Abstract
This paper offers new insights into the worship of Ptah of the Place of Beauty in Thebes by analysing a range of evidence, including tomb scenes, graffiti, stelae, ostraca, and other resources. It aims to provide a better understanding of the development of the cult of this local Theban form of Ptah, as well as his iconography, cult centre(s), and his worshippers. In addition, the article investigates the connection between Ptah of the Place of Beauty and the Valley of the Queens and explores whether the rock-cut chapels between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens could be considered as the cult centre of Ptah of the Place of Beauty, as proposed by Bruyère.
Introduction
The geographical location of the Place of Beauty (tȝ st nfrw) has been identified from several written sources as the necropolis of the Valley of the Queens. 1 One reference to the Place of Beauty is found in the Abbott Papyrus (British Museum EA 10221), one of the main documents recording the disturbance and theft of the royal necropoleis at the end of the New Kingdom. 2 It describes the Place of Beauty as ‘the place of the tombs of the royal children, royal wives, and royal mothers’; 3 a description that matches perfectly with the Valley of the Queens. The Place of Beauty was also mentioned in a Hieratic papyrus (Cat. 2082/173) at the Egyptian Museum in Turin which belongs to a group of documents known as The Journal of the Theban Necropolis. 4 It records a visit by the vizier Khaemwaset and the chief of workmen to the Place of Beauty to inspect the condition of the tomb of the royal mother and the royal wife, Isis. 5 This tomb can be identified as tomb no. 51 of Queen Isis at the Valley of the Queens. 6
Ptah was usually depicted in ancient Egyptian art in human form as a man with a straight beard, wearing a skullcap, a tightly fitted garment, and holding the was sceptre or the composite ankh-djed-was sceptre. 7 The god had several forms and epithets; 8 however, his most prominent role was the creator god in the Memphite theology. 9 Ptah of the Place of Beauty is considered one of the local manifestations of the god Ptah worshipped on the west bank of Thebes.
When the French excavator Bernard Bruyère published the rock-cut chapels between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens in 1930, he identified that place as the cult centre of Ptah of the Valley of the Queens. 10 Since then, Egyptologists seem to have agreed with Bruyère’s conclusion. 11 However, a closer analysis of the archaeological evidence for Ptah of the Place of Beauty does not support this identification.
This article will discuss in detail the divine form of Ptah of the Place of Beauty in order to understand the chronology of his cult, the personnel who worshipped him, his possible cult centres, his iconography, and the relationship between Ptah of the Place of Beauty and the Valley of the Queens.
An overview of the attestations of Ptah of the Place of Beauty and their provenance
The range of evidence for Ptah of the Place of Beauty examined in this article covers two tomb scenes, two graffiti, seven stelae, a statue, nine ostraca, and a reed (see table 1). Ptah of the Place of Beauty was depicted in one royal tomb, KV 9 of Ramesses V/VI 12 (Doc. 1 in table 1), and in only one private tomb, TT 359 of the chief of the crew Inherkhawy (Doc. 2) at Deir el-Medina. 13 Ptah of the Place of Beauty is not attested on any of the wall scenes of either the tombs at the Valley of the Queens or the royal memorial temples on the western bank of Thebes. Two graffiti of the priests of Ptah of the Place of Beauty (no. 821 & no. 2096; Doc. 21–22) were carved on the cliffs of the Valley of the Kings. Graffito no. 821 is inscribed in the vicinity of the rest station on the high rock facing the Valley of the Kings, 14 while graffito no. 2096 is carved on the cliff east of the tomb of Seti II, KV 15. 15
List of the attestations of Ptah of the Place of Beauty.
Four fragments of a private statue were found by Bruyère at Deir el-Medina (Doc. 10). Two were found in 1928 in the court of the chapel of TT 356 of Amenemwia, 16 whereas the other two fragments were discovered in 1933/34 in a pit (no. 1166) 17 in the vicinity of TT 356. The statue represents Inherkhawy, the owner of TT 359, standing and holding an image of the god Ptah with a prayer to Ptah of the Place of Beauty.a#18a#a#18a#Cherpion and Corteggiani 2010: 292–293, pl. 102. Bru 18 yère referred to either TT 299 or TT 359 19 of the chief of artists/workmen Inherkhawy 20 as the provenance of the first two fragments. He did not consider the tomb chapel of Amenemwia as the original/primary provenance of the statue since the tomb of Amenemwia dates to the 19th Dynasty reign of Ramesses II and the statue dates to the 20th Dynasty. However, if the chapel of TT 356 is not the original provenance of the statue but a secondary place of deposition, that would not necessarily mean that the original provenance of Inherkhawy’s statue must have been his tomb, TT 359. After all, the site of Deir el-Medina was not just a cemetery, but it included residential, administrative, and cultic spaces; the statue of Inherkhawy could have been placed in any of these spaces. We should also consider the possibility that during the 20th Dynasty, the tomb chapel of TT 356 might have been reused for another purpose than its original function and that it could be the original provenance of the statue.
