THE BOUNDARY STELAE OF AKHENATEN STUDIES IN EGYPTOLOGY EDITED BY ALAN B. LLOYD PROFESSOR OFCLASSICS AND ANCIENTHISTORY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OFSWANSEA EDITORIAL ADVISOR: GEOFFREY THORNDIKE MARTIN EDWARDS PROFESSOR OFEGYPTOLOGY, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDON THE EGYPTIANTEMPLE THEDUTIES OFTHE VIZIER PATRICIA SPENCER G.P.F. VANDENBOORN THE ADMINISTRATION OFEGYPT IN AGLOSSARY OFANCIENTEGYPTIAN THEOLD KINGDOM NAUTICAL TITL.ES AND TERMS NIGEL STRUDWICK DILWYNJONES CORPUS OF RELIEFS OFTHE LAND TENUREIN THE NEW KINGDOM FROMTHE RAMESSIDE PERIOD MEMPHITE NECROPOLIS AND LOWER SALLYL.D. KATARY EGYPTVOLUME 1 GEOFFREYTHORNDIKE MARTIN VALLEY OFTHE KINGS C.N. REEVES PROBLEMS AND PRIORITIES IN EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY THECOBRA GODDESS OF EDITED BYJANASSMANN, ANCIENTEGYPT GUNTER BURKARDAND VIVIAN DAVIES SALLYB. JOHNSON LOSTTOMBS A BIBLIOGRAPHYOFTHE AMARNA LISEMANNICHE PERIOD AND ITS AFTERMATH GEOFFREYTHORNDIKEMARTIN DECORATION IN EGYPTIAN TOMBS OFTHE OLD KINGDOM THEPRIVATECHAPEL YVONNE HARPUR IN ANCIENTEGYPT ANNH. BOMANN UNTERSUCHUNGENZU DEN TOTENBUCHPAPYRI DER 18. AKHENATEN'SSED-FESTIVAL DYNASTIE AT KARNAK IRMTRAUTMUNRO JOCELYNGOHARY THE MONUMENTS OFSENENMUT AFTER TUT'ANKHAMUN PETER F. DORMAN EDITED BYC.N. REEVES THEFORTCEMETERY AT THEBOUNDARYSTELAEOF HIERAKONPOLIS AKHENATEN BARBARA ADAMS WILLIAMJ. MURNANEAND THEBOUNDARYSTELAE OF AKHENATEN WILLIAM J. MURNANE AND CHARLES C. VAN SICLEN III ~ ~~o~!~~n~~:up LONDONAND NEWYORK Firstpublishedin1993by KeganPaulInternational Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2011by Routledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada byRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor& FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©WilliamJ.MurnaneandCharlesC.VanSiclenIII, 1993 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN10:0-7103-0464-1 (hbk) ISBN13:978-0-7103-0464-3(hbk) Publisher'sNote Thepublisherhasgonetogreatlengthstoensurethequalityofthisreprint butpointsoutthatsomeimperfectionsintheoriginalcopiesmaybe apparent.Thepublisherhasmadeeveryefforttocontactoriginalcopyright holdersandwouldwelcomecorrespondencefromthosetheyhavebeen unabletotrace. In Memoriam CHARLES FRANCIS NIMS Mentor and Friend TABLE OF CONTENTS Table ofContents. ... ................... .......... .... .. .. .... .. ... ... .. ......... vii List ofPlates . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .ix Preface xi Chapter One. Discovery and Previous Studyofthe BoundaryStelae 1 ChapterTwo. The Earlier Proclamation 11 Bibliographyanddescriptions (pp. 11-18);paralleltexts (pp. 19-34);translation (pp.35-47); commentary (pp. 47-68). ChapterThree. The Later Proclamation ... ............ .... ... ... .. ... ... .. .. ......... 69 Bibliographyanddescriptions(pp.69-83);paralleltexts(pp.84-98);translation(pp.99-104); commentary (pp. 104-109). ChapterFour. Architectural Features ofthe BoundaryStelae 111 ChapterFive. The BoundaryStelae as Officialand Historical Documents 147 Parallels and historical significance (pp. 147-149); inscriptions, design ofand modifications tothestelae:the chronologyofAkhenaten's reign(pp. 149-155);historyofthesite(pp. 155- 157); the developing design ofthe stelae and the demarcation ofthe boundaries (pp. 157- 162);thefixing ofthebordersinthetext(pp. 162-165);thedecreesashistoricaldocuments: reasonsforsettlingatEI-Amarna(pp. 166-169);Akhenaten'sallegedself-exiletoEI-Amarna (pp. 169-171); building plans for the city (pp. 171-175); the royal family in the boundary stelae (pp. 175-178);ceremonialandpracticalregulationsinthe lowerparts ofStelaeK, M and X (pp. 178-181); conclusions (pp. 181-182). Appendix One. Fragments ofthe BoundaryStelae no longerinsitu 183 Appendix Two. Stelae L 193 AppendixThree. PrincipalTopics ofthe Inscriptions onthe Boundary Stelae 195 Endnotes 197 IndexofEgyptian Words and Phrases 225 vii LIST OF PLATES Frontispiece: Tablet ofStela A (photograph) 1. Map ofthe EI-Amarna region, with boundary stelae 2. Stela K, columns (collated drawing) 3. Stela K, lines 1-28 (collated drawing) 4. Stela K, lines 29-44, 74-80 (collated drawing) 5. Stela X, columns (collated drawing) 6. Stela X, lines 1-20 (collated drawing) 7. Stela X, lines 21-40 (collated drawing) 8. Stela X, lines 41-57 and 68-72 (collated drawing) 9. Stela M, top [=lunette and line 1] (drawing, from a tracing) 10. Stela M, lines 2-25 (drawing, from a tracing) 11. Stela M, lines 26-50 (drawing, from a tracing) 12. Stela M, lines 51-67 (drawing, from a tracing) 13. Stela F (sketched reconstruction, after Petrie) 14. StelaJ (sketch after Petrie) 15. Stela V (sketched reconstruction) 16. Stela L (drawing, from a tracing) 17. Stela A: (A) general view; (B) statues 18. Stela A: (A) lunette; (B) Princess Ankhesenaten 19. Stela B: (A) tablet with flanking statue groups, from south; (B) same, obliquely from the north 20. StelaB: (A) remains ofprincesses carved onto south side ofsouth altar; (B) right-hand group from lunette 21. (A) Stela F: view ofterrain leading to site (from top ofhill); (B) StelaJ: the tablet in 1984 22. StelaK: (A) tabletwith flanking statue groups; (B) princesses' figures at right side oflunette (from Steindorffs photograph). 