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Herausgegeben vonJochem Kahl und

Nicole Kloth

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Prof. Dr. Jochem KahlFreie Universität BerlinÄgyptologisches SeminarAltensteinstr. 33D-14195 Berlinjochem.kahl@fu-berlin.de

Dr. Nicole KlothSondersammelgebiet ÄgyptologieUniversitätsbibliothekPlöck 107-109 D-69117 Heidelbergkloth@ub.uni-heidelberg.de

Two flails in the king’s hands: unusual royal iconography on a scarab from Tell el-Retaba

Sylwia Gromadzka / Sławomir Rzepka

(Tafel 5) Abstract A scarab found recently in Tell el-Retaba is decorated with an image of a king holding two nxAxA flails in his hands. Such a set of insignia finds only a few parallels in royal and divine iconography. A Polish-Slovak Archaeological Mission has been working under the auspices of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, on the site Tell el-Retaba in Wadi Toumilat since 2007. Excavations started in 2008 following a survey season in 2007.1 Remains of domestic architecture from the Third Intermediate Period were found in the northwestern part of the site. One of the small finds from this area is a scarab with unusual decoration.

1 The scarab (pl. 5.1) 1.1 Description: Material: White steatite, no traces of glazing. Dimensions: 1.8 cm long, 1.3 cm wide, 0.8 cm thick The scarab’s back is decorated with double girdle lines; three vertical lines are incised on the elytra; vertical lines are also incised on the head and the clypeus; legs are not marked. The body is pierced along the axis.

The base of the scarab bears an incised representation of a king kneeling on one knee. His forehead is decorated with a distinct uraeus. The arms are bent at the elbows and the hands, both holding flails, are placed on the chest. Represented on the left side of the king is an obscure object resembling a cobra. A single borderline frames the image. Workman-ship is schematic to say the least. No details of the king’s dress or headdress have been marked, so it can only be presumed that the king wears a blue crown or, perhaps even more likely, the so called „Ramesside cap”.

State of preservation: Complete. 1.2 Dating Several dating criteria can be taken into consideration: modeling of the head, clypeus, ely-tra, prothorax, back, legs. Last but not least, the decoration on the scarab’s base.

1 For preliminary reports on the excavations, see S. Rzepka et al., Tell el-Retaba, season 2008, in: Polish

Archaeology in the Mediterranean 20 [= Reports 2008] (in preparation); A. Wodzińska, Tell el-Retaba 2008: Pottery, in: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 20 [= Reports 2008] (in preparation); S. Rzepka et al., Tell el-Retaba 2007-2008, in: Ä&L 19, 2009, 241-280.

104 S. Gromadzka / S. Rzepka SAK 40

In the case of our scarab, the head and the clypeus belong to Rowe’s type 14,2 dating between the 19th and 26th Dynasty or later, or to type 163 which was common between the19th and the 25th Dynasty. The elytra and the prothorax can be classified as type 634 and placed between the 13th and the 20th Dynasty or later. The combined dating of the two features gives a probable date for the production of the Tell el-Retaba scarab as not earlier than in the 19th Dynasty. This is in accordance with Wiese’s5 dating of the most popular types of backs and sides of Egyptian scarabs during the 19th and 20th Dynasties. The Re-taba scarab with its back decorated with double girdle lines, three vertical lines on the ely-tra, and vertical lines on the head and the clypeus, fits well this typology.

Coming now to the decoration of the base, three features need to be considered with re-gard to the date of the artifact: 1) the king’s representation, 2) his kneeling position, and 3) the cobra beside the king.

Representations of kings started to appear on scarab bases at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th Dynasty,6 when the most popular were images of a king as a lion and doing battle. During the reign of Ramesses II another type appeared with the king shown hunting. Rulers were also depicted presenting offerings to the gods during sacred festivals.

The kneeling position of the king on the Retaba scarab suggests that he is participating in some cultic activities. Quite a few scarabs, e.g. those from the British Museum collection of royal scarabs, stand in confirmation of this idea.7 With regard to the examples from this collection, four categories of images can be distinguished depending on what is represented in front of the kneeling king. The most extensive category has the king kneeling in front of a cartouche.8 The second group has an obelisk,9 which is in this case a symbol of the god Amun, the third an altar10 and the fourth an anx sign.11 Scarabs representing the first catego-ry are dated between the 20th and the 22nd Dynasty with one exception: no. 38634 dated between the 21st and the 24th Dynasty. Most of the scarabs, however, are dated to the Ramesside period. The second group is well attested during the 22nd Dynasty, the third, represented like the fourth category by one example only, is dated to the 19th Dynasty or later, and the last between the 21st and the 22nd Dynasty. There are also a few scarabs with kneeling king in the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.12 Most of them are dated

2 A. Rowe, A Catalogue of Egyptian Scarabs, Scaraboids, Seals and Amulets in the Palestine Archaeologi-cal Museum, Cairo 1936, pl. XXXII.

