Lazaridis Ya-t-il une « fabrique d’albâtre » et un atelier de tissage au Ramesseum ?�� 333 Guy Lecuyot iii Deux nouvelles ‘Recommandations aux prêtresʼ datées de Ptolémée X Alexandre Ier�� 339 Nicolas Leroux Scenes representing temple rituals on some 21st Dynasty coffins�� 345 Éva Liptay Building B, a domestic construction at Tell el-Ghaba, North Sinai �� 351 Silvia Lupo, Eduardo Crivelli Montero, Claudia Kohen and Eva Calomino The Montecelio Obelisk in Rome��357 Lise Manniche The role of e-learning in Egyptology: ‘Hieroglyphs: Step-by-Step’ website as a case study�� 362 Ahmed Mansour and Azza Ezzat The function and importance of some special categories of stars in the Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, 1: AxAx- and iAd-stars ��368 Alicia Maravelia Chapel of the tomb belonging to Amenhotep III’s Vizier, Amenhotep Huy. Asasif Tomb No. 28, Luxor-West Bank. Excavation results: ‘Vizier Amenhotep Huy Project’ (2009–2014) �� 377 Francisco J. Martín-Valentín and Teresa Bedman Objets découverts dans des tombes thébaines situées sous le Temple de Millions d’Années de Thoutmosis III à l’ouest de Louxor��384 Javier Martínez Babón Fish offerings found in Area 32 of the archaeological site of Oxyrhynchus (El-Bahnasa, Egypt)�� 389 Maite Mascort Roca and Esther Pons Mellado The Akh-menu of Thutmosis III at Karnak. The Sokarian Rooms�� 394 Julie Masquelier-Loorius The 13th Dynasty at Abydos: a royal tomb and its context�� 399 Dawn McCormack The transmission of the Book of the Twelve Caverns�� 405 Daniel M. Méndez Rodríguez A new reading of Problem No. 53 in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. The limits of proportionality�� 410 Marianne Michel The ang-morphs in Coptic and their grammaticalization in Later Egyptian�� 416 So Miyagawa ‘Augmented Reality’ technology and the dissemination of historical graffiti in the Temple of Debod�� 422 Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo, Alfonso Martín Flores, Jorge Martín Gutiérrez, Cristóbal Ruiz Medina, Lucía Díaz-Iglesias Llanos, Fernando Guerra-Librero Fernández, Daniel Miguel Méndez Rodríguez, Luis Navarrete Ruiz, Manuel Rivas Fernández and Ovidia Soto Martín The Min Project. First working seasons on the unpublished Tomb of Min (TT109) and Tomb Kampp -327-: the Tomb of May and a replica of the Tomb of Osiris�� 427 Irene Morfini and Milagros Álvarez Sosa Figurative vase painting from the First Intermediate Period through to the Fatimid Dynasty: a continuity?�� 433 Maya Müller Basic considerations on the construction of pyramids in the Old Kingdom�� 437 Frank Müller-Römer Die Verwendung von Münzen in pharaonischer Zeit�� 441 Renate Müller-Wollermann In the footsteps of Ricardo Caminos: rediscovering the ‘Speos of Gebel el Silsila’�� 445 Maria Nilsson and Philippe Martinez The folding cubit rod of Kha in Museo Egizio di Torino, S.8391�� 450 Naoko Nishimoto iv The mystery of the ‘high place’ from the Abbott Papyrus revealed? The results of the works of the Polish Cliff Mission at Deir el-Bahari 1999–2014�� 457 Andrzej Niwiński The mummies of the ‘Three Sisters’ in the Museo Egizio: a case study. Conservation and studies of textiles and bandages��462 Cinzia Oliva and Matilde Borla Technical aspects of faience from Hierakonpolis, Egypt – a preliminary report �� 468 Marina Panagiotaki, Elizabeth Walters, Yannis Maniatis and Anna Tsoupra Horus Seneferou ka-s : quand le dernier souverain de la Ire dynastie devint la première femme pharaon de l’Histoire à porter un nom d’Horus��472 Jean-Pierre Pätznick The Herakleopolis Magna Project: seasons 2012–2015�� 480 M. Carmen Pérez-Die The Stelae Ridge cairns: a reassessment of the archaeological evidence�� 485 Hannah Pethen The Italian-Egyptian Mission at the Monastery of Abba Nefer at Manqabad: results of the first four seasons’ work��491 Rosanna Pirelli, Ilaria Incordino, Paola Buzi and Anna Salsano Wedjat-eyes as a dating criterion for false doors and stelae to the early Middle Kingdom�� 499 Melanie Pitkin La collection égyptienne du Musée Sandelin à Saint-Omer (France)�� 506 Jean-Louis Podvin Some remarks on the Egyptian reception of foreign military