Miraculous birth of King Amon-hotep III and other Egyptian studies.

Front matter

OF

.t’j rW :

Colin Campbell

Contents

The Miraculous Birth of Kino Amon-hoti r III. in Luxor Temple ........

The Coronation of Amon-hotep III.

The Osirification of the Kino ....

Scene i. Hat-hor Greets the Queen-Mother

In the scene before us there is no council or assemblage of gods, not even Thoth, as Breasted affirms ( Records , ii. , p. 78 note), simply Amon-Ra (restored) standing behind a goddess (name erased), with horned disc on head, who is embracing the future mother of the king-to-be. The god’s speech is lost except the words, “ I give to thee life . . . within my power.” He is apparently an approving spectator of the greeting by the unknown goddess, probably Hat-hor, of the queen-mother Mut-em-ua, to whom is announced her approaching happiness, as being highly favoured among women. The nose (and mouth) of the goddess can still be traced almost touching, in Egyptian

1 1 AT- H OR GREETS THE OUEEN-MOTHER fashion, the nose of the queen, who is styled “ great royal wife, Mut-em-ua,1 living like Ra.” Behind the goddess are scanty remains of her speech, which indicate the nature of the meeting about to take place between the queen and her divine lover. In the middle column, below the hole, the queen’s cartouche occurs. The name of the god, occurring near the bottom of the third column, as well as his whole fio-ure throughout the series, was restored after the death of Khu-en-Aten (Amon-hotep IV.), the son of the child here promised.

There is absolutely no parallel to this scene in the Der el Bahri story, thus showing that in certain features the Luxor artist treated the subject somewhat independently. He probably did not feel that there was now any need for asserting, by depicting an assemblage of the gods, the supremacy of Amon over all the other gods.

Scene 2. Anion- Ra and Thothmes IV

This scene also has no parallel in the Der el Bahri story, where Thothmes I., the real father of Queen Hatshepsut, does not appear. Daressy mentions the king, the real father, as being vis-a-vis to Amon-Ra, while Breasted makes no allusion to his presence at all. The figure of the god, as elsewhere, has been restored, but 1 The name means “ Mut in her boat.’-'

(here can be little doubt that it was Amon-Ra, and not Thoth, that was the original, as the lofty plumes of the former god are shown in the restoration. He holds user and ankh. The upper part of the king’s figure is lost, but the royal uraeus-girdle and his legs and feet remain. He faces the god, whose figure Gayet omits, as does also Weigall. The order of personages, from right to left, is as follows: — Amon-Ra, Hathor, Mut-em-ua, making scene i ; then Amon-Ra and Thothmes IV., making scene 2. In front of the god the remains of two columns of hieroglyphics read: “. . . an aged man in . . . within heaven and the great arit while in front of the kinof are those of other two columns, “. . . as a young woman whom thou hast named, lo ! . . .in this land to its furthest verge, the wife of this king [Thothmes IV.] . . ." There is little doubt that the speeches must be so apportioned, as the two pairs of columns face each other like their speakers. The purport of the scene may be guessed : Amon-Ra desires to personate the queen’s husband, to whom he quite openly makes the announcement. It is curious to note that if the king be meant by “ the aged man,” he died quite early in life as an examination of his mummy showed, probably before his thirtieth year ; and that these fragmentary speeches occur in the Der el Bahri story in the interview between Amon-Ra and Thoth which the Luxor artist reproduces as the next scene.

