A. Previous Work
The existence of this large tomb ( No. 14 ) must have
been patent to visitors at all periods ; but as the entrance was almost
completely blocked with sand, what was visible was extremely unpromising, and
the tomb was not cleared by M. Urbain Bouriant in 1883 . This task, however,
was carried out by M. Alessandro Barsanti ten years later, and M. Georges Émile
Jules Daressy published most of the texts of this tomb of a " flabellifère
", but not his name, for he found it erased from the inscriptions .
B. Architectural Features
Exterior :- The approach which has been cut through
the rock-slope is not much broader than the portal . The latter has the
customary form and decoration, but the surface of the lintel is almost
destroyed . It showed the usual duplicated scene of the Royal family adoring
Aten . As may be gathered from fragments of the north end given on Plate 5,
three princesses and the Queen's sister Mutbenret were included . The
inscription here apparently refers to the retinue : " The royal followers
after their multitudes, attendants on the feet of their lord (?) . . . " .
The name of the deceased, as well as his title of " Royal Scribe " at
the end of the columns on the jambs, has been hacked out and the remains have
been covered over with tenacious plaster .
Interior :- Although the hall as planned
was ambitious enough, its present appearance is very unattractive, less owing
to its unfinished state than to the blackness and filth which overlies all the
interior, except low down near the entrance where the walls have always been
protected by the invading sand . This grime is due largely, if not entirely, to
the countless bats which have housed here from time immemorial, and still
assert their ancient privilege . But the state of the walls and columns seems
also to show that at some time when the hall was filled with coffined mummies a
fierce fire broke out in this inflammable material ; for a foetid atmosphere
seems hardly able to account for the appearance of the tomb, and some of the
bones recently thrown out are certainly calcined, but whether by the excavators
or no we cannot say .
The ceiling of the hall was intended to be carried by
twelve papyrus-columns ; but, as usual, only those of the central aisle have
been given their final form ( see Plate 2 for details of the west column on the
north side of the aisle ) . The adjoining two in the west row merely show the
stems on the capitals ; the rest on the north are even less advanced, while on
the south one is still a square pillar . Of the remaining two, only the abaci
have been detached from the mass of unremoved rock which still fills this
corner of the hall to within a yard of the ceiling .
The usual features of this type of tomb are to be
found, though in an unfinished state, viz., the doubly-corniced door which was
the promise of an inner chamber, and the shrines for statues of the deceased at
each end of the nearest cross-aisle . The door is undecorated and now much
mutilated . The North Shrine contains a roughed-out standing figure of May,
which, though the merest bozzo, allows his long wig and the fan of
office over his right shoulder to be divined . The north and south walls of the
hall are in the roughest state, but it is evident that the inner row of columns
at least was to terminate in pilasters of the usual form . The unfinished
pillar is still attached to the side by a party-wall of rock, to which a rough
coping has been given in order to make the best of the unremoved mass .
Vault :- A rough place of burial has been provided by
means of a stairway, which descends in the north-east corner of the tomb and
penetrates a short distance under the east wall . At the nineteenth stair a
level space leaves scanty room for an interment . The lower half of the
pilaster has been cut away to give a wider passage, showing that the staircase
was not part of the original design .
C. Scenes and Inscriptions
The only mural decorations within the tomb occur on
both sides of the entrance and on the south side of the west wall .
North Thickness :- On the left hand in the thickness of
the wall of rock the scene of the worship of the Aten by the Royal family takes
the main place, and below this was the prayer and praying figure of May . The
King and Queen, who present the censer and libation-vase to the sun from behind
a laden altar, are followed by three of their daughters and by Mutbenret . The
last is attended, as she is wont to be, by her two female dwarfs, Para and
Re-neheh . The presence of this princess here has no special significance . The
subjects of the various walls of tombs in this group seem to have been settled
by the example of Ay, who, as father of Nefertiti and of Mutbenret, naturally
included the latter also in the Royal group .
The text of the prayer of May will be found on Plates 2,
19 It is in excellent condition ; but the kneeling figure of May has been
remorselessly destroyed and the space covered with coarse plaster . It can just
be seen that May was kneeling with right hand uplifted and the left holding the
fan over his shoulder . Apparently he wore the festal cap . His name, which
occurred in the middle of the inscription, has been similarly expunged, and
this hostility has been also shown to the mention of his office of Royal Scribe
and of some other dignity, as on the jambs outside .