A group of reeds was also discovered by Bruyère at Deir el-Medina and was later published by Černý in 1940. 21 According to Černý, three of these reeds (labelled m, n & o) were found on 10 January 1930 in the dump south of the workmen’s village, 22 though they are not mentioned in Bruyère’s publication among the finds of this season. 23 Černý translated the Hieratic text on reed (o) (Doc. 20) as ‘the temple of Ptah of the Place of Beauty’. 24 However, the rendering of the first two signs is doubtful (fig. 1). The first sign that Černý read ‘the’ is different from the definite article used in the epithet ‘the Place of Beauty’. He also considered the second sign, which consists of two inclined strokes, as a unique abbreviation for the word Hwt ‘temple’. 25 He referred to the rock-cut chapels between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens as the location of this temple of Ptaha 26 which will be examined later in the discussion of the cult centres of Ptah of the Place of Beauty.
Reed (o) found in the heap of dump south of Deir el-Medina (after: Černý 1940: fig. 2).
Among the seven stelae examined in this article, only three have securely recorded provenances. Bruyère found the stelae of Pashed
30
(Doc. 3) and Iyernutef
31
(Doc. 4) together in 1939. The location he gave in his publication is the New Kingdom constructions in the second sector north of the Coptic pit in the centre of the court of the Ptolemaic temple enclosure.
32
In his notebook,
33
he recorded that these two stelae were found together with another two stelae in a small oblique corridor: Wednesday 18 January: digging down the Ptolemaic ground level first, which gives the bases of the walls signalled by Baraize to the north of the 52m pit. We found only very few things, fragments of Coptic pottery then we went to the Ramesside ground level and found the remains of white-washed walls. At the centre of a small oblique corridor, we recovered on the ground four limestone stelae two of which were almost intact.
The third stela with a secured provenance is the stela of Nebamun (Doc. 5). It was found during the excavations of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (previously the Oriental Institute) of the University of Chicago at the temple of Medinet Habu 34 in the rubbish heap nearby the high gate. 35
The provenance of the other four stelae is rather problematic. The stela of Anakht 36 (Doc. 6) was accessioned to the National Museum of Scotland by Cyril Aldred 37 when he was the keeper of the Department of Art and Archaeology at the museum, probably in 1961 as inferred from the accession number of the stela (A.1961.439). The owner of the stela before it was donated to the museum is not recorded in the museum archive.
The stela of Qaha 38 (Doc. 7) was bought in 1820 from Edward Dodwell’s (1767–1832) 3 collection to be part of the royal collection of Ludwig I (1786–1868), the king of Bavaria. After the end of the monarchy, the stela and the rest of King Ludwig’s collection were donated to the Munich State Museum. S. Schoske and A. Grimm allocated TT 360, the tomb of Qaha at Deir el-Medina, as the provenance of this stela. 40 However, TT 360 is in fact the tomb of the chief of the crew Qaha, 41 not the sculptor Qaha. 42
The stela of Qenna (Doc. 9) was donated by Bruyère to the Louvre Museum in 1929. The museum’s online database assigned Deir el-Medina as the place of its discovery ‘Lieu de découverte’. 43 However, Bruyère did not mention in his publication that he discovered it during his excavations at the site of Deir el-Medina, rather he stated that he acquired it in 1927 from an antiquities dealer in Luxor ‘stèle en ma possession acquise en 1927 a Louxor chez Mansour Mahmoud’. 44 The stela of Ramesses-seth-her-wenemef 45 (Doc. 8), now in Allard Pierson Museum Amsterdam, seems to have also been acquired from the antiquities market. W. Spiegelberg recalled that he saw this stela in December 1895 with an antiquities dealer in Luxor. 46
Equally, not all the ostraca dedicated to Ptah of the Place of Beauty have secure find spots. Two ostraca (Docs 11 and 12; figs 2 and 3) were found by Daressy in the tomb of Ramesses V/VI, KV 9. 47 Two were discovered in the workmen’s huts at the Valley of the Kings by the archaeological mission MISR of the University of Basel. One (Doc. 13) was uncovered in hut no. 8 towards the east of KV 18 of Ramesses X, 48 while the other one (Doc. 14) was found in hut no. 50 in the northeast of the same tomb. 49
Ostracon (CG 25052) found by Daressy in the tomb of Ramesses V/VI (KV 9) (photo: Sameh Abdel-Mohsen; courtesy of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).
Ostracon (CG 25053) found by Daressy in the tomb of Ramesses V/VI (KV 9) (photo: Sameh Abdel-Mohsen; courtesy of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).