3 Ibidem. 4 Ibidem, pl. XXXIII. 5 A.B. Wiese, Zum Bild des Königs auf ägyptischen Siegelamuletten, OBO 96, Freiburg 1990, 92, cf. also:

O. Keel/M. Shuval/Ch. Uehlinger, Studien zu den Stempelsiegeln aus Palästina/Israel, Band III, Die Frühe Eisenzeit. Ein Workshop, OBO 100, Freiburg/Göttingen 1990, 337-338, fig. 5a(2).

6 R. Giveon/M. Haemek, in: LÄ V, 976, 979, s.v. Skarabäus. 7 H.R. Hall, Catalogue of Egyptian Scarabs, etc. in the British Museum, vol. I, Royal Scarabs, London

1913. 8 Scarabs with the catalogue numbers: 1456 (inventory number 468840), 1457 (No 38634), 1458 (No

46943), 1459 (No 46815), 1460 (No 39105), 1461 (No 28584), 1462 (No 28542), in: ibid., 142-143. 9 Scarabs 1464 (No 38614), 1466 (No 46266), 1467 (No 39926) in: ibid., 143. 10 Scarab 1455 (No 32298), in: ibid., 142. 11 Scarab 1465 (No 28352), in: ibid., 143. 12 Scarab no 36312 where the king presents offerings to Thoth, dated to the 19th Dynasty, in: P.E. Newber-

ry, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 36001-37521. Scarab-shaped Seals, London 1907, 79, pl. IX. Scarab no 36443 with similar representation dated to the 19th Dynasty, in: ibid., 111,

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to the 19th Dynasty. Objects with this type of decoration can be found on various sites. An example from Medinet Habu comes from a period between the 20th and the 24th Dynasty.13 Scarabs with kneeling king are found also in Palestine, where they were brought probably from the Eastern Delta.14 The king on these representations kneels on one15 or both knees16, holds the crook and the flail and is surrounded by two branches, which are interpreted as a symbol of the united Lower and Upper Egypt. This composition is dated by Wiese and Keel17 in the Ramesside Period starting with the reign of Ramesses II.

The third element of assistance in the dating the Retaba scarab is the cobra incised be-hind the king’s figure. A cobra often accompanies representations of a falcon-headed god, sometimes shown with outstretched wings. Such a composition developed already during the Hyksos period.18 Schulman believed it to be most frequent on scarabs from the reign of Ramesses II and said that „it is not known after the reign of Merenptah”.19 This falcon-headed god is sometimes replaced by Seth, by Ptah or by a king, as on one of the Medinet Habu scarabs,20 which was found in a stratum dated to the 20th-24th Dynasty. However, as Teeter points out, scarabs as heirlooms must have had a protracted life, so any given scarab may have been produced a long time before the period suggested by the stratigraphy of the find. Therefore, keeping Teeter’s suggestion in mind, one can easily accept the 19th Dynas-ty dating and date the entire series of scarabs from the Cairo Museum depicting the king with one21 or two cobras22 in front or behind his figure to the 19th Dynasty.

Considering all the arguments presented above, the Retaba scarab should be dated to the 19th Dynasty, most probably in the reign of Ramesses II. pl. IX. Scarab no 36421 where the king is kneeling before the ankh sign, dated to the 19th Dynasty or later, in: ibid., 106, pl. X. Scarab no 36437 where the king adores a bull, dated between the 18th and 19th Dynasty, in: ibid., 110, pl. XIV.

13 E. Teeter/T.G. Wilfong, Scarabs, Scaraboids, Seals, and Seals Impressions from Medinet Habu with Post-pharaonic Stamp Seals and Seal Impressions, OIP 118, Chicago 2003, 77, pl. XXXIIId. Scarab 112 (No 14889) shows a kneeling king with blue crown, streamer and uraeus, making offerings of a conical loaf of bread.