Amon-Ra and Thoth. Thothmes IV. and

AMON-RA AND THOTH

Scene 3. A mou- R a and Thoth

This is a distinct incident from the last. Thoth, who now appears for the first time as the messenger and go-between of gods and men, enters the presence of Amon-Ra. A comparison has been made by some writers of Thoth’s function here with that of Mercury in Plautus’s comedy of Amphitryon, where Mercury personates Sosia, the slave of Amphitryon. While Amon-Ra undoubtedly personates Thothmes IV., but with the knowledge of the latter, Thoth here and throughout maintains his own personality and personates no one else. Amon-Ra is seen advancing towards the left, while his face is turned and his left hand uplifted towards Thoth to the right, as if giving him some commands. Thoth is ibis-headed as usual, and carries a palette or papyrus-roll in his right hand, while his left is held towards Amon-Ra. Unfortunately a huge gap in the wall above Thoth’s head has removed whatever speech may have been there ; and above Amon-Ra we have only . . . “eternity, Amon-Ra (restored) . . . the Two Lands, Lord of the Sky . . . giving life ... all health within his power.”

This scene seems to combine the two given in the Der el Bahri story, where Amon-Ra has first an interview with Thoth, and is then led by the latter, although Amon-Ra really precedes, towards the chamber of the queen. Gayet adds a translation of the few signs left, which is not

O ’

warranted by his text.

Scene 4. The Divine ATuptials

Amon-Ra and the queen are seated closely facing each other, on what seems to be the sign for the sky. Both have the lofty plumes of the god, who is holding “life” up to the nostrils of the queen, who in her turn affectionately supports the god’s right elbow and touches his left hand. Both are similarly clad. The queen wears the vulture head-dress, the symbol of maternity. The sky-sign or couch on which they repose rests on the heads of two goddesses, Serqet (left), with the scorpion-sign as a crest, and Keith (right), with her insignia, here a shield with crossed arrows, on her head. Both goddesses are seated on a long couch facing each other, and support the feet of the god and the queen. Traces of the sun-disc, horned and winged, may be seen above, overspreading all, as if to crown the divine nuptials with the sovereign approval of Ra.

The scene in Der el Bahri differs in some details. The queen wears no plumes, only the vulture head-dress, and Amon-Ra besides imparting “life” to her nostrils places in her left hand the signs of “ life” and “power.” But the positions of all the actors concerned are the same. The presence of Serqet and Neith here may be explained by

THE DIVINE NUPTIALS passages in the Theban recension of the Book of the Dead, which refer to them as birth goddesses.

The inscriptions accompanying this scene are in a much better state than those at Der el Bahri, where, in fact, nothing of the original remains. The speech behind the god cannot strictly be regarded as his own : —

“ Saith [Amon-Ra, King of gods] Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, Presiding over the Apts (Karnak): He hath made his forms (appearance) like the majesty of this husband, King of Upper and of Lower Egypt, Ra-men-Kheperu (Thothmes IV.), Giver of Life: [he found]1 her reclining on her couch in the beauty of her palace ; she waked at the odour of the god ; she was glad before his majesty ; he advanced towards her at once, he . . . 1 to her, he made her see him in his form of god when he came upon her ; she exulted at beholding his beauty ; his love went into her members ; the odours of the god flooded the palace (?) ; all his fragrance was from Punt.” 2

Behind the queen, above whose head traces of her cartouche may still be seen, the following speech is put into her mouth : —

“ Saith [Mut-]em-ua, before the majesty of this august god Anion, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, Great Twofold Deity, What is thy will? . . .

1 A hole occurs here.

2 The land of spices and sweet odours.

the plans thou hast formed ; pleased art thou with my majesty (fern.) ; thy dew pervades my every member. Then . . . did the majesty of this god all his desire with her.

“ Saith [Anion . . .] before her majesty, Arnonhotep Prince of Thebes will be the name of this son [which is] in thy womb : this is the saying (viz. the child’s name) that came forth from thy mouth.1 He shall wield excellent sovereignty in this land to its furthest verge. My soul is his ; my uash (Breasted translates “ bounty ”) is his ; my urert (crown) is his ; he shall rule the Two Lands like Ra for ever.'

Amon-Ra and Khnum.