In 1929, Bruyère discovered an ostracon dedicated to Ptah of the Place of Beauty (Doc. 15) in pit tomb no. 1244 above which the votive chapel no. 1222 was constructed in front of the tomb-chapel of TT 215 of Amenemopet at Deir el-Medina. He concluded that the pit tomb no. 1244, where he found this ostracon of Ptah, was reused later during the Ramesside Period as a crypt for the votive chapel no. 1222. 50 Another ostracon to Ptah (Doc. 16) was also found by Bruyère in the Great Pit at Deir el-Medina in 1949. 51
The rest of the ostraca came from private collections and the antiquities market. Ostracon Berlin (ÄM 15345, 52 Doc. 17) was bought from the antiquities dealer Mohareb Todrus. 53 One ostracon (Doc. 18) is from the collection of the British consul Henry Salt, 54 now at the British Museum (EA 29556). 55 Ostracon Birmingham (1969W71, Doc. 19) was donated to the museum by the Wellcome Trust in 1969. 56 However, it was first described by Maspero in 1910 as he saw it in Luxor in the possession of la Comtesse Contardone 57 who bought it from a fellah (peasant) nearby Sheikh Abd el-Gourna. 58
The worshippers of Ptah of the Place of Beauty and the chronology of his cult
Ptah was depicted in one private tomb – TT 359 of the chief of the crew Inherkhawy at Deir el-Medina. Inherkhawy was the chief of the artists/workmen from the reign of Ramesses III until that of Ramesses VI. However, there is evidence that he might have remained in this office until the reign of Ramesses VII. 59 He was one of the chiefs responsible for decorating the tomb of Ramesses V/VI (KV 9), where we have the only representation of Ptah of the Place of Beauty in a royal monument. A statue of Inherkhawy holding a figure of Ptah was found at Deir el-Medina. This statue is inscribed with a prayer to Ptah of the Place of Beauty together with the names of Inherkhawy’s sons Qenna and Hermose.
Graffito (no. 821) mentions a wab priest of Ptah of the Place of Beauty called Qenna. 60 We know from the scenes of the tomb of Inherkhawy TT 359, that one of his sons called Qenna has carried the title of a wab priest of Ptah of the Place of Beauty. 61 It is plausible that this graffito (no. 821) belongs to the same Qenna son of Inherkhawy who was active from year 1 of Ramesses IV’s reign until year 17 of Ramesses IX. 62
On the other hand, the reading of graffito (no. 2096) and the identity of its owner are rather controversial. Černý and Sadek translated it as: ‘the wab priest of Ptah of the Valley of the Queens, the lector priest of the king, Neferhotep, his father Qenna, his son Khau’.
63
Alternatively, Davies read it: ‘the wab-priest of Ptah of the Valley of the Queens and lector of king Amenophis (I)?, god’s father(?) Qenna, his son Khau (Anhurkhawy)’.
64
I, however, propose a different reading for it as follows: wʿb n ptḥ n tȝ st nfrw ẖry ḥb n nswt ỉmn-ḥtp ỉt=f [sic] ḳnnȝ ỉt=f ḫʿw The wab priest of Ptah of the Place of Beauty, the lector priest of the king, Amenhotep, his father Qenna, his father Khau.
65
The fact that the name of Amenhotep was not inscribed inside a cartouche suggests that the name is not referring to King Amenhotep I. Also, there must be a personal name in the graffito because it mentions the name of the priest’s father as Qenna. Consequently, this graffito refers to the wab priest of Ptah of the Place of Beauty who was also the lector priest of the king, Amenhotep the son of Qenna and the grandson of the chief of the crew Inherkhawy. Amenhotep son of Qenna was attested in year 16 and 17 of Ramesses IX and year 8 of Ramesses XI. 66 Qenna and his other son Hernefer also dedicated a stela to Ptah of the Place of Beauty (Doc. 9). Davies dated Hernefer to the second half of the 20th Dynasty. 67
Another family connected with the worship of Ptah of the Place of Beauty is the family of the chief sculptor Qaha as he and his son Iyernutef each dedicated a stela to this form of Ptah. The stela of Qaha (Doc. 7; fig. 4) is carved in two registers. The upper register shows Qaha burning incense before Ptah and Maat. Ptah stands holding the composite ankh-djed-was sceptre followed by Maat. The goddess is depicted with the ostrich feather over her head and embraces Ptah with her wings. In the lower register, a man stands in adoration followed by another one carrying offerings. The stela of Qaha has a long and important prayer to Ptah, Meretseger, and Hathor.
The stela of Qaha, Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst München, ÄS 42 (photo: Roy Hessing; courtesy of Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst München).