14 O. Keel, Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette aus Palästina/Israel. Von den Anfängen bis zur Perszeit. Einleitung, OBO 10, Series Archaeologica, Freiburg/Göttingen 1995, 36.

15 The scarab described by Keel in: Keel, Shuval, Uehlinger, op.cit., 340, fig. 8 and Keel, op.cit., 36 ori-ginated from a child’s grave in Tell el-Saidijeh.

16 One of the two scarabs described by Keel in: Keel/Shuval/Uehlinger, op.cit., 340, fig. 6, 7, originated from the surface in Tell el-Fara South, while the other one was found in the area between graves 1200 a, 1000 a and 1029 in Tell el-Ağğul.

17 See Wiese, op.cit., 41-50 and Keel, Shuval, Uehlinger, op.cit., 340. 18 Teeter, op.cit., 65. See Newberry, op.cit., No 36317, dated to the Hyksos Period. 19 A.R. Schulman, Three Shipwrecked Scarabs, in: Expedition 3/4, Summer 1961, 24-25, cf. also Teeter,

op.cit., 65. 20 OIM 14955, cf. ibid. 76, pl. 33 c. 21 E.g. CG 37109, cf. Newberry, op.cit., 278, pl. VIII. 22 E.g. CG 36472, cf. Newberry, op.cit., 119, pl. VII.

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2 Flails in royal iconography 2.1 Two flails on scarabs The two flails in the king’s hands is an unusual feature which is very rare in royal represen-tations on scarab bases. The authors know of just three comparable examples.23 The first one (Taf. 5.2),24 dated to the end of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th Dynasty, depicts a standing figure of the king with both arms bent at the elbows and placed on the chest. In each hand the king holds one flail. Two cobras are shown on both sides of the king. The second (fig. 1) has a standing human figure shown on the base, both arms bent at the el-bows, the hands holding two flails (the scarab, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, is dated to the 19th or 20th Dynasty). The two enigmatic signs on either side of the figure can be interpreted as cobras. Finally, the third example (fig. 2) showing a standing king’s figure with uraeus on the forehead and two cobras at the sides. The figure holds a flail in its right hand. Above the left hand, there is a small obscure object, which, judging by its shape and the position of the king’s arms, could be a second flail.

Fig. 1) Scarab in Egyptian Museum, Fig. 2). Scarab in the Egyptian Museum,

Cairo, CG 37158 Cairo, CG 36472 (after Newberry, op.cit., 290, pl. X) (after Newberry, op.cit., 119, pl. VII) 2.2 Origin and meaning of the flail The flail as a royal attribute occurs usually together with a crook. It can also be accompa-nied by other attributes, like the wAs sceptre, cane, mks.25 A king can also be shown holding

23 Wiese states that there are five scarabs representing the king with two flails, in: Wiese, op.cit., 21 (47). Two of them at least should be excluded however from this group. One depicts the king with unnaturally long arms, which Wiese took to be flails, while the second one shows the king with one flail and another object similar in shape to a flail, but terminating in a ball. Both were found in Meroe and published in: D. Dunham, The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, vol. V, The West and South Cemeteries at Meroë, Boston 1963, 52, fig. 37a/58; 315, fig. 182/13.

24 Musée d’Annecy, inv. 67461, cf. S. Ratié, Collections égyptiennes. Annecy, Musée-Château; Chambéry, Musées d’Art et d’Histoire; Aix-les-Bains, Musée Archéologique, Inventaire des collections publiques fran-çaises 28, Paris 1984, 47, no 70.

25 These attributes appeared, for example, on reliefs of Niuserre from his temple in Abu Gourab, where the king is represented with flail and cane, with flail and mekes, with flail and crook and wAs scepter; cf. H. Sourouzian, L’iconographie du roi dans la statuaire des trois premiéres dynasties, in: Kunst des Alten Reich-

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a flail in one hand with the other hand empty.26 It is also an emblem of Osiris who took it over from Anedjti, god of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt, but it occurs in the iconography of the other gods as well.27 It was sometimes mistaken for a flywhisk, but these two objects have different shapes and names in Egyptian. They are distinguished on coffins from the 12th Dynasty, where the flail is represented together with staves and weapons, while the flywhisk accompanies personal adornment and furniture.28 The original function of the flail is not clear. The traditional explanation is that it complemented the crook as a shepherd’s whip. Other theories hold that the flail was an emblem of birth29 or a device for gathering ladanum,30 a precious substance used in the production of unguents and incenses, believed to possess medicinal and aphrodisiac properties.31 But this last idea should be excluded because ladanum was not used in the early history of Egypt.32

2.3 Interpretation of the two flails on the Tell el-Retaba scarab At least two interpretations are possible, depending on whether the two flails in the repre-sentation are intentional or not.