After leaving the queen, Amon-Ra summons Khnum before him, and commands him to form the bodies of the child and his Ka. The scene is practically the same as that at Der el Bahri. The inscription relating to Amon- Ra is somewhat fragmentary at the beginning : —

“. . . all that is in my power, Amon-Ra, presiding over Karnak . . . all that is in my power . . . son whom I love . . . every day . . . [make] him

1 “The Egyptians, like other ancient peoples, carefully preserved the words which escaped the mother’s lips at conception or childbirth, and according as they were of good or bad augury, good or evil fortune was foretold for the child.” (Maspero, Comment Alexandre devint dieu cn Egypte.)

KHNUM MOULDS THE CHILD and his royal Ka, from these members that belong to [me] . . . create him better than all [gods] . . . the likeness of this son whom I have begotten. I have given to him all life, power, all health, all gladness of heart, all offerings, all bread, like Ra for ever.”

Khnum’s reply is very fragmentary, consisting for the most part of isolated words : “ King of Upper and of Lower Egypt, health,” then part of the name Ra-maat-neb (the king’s Ra-name), followed by the usual formula, “life, strength, health,” and “ King of Upper and of Lower Egypt, Ra-maat-neb [and] all his (royal) Kas, giving life, stability, power, joy of heart, like Ra for evermore.” As far as they can be compared, the inscriptions here and at Der el Bahri are dissimilar.

Scene 6. The Moulding of the Child and his Ka

Khnum, the tips of whose ram-horns, but not his head, may be seen, is working at a potter’s wheel on which stand two children, the king being next to Khnum, with his finger, childlike, in his mouth, and his Ka behind him. Khnum’s hands are over their heads fashioning them ; while the same goddess, seated like Khnum, crowned with disc and horns, that greeted the queen at the beginning, now extends “life” to the children. In the corresponding

’8 scene at Der el Bahri the goddess who plays this part is the frog-headed deity Heqet, where she is called “ Lady of Her-ur,” a city about four miles north of Beni-Hasan, “where Khnum had a temple with his divine consort the frog-headed Heqet.1 She was a form of Hat-hor, which affords indirect evidence that the goddess in these scenes whose name has been erased was Hat-hor and not Isis. The frog was from of old taken as a symbol of generation, birth, fertility, and also of resurrection : as typifying the last mentioned, a frog presides in one scene at Dendereh at the resurrection of Osiris, and Lanzone in his Dictionary of Mythology describes a lamp of early Christian times whereon is the figure of a frog, with the legend in Greek, “ I am the resurrection.” The speech of Khnum — there is no speech allotted to the goddess, who is erroneously represented by Gayet as modelling the Iva — is much mutilated : —

“(I have] moulded thee from (with) unique members. . . . Thou shalt be king with the White Crown, ruler of all the desert lands, lord upon thy throne; the Nine Bows shall be trodden under thy feet, thine shall be the throne of [Horus? and thou shalt be] a king like Ra-Khepera (the god) . . . thy members, they shall spread . . . [thou shalt] verily ascend the throne . . . Heliopolis lord . . . for evermore.”

The children here are of course males ; in the Der el

1 Newberry in Naville’s Der el Bahri , ii., 14.

H;it-hor.

The Children on the Potter's Wheel.

Khnum.

A

THOTH AND THE QUEEN

Bahri reliefs they are also of that sex, which, according to Breasted ( Ancient Records , ii., p. 81 note ) would indicate that the reliefs were made according to old and traditional sketches, in which, of course, a female child had no place. The learned American Egyptologist apparently forgets that Hatshepsut, throughout the series, is pictured as a man, whatever the inscriptions may say. Where are the old and traditional sketches, except in the Papyrus Westcar?