First register, inscriptions above the deities:
ptḥ n tȝ st nfrw mȝʿt sȝt rʿ
Ptah of the Place of Beauty, Maat the daughter of Re
Inscriptions behind Maat:
dy ʿnḫ wḏȝ snb sȝ nfr ḥȝ=f mỉ rʿ rʿ nb
Given life, prosperity, health, and perfect protection behind him like Re every day
Inscriptions above Qaha:
ỉȝw n kȝ=k pȝ nb nṯrw dỉ=ḳ n=(ỉ) /// ʿḥʿ m bȝḥ=k rʿ nb n kȝ n ṯȝw mḏȝt m st mȝȝt ḳȝḥȝ mȝʿ ḫrw ỉt=f ḳny-mỉn mȝʿ ḫrw r ḥ[ḥ]
Adoration to your ka, the lord of the gods, that you may give to (me) … a lifetime in your presence every day for the ka of the sculptor in the Place of Truth Qaha, justified; his father Qenymin justified forever
Inscriptions in front of Qaha:
sn=f wʿb n nb tȝwy ḳd-ḥr-ḫtw=f
His brother the wab priest of the lord of the two lands Qedherkhatuef
Lower register:
rdỉ(t) ỉȝw n ptḥ n tȝ st nfrw sn tȝ n mr-sgrt ḥnwt ỉmntt sḳȝy ḥwt-ḥr ḥr-ỉb wȝst dỉ=tn n=ỉ ʿḥʿ nfr snb wḏȝ ḥr=ỉ m st mȝʿt nn ỉn(t) sp ḥr ʿwy=tn rʿ nb r pḥt ỉỉ=(ỉ) ỉmy 110 ḥr tȝ n kȝ n ḥry ṯȝw mḏȝt m st mȝat ḳȝḥȝ mȝʿ ḫrw ỉt=f ḥry ṯȝw mḏȝt m st mȝʿt ḳny-mỉn mȝʿ ḫrw sȝ=f ỉỉ-r-nỉwt=f sn=f rʿ-ms
Giving adoration to Ptah of the Place of Beauty, kissing the ground before Meretseger, the mistress of the West, exalting Hathor who is amidst Thebes, that you may give to me a good lifetime, health, and prosperity upon me in the Place of Truth, without bringing a fault on your arms every day until I have reached 110 (years) on earth for the ka of the chief sculptor in the Place of Truth Qaha justified; his father, the chief sculptor in the Place of Truth, Qenymin justified; his son Iyernutef; his brother Ramose.
According to Davies, the sculptor Qaha son of the sculptor Qenymin was first attested in year 5 of Ramesses IV. 68 Also mentioned on the stela are Qaha’s son Iyernutef and his brothers Ramose and Qedherkhatuef. 69 Iyernutef son of Qaha dedicated a stela to Ptah of the Place of Beauty (Doc. 4) which was found in the New Kingdom rooms inside the Ptolemaic temple enclosure at Deir el-Medina. The workman Iyernutef son of Qaha was active during the reign of Ramesses IX. 70 On Iyernutef stela, his father Qaha and his grandfather Qenymin were mentioned together with an Amenhotep. In Davies’ prosopographic study, the family of Qaha did not have a member called Amenhotep and it is difficult to know which contemporary Amenhotep is the one mentioned here.
Among the securely dated personnel who worshipped Ptah of the Place of Beauty, are the scribes/draughtsmen Amenhotep and Pentaweret who dedicated an ostracon to Ptah (fig. 2) in KV 9. They were two sons of the famous scribe Amennakht son of Ipuy. Amenhotep son of Amennakht is attested from year 28 of Ramesses III until the first year of Ramesses X,
71
while his brother Pentaweret is attested from year 29 of Ramesses III until the reign of Ramesses IX.
72
Other members from the Deir el-Medina community later inscribed their names on Amenhotep’s ostracon as follows:
sḏm [ʿš] m st mȝʿt ms mȝʿ ḫrw sȝ=f nb-nfr mȝʿ ḫrw
The servant in the Place of Truth Mose justified, his son Nebnefer justified
sȝ=f pn-nỉwt mȝʿ ḫrw
His son Penniut, justified
sȝ=f rʿ-ms-nḫtw mȝʿ ḫrw
His son Ramessesnakht, justified
The servant in the Place of Truth Mose could be identified as the son of Pentaweret, 73 though the kinship term is not written in the ostracon’s inscriptions. Davies mentioned the workman Nebnefer son of Mose dating to the mid-20th Dynasty, 74 as well as the workman Penniut son of Mose. 75 However, he did not state that they were brothers nor that their father Mose was the same Mose son of Pentaweret, so it is not clear if they belong to the family of the scribe Amennakht son of Ipuy. Davies also mentioned another son of the scribe Amennakht called Tjay/To who in turn had a son called Ramessesnakht. 76 Therefore, Ramessesnakht, who is named on this ostracon, might be the nephew of Amenhotep and Pentaweret. 77
It is worth noting here that the sculptor Qaha was mentioned in a scene in the tomb of Inherkhawy TT 359 as his brother. 78 Graffito (no. 1296) mentions the chief of the crew Inherkhawy and the scribe Amennakht son of Ipuy as his brother. 79 These sources show the close relationships between the three families of Inherkhawy, Qaha, and Amennakht as Inherkhawy called both of them brothers. Additionally, we know that Hermose son of Inherkhawy was married to Nubemheb, the daughter of Qenymin and sister of Qaha. 80
The workman Nebamun son of Weskhet-nemtet who dedicated a stela to Ptah at Medinet Habu (Doc. 5) is dated from the reign of Ramesses IV onwards. 81 The royal butler Rameses-seth-her-wenemef, the owner of Amsterdam stela, was one of Ramesses IV’s officials involved in increasing the number of workmen assigned to construct the king’s tomb. Several documents record his visits to the workmen at least on six different occasions. 82
The workman Anakht and his son 83 dedicated a stela to Ptah of the Place of Beauty now at the National Museum of Scotland (Doc. 6). It is difficult to pinpoint the identity of the workman Anakht with certainty. As he did not carry the title of the foreman here, the identification with Anakhtu (ii) is doubtful. He might instead be Anakhtu (iii) or Anakhtu (iv); the latter was attested as a workman during the reign of Ramesses III and died in the first year of Ramesses V. 84 As for the stela of Pashed, the style of carving Pashed’s body and his garment is similar to that of Anakht. Thus, the stela might be dated to the mid-20th Dynasty. Davies identified, among the New Kingdom community of workmen/artists at Deir el-Medina, nineteen individuals with the name Pashedu. 85 However, if the dating of the stela is correct and he was a simple workman not one of the scribes, draughtsmen, or sculptors bearing the same name, then he might be the workman Pashed who is attested during the reigns of Ramesses V and IX. 86
The absence of kinship references in the inscriptions of the Birmingham ostracon (1969W71) makes it difficult to identify the three worshippers mentioned on it with precision. After investigating the four Amenwa identified by Davies in Deir el-Medina, Luiselli and Dorn suggested that the scribe Amenwa (iv) son of Hori (ix) and his brother Nebnefer (ix) were the owners of this ostracon dating to the mid-20th Dynasty 87 and that the name of Amenemope was added to the ostracon at a later date. 88 Unfortunately, in the rest of the ostraca dedicated to Ptah of the Place of Beauty, the name of the donor was either not preserved or never written in the inscriptions.