First of all, the artist may have been mistaken: he carved two flails instead of the in-tended canonical crook and flail. Assuming this is indeed the case, the artist can be seen as either careless or not well acquainted with the official royal iconography known from mon-umental art. The latter explanation would have been appealing had the scarab in question originated not from Egypt, but from Palestine or Syria. It could then be interpreted as an egyptianizing object rather than an Egyptian one, produced by a local artisan copying Egyptian motifs without full understanding. However, our scarab, as well as the three other scarabs with the same unusual iconographic detail, were found in Egypt33 and the idea that egyptianizing objects were imported to Egypt is not very convincing.

The explanation assuming an artist’s carelessness is also not very convincing, especial-ly in view of the fact that exactly the same mistake should have occurred not once or twice, but several times.

On the other hand, if the two flails are shown not by mistake, but intentionally, then one has to consider why the artist wanted to show a king with two flagellums. What is the meaning of such a representation? Was it invented by the artisan who crafted this particular scarab or was copied from elsewhere?

es, SDAIK 28, Mainz 1995, 133-154, especially 137, fig. 3a, b (flail and cane); 137, fig. 3b (flail and mekes); 137, fig. 3d (flail and crook and wAs scepter).

26 This type appeared already in the Archaic Period, for example, in representations of Scorpion (DC 14898), Den (BM 32650), cf. ibid. 135, fig. 2 a, d.

27 H.G. Fischer, in: LÄ II, 516–517, s.v. Geißel. 28 Ibidem. 29 See, for example: V. Wessetzky, Bemerkungen über das 'Flagellum', den Fliegenwedel und das Zeichen

ms, in: F. Pölöskei, Studia in Honorem L. Fóti, Studia Aegyptiaca XII, Budapest 1989, 425-429, pl. I-V. 30 P.E. Newberry, The Shepherd’s Crook and the so-called ‘Flail’ or ‘Scourge’ of Osiris, in: JEA 15, 1929,

84-94. 31 More on this subject in: ibid., 87-89 and notes 1-3 on 87. 32 J.G. Griffiths, The Origin of Osiris and his Cult, Studies in the History of Religions 40, Leiden 1980, 138. 33 In the case of CG 37158, it is not stated explicitly in the publication, but as the scarab is in the Egyptian

Museum in Cairo, it is not likely that it was brought there from abroad.

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In seeking a solution, the first thing is to ascertain whether two flails occur in royal (or divine) iconography on monuments other than the above mentioned scarabs. And indeed, such a representation is attested.

2.4 Two flails in divine and royal iconography Representations of this type are not very frequent and the authors have yet to find any ex-amples earlier than the New Kingdom. The following is a brief, certainly not complete, overview in chronological order.

The earliest example dates to the reign of Amenophis III. It is a granodiorite group stat-ue from the Month temple in Karnak.34 It shows Amun-Ra seated on a cubic throne, the king kneeling in front of him. The king wears a characteristic short heb-sed mantle,35 his arms are crossed on the chest and he is holding two flails. The head is not preserved (nei-ther is the god’s head), but it was crowned most certainly with either a white, a red or a double crown.36 Neither a nemes nor a wig is possible instead, because there would have been some sort of trace on the shoulders and neck. The blue crown is also impossible, be-cause it is never represented with the heb-sed mantle.

Two wooden ushebties, each holding two flails, were found in KV 62, that is, Tutan-khamun’s tomb.37 One of them was found in the treasury, the other in the annex. In one case, the king wears a nemes, in the other, the so-called Nubian wig.

This type of representation occurs also in a wall painting in KV 62.38 The decoration on the northern wall of the burial chamber shows the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, where Tutankhamun is represented as the god Osiris – in bandages and the atef crown. He is hold-ing two flails. In front of him stands his successor Ay in priestly robes.

Occasionally, the king or god holds other, royal or divine, insignia in addition to the two flails. A statue of Osiris, sculptured in a recess at the end of the seventh corridor in the tomb of Ramesses’ II sons (KV 5),39 has the god holding in each hand a crook and a flail. In this manner, his usual set of attributes has simply been doubled.