technology during the 18th Dynasty: a brief survey of the armour��513 Alberto Maria Pollastrini Medical re-enactments: Ancient Egyptian prescriptions from an emic viewpoint�� 519 Tanja Pommerening Textual layers in Coffin Texts spells 154–160�� 527 Gyula Priskin The cat mummies of the Società Africana d’Italia: an archaeological, cultural and religious perspective�� 532 Maria Diletta Pubblico Khnum the Creator: a puzzling case of the transfer of an iconographic motif�� 538 Maarten J. Raven Temple ranks in the Fayyum during the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods: documentary sources and archaeological data��543 Ilaria Rossetti Le musée de Mallawi: état des lieux après les destructions et projets pour l’avenir�� 549 Ashraf Alexandre Sadek A new light on Coptic afterlife (O.4550 from the Coptic Museum in Cairo)�� 553 Hind Salah El-Din Somida Awad The lost chapels of Elephantine. Preliminary results of a reconstruction study through archival documents�� 556 Daniele Salvoldi and Simon Delvaux Doors to the past. Rediscovering fragments in the new blockyard at Medinet Habu�� 563 Julia Schmied Les dépôts de fondation de la Vallée des Rois : nouvelles perspectives de recherche sur l’histoire de la nécropole royale du Nouvel Empire��568 François C. A. Schmitt v Economic mentalities and Ancient Egyptian legal documents��576 Alexander Schütze Excavations in the ‘Temple of Millions of Years’ of Thutmosis III�� 581 Myriam Seco Álvarez Rituels funéraires au temps de Hatchepsout : le sanctuaire de la tombe de Djehouty et ses parallèles �� 587 José M. Serrano The so-called Book of Two Ways on a Middle Kingdom religious leather roll�� 594 Wael Sherbiny Ibyc. PMGF 287 and Ancient Egyptian love songs�� 597 Anna Sofia The Physiologus in Egypt��603 Marco Stroppa A survey of astronomical tables on Middle Kingdom coffin lids�� 608 Sarah L. Symons Blue painted pottery from a mid-18th Dynasty royal mud-brick structure in northwest Saqqara�� 613 Kazumitsu Takahashi Studies on BD 17 vignettes: iconographic typology of Rw.tj-scene (New Kingdom – Third Intermediate Period)�� 619 Mykola Tarasenko Were components of Amarna composite statues made in separate workshops?�� 626 Kristin Thompson Research on Old Kingdom ‘dissimilation graphique’. World-view and categorization�� 633 Simon Thuault La funzione del tempio tolemaico di Deir el-Medina alla luce dell’archeologia�� 638 Claudia Tirel Cena The ‘geography’ of the hierogrammateis: the religious topography of the Western Harpoon (7th Nome of Lower Egypt)��644 Elena Tiribilli The Ancient Egyptian shabtis discovered in the regions of Roman Illyricum (Dalmatia, Pannonia) and Istria: provenance, collections, typological study and dating�� 650 Mladen Tomorad From Egypt to the Holy Land: first issues on the Egyptian collection in the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Jerusalem��656 Benedetta Torrini Tradition and innovation within the decoration program of the temple of Ramesses II at Gerf Hussein�� 661 Martina Ullmann The Egyptian Execration Statuettes (EES) Project�� 667 Athena Van der Perre A new long-term digital project on Hieratic and cursive hieroglyphs�� 671 Ursula Verhoeven and Svenja A. Gülden Hierakonpolis Faience, 2005–2013, with context and accompanying finds – a quest for chronology and possible use��676 Elizabeth J. Walters, Amr El Gohary, Shelton S. Alexander, Richard R. Parizek, David P. Gold, Recep Cakir, Marina Panagiotaki, Yannis Maniatis and Anna Tsoupra The Berlin Plans from the New Kingdom Period�� 680 Yoshifumi Yasuoka The career of Nakhtmin (TT 87) as revealed by his funerary cones�� 686 Kento Zenihiro vi Object biographies and political expectations: Egyptian artefacts, Welsh Heritage and the regional community museum��693 Katharina Zinn Who am I - and if so, how many? Some remarks on the ‘j-augment’ and language change�� 701 Monika Zöller-Engelhardt Poster presentations Vocabulaire de l’Égyptien Ancien (VÉgA). Plateforme numérique de recherche lexicographique�� 709 A. Almásy, Ch. Cassier, J. Chun-Hung-Kee, F. Contardi, M. Massiera, A. Nespoulous-Phalippou and Fr. Rouffet Pottery from