It is evident from the chronology of the devotees that the cult of Ptah of the Place of Beauty appeared among the workmen only during the 20th Dynasty towards the end of the reign of Ramesses III and remained until the reign of Ramesses XI. Furthermore, it could be argued that the cult of Ptah of the Place of Beauty was initiated and run by the family of Inherkhawy, whose son and grandson took on the role of wab priests of this form of Ptah, and that they introduced it to the rest of the community at Deir el-Medina. It was also Inherkhawy who introduced the image of Ptah of the Place of Beauty to the decorative programme of the king’s tomb, KV 9.
Possible cult centres of Ptah of the Place of Beauty
In this section, I rely on the provenance of the objects studied in this article as indications of the location of the cult centres of Ptah of the Place of Beauty; for this purpose, it is crucial to draw a separating line between provenanced evidence with a securely attested place of discovery in excavation reports (provenience) and the materials with uncertain or unknown provenance to avoid any misleading conclusions. Furthermore, this paper does not aim to provide any suggested or inferred provenance for such unprovenanced materials but to examine how much the securely provenanced evidence can inform us about Ptah’s cult in Thebes and can change our previous perceptions about that local form of Ptah.
Places of Discovery inside Deir el-Medina:
One of the New Kingdom constructions in the court of the Ptolemaic temple enclosure.
Votive chapel (no. 1222).
The tomb-chapel of TT 356.
The Great Pit ‘grand puit’.
The dump south of the workmen’s village.
Based on the principles of archaeological interpretations, the Great Pit and the village dump can be considered secondary places of depositions where objects were gathered for storage and/or discard. 89 However, it needs accurate documentation for the treatment of artefacts in any deposit, which we do not have in Bruyère’s excavation reports, in order to be able to identify whether this deposition was part of the religious rituals or for discard. 90
Places of Discovery outside Deir el-Medina:
The temple of Medinet Habu.
The workmen’s huts at the Valley of the Kings.
The tomb of Ramesses V/VI, KV 9.
It is believed that the main function/purpose of the royal tomb was to be a home for the king in the afterlife. 91 The tomb also had scenes of the king worshipping deities similar to the temple scenes and from some of these tombs, a considerable number of stela-like ostraca showing some of the royal tombs’ workmen adoring divinities was uncovered. More specifically in KV 9, we have a scene of King Ramesses VI worshipping Ptah of the Place of Beauty (Doc. 1), and two ostraca were dedicated there to this form of Ptah (Docs 11 and 12). Therefore, could we think of the royal tomb as a place of worship for a certain time during the process of its construction?