Similar representations but this time in relief can be found in KV 14, the tomb of Tauseret and Setnakht. Here again, a god (Osiris or Ptah–Sokar–Osiris) is depicted holding a doubled set of insignia: two crooks and two flails.40 Four such reliefs decorate the pillars in the burial chamber of Tauseret.

34 Now in store 262 in Karnak, cf. M. Seidel, Die königlichen Statuengruppen. I: Die Denkmäler vom Alten

Reich bis zum Ende der 18. Dynastie, HÄB 42, Hildesheim 1996, 191-193. 35 K. Martin, in: LÄ V, 782–783, s.v. Sedfest. 36 Seidel, op.cit., 192. 37 N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun, London 1990, 139. 38 Cf. e.g. G. Robins, The Decorative Program in the Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62), in: Z. Hawass/J.

Richards (eds.), The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor, CASAE 36, vol. II, Cairo 2007, 321-342.

39 Cf. K.R. Weeks, (ed.), KV 5: A Preliminary Report on the Excavation of the Tomb of the Sons of Ramesses II in the Valley of the Kings, PTMP 2, Cairo 2005, 36-37.

40 Photos of these reliefs can be found on the web page: www.thebanmappingproject.com, images 14648, 19448, 14644, 19449.

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Of quite a different nature is the representation of two flails on a 25th Dynasty coffin of Nesmutaatneru.41 Underneath the feet of the inner coffin a Iunmutef priest is shown running with two flails, one in each hand. The scene is rather unusual for it is the Apis bull which is usually shown in this place. Although this time it is not Osiris himself, who is shown with two flails, the Osirian aspect of the scene is quite evident in the context of the iconographic program of the coffin set. This is also explicitly confirmed by the label accompanying the scene: „I come, I hasten to Osiris, to Busiris“.42

Two flails occur also on later objects, for example on the base of a scarab made of green jasper, which was found in a grave (no. 11) on a Phoenician site in Tharros (Sardin-ia), dated to between the 8th and the 3rd century BC.43 It is decorated with representations of Isis and Osiris, the latter wearing the White Crown and holding two flails. The same set of insignia is shown also on a magical gem made of jasper originating from the Eastern Mediterranean and dated to the 3rd century. The representation is that of a mummified fig-ure of Osiris holding two flails in his hands and two crocodiles and magical symbols de-picted below it.44 Despite the fact that these two objects are quite late and are examples of egyptianizing rather than original Egyptian art, they follow an Egyptian model, in which the figure holding two flails in his hands is the god Osiris.

The list is surely not complete, but comprehensive enough for some statements of a general nature to be made. Taking into consideration all the presented examples, we can divide them into two categories: 1) Linked with the god Osiris: representations of Osiris himself or of syncretic deities with

Osirian aspects (Ptah–Sokar–Osiris), as well as representations of a king identified with Osiris. The representation of the Iunmutef priest on a coffin also belongs in this Osirian context.

2) Linked to kingship, without evident relations with Osiris. This category encompasses actually only the statue of Amenophis III in heb-sed coat, but the three scarabs men-tioned above should also be included in this group.

41 The coffin set of Nesmutaatneru (Boston MFA 95.1407a-d) was a subject of several studies: M. Raven,

On some coffins of the Besenmut family, in: OMRO 62, 1981, 7-21; J.H. Taylor, A priestly family of the 25th Dynasty, in: CdE 59, 1984, 27-57; J.P. Elias, Coffin Inscription in Egypt after the New Kingdom. A Study in Text Produktion and Use in Elite Mortuary Preparation, 4 vols., UMI-Diss., Chicago 1993, vol. III, 437-38, 441-42, fig. 31-32, vol. IV, 639-42. However, the authors did not comment on the scene with two flails (which is on the inner coffin, inv. no. 95.1407b). The scene was described by C.H. Roehrig in: Mummies & Magic. An Introduction to Egyptian Funerary Beliefs, Boston 1988, 175, but without an illustration. The present authors would like to thank Prof. Andrzej Niwiński for drawing their attention to this object.

42 Roehrig, op.cit., 175. 43 Now in the British Museum, no 1856,1223.898,

cf. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_results.aspx?searchText=1856%2C1223.898.

44 Now in the British Museum, OA.9533, cf. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_results.aspx?searchText=OA.9533.