the early Roman rubbish dumps in Berenike harbour�� 711 Agnieszka Dzwonek A sequence of five 13th Dynasty structures at Memphis�� 714 Rabee Eissa Funerary culture of the Memphite region during the Early Dynastic Period�� 717 Barbora Janulíková 3D-Reconstructions of Late Roman fortresses in Egypt�� 718 Dmitry Karelin, Maria Karelina and Tatiana Zhitpeleva The Roman Imperial cult temple at Luxor: its architecture and possible connection between Roman and Egyptian cultures��720 Irina Kulikova and Dmitry Karelin One of the earliest discovered houses at Memphis�� 722 Hanan Mahmoud Mohamed Reden und Rufe, are they kingly patterns? A first step towards an explanation of the origin(s) of speech captions in ‘daily life’ scenes in private tombs��724 Aurore Motte Étude pluridisciplinaire de têtes de momies (Lyon)�� 725 Annie Perraud, Matthieu Ménager, Pascale Richardin and Catherine Vieillescazes Progetto Osiris: valorizzazione delle piccole collezioni egizie�� 727 Massimiliana Pozzi Battaglia e Federica Scatena Study and restoration of two mummies from the Moulins Museum�� 729 Noëlle Timbart List of papers presented at ICE XI��731 Massimiliano Franci vii The Akh-menu of Thutmosis III at Karnak. The Sokarian Rooms1 Julie Masquelier-Loorius CNRS UMR 8167 – Université Paris-Sorbonne Labex RESMED Abstract The epigraphic survey and study of the Sokarian Rooms reliefs and inscriptions described in this contribution are part of a project, which includes a photographic survey and publication of facsimiles, covering this whole self-contained area built by Thutmosis III in the temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak. This four-angled architectural space, accessible by a single door from the columned and pillared hall called heret-ib, was interpreted as a cult centre devoted to the god Sokar. Many representations of the henu-bark, emblem of Sokar, appear on the walls of the eight-columned hall (SK.Sh) and on loose blocks probably coming from this court and the chapels built in the southern part (SK.1 to SK.3). In the inscriptions, the divinity is called ‘Sokar, the great god, master of the shetyt’, a name for the cabin of the henu-bark, where all the parts of the body of Osiris were gathered in order to reconstitute the physical integrity of the god. This compound could be connected with the Osirian rites, because Sokar is always associated with the cult of Osiris during the New Kingdom (Sokar can take on the appearance of this god in this period) and to its rites of rebirth. The king, identified with the god Sokar, performs the funerary rites of the tent of purification and of the opening of the mouth. As revealed in many Theban temples, a compound was dedicated to Ra (with a solar altar in the north-east), and here in the Akh-menu, a set of rooms devoted to the composite form (Ptah-)Sokar-Osiris. Keywords Karnak; Sokar; rituals; epigraphy; iconography The architectural record of the temple of the Akh-menu was site at Karnak for worshipping the divine statue of Amun-Ra completed by Carlotti, who also designed a reconstruction (Gabolde 1999: 143–6). In the south-east sector of the building, model (Carlotti 2001). This work followed the edition of the the ‘Sokarian rooms’ are only accessible by a single door from drawings from the central pillared hall (Pécoil 2000). For the large columned and pillared hall of the Akh-menu, called my research, I undertook an epigraphic (and iconographic) heret-ib. survey of the southern rooms (Masquelier-Loorius, forthcoming), consisting of c. 500m2 of inscriptions and reliefs drawn and enhanced (sector MS, cf. Azim et al. 1998). The first phase involved studying and publishing the Sokarian area adjoining these southern rooms of sector SK. Material was collected concerning Sokar and the rites relating to this god, in particular in Thebes during the New Kingdom (especially Graindorge-Héreil 1994). Pictures and research papers on this area were also collated (i.e. from the Centre Franco-Égyptien d’Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK); the Chicago House of Luxor; the Marburg Institute; manuscripts held in the British