Scene 7 (Middle Row, Left Hand). Thoth and Queen Mut-em-ua

The meaning of this interview is not quite evident, either here or at Der el Bahri. It is the first meeting of Thoth and the future mother, and is perhaps a kind of divine annunciation to Mut-em-ua. Thoth, holding a papyrus-roll in his left hand, stretches his right towards the queen as if addressing her ; and the queen, crowned with the vulture head-dress and the double plumes of Amon-Ra, stands reverently before him and receives his message. There is no winged-disc of Edfu over the scene, as Gayet affirms. Certain words of Thoth remain which seem to show that Amon-Ra has highly favoured Mut-em-ua among women : “Saith Thoth, Lord of [Hermopolis], Amon-Ra, Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands . . make thee princess, great one of the favourites . . . things . . . Tern, sovereign of all lands. . . .” Professor Naville, in dealing with this scene at Der el Bahri (ii., 15, 16), says :

“ Thoth addresses the queen and declares to her all the

dignities which will be bestowed upon her, all the titles

which will be added to her name, since she is to be the

mother of such an illustrious offspring. This part is

particularly interesting, for here, besides the untouched

figure of Queen Aahmes, we have portions of the original

text. The following is what remains of the words of

Thoth, Lord of Hermopolis : . . in the great dignity

of princess, the great one of the favourites, the great one of

the preferred, the sovereign well-pleasing, the great one of

affection, the great one of love . . . things all done to her.’

Some of these phrases also appear over Queen Mut-em-ua,

as follows : ‘ Princess, great one of the favourites, sovereign

. . . royal mother, Mut-em-ua, the living . . . like Ra for ) >>

ever.

Scene 8

The Queen conducted by Hat-hor and Khnum to the Birth Room.

The sole personages here are those just named. In Der el Bahri, Heqet as before takes the place of Hat-hor, while Amon-Ra, followed by nine (twelve incorrectly, Naville) deities, some male, some female, heads the procession. We do not know who they are. In the principal group, in both representations, Khnum follows the queen, whose figure, like that of Queen Aahmes, is

[To Jucc page 30.

The Oueen conducted to thf. Birth-Room.

THE BIRTH almost perfect, and presents her behind her head with “ life," holding' her right hand the while : Mut-em-ua, now without the plumes, follows Hat-hor, and receives “life” at her nostrils from that goddess, who also holds the queen’s hand and leads her forward. The figure of the goddess is somewhat dilapidated, but traces of the disc and horns head-dress may be seen. The figure of Khnum seems original, and if so affords another problem to the advocates of Khu-en-Aten s monotheism. The speech over Mut-em-ua begins with her titles, some of them already mentioned : “ Princess, great one of favourites, sweet one (palm branch) of love, sovereign mistress of all lands, royal mother, Mut-em-ua, the living like Ra.” Some words spoken by Khnum follow, but his name and titles have perished : “ Saith [ Khnum . . . ] great, I have given to thee all life, stability, all health that is within me . . . she [goes] as wife towards the palace ... (a whole column gone) for evermore {bis)."

Scene 9. The Birth

Phis scene, as at Der el Bahri, is divided into three rows ; the middle part of the top row shows the birth.

1 he queen is seated on a chair placed on a long couch, facing to the right, while two goddesses kneeling, one in front, the other behind, hold her outstretched arms. These goddesses, as well as the others before and behind the queen, may have originally been named, as some of them are in the Der el Bahri scene. The Ka seems to have been born first, for he has been passed along to the second kneeling midwife-goddess on the right, who nurses him. That it is the Ka is evident from the name above his head, Ra-maat-neb, in a cartouche, surmounted by the Ka sign — two forearms uplifted from the elbow. The infant conventionally sucks his finger. The infant king has either not yet been born, or was held by the disfigured midwife-goddess who kneels immediately in front of the queen. If the boy-king was there originally, as is likely, it was possibly destroyed by Khu-en-Aten, who would not have his father represented as the son of Amon-Ra. Near the queen’s head are the remains of her cartouche ; in front of this are the titles “princess, great one of favourites, sovereign-mistress of South and North." It is noteworthy that Oueen Mut-em-ua, his grandmother, like Oueen Aahmes at Der el Bahri, has been spared mutilation at the hands of Khu-en-Aten.

