Oriental Institute Museum visit

[ikhet_sekhmet]

We're home from three weeks in the US, during which I managed to wrangle a few hours at the Oriental Institute's museum in Chicago. It's deceptive - it seems small, just a few rooms on one floor of the building, but it's just crammed with goodies. The current exhibit on birds in Ancient Egypt includes a spectacular ibis mummy case and the unwrapped remains of a mummified eagle, some of the gilding still present on the blackened body. The inevitable Sekhmet (OIM 1339) is a gorgeous pink-grey bust, without rosettes on the dress and part of the throne attached to the back. Her gaze is as weighty as it always is, her expression as peaceful as Durga slaying her enemies with ease. There is also a colossal statue of Tutankhamun, beautiful lions from the Ishtar Gate, and an immense lammasu - I walked into the room facing away from it, turned round, and nearly had a heart attack.

Among several other items which caught my eye was a Nineteenth Dynasty stela (OIM 1567) from the Ramesseum, showing the owner worshipping Sobek-Re and an enthroned lion-headed god. The hieroglyphs were too eensy and shallow for me to make out, but the label gave the dedicator's name as Nebaa and the god's name as Iwnet. This sent me on a wild Google chase until I tracked down the puzzling object in a thesis - turns out the owner was one Nebwa, Scribe of the Army of the Lord of the Two Lands, and the lion-headed figure is not a god called Iwnet (Dendera!), but the goddess Wenut. So that's that cleared up.

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Exell, Karen (2006) A social and historical interpretation of Ramesside period votive stelae, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2631/
Quibell, J.E. The Ramesseum. B. Quaritch, London, 1898.

Comments

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I wonder if Sobek, Wenut, and Montu formed a triad - perhaps on the stela Sobek and Wenut are shown as Mr and Mrs.

What is KO 94, 1? I've got the relevant Catalogue des Monuments et Inscriptions from archive.org, but if that's the one, I couldn't spot Wenut. (Mind you, if I'm looking for anything other than a nice big picture or a very straightforward hieroglyphic name, I haven't got a prayer. :)

[lemon-cupcake.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Sobek, Wenut, and Montu formed a triad - perhaps on the stela Sobek and Wenut are shown as Mr and Mrs.

This is what I am suspecting, but can't quite nail it down.

What is KO 94, 1?

I'm not sure myself. The citation came from a PDF I got that doesn't include the abbreviation key. It's probably the volume you mention, but archive.org is down for maintenance at the moment, so I can't check for myself.

[lemon-cupcake.livejournal.com]

I managed to find the volume elsewhere online. If this is the book they mean, I guess we're talking about #116 on p. 94? I'm not sure that I can find the inscription that's referred to, but the woman with the clump of papyrus over her head may be Wenut. I think that this answers my question, inasmuch as Wenut in this sort of context is functioning as more of a generic Eye of Re on behalf of Sobek, and not in a special relationship that would shed light on the stela and the bit from Senwosret's nome list.

[lemon-cupcake.livejournal.com]

Actually, I see that 94, 1 probably means #94 in de Morgan, line 1 of the inscription. I can't immediately spot the phrase in question there either, but these Ptolemaic era inscriptions are very weird. Also, I see that the original citation says "vgl. Photo Leitz 1941"—which could mean that the signs do not appear in de Morgan's transcription as the author of the article sees them. Perhaps the new publication of the inscriptions by Danielle Inconnu-Bocquillon will clear up the matter.