Library). The architectural features of this set of rooms1 Inscriptions indicate that this whole self-contained area called Akh-menu, translated as ‘Brilliant of Monuments’ or ‘Beneficient of Monuments’, was raised in year 24 of the autonomous reign of Thutmosis III, in ‘beautiful limestone from Tura’. Recent analysis show that limestone used for building many Theban monuments comes from the quarries of el-Dibabiya (Karlshausen and De Putter 2017), but this temple was mainly built in sandstone (Carlotti 2001: 30), as limestone was only used in some of its foundations. The Akh-menu (Figure 1), made up of a series of separate but complementary architectural structures, is also described as a ‘mansion of millions of years’, meaning a place dedicated to royal and divine cults, and working during the reign of a pharaoh and after his death (Masquelier-Loorius 2013: 13–24). This replica of the temple of Atum built by Sesostris I in Heliopolis, called here ‘great mansion of the god Amun(- Ra)’ on the east wall of room SK.6, was used as the main cult Figure 1: Plan of the Akh-menu of Thutmosis III (after 1 I am very grateful to Cédric Gobeil for correcting and improving my Carlotti 2001, ‘plan de repérage des salles’). English. ICE XI (2017): 394–398 394 The Akh-menu of Thutmosis III at Karnak. The Sokarian Rooms Figure 4: View of the raised floor chapels SK.6 and SK.5 from the Figure 2: Plan of the Sokarian rooms in south-west (J. Masquelier-Loorius). the Akh-menu of Thutmosis III (after Carlotti 2001, ‘plan de repérage des salles’). preserved. In this four-angled architectural space, the carving in painted relief covers all the surfaces up to 1.20m from the The layout of these rooms (Figure 2) consists of a central court ground. We must note that painting (without carving) can (SK.Sh) that is a hypostyle hall, formed by eight columns, not enhance some details, such as the royal and divine loincloth fluted but with 16 flat facets (Figure 3). Only the stones up to pleats, much better than carving alone in the different the lower register are in place, and the roof, painted blue with components of this building. This hall leads to three southern yellow stars – as are all the roofs in the Akh-menu – is partially chapels that are not well preserved (SK.1 to SK.3), and to the east, to two doors, that open out onto three raised floor chapels (SK.4 to SK.6, Figure 4). The original walls of the south chapels (SK.1 to SK.3) are no longer in situ and some loose blocks coming partially from these rooms have been set down on the modern reconstruction levels. Raised floor chapels were accessible by a wooden ladder, as depicted in some Theban tombs, and also in a few scenes of towns under siege that were engraved on temple walls. The lower level of the rooms does not seem to have been used, as its flooring was not laid. This monument is relatively well preserved, but many scenes are lacking or no longer complete, and problems relating to the original location of some blocks were pointed out. For example, in old illustrations dating from the time of Legrain (1898), we can see that the stone walls and pillars were temporarily strengthened in rooms SK.5 and SK.6. Moreover, some photographs show that, even when the temple was cleared of sand, some carved reliefs had already been displaced from their original locations in the Sokarian rooms, and some pieces may have been wrongly put back, as was noticed in the southern rooms (Masquelier-Loorius, forthcoming), during the remounting of the blocks, when the CFEETK was under the direction of Chevrier (1926–1954). This study also focuses on alterations, especially in the proportions of the figures of god Amun, and ‘Atenist’ erasures of the name of this god, and of some divine epithets in the inscriptions. Finally, we must note that the north wall of chapel SK.4, shared with chapel SX.4, ‘the chapel of Alexander the Great’, was entirely carved a second time under his reign in the 4th century BC. However, this ruler reproduced the cartouches of Thutmosis III. Rooms dedicated to the god Sokar or ‘Sokarian rooms’ Figure 3: View of the hypostyle hall (SK.Sh) from the This set of rooms has been interpreted as a cult compound north (J. Masquelier-Loorius). devoted to the god Sokar, originating from Memphis (Barguet International Congress of Egyptologists XI 395 Julie Masquelier-Loorius Figure 5: Henu- bark carried out of the shrine on the shoulders of priests (south wall of the court and loose block virtually replaced at the upper left corner) (J. Masquelier- Loorius). 