Divine Beings at Work: A Motif in Late First Intermediate Period and Early Middle Kingdom Mortuary Texts*

Abstract

Three mortuary compositions dating to the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties contain the same motif associated with the subservient work (b3k) of beings of divine nature on behalf of divine recipients. The motif in each case forms part of a larger compositional unit. All three attestations share structural and contextual features, which involve variants of a specific model of the community of the gods and the dead. Apart from the detailed analysis of the motif and the related model, the article aims at revealing major patterns in the interplay between models of work in human society and in the society of the divine world.