I think Laqueur, whom is cited in Waddell's Manetho Introduction, p. XII, as saying the sacred ished tree at Heliopolis held the "names and deeds of the rulers," may have made too much from a common artistic motif in Egyptian art. This illustration, which can be found at this URL [1], is not known just in Heliopolis (where the original ished [persea] tree was said to have actually grown in the temple of Re there). It can also be found in many temples in Egypt, including at least two representations at Karnak of the scene of a king "receiving his years" (by writing of the years by Thoth on the ished tree), being Seti I and Ramses II respectively.
However, as you can see by these Karnak examples, found at this URL [2], the motif is the same as Lepsius' drawing of the scene from the Ramesseum, as found in the "Astronomical Room" there. The ished tree contained only the cartouched name of the king hanging from its limbs, or, at times, upon its fruits. No other writing or glyphs are shown on the trees. Similar examples of this motif can be found through many temples in Egypt, including the Temple of Seti I at Abydos in the Second Hypostyle Hall, Western Wall, and other examples, as discussed below.
As to the text which states what the gods gave to the king by writing his name upon the ished tree, Alix Wilkinson pointed out in her book, _The Garden in Ancient Egypt_ (Rubicon Press: London, 1998), p. 90, citing this Denkmaeler illustration:
"The ished tree was a magical tree of which it was thought that the gods wrote the name of the kings at coronation and jubilee festivals, to assure them that their names, and thus their lives, would be perpetuated.
In the scene at the Ramesseum, the Goddess of Writing, Lady of the Library, Sefkhet-'abu [3] and the god Thoth do the writing in front of Atum, who is seated on a throne, with the seven gods of the sky and earth on the base of the throne. The goddess says to Ramesses II:
'I make your years on earth last in unending numbers. I make your life span more secure that the life span of heaven remaining in your own temple.'
And Atum says:
'I write your name on the holy ished tree with my own hand. I have proclaimed you king on my throne.'
There is a similar scene also in the Ramesseum on the first pylon, but it is partly destroyed. Ramesses had this scene carved on many of his temples. The scene developed out of the idea of finding the king's name on the sacred tree, and then recording it in the Annals, on a palm rib. The ished tree illustrated on the interior of the Ramesseum has fruits, on which Thoth writes the king's name. They are egg-shaped, and grow with the end pointed downwards [4]. The ished tree represented in the small Temple at Medinet Habu, built by Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III, has only leaves and no fruits.
A living representative of this sacred tree may also have been grown in the temple, or it may be a purely symbolic part of the scene of recording the king's name at his accession..."
So, beyond the name of the king being written upon the ished tree, and then recording this name upon a palm rib (which is a standard motif in representing year-counting, by Heh, Seshat/Sefkhet-Abwy, Thoth, and other deities), no other in-depth information about the ruler or his deeds seem to have been portrayed in such scenes.
Redford commented in his book, _Pharaonic King Lists, Annals and Day Books: A Contribution to the Egyptian Sense of History_, SSEA Publications IV (Benben Publications: Mississauga, 1986) pp. 69,83, that this motif is not so much a pure historical document, but a stereotypical way of assuring as a promise a king's long reign, usually at times of accession and at jubilees. Noting that the word for 'annals,' _gnwt_, seems to have an etymological base "to cut, to inscribe," and possibly related to _gnw_, "a twig or branch," Redford points out this motif scene begins with the Middle Kingdom Period:
"It is not without significance that this most popular scene appears first in the 12th Dynasty. The promise of years, jubilees, and _gnwt_ is tantamount to an assurance of legitimacy, at a period of Egypt's history when to establish one's right to rule was of paramount importance. The 'gods-on-earth' of the Old Kingdom needed no such assurance: they already knew of whom they were the seed!"
Regards --
Katherine Griffis-Greenberg
grifcon@mindspring.com
University of Alabama at Birmingham
UAB Options/Special Studies
http://www.griffis-consulting.com
--
[1] Image citation: _La Religion des Égyptiens_, Adolphe Erman, Bibliotheque Historique (Payot:Paris, 1952; French reprint of Erman's _Die Religion der Aegypter_, 1934), Fig. 38, p. 80.
[2] These Karnak drawings are from the work, _The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak, I: the Wall Reliefs_, Harold Hayden Nelson; William Murnane (ed.), Oriental Institute Publications 106 (University of Chicago/OI: Chicago, 1981), Plates 79 and 192.
[3] Hart points out that Sefkhet -'abu, whose name means "the seven-horned," appears about the time of Thutmosis III and seems to be little more than a version of Seshat. _Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses_, George Hart (KPI/Routledge: London, 1986) p. 91.
[4] As can be seen in the Denkmaeler II scene, as well as from the two Karnak drawings present on the EEF BBS (URL).