The dedication of many votive ostraca in KV 9 led Keller to conclude that the royal tombs in general, and KV 9 in particular, were not only a workplace for the workmen but also a ‘spiritually supercharged environment’. 92 I would like to add that at certain moments during the process of the construction of the royal tombs, they were places of devotion in some sort where it was appropriate to worship deities and deified rulers and to dedicate votives to them there. However, Dorn rejected the idea that the royal tombs, e.g. KV 6 and KV 9, were the original place of the dedication of these votive ostraca, arguing that such objects should have come from the nearby workmen huts at the Valley of the Kings. 93 Nevertheless, he mentioned a festival of Ptah dating to the 2nd year of Ramesses IV’s reign, celebrated at the entrance of the king’s tomb during its construction 94 according to ostracon DeM 401. 95
An important ostracon (no. 16991) from the collection of the Chicago Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures provides the only geographical reference to the location of Ptah of the Place of Beauty. This ostracon was written by the scribe Neferhotep to the vizier To of king Ramesses III to inform him about the tough conditions of the workmen due to the lack of supplies. The text starts with greetings to several divinities amongst are ‘Ptah of the Place of Beauty (to) the south of the village, to Hathor mistress of the West (to) its north, and to Amenhotep who dwells in the midst of the West Side’. 96 For Wente, the village refers to the site of Deir el-Medina and to its north there are two temples of Hathor; the first was built by Seti I, now outside the Ptolemaic temple enclosure, and the second by Ramesses II, inside the Ptolemaic enclosure. 97
However, the location of Ptah of the Place of Beauty south of the village is debatable. What lies immediately at the southern end of Deir el-Medina are the funerary complexes of Inherkhawy and Qaha (TT 359 and TT 360), the village dump, and the modern tourist road south of the village’s houses. In Inherkhawy’s tomb TT 359, we have a scene of Inherkhawy worshipping Ptah of the Place of Beauty, and in the village dump, a reed with the name of Ptah of the Place of Beauty was found. In contrast, no evidence was uncovered in Qaha’s tomb TT 360 to establish a link between it and the cult of Ptah.
To the southwest of Deir el-Medina towards the path to the Valley of the Queens, there is a series of seven rock-cut chapels which Bruyère assigned as the cult centre of Ptah of the Place of Beauty, even though he discovered a fragment of a stela in these chapels with the ancient name of the chapels as ‘the sanctuaries beside the Place of Beauty’. 98 This stela was dedicated by the servant in the Place of Truth Penniut dating to the mid-20th Dynasty, 99 around the same time as Neferhotep’s letter.
Furthermore, none of the various attestations of Ptah of the Place of Beauty which are studied in this article were discovered in the rock-cut chapels. Bruyère discovered the stelae of Pashed (Doc. 3) and Iyernutef (Doc. 4) in one of the New Kingdom rooms in the court of the Ptolemaic temple enclosure with two other stelae; the first belongs to the royal scribe Ramose and the second was dedicated to Hathor and Meretseger by the servant in the Place of Truth Paser. In his comment on the latter stela, Bruyère stated that: ‘it is an example of good Ramesside work probably from the same sculptor of stelae (32, 33) = [the stelae of Pashed and Iyernutef] which like others could come from the small temple of Ptah and Mertseger located between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens’. 100 In fact, these stelae to Ptah of the Place of Beauty, Hathor, and Meretseger were not found in the rock-cut chapels between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens; and there were no other dedications to Ptah of the Place of Beauty discovered in that site. Neither Schiaparelli nor Bruyère in their excavations of the chapels ever found a fragment of an object dedicated to Ptah of the Place of Beauty there 101 (see table 2).
Ptah’s epithets in the rock-cut chapels between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens.
Aside from the portable votives (stelae, ostraca, etc.), an important choice worth noting here is that the wab priests of Ptah of the Place of Beauty, Qenna and his son Amenhotep, inscribed their graffiti with titles affiliated to Ptah’s cult not around his assumed cult centre ‘the rock-cut chapels’ but in the Valley of the Kings.
Besides these considerations, it is important to note the possibility that the letter of Neferhotep could be referring to zones of protection in general, not necessarily to a specific temple, as Hathor was the protective goddess of the area north of the village around Deir el-Bahari and Ptah of the Place of Beauty was the deity of the Valley of the Queens southwest of Deir el-Medina.
The iconography of Ptah of the Place of Beauty and his relationship with the Valley of the Queens
We know from textual sources that the Place of Beauty was the site of the modern-day Valley of the Queens on the west bank of Thebes. Meanwhile, no scene or object for Ptah of the Place of Beauty/Ptah of the Valley of the Queens has been found thus far in this site. Therefore, what is the link between Ptah who belongs to the Place of Beauty with that place?
A possible clue for this relationship could be found in the iconography of Ptah of the Place of Beauty. In general, Ptah of the Place of Beauty had the traditional image of Ptah as a man wearing a skullcap and a tightly fitted garment, holding either the was or the composite ankh-djed-was sceptre. However, two objects might offer a link between the iconography of Ptah of the Place of Beauty and the Valley of the Queens: these are the ostracon of Amenwa (Birmingham 1969W71) and the stela of Qaha (Munich ÄS 42; fig. 4). In the first, Ptah is embraced by the wings of the goddess Meretseger, while in the second the god is embraced by the wings of the goddess Maat. This same image first appeared in the iconographic programme of the queens’ tombs at the Valley of the Queens.
On the east wall of the first court in the tomb of Queen Bentanat, QV 71, from the reign of Ramesses II, Ptah is depicted standing inside a naos while Maat embraces him with her wings and holds the ankh sign in each hand (fig. 5). This scene is closely comparable to the scene on the stela of the sculptor Qaha (fig. 4). We know that this image of Ptah being embraced/protected by the wings of a goddess also featured in some private stelae from the site of Deir el-Medina. On a stela probably of the vizier Panehsy, discovered in the vicinity of the temple of Amun-Re at Deir el-Medina, King Merenptah is shown making offerings to Ptah seated on a throne and embraced by the wings of a standing figure of Maat. 119 It is not surprising that this image appeared twice in the Valley of the Kings only in KV 14, the tomb of Queen Tausert (fig. 6), at the end of the 19th Dynasty.