South Thickness :- The same evidence of a fall from
favour appears on the South Thickness ( Plate 4 ), where May had another
address of his inscribed in five columns the full height of the wall, and in
shorter columns over a kneeling figure . In this case not only was the figure
overlaid ( probably after defacement ) with a rough and most tenacious plaster,
but the incised hieroglyphs also were filled up . In part owing to the
different nature of the defacing plaster, they now assume the form of an inlay
and are legible ; but we can found a large part quite obliterated and had
painfully to pick out the filling . Sometimes this came away readily and left
the original sign clear, but often the process was difficult and the resulting
form uncertain . Something might still be done to improve the text, and it may
be that the short columns can also be recovered in part .
West Wall - South Side :- This wall is the
only one inside the tomb which shows decoration or is prepared to receive it .
Even here the scene is only traced in ink, and only preserved as far up as the
protecting bank of sand extended . Fortunately the part saved is that which has
the most interest ( Plate 5 ) .
The scene seems to have been that of the reward of May
at the balcony of the palace, but the artist has deviated from the usual model
and has given a foreground to the scene . The palace, as we know, lay near the
bank of the river, and this, with the Royal barges, landing-stage and gardens,
has been included by him in his picture . Presumably the scene is as close to
fact as an Egyptian artist could make it .
In the background we see a colonnade running along the
river-front of the palace . A uraeus-crowned gate having seven columns with
open papyrus-capitals on either (?) side of it forms the entrance to the palace
; and from it two diverging paths lead down the bank ( in a sloping line
therefore ) to two landing-stages raised on piles and carrying uraeus-topped
kiosks or fencing . At one the barge of the King, at the other that of the
Queen, is made fast to mooring-stakes at stem and stem, with a crowd of craft
above and below, similar but simpler, to accommodate the Royal household . On
the foreshore the crews are busy at work repairing the tackle, etc . To the
right lie the oars neatly lashed together, the mast, the yards, the sails and
the tackle . A sailor is making a net in approved fashion, holding the end taut
between his toes, while with one hand and the other foot he extends the edge on
which he is working . His right hand holds the netting-shuttle . Near him a man
is trimming the shaft of a paddle which a boy holds steady for him . Elsewhere
men are taking oars from a pile or binding masts . Stands of meat are shown
also . Further up the bank gardeners are busy removing bouquets and foliage
which they have been cutting for decorations . The strip of ground between the
palace and the quay is thickly planted with palms, leafy shrubs, clumps of
papyrus and flowers ; and on the right a tree is seen, growing in a brick
holder, which is pierced with outlets for the moisture .
The barges of the King and Queen are distinguished not
only by their size, but by the heads of their Majesties ( the King wearing the Atef-crown, the Queen the double plume ), carved at the top of the steering-paddles
. Otherwise, the two boats are similarly constructed . Along the side runs a
light hooped railing to prevent accidents. On the deck there are three
erections . At each end is an open kiosk, the canopy of which is adorned with
uraei and supported on slender columns . Whether they contain images or
deck-seats for their Majesties is no longer clear, but it may be that the Queen
and her daughters are to be seen there on the after-deck of their boat . In the
middle of each vessel is a much larger two-storied construction . A cabin
furnished with side doors and windows is seen below . Above this there is a
covered upper-deck, reached by a companion-ladder aft, which ascends under a
columned portico to a loggia exactly resembling that of the palace . It would
seem from the port-holes that there are cabins also in the hull . Ribbons
flutter from the columns, from the steering-paddles and from the stern itself,
and all is light and gay as if designed for careless hours .
This detailed picture by a contemporary townsman, of a
spot which we can definitely locate and visit, brings the far Past up before us
with rare vividness . The picture is surrounded by a border of yellow and red
lines outside that shown in the plate .
The tablets of the columns in the aisle still retain
traces of the red and black ink of their design, showing the King, Queen, and
at least one princess, adoring to right and left of the Aten . On the north
half of the west wall are some half-effaced graffiti ( Plate 5 ), reading,
perhaps, " this piece (?) 2 days " ; " this piece (?) 5 days
" ; " year ii ... " ( possibly the date of construction ) . The
inscription on the ceiling of the hall, if there was one, has perished . That
in the entrance is partly legible ( Plate 2 ) .