1962: 182–90). If no other example of a sector dedicated to On the other hand, in the raised floor chapels SK.4 to SK.6, Sokar seems to be attested in New Kingdom temples, perhaps there is no depiction of Sokar and no mention of the shetyt- with the exception of the complex of Ptah-Sokar and Nefertem shrine or the henu-bark among the preserved reliefs. In these in the temple of Seti I at Abydos, the name ‘Sokarian rooms’ rooms, there is a ‘coronation’ (?) scene of the king by Isis and or ‘rooms of the god Sokar’ was chosen because of evidence Osiris Lord of the West (khenty Imentet) on the south face of that showed the complex nature of this sector. the first pillar; on the south face of the second one we find their counterparts, Seth and Nephthys. First, the name and epithets of the god Sokar are mentioned on the walls of these rooms and on loose blocks probably coming Overview of the decorative program of this set of rooms: from this compound. On the walls of hall SK.Sh and on loose rituals and feasts blocks stored in the south chapels, a few inscriptions mention the divinity ‘Sokar, the great god, Lord of the shetyt-shrine’, the Among the valuable insights of the decorative program word shetyt referring to the cabin of the henu-bark; this henu- from the Sokarian rooms we can deduce some ritual scenes, bark is known as the emblem of the god Sokar, where all the parts especially on the walls of the best preserved rooms SK.4, SK.5 of the body of Osiris were collected in order to reconstitute the and SK.6: physical integrity of the god. On the other hand, no mention of the god Sokar can be found in the raised floor rooms built in the 1. The daily offering ritual (to the statue of Amun). This east (SK.4 to SK.6), with plans that appear similar to those of ritual, aiming at the regeneration of the divine image, both rooms located close to the Sokarian rooms, in the southern comprises the purification and clothing of the god rooms (MS.8 and MS.9). Secondly, many representations of the after incensing and ointments. The speech of Thoth henu-bark appear on the walls of the eight-columned hall (for on the east wall of room MS.7 details the stages of the main depiction in SK.Sh, see the loose block joining to the purifying the divine statue by the king: with incense, south wall in Carlotti 2001: 99–100, and fig. 54), as well as on with water held in nemeset-vases, and lastly with loose blocks coming from there and probably also from the hesemen-natron balls. By so doing, the Ennead can chapels built in the southern part (SK.1 to SK.3). This portable ‘breath the sweet scent of the god’. Indeed, the goal bark, affixed to a sled, was used in processional rituals. On the is to rejuvenate the god identified to Osiris as Ra (by south wall of the hypostyle hall, the bark is pulled with the aid means of ointment, clothes, and green eye-paint). of two poles resting on the shoulders of many priests bearing 2. The ‘Festival of Sokar’, in immediate relation with the title hemu-netjer. The elaborated prow is adorned with the the ‘Mysteries of Osiris’ in the Akh-menu (Osirian reversed head of a gazelle or an oryx, while the central part rites that take place in the month of Khoiak; an of the boat is occupied by a recumbent falcon crowning the example of a stage of this ritual being: ‘To enter into shrine, with its image below. This falcon is identified as the the purification tent’; Figure 6). Linked with this king, thanks to a cartouche carved just above the bark that festival, we find the consecration of the meret-chests contains the name of Thutmosis III. Tadpoles referring to the and driving the calves. These scenes relate to the reigning years of the Pharaoh