Remarks on the Hymns to Sesostris III

Abstract

In the First Poem, the beginning of line 4 is missing, so that the verse is reduced to HfH| j^p] J^> Hi *\T^e *atter was rea-d by Sethe m rmn.wj. fj, while Grapow saw in it a compound with r,A and thus transliterated it n-rmn.wj.fj. While his grammatical explanation is convincing, his reading rmn.wj.fj leaves some doubt. Instead of emending or correcting the spelling in order to make it coherent, it would seem a more concise explanation to consider *n, i. e. the arm with the hand pointing down, as the abbreviated spelling for the dual cwj. In this form it is attested in the Pyramid and Coffin Texts.5 The preceding lacuna is an unsolved riddle. It should contain a transitive verb which is an antonym of jnk, as required by the juxtaposition of the two halfverses. Among the various choices, fdk would seem particularly tempting. However, this is not the only possibility, so that this passage, which is interesting for its historical implications, remains unresolved. The same is true of the end of line 6 rdj.n SH.f mt hiw m pdwt . . . phw tts.f. Grapow surmised that a dem h*w m pd.w.t paralleler nominaler Ausdruckfur 'Feinde' is lost. Accordingly, he split the verse by rendering it der dessen Entsetzen veranlasste, dass Tausende von den Barbaren starben und die . . . die seine Grenze zu erreichen suchten. Such a division of the line