D. May, the Official
As the inscription on the South Thickness ( Plate 4 ),
which attempts to put into words May's loyal attitude to the King, is, despite
all grandiloquence, a description of his career, it is in place to insert it
here .
" [ He says :
Listen ] ye to what I say, all
men ( lit. " every eye " ) both great and small; ( for ) I relate to
you the benefits which the Ruler did me . Then truly ye shall say, " How
great are these things that were done for this man of no account ! " .
Then truly ye shall [ ask ] for him ( the King ) an eternity of sed-festivals, an everlasting period as Lord of the Two Lands . Then truly
shall he do for you [ such as ] he has done for me ; the God who dispenses life
! .
" ' I was a man of low origin both on my father's
and on my mother's side, but the Prince established me . He caused me to grow,
he ...... me by his bounty, when I was a man of no property . He made my people
to grow in number (?) for me, he caused my brethren to be many, he caused that
all my people worked for me ; ( and when ) I became lord of a town, he caused
me to associate with Princes and Companions ( though ) I had been one who held
the last place . He gave to me provisions and rations every day, I who had been
one that begged bread . He caused ...... ' " .
May held the rank or office of :-
1. Erpa prince .
2. Ha prince .
3. Royal
Chancellor .
4. Sole
Companion .
5. Scribe
of the King .
6. Overseer
of the soldiery of the Lord of the Two Lands .
7. Overseer
of the house of Sehetep-Aten .
8. Overseer
of the house of Ua-en-ra in On .
9. Overseer
of the cattle of the temple of Ra in On .
10.
Overseer of all the works of the King .
11.
Scribe of recruits .
12.
Bearer of the fan on the right hand of
the King .
The two broken titles on the ceiling ( Plate 2 )
perhaps only repeat titles 6 and 10 . If we are to give full credit to this
list, we must assign to May a high place amongst those who early threw in their
full lot with the new ' Teaching ' and were entrusted with the highest
administrative posts . The offices occurring immediately before his name in the
above inscription are probably those which imposed definite duties, while that
of Bearer of the Fan, which he places first, brought him most into personal
contact with the King . The post of Acting Scribe to the King was in those
times the most difficult and responsible, and it appears to have been in the
discharge of its duties that he met sudden disgrace and, not improbably, sudden
death . Life, however, if short for May, must have been full of the sweets of
successful ambition and the satisfaction of well-rewarded activity. He became
one of those who entered most closely into the friendship and projects of the
King, and has set down in lasting letters, as well as in charming picture, his
pride in the hours of close companionship with the King on the river in his
splendid barge .
The Egyptian official was wont to find in his rapid
rise from low office and origin the greater matter for pride . May glories in
the fact that whereas he had formerly begged his bread he now associates with
princes ; but Egyptian sentiment was probably not so far different from our own
but that we may suspect that this was a cause of his downfall . His degradation
was even more swift and absolute than his rise . If the names both of his
father and his mother were of no account, the King now sought to blot his out
altogether from the book of life . We cannot wonder, as we read May's lavish
expressions of gratitude, that Akhenaten took special care to erase this
biography, lest it should stand as a satire on the favour of kings . It has
been the more pleasure to baffle May's enemies and restore his name to history .
It is interesting to find that May had special offices
outside Akhetaten, but it is of course precisely in Heliopolis that the
jurisdiction of the sun-worshipping King would be most readily accepted . Our
desire for information as to the administration of the country from the new
capital is little advanced, therefore ; for it would be rash to conclude from
the mention of a palace of Akhenaten in On that the King at times resided there
.
The depiction of three princesses in the tomb shows
that it could not have been inscribed earlier than the seventh year of
Akhenaten, and the downfall of May probably occurred almost immediately . It is
possible that he was succeeded in his office of Overseer of soldiery by Ramose
or Paatenemheb, as Overseer of works by Tutu, as Fan-bearer by Ahmose, and that
his honours as Erpa Ha Prince and Royal
Chancellor fell to Nekhtpaaten . But our knowledge of the administration of
Egypt is all too meagre for anything but surmise .
Part ( 24 ) .. Coming SoOoOon .....
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