Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/162

Ill OBSEUVATIONS ON AN EGYPTIAN CALENDAR, vague year, it is clear that tlic required period is wlieu Tliotli fell in July, or about the expiratiou of the canicular cycle, A. D. 131). It may in fact be of the time of the first century of our era. On the outer or concave side of the monument the monarch was represented worshipping the gods whose festivals occurred during the month, in the same manner as these gods were placed on the astronomical ceiling of the llamcsscum.^ Each of these scenes was surmounted by the starry canopy of the heaven, supported by two (jam or kukupha sceptres — the emblems of power, by which it was separated from the subsequent or preceding month. The calendar of the iSallier Papyrus,^ drawn up in the reign of Menephthah, affords us fuller particulars about these festivals, and their existence is proved by their constant mention on monuments of the third and fourth dynasties, in which they follow their cyclical order.^ The first scene on the right represents the monarch, standing crowned in the red cap teshr — emblem of his dominion over lower Eg3'pt, offering two small globular vases of wine to the goddess who is the presiding deity of the month Mechir, or Choiak, according as the series may have been arranged; for although, at the earlier period, such always follow in an order from the faces, yet many of the monuments after the twentieth dynasty are retrograde, and read in a direction contrary to that which they face.'* Above the head of the king are inscribed his name and titles, containing his name and prienomen in cartouches, which I transcribe. These I transcribe — Neb. ta (dual) ti Ra user Ka Meri en Amen satp en Ra, Neb sJum Pailipims ta anch gam eha Ra. " The lord of the upper and the lower Earth, the Sun, defender of existence, beloved of the god Ammon, whom the Sun has tried, the lord of diadems riiilippus, to whom has been given a perfect life like the Sun. The line of hieroglyphics before the king reads, ta arp en Mid f ar-f ta-anch, " A gift of wine to his Mother, that he may have the gift of life ! " This inscription refers to Mat, the mother goddess, who ' Burton, Exc. Hicr., PI. LVIII. ; Ros. ^ Lepsius, Einleituuf^, s. 154 and 131. M. d. c Ixxi. ' Forcxiunplcjtliceoliiii of till' so-called - Si-lret I'iipyri in the British Museum, AniyrtLeus(Nectherhebi— Nei-htabis). Eg. folio, Lond. liM3, PI. CXLIV. and foil. ; Sal. British Museum, 105, Dcscr. del'Eg., Dr. Hincks, Dubl. Un. Mag., 1844, p. )1 . A., vol. v., PI. 40.