Queen Bentanat offering Maat to Ptah and Maat in QV 71 (courtesy of Centre d’étude et de documentation sur l’Ancienne Égypte).
The depiction of Ptah and Maat from the tomb of Queen Tausert (KV 14) (photos: Hassan Elzawy).
From the dating of the evidence, it could be argued that the Valley of the Queens was the origin of this image, where it was first created by the royal workmen to be used in the iconographic programme relating to queenship. An image of a god being protected by a goddess/divine feminine power is clearly correlated to the image and the concept of the king being protected/supported by the feminine power of his queen. The image thus highlights the important role of the feminine power, support, and protection given by goddesses and queens to gods and kings respectively. 120
The parallelism between this image of Maat and the depiction of the queen became apparent in a scene from TT 2 of Khabekhnet (fig. 7) and two votive stelae. On the north wall of the chapel of TT 2, the priests are shown carrying a palanquin of King Amenhotep I. The king is represented seated on a throne and holding the crook and flail sceptres while being protected by the wings of a standing figure of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. Behind the palanquin of the royal couple, the god Amun-Re is depicted seated and embraced by the wings of a standing figure of the goddess Maat comparable to the scene of the king and the queen. 121 On a stela of the wab priest of Amenhotep I Nakhtatum, from Drovetti’s collection now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin (Cat. 1454 bis), King Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari are depicted standing on a portable shrine while the queen embraces the king with her wings. 122 On another fragment of a stela in the Louvre (N 665), from Salt’s collection, Amenhotep I is represented standing on the same shrine carried on the shoulders of two people, this time the king is embraced by the wings of Maat. 123
The procession of Amenhotep I from the north wall of the tomb of Khabekhnet (TT 2) at Deir el-Medina (after Černý 1927:189 fig. 14).
However, not all the 19th Dynasty queens’ tombs had this image of Ptah embraced by the wings of the goddess Maat. In QV 66 of Queen Nefertari, Ptah was depicted standing inside a shrine and holding the composite ankh-djed-was sceptre with a large djed pillar behind his back. 124 This image of Ptah appeared earlier in the tombs of kings Ramesses I (KV 16) 125 and Seti I (KV 17). 126
In the Valley of the Queens, there are two tombs cut for queens during the 20th Dynasty: QV 51 of Queen Isis, and QV 52 of Queen Tyti. Ptah was depicted in these two tombs; 127 the scene in QV 51 is badly destroyed while the scene in QV 52 is partly preserved. In the latter tomb, Ptah appeared in a different iconography than the image he had in the 19th Dynasty tomb of Queen Bentanat, QV 71. During the 20th Dynasty, another image of Ptah was employed in the tombs of the sons of Ramesses III at the Valley of the Queens (QV 42, 43, 44, and 55). In the tombs of Ramesses III’s sons, Ptah was always represented with uraeus on his forehead, holding the composite sceptre, and standing alone inside a shrine without a consort. 128 It is this image of Ptah which we see in the tomb of Queen Tyti, QV 52; 129 maybe because this tomb was not originally cut for a queen.
It seems plausible that during the mid-20th Dynasty when the artists/workmen of the royal tombs created the divine form of Ptah of the Valley of the Queens, they chose an image of him developed in this Valley to be his divine cult image. Even though Ptah was not depicted with this epithet in the Valley of the Queens, ‘Ptah of the Place of Beauty’ did clearly belong to the Valley judging from his iconography.
Conclusions
It is evident from the dedications to Ptah of the Place of Beauty that his cult first appeared amongst the community of workmen and artists at Deir el-Medina during the 20th Dynasty with the family of Inherkhawy playing a prominent role in his cult. Ptah of the Place of Beauty was not the only local deity or divine form created by the workmen of Deir el-Medina. A similar practice can be traced in the cult of Amun-Re where we find some of his local forms, which were only popular among the workmen at Deir el-Medina. 130
According to the evidence with secured find spots, there are six possible places where Ptah of the Place of Beauty might have been worshipped:
One of the New Kingdom constructions in the court of the Ptolemaic temple enclosure.
Votive chapel (no. 1222).
The tomb-chapel of TT 356.
The temple of Medinet Habu.
The workmen’s huts at the Valley of the Kings.
The tomb of Ramesses V/VI, KV 9.
The several attestations of Ptah of the Place of Beauty and the evidence from the rock-cut chapels between Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Queens do not support the assumption that these chapels were the cult centre of this local form of Ptah.
Until today, no attestation or cult centre of Ptah of the Place of Beauty has been uncovered at the Valley of the Queens. While the particular relationship between this local form of Ptah and the Valley still remains difficult to grasp, I propose that the iconography of Ptah of the Place of Beauty was influenced by the image of Ptah embraced by a goddess, usually Maat, which appeared in the tombs at the Valley of the Queens.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Cèdric Gobeil, Stephen Quirke, and Lea Rees for reading and revising earlier drafts of this article, and David Francis for editing the English language. I am very grateful to each institution, museum, and archive that provided me with images and information of their collection.
