ref.: July 20, 1999 "Small coffin of Tiye's lock of hair"
At request the text from the coffinette containing the lock of Tiye's hair, found in Tutankhamun's tomb.
This coffinette was found inside three other small anthropoid model coffins,
enveloping each other. The first (outermost) coffin and the second coffin are
partly or completely gilded, have depictions of protective deities and
contain prayers to Nwt; the thirth coffin is uninscribed and undecorated; the
fourth (innermost) coffin is in the form of the mummy of Tyi (hence the
mentioning of collar and hands in the picture below).
About the lock of hair inside of the fourth coffin, Rowe says: "Mr. A. Lucas informs me
that the hair has been anointed with a black anointing material consisting
of resin and fatty matter, such as was used for anointing the mummy and the
gold coffin of Tutankhamen." Material from the Griffith Institute says:
"A lock of plaited hair auburn in colour covered over with linen and saturated with
unguents. L.12 cents. From the inscriptions on the coffin
this lock of hair apparently belonged to Queen Tiye. A possible loss of
pigmentation may have occurred to the hair."
Below we will be looking at the text on the smallest (L. 13.2 cents.), innermost, coffinette;
the text on the bands has been written out by someone, a copy of which came from the Griffith
Institute (see picture below), for which I thank them kindly. (I do not know
whose handwriting it is, but it is altogether possible that it is one of the
preliminary notes by Gardiner, who practically copied for Carter the vast
majority of hieroglyphic texts from the tomb.) The copyrights of the picture
remain with the Institute, so should you want to use it in any way, please
inquire with them first.
The hieroglyphic hand is not totally clear in every instance, but it is not
too difficult to reconstruct the obscure parts. Thanks to Federico Rocchi
(bibliography) and Aayko Eyma for their assistance.
Marianne Luban
UrHekau@aol.com
Short Bibliography
Howard Carter, The Tomb of Tutankhamen, III, 1933, 86-88, pl. xxv, fig. D.
A. Rowe "Inscriptions on the Model Coffin containing the Lock of Hair of
Queen Tyi", ASAE 40 (1940), 623-627 (with plate LXVII).
H. Murray and M. Nuttall, A Handlist to Howard Carter's Catalogue of Objects
in Tutankhamun's Tomb, Oxford 1963: Obj. 320 (1st coffin), Obj. 320a (2nd
coffin), Obj. 320b (3rd coffin), Obj. 320d (4th coffin), Obj. 320e (lock of plaited
hair).
H. Beinlich and M. Saleh, Corpus der hieroglyphischen Inschriften aus dem
Grab des Tutanchamun, 1989 Oxford.
__________________
Vertical bands
___________________
v.1) Band running down the center front, from top to bottom:
rpat.t wr.t Hsw.t nb.t rSw.t Hnw.t TAw nDm-ib(?)
nb.t tA.wi tiy mAa.t-xrw xr nTr-nfr D.t
"Hereditary Noblewoman, Great in Praise/Favour, Lady of Joy,
Mistress of Joyfull Breath (or: Joyfull Mercy),
Lady of the Two Lands, Tiye, justified with the Good God forever."
__________________
v.2) Long vertical band right of center band
rpa.t wr.t Hsw.t Hnw.t Sma mHw
nb.t tA.wi tiy anx.t(i) D.t
"Hereditary Noblewoman, Great in Favour/Praise, Mistress
of Upper and Lower Egypt,
Lady of the Two Lands, Tiye, that she may live for ever!"
_______________
v.3) Long vertical band left of center band
rpa.t wr.t Hsw.t Hnw.t Sma -{illegible, but surely: mHw}-
nb.t tA.wi tiy anx.t(i) D.t
"Hereditary Noblewoman, Great in Favour/Praise, Mistress
of Upper and Lower Egypt,
Lady of the Two Lands, Tiye, that she may live for ever!"
_____________
v.4) Band running down center back, from top to bottom:
[on drawing totally on the left]
Hm.t nsw wr.t mr.t=f nb.t tA.wi tiy anx.ti D.t
-{lacuna, but surely: r}- nHH
"The Great Royal Wife, beloved of him, Lady of the Two Lands, Tiye,
that she may live for ever and ever!"
___________________
Horizontal bands
___________________
h.1) Band under (or: flanking) collar, both sides:
[left]
nb.t tA.wi tiy
"Lady of the Two lands, Tiye."
[right]
Hm.t nsw wr.t tiy
"Great Royal Wife, Tiye."
____________________
h.2.) Second horizontal band
[the band is continuous; starts left of central
vertical column, runs to the left, connects
with the right side of the drawing till the central
column is reached again.]
Htp-Di-nsw [n] ptH-skr wsir wnn-nfr
"Royal gift of grace to Ptah-Sokar Osiris Wenennefer, ..."
[continues with line h.3]
__________________
h.3) Third horizontal band
[the band is continuous; starts left of central
vertical column, runs to the left, connects
with the right side of the drawing till the central
column is reached again.]
nTr aA nb-tA-dsr.t di=f qbHw irp irt.t x.t nb.t
", ... the Great God, Lord of the Necropolis, that he
may make a libation of wine, milk and every fine and pure thing...."
[continues with line h.4; "fine and pure" is in line h.4]
_________________
h.4) Fourth horizontal band
[the band is continuous; starts left of central
vertical column, runs to the left, connects
with the right side of the drawing till the central
column is reached again.]
nfr.t wab.t r{?; dislocated?} sst TAw nDm n mHy.t
n kA n Hm.t nsw wr.t tiy
"... for smelling/breathing the sweet/refreshing air of the North Wind
by the Ka of the Great Royal Wife, Tiye."
__________________
h.5) Fifth horizontal band
[on both sides of central column stands the same text]
Hm.t nsw wr.t tiy anx.ti
"Great Royal Wife, Tiye, may she live!"
________________
h.6) Sixth horizontal band
[left]
Hm.t nsw wr.t nb.t tA.wi tiy
"Great Royal Wife, Lady of the Two lands, Tiye"
[right]
Hm.t nsw wr.t tiy -{illegible; ?+w; perhaps a defective
mAa.t-xrw ?}-
"Great Royal Wife, Tiye, justified(?)."
______________