A Shabti of “Tjehebu the Great:” Tjainhebu (7Ay-N-Hbw) and Related Names from Middle Kingdom to Late Period
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A Shabti of “Tjehebu the Great:” Tjainhebu (7Ay-n-Hbw) and Related Names from Middle Kingdom to Late Period Lloyd D. Graham Section 1 of this paper describes a pottery shabti of the Third Intermediate Period and recounts the early stages of the project to understand the name of its owner. Sections 2- 7 describe the outcome of the analysis. This covers both the name itself (its variants, orthographies and possible meanings) and a survey of those individuals who bore it in ancient Egypt, ordered by time-period. 7-Hbw-aA seems to be a variant of the name 7A- n-Hb aA and to denote “Tjainhebu the Great;” 7A(y)-n-Hb.w may originally have meant something like “the man of the festivals.” The earliest known Tjainhebu dates to the Middle Kingdom and was probably called “the Great” to reflect his physical size. Precedents are discussed for the unusual orthography of the name on the shabti and its cognates. Some later names of similar form employ different types of h and therefore differ in meaning; for example, the name of Tjainehebu, Overseer of the King’s Ships in the 26th Dynasty, may have meant “Descendant of the ibis.” In the Late Period, both male and female forms of the name are known and seem to relate strongly to Lower Egypt: for men, to Memphis; for women, to Behbeit el-Hagar and Khemmis of the Delta. Faces can be put to two of the men, leading to a discussion of the verisimilitude of ancient Egyptian likenesses. Overall, the article presents an unpublished shabti with six known parallels that imply at least three moulds. The analysis triggered by the unusual name of its owner encompasses philology, onomastics, biography and portraiture, fields that are not usually considered together. It reprises in English earlier research (including much published in other languages) while collating and updating it with recent developments, including the possible need to amend pronunciation of the name to Tehabu/Tainhabu. One outcome of the study is a challenge to the published assignation of this owner’s shabtis as female. i Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... ii 1. Origins of the project .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The shabti .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Reading the inscription ................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Initial research on the name ......................................................................................... 8 1.4 Other aspects of the shabti ........................................................................................... 10 1.4.1 Typology ................................................................................................................ 11 1.4.2 Fabric .................................................................................................................... 12 1.5 Exploration of the name and its bearers ................................................................... 12 2. The name in the Middle Kingdom ............................................................................... 21 2.1 Middle Kingdom forms of the name .......................................................................... 21 2.1.1 Names involving Hb ............................................................................................. 21 2.1.2 Names involving -nb ............................................................................................ 21 2.2 7A as an abbreviation of 7Ay ........................................................................................ 21 2.3 Middle Kingdom bearers of the name ....................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Names involving -Hb ............................................................................................ 22 2.3.2 Names involving -nb ............................................................................................ 23 2.4 Middle Kingdom complexities ..................................................................................... 25 3. The name in the New Kingdom .................................................................................... 26 4. The name in the Third Intermediate Period ........................................................... 26 4.1 TIP forms of the name ................................................................................................. 26 4.1.1 Names involving -Hb ............................................................................................ 26 4.1.2 Names involving -nb ............................................................................................ 27 4.1.3 Another name of interest ..................................................................................... 27 4.2 The names 7Ay and 7y .................................................................................................. 27 4.3 TIP bearers of the name ............................................................................................... 28 5. The name in the Late Period .......................................................................................... 29 5.1 Late Period forms of the name .................................................................................... 29 5.1.1 Male names: “Descendant of the ibis” ............................................................. 30 5.1.2 Female names ....................................................................................................... 31 5.1.2.1 7A-n-Hb, “Originally of Behbeit.” ............................................................. 31 5.1.2.2 7A-n-xbit, “Originally of Khemmis.” ........................................................ 33 5.2 Late Period bearers of the name ................................................................................. 35 5.2.1 Men ......................................................................................................................... 35 5.2.1.1 7A-n-n(A)-hb.w, Overseer of the King’s Ships (Cairo Museum) ............. 35 5.2.1.2 7A-n-nA-hb.w, priest of Amun-Re (Cairo Museum) ................................. 41 5.2.1.3 7A-n-hA-hb.w, Director of the Mansions (Roanne & Cairo Mus.) ......... 42 5.2.1.4 7A-n-hb.w and 7A-hb.w, ancestors of Khnumibre (W. Hammamat) ...... 45 5.2.1.5 7A-hb, Treasurer to the King (Petrie Museum) ........................................ 48 5.2.2 Women ................................................................................................................... 50 5.2.2.1 7A-n-Hb, mother of Ankh-psamtik (Cairo Museum) ................................ 50 5.2.2.2 7A-n-Hby(p), mother of Rei-irdjis (Glyptotech, Munich) ........................ 51 5.2.2.3 7A-n-Hb, mistress of the house (Trieste Museum) .................................... 52 5.2.2.4 7At-n-xbi, wife to the Chief of Rebit (Cairo Museum) ............................ 55 5.2.2.5 7A-xb or 7A-(A)x-b(i.t), mother of Mutenmehat (Turin Museum)........... 58 5.2.2.6 7A-n-HA (ex Hilton-Price & Hearst collections) ...................................... 59 5.2.2.7 7A.w-n-HA (shabtis from the Eastern Delta) ............................................ 59 ii 6. Other considerations of the name ............................................................................... 60 6.1 Wider comparisons ....................................................................................................... 60 6.2 Structural parallels with other names ...................................................................... 60 7. Discussion and conclusions ............................................................................................ 61 7.1 The shabtis and the name of their owner ................................................................. 61 7.2 Variations in form and orthography ......................................................................... 62 7.3 Meanings of the name and the identities of its bearers ......................................... 65 7.4 Gender issues: the shabti owner and his gang ........................................................ 66 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 67 Endnotes ...................................................................................................................................... 67 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 87 Figures Frontispiece ....................................................................................................................... i Fig. 1. The Australian shabti ....................................................................................................... 2 Fig. 2. Other shabtis from the same gang .................................................................................. 4 Fig. 3. Shabti inscriptions ............................................................................................................ 6 Fig. 4. Compilation of orthographies ......................................................................................