Montsuef and his wife Tanuat were buried in a re-used tomb near Thebes, the so-called Rhind Tomb. Tanuat died only 48 days after the death of her husband, and both of them had similar papyrus documents placed next to their body. The documents are unusual in that their text is written in two different versions, in hieratic script and in demotic script. They were illustrated throughout with coloured vignettes; many photographs of them can be found on the NMS website.
Tanuat and Montsuef - who for some reason is called Hemsuf in his papyrus - belonged to a family who became prominent locally in the first century B.C. An attempt to reconstruct the family tree has been made by H.J. Thissen, "Zur Familie des Strategen Monkores" ( ZPE, 1977 ). He suggests that Monkeres the grandfather of Tanuat was the same person as Monkeres the father of Montsuef; in other words that Tanuat was married to her uncle.
The tomb was excavated by the Scottish antiquarian A.H. Rhind; in another part of the tomb he found the coffin of a man called Kalasiris. The inscription on this coffin is translated at C; but Thissen considers the assumption that Kalasiris belonged to the same family to be 'not proven.' Another object from the tomb was revealed in 2013, when a funerary shroud (NMS V.2013.45) was discovered in storage; it belonged to a son of Montsuef and Tanuat, whose name has been tentatively read as Aaemka.
A brother of Montsuef, called Pimontu, was buried elsewhere, in a re-used sarcophagus; the family were not deterred by the fact that the sarcophagus had been intended to hold the body of a princess. His inscription is translated at D. Pimontu's name can also be transliterated as Pamonthes; he is probably the same person as the strategos Pamonthes whose visit to the temple of Djeser-set in 48 B.C. is recorded in AET 9.7.B.
The translation of the demotic version of A and B is taken from M. Smith, "Traversing Eternity", pp.318-329 & 341-347 ( Oxford, 2009 ); only the sections containing biographical information are shown here. There is a German translation of both versions of A and B by G. Möller, "Die beiden Totenpapyrus Rhind des Museums zu Edinburg" ( archive.org ). The translation of C is taken from M.A. Stadler, "The Funerary Texts of Papyrus Turin N. 766: Part II", pp. 116-117 ( PDF ). The translation of D is adapted from E.A.W. Budge, "The Sarcophagus of Ānchnesrāneferȧb, Queen of Ahmes II, King of Egypt", pp. xvii-xxi ( archive.org ).
[A] Edinburgh NMS 1956.313 [ TM 57970 ] (demotic) ; translated by M. Smith
Regnal year thirteen, 27 Hathyr, of Pharaoh Ptolemy, the father-loving god { December 69 B.C. }, a good son was born in the house of his father, his name Hemsuf, whose father was a leading person of his city Heliopolis of Upper Egypt, and a god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt, his name being Monkeres. He was made great in prosperity, in everything which his heart desired. Great was his praise in the hearts of his fellows, their love permeating his flesh, while he was fortunate in what they said about him. He engendered a son and daughter to continue after him. He passed beyond fifty-nine years and entered the sixtieth to the extent of seven months and fourteen days, drinking, eating, and enjoying his happiness, the fragrance of Punt at all times, with no concern for bad things in his heart, observing the feasts of the gods like his own birthday, up to the end of his lifetime which Thoth wrote on his birth brick for him, an evil day of journeying to the West, to perish and go to the hall of the underworld.
Regnal year twenty-one of Caesar and of the might which he has exercised, 10 Epeiph, the sixteenth day { July 9 B.C. }, the feast of covering the head. The letter which Thoth wrote for the West to cause 1.10 those who are in the underworld to hear that the relative of Pharaoh Hemsuf, son of the agent of Pharaoh and god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt Monkeres, whom Senpamonthis bore, died.