hold the oars, and the bark rests concealment of the tomb of Osiris, and each chest, on a sledge (Figure 5). prepared for one cardinal point, contained garments or mummy bandages of a different color (Egberts A headless anthropomorphic statue, with a close-fitting dress 1995). appropriate to the god Ptah, was found in room SK.3. It is 3. The coronation ceremony (confirmation of kingship), understood as a three-dimensional image of Sokar (Carlotti with the nursing of the king by Hathor, or ‘introducing 2001: 103 and 104 fig. 63), as this god wears the attributes the king into the Great Mansion’, both scenes that can of Osiris during the New Kingdom: dress, scepter, and the be included in some other rituals. For example, the flagellum, crossed on the chest. introduction of the king in the temple appears in the International Congress of Egyptologists XI 396 The Akh-menu of Thutmosis III at Karnak. The Sokarian Rooms Figure 6: Stage of the ‘Festival of Sokar’ on the south wall of the court (J. Masquelier-Loorius). Sokarian rooms of the Akh-menu, and in the two raised floor southern rooms (MS.8 and MS.9). 4. The celebration of the ‘Sed Festival’ (‘wish’ form, and Figure 7: Stage of the ‘Sed Festival’ specific iconography on the north wall of room SK.6, (J. Masquelier-Loorius). with the ‘coming in and going out of the per-wr’, the king carried by the baw of Pe (Figure 7), with reference The feasts depicted in the Akh-menu tally with an annual to ‘all lands, all foreign countries, and the haw nebw cycle of celebrations (some are quite contemporary, but (lie) under his feet’). Once more, the iconography a succession of rites concerning different festivals can be linked with the ‘Sed Festival’ rites in the raised floor discerned), which aim to maintain the kingship. Here, the rooms is undoubtedly additional to that appearing in decorative program strengthens the efficacy of the rites. the close area of the southern rooms. If numerous stages of development in iconography can be No iconography relating to the foundation rituals and New identified until the New Kingdom period, the artists who Year festival has been found in the Sokarian rooms, but these worked on these temple walls had comparable models rituals are attested in other sectors of the Akh-menu: in the that were complete and/or contemporary, such as the northern chapels (SF.7 to SF.10, and SF.13), and also in the ornamentation in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, northern magazines (MN.3o, MN.3e, MN.4 to MN.7). These or the temple of the 18th Dynasty at Medinet Habu, where they rooms, built along the containing wall, are encompassed by could have sought inspiration (see Laboury 2017 for the study the monument Akh-menu. of intericonicity, especially in New Kingdom Theban tombs: ‘creativity operated within a process of reinterpretation These ritual temple reliefs emphasize aspects of Egyptian of previous works and their tradition’). The lapicids that kingship and its relationship with the divine world. They carved these monuments may have also been in charge of the share common aims, such as the renewal of kingship (and execution of the decorative program in the Akh-menu. of divine birth), the regeneration of both god and king, and, therefore, the regeneration of the divine power given to the In 2016 a scientific project started with the aim of helping king (the king being identified with Osiris, Ra, and Horus all Egyptologists to decipher these compositions in Egyptian at once). temples. Supervised by the author and Mélanie Flossmann- Schütze (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich), this project This study, however, is faced with certain problems. First, the is called AFRITS (Ancient Feasts and Rituals (Iconographical iconography shows some unparalleled scenes. For example, and Textual Studies), and its main tool will be the database on the east wall of room SK.5, the king is running before DESERTS (Database of Egyptian Sed Festival & Ritual Texts his sitting statue. This composition seems exceptional and and Scenes. A Comprehensive Collection of Material relating implies