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There can be no doubt that since all the scarabs which represent a king holding two flails are dated between the late 18th and the 20th Dynasty, this type of decoration could not have appeared first on the scarabs. It must have been adopted by artisans crafting small-er objects from the more monumental art.

The question of the meaning of the two flails is much more difficult to solve. Two flails are common enough as a set insignia held by a god45 or a king, too common in fact for the image to be interpreted as an artist’s mistake. They appear to be intentional and must have meant something. In the case of Osiris, it is possible to explain the two flails as emphasiz-ing resurrection, considering that according to one interpretation the flail is an emblem of birth. One needs to remember, however, that Osiris is seldom represented or named in the decoration of scarabs46 and it is surely not he who is shown on the base of the scarab from Tell el-Retaba, where the figure is clearly of royal character and without any clear Osirian iconographical features. Considered thus, the representations of Osiris with two flails are of no real assistance in understanding the meaning of the decoration on the Tell el-Retaba scarab.

The meaning of the two flails of the statue of Amenophis III can be interpreted in simi-larity to the Osiris representations, as the heb-sed was a feast of renovation. However, none of the iconographic details of the Tell el-Retaba scarab (or the other three scarabs with two flails) suggests any connection with the heb-sed ceremony. Thus, while the monument is important for the present discussion, for it proves that two flails could occur in monumental royal iconography without Osirian context, it does not really help to understand the icono-graphic peculiarity of the scarab decoration. We must perforce look to other sources for the meaning of this iconographic detail.

3 The flail in hieroglyphic signs The image of a flail occurs as an independent hieroglyph as well as inherent part of a num-ber of hieroglyphic signs. A review of these signs47 bring some interesting observations.

It is noteworthy that a number of new hieroglyphic signs came into common use during the 18th Dynasty (or were popularized for the first time during this period). These signs, showing a man, an animal or an object combined with a flail, replace similar signs without nxAxA. Why a determinative or an ideogram used for describing a king or a god was now shown with this emblem? The answer may lie in the sign D43, used for the writing of the word xwi (and all its derivates), meaning ‘to protect’, ‘to prevent’. Thus, nxAxA seems to be closely linked with the protective aspects of divine or royal nature. The word xwi can mean, among others, ‘protection by amulets’,48 which brings us closer to an explanation why the kings on the above mentioned scarabs are equipped with two flails: it was the artist’s wish to stress the protective function of the scarabs. Assuming that the king represented on the

45 Describing various patterns of Osiris’ insignia Griffiths (op.cit.) does not mention such a combination. 46 E. Hornung/E. Staehelin, Skarabäen und andere Siegelamulette aus Basler Sammlungen, Basel 1976, 90,

98. 47 The list is an excerpt from Gardiner’s list of signs (A.H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, Oxford 1982,

442-540). 48 WB III, 244, 16.

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scarab acts as a protector of the scarab’s owner, the two flails as symbols of protection turn out to be quite appropriate.

If this interpretation is correct, it puts the representations of two flails in Osirian context in a new light: nxAxA would not (or: not only) be a symbol of resurrection, but a symbol of protection. Osiris with two flails is well protected (it makes sense especially in the case of Tutankhamun, just transformed into Osiris) and protects all the dwellers of his underworld realm. Conclusions The two flails in the hands of a king, shown on the Tell el-Retaba scarab, as well as on sev-eral similar New Kingdom scarabs, are by no means a mistake, but an intended depiction by an artist whose aim was to emphasize the symbolical meaning of nxAxA – its royal and di-vine protective powers.

112 S. Gromadzka / S. Rzepka SAK 40

A42 king with flagellum; common in the 18th Dynasty

A44 king wearing crown of Upper Egypt, with flagellum,

used as A43

A46 king wearing crown of Lower Egypt, with flagellum,

used as A45

A51 man of rank seated on chair, with flagellum; in the

18th Dynasty often replacing A50

A52 noble squatting with flagellum (common in the 18th

Dynasty); in the 18th Dynasty often replacing A50

C8 ityphallic god with feathers, uplifted arm and flagellum

D43 forearm with hand holding flagellum; ideogram in

xwi ‘protect’

E4 sacred HsAt-cow

G6 falcon with flagellum

G12 archaic image of falcon with flagellum

G15 vulture with flagellum (18th Dynasty)

S23 knotted strips of cloth

S44 walking stick with flagellum

S45 flagellum

Aa6 (?) doubtful (different from S23)