* * *
4.1 The voice of Anubis : I am the one who grants the way before everyone who comes to the hall of the underworld. I am the one who opens the ways before the one who proceeds to the hall of the blessed, when he is very great, to allow him to greet Osiris. I have heard your name, that you have reached the West, Osiris of the relative of Pharaoh and cavalry officer Hemsuf, son of the leader of the army of Heliopolis of Montu and god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt Monkeres, whose mother's name is Senpamonthis. I will cause your words to arrive before the lord of the West so as to permit you to see Osiris in his bark. I will say your petitions before Isis and Nephthys to cause them to favour you among the blessed. I will invoke your name upon the necropolis of Djeme to cause you to be well-knit in your sarcophagus daily, after experiencing your senescence which you passed on earth, having a full measure of every good thing which your heart desired, no poor man having come into existence before you, and without having done a misdeed in your lifetime. You grew old on earth, while your house was open, and 'no' was not said therein in the course of any day. You have come to the West, your heart yearning for it, after your limbs grew too heavy 4.10 to do their tasks. You have come to the perfect house after your years which Thoth inscribed for you passed by. The good deeds which were yours on earth will be requited for you in the West. A mummification with unguent and wrappings will be carried out for you. Your limbs will be wrapped with costly linen. Anubis will apply it to you by the art of the embalmer. Your ba will be rejuvenated upon your body as you rest within your sarcophagus. You will repeat life in your tomb. You will go and come into the presence of Osiris.
* * *
9.1 Osiris will open his mouth to speak while his Ennead rests before him: This man whose heart is devoted, place him among the blessed. Let his ba go forth to the sky in company with their bas, while his body endures in the underworld. Give him bread on the offering table daily. His sister Isis will say to Thoth, while Nephthys rejoices with her, and to all the gods of the portals of the underworld there: An offering which the king gives to the Osiris of the relative of Pharaoh Hemsuf, the son of the leader of the army of Heliopolis of Montu and god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt Monkeres, whom Senpamonthis bore, and to Osiris foremost in the West, the great god and lord of Abydos, Sokar Osiris within the shrine, Isis the great, the god's mother, Nephthys the god's sister, Anubis pre-eminent within the god's booth, Anubis as embalmer, lord of the holy underworld, the righteous gods in the great hall, the cavern gods who guide the under-world, the spirits of the blessed who are in the West, the male divinities, and the female divinities, that they might grant invocation offerings consisting of bread, beer, oxen, fowl, wine, milk, 9.10 incense, unguent, oblations, provisions, food, sustenance, and every good thing on which a god lives to the name of the Osiris of the relative of Pharaoh Hemsuf, son of the leader of the army of Heliopolis of Montu and god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt Monkeres, whom Sempamonthis bore. Let the light of Pre shine upon his body. Let his rays suffuse his limbs. Let his ba enter the sky. Let him unite with the sun disc. Let him join the corporation of Osiris, being one among those who follow him, while a son and daughter survive him without ever ceasing on earth.
* * *
[B] Edinburgh NMS 1956.314 [ TM 57971 ] (demotic) ; translated by M. Smith
Regnal year nineteen, 26 Pakhons, of Pharaoh Ptolemy { May 62 B.C. } : the happy day of the birth of a good woman in the house of her father and mother whose name was Tanuat, the daughter of the prince, leader of the patricians, god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt, and great leader who is at the front of the people Kalasiris son of Monkeres, whom Hathoriti bore. She grew into a wise woman; she became the wife of the relative of Pharaoh Montsuef son of Monkeres, and furnished the household with a son and daughter [to cause] them to [survive] after them. She passed her span of living in a happy life, the limit of her lifetime [being] fifty-four [years].
2.1 Regnal year twenty-one, 28 Mesore of Caesar { August 9 B.C. } and of the might which he has exercised, the evil day which happened to the daughter of the great one of Heliopolis of Montu, Tanuat daughter of the agent of Pharaoh, god's servant of Montu-Re lord of Heliopolis of Upper Egypt, and relative of Pharaoh Kalasiris son of Monkeres, [whom] Hathoriti bore. [The letter] which was written for the West to cause those who are in the underworld to hear, by the scribe of the sky, [sem-priest(?)] of the earth, great lector priest [who] guides divinities and humans, the scribe [of truth] of the Ennead [who] hates falsehood, [whose] veritable [name] is Thoth, that [the daughter of] the agent [of Pharaoh] and relative of Pharaoh, Tanuat [daughter of] Kalasiris, whom Hathoriti bore, died.
3.1 You went to the necropolis after forty-eight days of widowhood. You entered the embalming place at the end of your life span which Thoth wrote for you. You lay down on a mat of fresh reeds. The work was performed by the lector priest of the evil day. The processions are appointed for their proper times. You will come forth in joy on the day of rowing. [The] ceremony of the great sea of Khonsu will be performed for you, [all of your] members going on board in the embalming pavilion by the art of the overseer of the mystery, Anubis in the role of embalmer, the [lord of the] holy underworld. He will revitalise your flesh. [He will make] your skin whole. He will cause [your] skeleton to be firmly knit together. He will cause aIl your limbs to be renewed in the perfect house, O good woman, [daughter] of the leader, Tanuat daughter of Kalasiris, [whom] Hathoriti bore, wife of the relative of Pharaoh Montsuef.