In the Der el Bahri scene a child has just been born, which the mother is handing to the kneeling goddess in front, who, like the three others behind, holds out her hands to receive the child and his Ka. There are altogether nine goddesses in each scene, and though some, Nephthys, Isis, and others, are named at Der el Bahri, we cannot be sure that the nine here represented are not meant for the nine nursing Hat-hors

THE BIRTH who appear later in this story. Their names, if they were ever there, have disappeared.

Immediately below the queen and resting upon a second long couch, are two of the well-known figures with the notched palm-branch of years rising from their heads, representing long periods of time for the duration of the child. They kneel facing each other, and raise their arms like Ka figures towards the sign for life in the centre, along with which were probably grouped originally the emblems of stability and power. Behind these, to the left, are, successively, a man-headed figure, two figures with crocodile-head, and a ram-headed figure, all kneeling and presenting the sign of life towards the birth ; and similarly on the right, a crocodile-headed figure, two men-figures, and a ram-headed figure. Naville supposes that these are the genii of the East and the West. In the middle of the lowest row are two larcje signs, one of “protection” ( sa 1), the other of “power” (user) ; to the left of which are three falcon-headed figures and three jackal-headed ones, all kneeling, with the left hand on the breast and the right raised up behind. These are respectively the spirits of the city of Pe (Buto in the North), Horus, Amset and Hapi, and of the city of Nekhen (El Kab in the South), Horus, Duamutf, and Oebhsennuf. Thus, as Naville points out, all the deities associated with the four cardinal points are present at the

1 Dr Seligmann and Miss Murray have recently identified this sign with the uterus and its appendages.

C birth. In addition to their favouring influence the grotesque-looking god Bes and the hippopotamus goddess Ta-urt (the Great One), or Api, to the right, lend their sacred presence and sanction. Both these latter assisted at the birth of gods and kings, and their images formed favourite amulets, being held to be useful prophylactics at childbirth, and, as such, passing into foreign lands.

Between the sa sign and the god Bes, some eight columns of a text once stood, of which only a few signs remain. This space is entirely blank at Der el Bahri, having probably been chiselled out. Naville says that it “contained a text having symbolical connexion with the birth : it referred to the lighting of a flame or of a lamp, by Api. A flame was supposed to be an emblem of life; therefore, when life began, at the birth, or on anniversaries like the Sed festival, when the duration of the king’s life was celebrated, or in the other world when life was supposed to be restored to the deceased, we find the ceremony of lighting a lamp. At Luxor, in the scene of the birth of Amenophis III., there are a few words left of this text, which must have been very like chap. 137 of the Book of the Dead. At the time of the xviii. Dynasty this chapter was written in two different versions. The vignette which accompanies one of them shows a female hippopotamus, called “Api, the goddess of protection,” lighting a lamp with the symbol of fire which she holds in one of her paws” (Naville, Der el Bahri , ii. , 17). The inscription here evidently consisted of two parts,

Attendant Goddesses.

Oueen Mut-em-ua.

The Ka of Amon-hotep III being nursed.

The Divine Birth.

[To fac.

THE CHILD PRESENTED TO AMON four columns to each, reading from the middle to right and left. To the left we have, “(i) The princess, great one of favourites, sweet palm branch beloved, (2) sovereign mistress [of countries ?] all, royal mother . . . (3) Mut-em-ua, the living for ever, she has seized upon the light ( thet-n-s tan) ... (4) birth coming forth . . . (lame ( teka ).” The four columns to the right show isolated signs only, such as “come,” “heaven . . . his beloved . . . all health.” The last phrases in the former part seem to point to chap. 137 of Papyrus Nebseni, British Museum ; but Professor Breasted sees no connection between them.

There is no figure here, as at Der el Bahri, of the goddess Mes-Khent, who presides at births.