Funding
The author did not receive funding for this project.
8
LGG III, 168–175.
11
Cf. Černý 1973: 89; 
: 4, 6.
13
Bruyère 1933: pl. XIV, XVIII (2); : 149–150, pls 91–92.
15
Černý, et al. 1969–1970: pl. XLIX, section 50.
20
There were two chiefs of the workmen named Inherkhawy: the owner of (TT 299) was Inherkhawy (i), the foreman during the reign of Ramesses II or Merenptah. While the owner of (TT 359) was Inherkhawy (ii), the grandson of Inherkhawy (i) and foreman from the reign of Ramesses III until Ramesses VI: Bruyère 1928: 30; : 16, 21, 27.
24
Černý 1940: 139–140 .
27
Bierbrier (1980: 102–103) doubts that Hermin was a true son of the chief of the crew Inherkhawy; : 22–24 Harmin (i).
28
For a similar epithet of Ptah [ỉỉ ḥr] mdw n nmḥ, see Teeter 2014: 152.
30
Bruyère 1952: 74–75 fig. 153; Louvre E 16370 <> (accessed 31.01.2022).
32
Bruyère 1952: 33–34; : 41, 70–71.
33
Bruyère excavation notebook (MS_2004_0160_004): https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?miss=1939&os=4 (accessed 25.12.2021).
38
Dyroff and Porter 1904: 37–38, pl. XIX; –1930: 49, fig. 29.
40
Objektblatt 20, Die Stele des Kaha https://smaek.de/das-museum/publikationen/objektblaetter/ (accessed 11.01.2022); Wildung and Schoske, 1980, 38.
42
For the identification of Qaha see the following section.
43
44
Bruyère (1929–1930: 49, 116 fig. 56) called it the stela of Penmou. For the dealer Mansur Mahmud, see : 239.
50
Bruyère 1934–1935: 37–38, fig. 29; , 44.
53
54
55
Demarée 2002: 26, pl. 85; BM EA 29556 > (accessed 22.10.2021).
57
58
Maspero 1910: 143–4; –1930: 49–51.
61
Scenes on the east and west walls of the burial chamber of (TT 359): : pl. 53, 67, 84. However, Qenna’s title was abbreviated to just the wab priest of Ptah on the north wall of the burial chamber: Cherpion and Corteggiani 2010: pl. 91.
65
I would like to thank Andreas Dorn for helping me in reading this graffito.
71
Davies 1999: 112–113 Amenhotep (vi); Keller 1984: 119–129; : 41–56.
77
83
The name of Anakht’s son has been identified as Nebsmen by Seyffarth (MSS XII 9793). However, no relation can be constructed between any Anakht and Nebsmen from the community of workmen at Deir el-Medina according to Davies’ prosopographic study. Seyffarth’s manuscript was seen and copied by Černý, as mentioned by him in a letter to C. Aldred in 1961 (National Museums Scotland, Department of World Cultures archive). I am grateful to Daniel Potter who drew my attention to Černý’s and Aldred’s correspondence.
90
Cf. Walker 1999: 383–405; : 55–71.
95
The text on ostracon (DeM 104) according to KRITA VI: 106 ‘Year 2, 3rd Peret 4: (On) [th]is day of offering to Ptah in the Great Valley by the workforce, alongside the work-in-progress. They celebrated a great feast in the (divine) presence (of/at) the work-in-progress.’ Notice that ‘alongside the work in progress’ does not necessarily mean at the entrance of the tomb, so the exact location in the Valley of the Kings where the workmen celebrated Ptah’s festival is not quite clear.
98
Bruyère 1929–1930: 48; : 778.
100
110
Bruyère 1929–1930: 285. Number is not found in the Turin Museum database and is not mentioned in .
111
Bruyère 1929–1930: 285; : 155.
112
Bruyère 1929–1930: 286; : 156 mistakenly gave it number 6029.
113
Bruyère 1929–1930: 286; : 158.
114
Bruyère 1929–1930: 286; : 159.
115
Bruyère 1929–1930: 287; : 199.
116
Bruyère 1929–1930: 287 only mentioned (S. 6061 + S. 6062); : 170.
117
Bruyère 1929–1930: 286 gave it number 6057; : 154.
118
Bruyère 1929–1930: 286; : 160.
122
Tosi and Roccati 1972: 281, (CGT 50049); ME Cat. 1454 bis <https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/it-IT/material/Cat_1454_bis/?description=&inventoryNumber=145&title=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&materials=&provenance=&acquisition=&epoch=&dynasty=&pharaoh=> (accessed 10.02.2022).
123
Louvre N 665 <https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010025398> (accessed 10.02.2022); : 190 fig. 15.
127
PM I/2: 756–7.
128
For the tomb of Khaemwaset (QV 44), see Hassanein and Nelson 1997: pl. XXII; the tomb of Amenherkhepeshef (QV 55), : pl. XV.