the implementation of innovative iconography by the to Ritual Texts and Scenes in Ancient Egypt and Nubia from artists in charge of the decoration of this part of the temple. Prehistory to Late Antiquity). Second, it is difficult to suggest the original succession of sequences when decorative elements are missing (sometimes Conclusion many scenes), and to emphasize the different stages of the ritual, as common scenes are arranged within series of rites The comprehensive study of reliefs and inscriptions in this belonging to specific rituals. Furthermore, if many scenes are sector, unique from an architectural point of view, offers new no longer complete and some parts of the walls are missing, perspectives for understanding this monument erected in the original locations of many loose blocks cannot be found the precinct wall of the temple of Amun-Ra by Thutmosis III. or remain hypothetical. A few scenes may also be related to Activities in the Sokar complex would have been connected many rituals, for example: the ‘acclamation of the king by the with those taking place in the adjoining, southern rooms. The souls (baw) of Pe and Nekhen’; ‘introducing the king into the complementarity of both compounds is indeed obvious, in Great Mansion’; the nursing of the king by Hathor. the iconography at least. International Congress of Egyptologists XI 397 Julie Masquelier-Loorius Sokar was in charge of the revival of Osiris, and the passing Gabolde, L. 1998. Le « Grand Château d’Amon » de Sésostris Ier à on of his kingship to Horus. Every year the power of the king Karnak. La décoration du temple d’Amon-Rê au Moyen Empire. was renewed and confirmed during the ‘Sokar Festival’. This Paris, de Boccard. throws light on the connections between the royal crowning Graindorge-Héreil, C. 1994. Le Dieu Sokar à Thèbes au Nouvel ritual – or its confirmation – depicted in the southern rooms Empire. GOF IV/28. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz. and other ritual scenes; we have both the ‘Sokar Festival’, Karlshausen, C. and De Putter, T. 2017. ‘To build a temple traditionally associated with the passing on of the king’s in the beautiful white stone of Anu’. The use of Tura power, and the raising of the djed-pillar that symbolized the limestone in Theban architecture (in this volume). rebirth of the king, here identified with Osiris – the god Sokar Laboury, D. 2017 (in press). Tradition and Creativity. Toward being a form of Osiris. a Study of Intericonicity in Ancient Egyptian Art. In J. Winand, S. Polis and T. Gillen (eds), Proceedings of the conference ‘(Re)productive Traditions in Ancient Egypt’. Bibliography Université de Liège, 6.–8. February 2013. Aegyptiaca Leodiensia 10. Liège, Presses universitaires de Liège. Azim, M. 1998. Karnak et sa topographie, vol. 1. Les relevés Masquelier-Loorius, J. 2013. Quelques considérations sur modernes du temple d’Amon-Rê 1967–1984. Monographie du l’essence du temple égyptien. Vers une vision élargie du CRA 19. Paris, CNRS. temple et de ses fonctionnalités. Égypte, Afrique et Orient Barguet, P. 1962. Le temple d’Amon-Rê à Karnak. Essai d’exégèse. 68: 13–24. RAPH 21. Le Caire, Institut français d’archéologie Masquelier-Loorius, J. (forthcoming). L’Akh-menou de orientale. Thoutmosis III à Karnak. Les salles méridionales. Relevés Carlotti, J.- F. 2001. L’Akh-menou de Thoutmosis III à Karnak. épigraphiques et étude égyptologique, Travaux du Étude architecturale. Paris, Éditions Recherche sur les CFEETK. Le Caire, Institut français d’archéologie orientale. Civilisations. Pécoil, J. -F. 2000. L’Akh-menou de Thoutmosis III à Karnak. La Egberts, A. 1995. In Quest of Meaning. A Study of the Ancient Heret-ib et les chapelles attenantes. Relevés épigraphiques. Egyptian Rites of Consecrating the Meret-Chests and driving Paris, Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations. the Calves. Egyptologische Uitgaven 8. Leiden, Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. International Congress of Egyptologists XI 398

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The Akhmenu of Thutmosis III at Karnak. The Sokarian rooms