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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Limestone Parapet from Amarna

Here is a limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ fragment of a parapet (c. 1352-1336 B.C.E., New Kingdom Amarna Period) that depicts the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ. A parapet is a low wall, and it may have been part of a temple ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰ at one point.

In the image ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“, Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ is offering cartouches to the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ. These cartouches do not belong to Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–, but to the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ itself which is different because cartouches were usually for pharaohs. Also strange is that other gods ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน are mentioned in the Atenโ€™s ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ cartouches, even while the Egyptian religion was banned. These might be early cartouches, before a complete ban took effect. There is also a lot of debate because does this mean that Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– was the Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ on Earth ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ, or were they two ๐“ป separate beings?

Front side of the limestone parapet from Amarna

Here is a closer look at the cartouches:

(๐“ˆŒ๐“ˆŒ๐“…Š๐“‹น๐“Ž›๐“‚๐“ฎ๐“›๐“๐“ˆŒ) – โ€œ “The living Re-Horakhty, Rejoicing in the horizon”

(๐“๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“†‘๐“๐“†„๐“…ฑ๐“‡ณ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“ฎ๐“๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ) – โ€œIn his name as Shu, who is in the Aten”

Also in the image๐“๐“…ฑ๐“, Aten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ is extending light rays to Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ. The light rays are represented by lines, with hands ๐“‚ง๐“๐“ฆ on the end that are holding Ankhs ๐“‹น๐“‹น๐“‹น.

Obverse side of the limestone parapet from Amarna

This is the obverse side of the limestone ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“ˆ™๐“Œ‰ fragment of a parapet (c. 1352-1336 B.C.E., New Kingdom Amarna Period) that depicts the pharaoh ๐“‰๐“‰ป Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ– (left) and Nefertiti ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“„ค๐“‡๐“๐“ญ (right).

The piece is in such poor condition because after the death ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ of Akhenaten ๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–, his city was abandoned and fell to disarray. This makes the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช difficult to translate but I will try! Also, many of the buildings were destroyed by Rameses II ๐“ฉ๐“›๐“ˆ˜๐“„Ÿ๐“‹ด๐“‡“ and the materials were then used to build ๐“๐“‚ค๐“…ฑ๐“‹ด๐“€ง one of his temples ๐“‰Ÿ๐“๐“‰๐“ฆ.

Letโ€™s read some hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช! This is the third column from the left:

(๐“‡‹๐“๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ๐“…œ๐“๐“ˆ–) – cartouche of Akhenaten
๐“™๐“‰ป – โ€œTrue of Voiceโ€ or โ€œJustifiedโ€
๐“Šข๐“‚๐“‡ณ๐“ค – Lifetime
๐“†‘ – โ€œheโ€ or โ€œhisโ€

โ€œAkhenaten, true of voice, in his lifetimeโ€ฆโ€