23. (A) sites ofStelae L (right) and M (left) at southern promontory; (B) the tablet ofStela N in 1984 24. Stela N: (A) and (B) statue head of Nefertiti [Aegyptisches Museum Leipzig 1114]; (C) statuary fragments (bodyofprincess,andarmofroyalfigure); (D) detailofking's footfromgrouponwestside ix 25. Stela P: (A) remains oftablet with flanking statue groups; (B) remains oflunette 26. StelaP: (A) fragment showingking's foot (fromlunette) above lines 1-2; (B) two fragments: from lunette,textcolumntoleftofking's leg(right),andfrombottomofthetablet(left); (C) emplacement for statuette ofthird princess (right), beside south statue group 27. Stela Q: (A) view ofsite takenfrom with northeast cornerin 1989, showingwrecked tablet flanked by remains ofstatue groups; (B) emplacement for statuette ofthird princess, beside eastern statue group; (C) fragment ofelder princess from western statue group 28. (A) site ofStela R, with tablet on south side ofniche (1989); (B) site ofStela S, with tablet flanked by statue groups (1984) 29. Stela U: (A) view ofsite; (B) lunette 30. Stela U statue groups: (A) north side; (B) south side 31. (A) Stela V, view ofsite, with "Coptic" houses in front; (B) Stela X: lunette 32. Stela X: (A) niche with tablet; (B) fragment with text from tablet x PREFACE "Why a new edition ofAkhenaten's boundary stelae, which are already published?" The genesis of this project arose, in fact, out ofa question which the authors asked ofthat earlier publication in 1983. At that time, our direct acquaintance with these monuments was confined to Stela A, which is on the normaltourist's itineraryinMiddleEgypt. Wewere alsoaware that, atmost oftheseboundarymarkers, the tabletswere accompanied bystatues ofAkhenaten, Nefertiti and two oftheir daughters, all ofwhich stood onlowplatforms thatwere raised above the levelofthe floor. What hadcaughtour attentionwas that the statues at the site of Stela A were elevated to a greater degree than were the corresponding statues at other sites (insofar as this could bejudged from published photographs). The evidence inthe publicationindicated, moreover, that StelaA, alongwith StelaB (some two miles south)were the latest ofthe boundarymonuments to be inscribed, since both concludedwith a "colophon", dated to the end of Akhenaten's eighthregnalyear,addedtothestandardtextofthe"LaterProclamation"found ontheseand otherstelae ofthisseries. DidStelaBthenalsosharetheunusualelevationofthestatues, hithertonoted onlyatStelaA? Andwasthisfeature diagnosticofthecomparativelylatedateatwhichthesemonuments were finished? Theseanswerswerenottobefound, unfortunately,inthefifthvolumeofNormande GarisDavies' The Rock Tombs ofEI-Amarna, which is the editioprinceps ofAkhenaten's boundary stelae. While the layoutofStelaA(themostvisitedofthesemonuments)wasdocumentedwithseemingadequacy,thesame could not be said for Stela B, or indeed for any ofthe other stelae. The descriptions supplied for each of the sites were sketchy and (as it turned out when we visited them ourselves) significantly wrong in several cases. It was clear that something more needed to be said, if only to compensate for these insufficiencies ofthe published record. Another surprise greeted us when, in addition to the architectural observations that were our first concern in 1983, we checked a number of passages that remained obscure in Davies' copy of the "colophon" texts on Stelae A and B. It was and is not our intention to defame an honorable publication thathasservedEgyptologistsfor morethanthree-quartersofacentury. Evenso,itwasdisturbingtofind that line divisions (onStelaBespecially) were unclear and occasionally incorrect inDavies' edition; and that the published copies differed from the original texts in ways both great and small. Variations in spelling and in the arrangement ofhieroglyphs were frequently encountered, as were omissions ofsigns and errors in interpreting the original signs. One particularly striking divergence at the start of the xi