2011 S. Gromadzka / S. Rzepka Tafel 5

1) Scarab from Tell el-Retaba, inv. no. S61 (photo S. Rzepka)

2) Scarab in Musée d’Annecy, inv. 67461

(after: S. Ratié, Collections égyptiennes. Annecy, Musée-Château; Chambéry,

Musées d’Art et d’Histoire, Aix-les-Bains, Musée Archéologique, Paris 1984, 47, no. 70)

Inhaltsverzeichnis Siegmann, Renate Zum Tod von Professor Peter Kaplony: Nachruf ………………….………...…… VII-VIII Abdelrahiem, Mohamed Third Intermediate Wooden Stela from the Cairo Museum (Taf. 1) …………………… 1-8 Antoine, Jean-Christophe The Wilbour Papyrus revisited: the land and its localisation. An analysis of the places of measurement ………………………………..……………. 9-27 Awad, Khaled Hamza Drei Stelen des Alten Reiches und der frühen 1. Zwischenzeit aus Abydos im Ägyptischen Museum (Kairo CG 1450, CG 1589 und CG 1616) (Taf. 2-4) ........... 29-52 Billing, Nils Monumentalizing the Beyond. Reading the Pyramid before and after the Pyramid Texts ………………………….… 53-66 Fitzenreiter, Martin Grabmonument und Gesellschaft – Funeräre Kultur und Soziale Dynamik im Alten Reich ............................................... 67-101 Gromadzka, Sylwia / Rzepka, Sławomir Two flails in the king’s hands: Unusual royal iconography on a scarab from Tell el-Retaba (Taf. 5) …………………………………………… 103-112 Grunert, Stefan Danse macabre. Ein altägyptischer „Totentanz“ aus Saqqara …............................... 113-136 Iskander, John M. The Haker Feast and the Transformation ……………………………………….….. 137-142 Janak, Jiri A Question of Size. A Remark on Early Attestations of the Ba Hieroglyph ………. 143-153 Jansen-Winkeln, Karl Sprachgeschichte und Textdatierung …………………………………………......... 155-179 Kahl, Jochem / El-Khadragy, Mahmoud / Verhoeven, Ursula / Abdelrahiem, Mohamed / Ahmed, Hesham Faheed / Kitagawa, Chiori / Malur, Josephine / Prell, Silvia / Rzeuska, Teodozja The Asyut Project: Eighth Season of Fieldwork (2010) (Taf. 6-13) …………...….. 181-209

VI Inhaltsverzeichnis SAK 40 (2011) Kaplony, Peter † Die Vergänglichkeit des Lebens und der Pyramiden. Die agnostischen Harfnerlieder und ihr geistiger Hintergrund in der Klassik der ägyptischen Literatur .................................................................... 211-237 Köller, Klaus Vier „Aegyptiaca“ im Fokus (Taf. 14-19) ................................................................. 239-258 Konrad, Kirsten Mutter, Gefährtin, Tochter und Beschützerin des Sonnengottes. Ein einzigartiger Beleg zu Hathor-Nb.t-Htp.t als Sistrumgöttin (Taf. 20-22) ............ 259-274 Lapp, Günther Der Sargtextspruch gegen die JbhAtj-Schlange .......................................................... 275-286 Lieven, Alexandra von „Where there is dirt there is system”. Zur Ambiguität der Bewertung von körperlichen Ausscheidungen in der ägyptischen Kultur .................................. 287-300 Menéndez, Gema Figurines and statuettes from the area of TT 11-12 in Dra Abu el-Naga (Taf. 23-29) …………………………..……...……………….. 301-314 Preys, René Les tombes non-royales de la Vallée des Rois ………………………………...…… 315-338 Romanova, Olena O. Contribution to reconstruction of some scenes in the chapel of prince Kawab (G 7110-7120) ……………………..………………. 339-347 El Shahhat, Haggag Fünf Armreifen aus Tell el-Balamun im Ägyptischen Museum, Kairo (Taf. 30-32) ……………………………….…….. 349-356 Sigl, Johanna Weaving Copts in the North Tombs of Tell el-Amarna (Taf. 33-36) ……………… 357-386 Spalinger, Anthony J. The Date of Amunhotep II’s First Accession ……………………………...………. 387-397 Zibelius-Chen, Karola Das Tübinger Fragment eines Perlennetzes (Inv. 1842) (Taf. 37) …………………. 399-406