* * *
6.1 May you come, content, one of the happy women, to the necropolis of Djeme, having completed [your] span of living with a pleasant life on earth. You left a son and daughter behind you, one succeeding another in the house of your father. You will unite with life in Djeme. You will join the corporation of women of the mistress of the West. The doors of the West will open before you. You will greet Osiris while Isis and Nephthys are at his side, and Anubis is in adoration before him. He will favour you eternally. He will rejuvenate you for ever. He will set your ba breathing upon your body. He will [grant] breath for breathing to all your limbs [like] your former aspect possessing the breath of life, Tanuat, [daughter of the] relative of Pharaoh [Kalasiris, whom] Hathoriti [bore], wife of the relative of Pharaoh Montsuef.
* * *
9.1 Osiris will open his mouth to speak while his Ennead is assembled before him. He will say: This good woman whose heart is humble, let her be among the noble women who follow Osiris. Let her ba be rejuvenated together with their bas. Let her body endure in the underworld. His sister Isis says to Thoth, while Nephthys rejoices with her, and to all the gods of the portals of the underworld, the spirits of the blessed who are in Djeme, and the Hathors who are in 'United with Life': Let her be with you in the necropolis of Djeme. Let her join the corporation which follows Isis and Nephthys. Give her invocation offerings, bread, beer, oxen, wine, milk, incense, unguent, oblations, provisions, and every good thing on [which] a god lives, [for] the name of the Hathor of Tanuat, the daughter of the relative of Pharaoh [Kalasiris] son of Monkeres, whom Hathoriti bore.
[C] Edinburgh NMS 1956.351 (demotic) ; translated by M.A. Stadler
You will live, as your name will live. You will rejuvenate, as your ba will rejuvenate. You will live forever, you will rejuvenate eternally. Your ba will be presented to the nether-world, the Hall of the Righteous Ones, the first shrine in which Osiris, the great god, rests. And your ba will enter to go together with Rê at dawn and he will rest upon your body in the evening. Amenope, the great one of Djeme, the great god, the king of the gods, will pour water for you to the libation-table in the three decades 5 each month. Kalasiris, the son of Pa-ti-Usir-Bekh, the hekatontarch. The name of his mother is Ta-sheret-Khonsu.
[D] BM EA 32 (hieroglyphic) ; translated by E.A.W. Budge
May your ba live, may your name be established, may your body be renewed in the Mound of Djeme near the forms which follow the hennu boat and the justified dead [who follow] after Rê near your name, may your house be established, may your heirs be established in your town. The heaven is shut over what is in it, the earth is shut over what is in it, the sarcophagus of Osiris the . . . 2 . . . Great prince at the head of mortals, filling the heart of the king in the towns of Upper Egypt, mighty among soldiers, chief of the cavalry, he does [not] receive a repulse from his people. A wall of stone behind his town of Hermonthis, a wall af steel around it to those inside it, he goes to proclaim his plan to the chiefs of Egypt, furnishing counsel, health of heart, glory of mouth, giving a hand to the destitute, priest of Montu-Re, lord of Hermonthis, Montu-Re, Harmachis, Neith . . . Hathor of Upper and Lower Egypt . . . Harpocrates, Hor-Amun, Apis, Apis-Horus, Rê, Geb, Bast, Sekhmet, Atum, Osiris, Ptah, Sokar, the four chiefs, ruler of the temple of ... of the temple of Hermonthis . . . 3 . . . Khnum, great lord of Elephantine, Amun, Imhotep, scribe of . . . . . . of the temple of Qus, Isis, scribe of the temple of Coptos, Thoth . . . . . . 4 of [the temple] of Heliopolis . . . . . . Rê, Hathor, regent of the west, . ... libationer, royal scribe of Amenhotep . . . . . . with those behind him, Pimentu, justified, son of the similarly-titled Monkeres, justified, son of the lady of the house Senpamonthis, justified . . . . May his arm not be repulsed in heaven, earth and the underworld, may fields be given to him in Sekhet-Aaru, and sepulchral meals daily, all food, all things good, pure and sweet from Rê and Harmachis, cakes given from Khonsu of the double name in Thebes, libations every tenth day from Amen-Ipet of . . .
Attalus' home page | 15.06.26 | Any comments?