 (p. 255) Remains of the burial of Menna, the New Kingdom "mayor" (HAty-a) of Herakleopolis Magna (modem Ihnasya el-Gebel), were first discovered by Edouard Naville at Sidmant el-Gebel in 1890/91 (1). The tomb itself, shaft no: 1955, was stumbled upon by Guy Brunton a few years later (2), and, although found to have been well-robbed in antiquity, yielded upon clearance several items of the deceased`s funerary equipment, including the sarcophagus. This latter item, located in "a trench, roughly cut, about 70 x 110 inches and 4 feet deep", Brunton cursorily describes as carved from "white limestone ... [and] inscribed for the ha-prince Menna of Henennysut" (3). No further details are given, and we may assume that the monument was left, essentially uncleared, within the burial chamber. Excavation seems to have been left to later plunderers, who entered the chamber - probably within a short time of the cessation of Brunton`s work - and smashed the monument into an unknown number of fragments, since dispersed.
Five of these fragments (only three of which it has proved possible to examine personally (4) have recently come to the writer`s notice, and it seems desirable to place (p. 256) descriptions of them on record. If this note should lead to the identification of further pieces from Menna`s sarcophagus, from which a full and reliable reconstruction of the monument might be attempted, then its primary aim will have been achieved.
Fragment 1
Formerly in the hands of the London dealers Charles Ede Limited (5), present whereabouts unknown. To the left of the fragment, two vertical columns of text containing a speech by Nephthys, whose left arm may be discerned above the second column; to the right, a speech by Thoth, in three vertical columns, a pair of wedjat-eyes above. 59.7 cm high x 33.7 cm wide; thickness unknown. Restored from fragments. Pl. 16.
Fragment 2
British Museum EA 69674; presented by the writer (6). Upper part of the figure of Nephthys, her surviving arm raised; behind, the remains of two columns of text. 34.0 cm high x 27.0 cm wide x 5.5 cm maximum thickness (reduced by sawing). Broken across and repaired, with some restoration. Pl. 17.
Fragment 3
Chiddingstone Castle, Kent (D.E. Bower collection), no. 87. Striding figure of the dog headed Duamutef, the remains of a single column of text before, the three columns of text behind with a speech by Qebhsenuef. 59.5 cm high x 57.0 cm wide x 4.5 cm maximum thickness (reduced by sawing). Lower right-hand corner broken across and repaired. Pl. 18.
Fragment 4
Chiddingstone Castle, Kent (D.E. Bower collection), no. 98. Striding figure of the dog headed Duamutef, three columns of text behind incorporating a speech by the god. 66.0 cm high x 57.0 cm wide x 4.0 cm maximum thickness (reduced by sawing). Lower left hand comer broken across and repaired. Pl. 19.
(p. 257) Fragment 5
Offered at auction in New York (9). Present whereabouts unknown. Standing figure of the goddess Isis, arms upraised, large ankh-signs suspended from her elbows; to the viewer`s right, a speech by Isis in two columns. 40.6 cm high x 47 cm wide; thickness unknown. Pl. 20.
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The fragments listed above share the same general characteristics. The surface of the stone is generally poor, shows abundant use of a coarse gypsum filler, and has been roughly finished with a burnisher which has left distinctive diagonal striations. The cutting both of signs and figures is occasionally hesitant, tending towards the simplified and lacking any internal detail.
So far as the relationship of the fragments is concerned, it appears that the slightly curved fragments 1 and 2 preserve the greater part of the head end of the sarcophagus box: the raised arm on the Ede fragment evidently completes the Nephthys figure on EA 69674, to which figure the left hand text on the Ede piece refers. Fragments 3 and 4 seem to have formed part of the left- and right-hand sides respectively of the sarcophagus box. Fragment 5, with its image of the goddess Isis, will have have come from the foot end of the sarcophagus box.
Notes
(p. 255) Thanks are due to the following for kindly supplying photographs: James Ede, Charles Ede Limited, London (fragment 1); Peter Hayman, British Museum, London (fragments 2-4, fragment 2 reproduced by kind permission of the Trustees of the British Museum, fragments 3-4 by kind permission of Miss Ruth Eldridge and the Trustees of Chiddingstone Castle, Kent); and Richard Keresey, Sotheby`s, New York (fragment 5).
(1) E. Naville, Ahnas el Medineh, 1894, 12f. Cf. further Mohamed Gamal el-Din Mokhtar, Ihnasya el-Medina (Herakleopolis Magna), BdE 40, 1983, 102 and pl. XIII, A-B.
(2) W.M.F. Petrie and G. Brunton, Sedment II, 1921, 31f.
(3) Ibid., 31.
(4) Fragments 2, 3 and 4 in the present list.
(p. 256) (5) Charles Ede Limited, Writing and Lettering in Antiquity, 1974, no. 23.
(6) Acquired on the London antiquities market. Cf. Janine Bourriau (ed.), Museum acquisitions, 1985, in: JEA 73, 1987, 193, no. 213.
(7) Apparently acquired on the London antiquities market during the second quarter of this century.
(8) See the preceding note.
(p. 257) (9) Sotheby`s, New York, Antiquities and Islamic Art (Friday, 2 December 1988), lot 140.
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Pl 16: Fragment 1. Present whereabouts unknown
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Pl 17: Fragment 2. British Museum EA 69674
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Pl 18: Fragment 3. Chiddingstone Castle, Kent
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Pl 19: Fragment 4. Chiddingstone Castle, Kent
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Pl 20: Fragment 5. Present whereabouts unknown
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