From: "Michael Tilgner" To: "AEL" Subject: Re: AEL help: Hetes sceptre Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2011 23:01:47 +0200 Orlando Mezzabotta wrote: > does someone know what the > "Hetes sceptre" is? > I found it in Wnis utterance 243, > spell 248a. > (Well, it is written /Hst/ + Aa30, but > it seems it should be read /Hts/). First the writing: The passage in question can be found in the 4th column from the left on the following photograph http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/SarcwestGH.htm Kurt Sethe, Die altägyptischen Pyramidentexte, vol. 4: Epigraphik, Leipzig, 1922, p. 23 [= p. 223 of the pdf-file] http://www.archive.org/details/diealtaegyptisch03sethuoft Sethe explained this arrangement - two large signs and one (or more) small signs - that it needs considerably less space (one page before). He listed a lot of examples from the PTs. A similar comment can be found in Edel, Altägyptische Grammatik, § 92 in his section about the rearrangement of signs. Sethe concluded that one cannot speak of a group of two large signs (= Hs) and another group below it (= t), but of a single group consisting (in this case) of three signs. Kurt Sethe, Übersetzung und Kommentar zu den altägyptischen Pyramidentexten, vol. I, 1935, pp. 229-230 [this vol. is not online] conceded that the meaning of this sentence is completely obscure. Perhaps a quadruped is addressed, because ropes are mentioned. The recent translation by James P. Allen, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Atlanta, 2005, p. 18 http://books.google.com/books?id=6VBJeCoDdTUC&pg=PA18 has a footnote 15 which is to be found on p. 62 http://books.google.com/books?id=6VBJeCoDdTUC&pg=PA62 "This spell invokes the power of two scepters against two snakes or worms, who are likened to two strips of papyrus pith." The Hts-scepter is explained in the entry "Zepter" (LÄ VI, 1373-1389) as the plant interpretation (lettuce) of the mks-scepter. It has a short handle compared with the mks-scepter. Its usage (one has it tilted to one side) in the "calm" hand, stretched out, for offerings and as a symbol of power let it be recognized as an abstraction of the mks-scepter. Best wishes, Michael Tilgner ============================================================================== From: "Timothy A. Jackson" To: "'Ancient Egyptian Language List'" Subject: RE: AEL help: Hetes sceptre Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 07:37:15 -0400 It is a spatula or flat "spoon" same as the kherop scepter for serving hot items from an oven or stove without handling. It would be the sign or representation of a host or hostess who serves their guests. ============================================================================== Date: Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:22:16 -0400 From: Jerzy Prus Subject: Re: AEL help: Hetes sceptre To: Ancient Egyptian Language List Dear Sir, Very instructive is a c. half page in the monumental "A Ptolemaic Lexikon" wrriten by Penelope Wilson (Leuven 1997, p.691), and there is an additional bibliography, one correction should be added to Wilson text, that "The oldest representation of this object in liturgical use in found at Karnak (sooth room of Hatshepsut (...)", because case in Unas pyramid is older. Also important is a ritual in temple foundation called Hts-Hb (Wilson, l.c., p.691). Best wishes, Jerzy Prus ==============================================================================