Scene 10. First Presentation of the Child to Amon-Ra

The great hole in the wall has spoiled part of this scene. To the left of the gap the remains of a tail, such as is usually attached to the figure of a god (or a king), who evidently faced to the right, can be seen, then to the right we have part of the face of a goddess with horned disc on head. She holds an infant towards Amon-Ra, who lays his hands on the child’s knees, acknowledging the paternity. Gayet (plate lxx.) fills up the gap with another goddess holding a child, probably the Ka. In the

Der el Bahri scene Amon-Ra comes first; this would account for the tail appendage seen on the left of the gap here. Then comes Hat-hor, seated, facing Amon-Ra, and presenting the child to him. Here Hat-hor says, after two destroyed columns, “. . . bring him up (nurse), and love him for (to) . . . .” These words do not seem to have any counterpart in the Der el Bahri scene. The figure (restored) of the god is standing, and his names and titles have been renewed. The rest of the inscription is original, and says, “ Come, come in peace, son of Ra, of his (my) loins, Ra-maat-neb, giving life.” Note that the speech begins, “Words of Amon-Ra, Lord of the thrones of the two lands.” Here Amon-Ra clearly identifies himself with Ra as the father of the king in calling' him “son of his body” — the first indication of the purpose of the pictures.

Scene ii.

Amon-Ra takes the Child in his Arms.

This scene completes the last ; and we have a new actor introduced in Mut, the consort of Amon-Ra. Mut never appears in the Der el Bahri series of pictures. The Luxor Temple artist, or rather the priests whose influence was probably greater than in Queen Hatshepsut’s time, makes Mut, to whom Amon-hotep III. had erected a temple in Karnak, co-operate with Hat-hor in the transaction, thus enhancing the greatness of Anion. Mut

[To face page 3t

First Presentation of Child to Amon-Ra.

AMON-RA EMBRACES THE CHILD wears her vulture head-dress with wig, and the two crowns of Egypt, and holds a palm-branch of years in her right, while her left hand supports the sign for anniversaries which hangs from the branch. From her left elbow depends an arrangement of symbols which signify “millions of anniversaries in life and strength.” The figure of the goddess is a restoration, but the crowns seem original. She is styled “ lady of the sky,” and gives the usual promises of “life,” etc. Near the top of the palm-branch is the restored Ra-name of Amon-hotep III., with the words “. . . son, beloved.” Hat-hor stands before the god with hands uplifted in adoration at beholding him caressing and kissing the infant king. T he child puts his left arm round the god’s neck, and Amon-Ra says again, “[come] in peace, son of my loins, Ra-maat-neb, I have given to thee to pass (lit. make) millions of years like Ra.” The whole scene is calculated to emphasise the idea of Amon in his usurpation of the place of Ra as father of th e sovereign.

In the Der el Bahri scene the goddess Serqet, who does not appear here, and who was present in both stories at the meeting of the god and the queen, now witnesses the reception of the child ; and Prof. Naville thinks that she is present now as one of the goddesses who will superintend the nursing of the child, in which scene, however, the goddess is not named, though he refers to the plate which shows the nursing.

Scene i i (Top Row, Left-hand Corner).

The Nursing of the Children.

The queen, facing to the right, is seen kneeling on a long couch, with lions’ heads at either end. Both her hands, closed, rest upon her breast : she wears the vulture head-dress, surmounted by what Naville calls a “ rnodius,” which, he states, “a female figure places on her head.” In his plate Serqet is not named. Gayet speaks of a woman behind the queen supporting her and making a magic pass on her neck, while the vase-shaped ornament on the woman’s head is said to contain “ le liquide fecondateur,” or “ the blood of the bull Bitaou-Osiris ! ” The “ woman ” here is undoubtedly the goddess Serk or Serqet, with a scorpion, her usual symbol, and not a vase, on her head ; and she is, as certainly, not making magic passes on the neck of the queen. She was present at the nuptials, and now she supports the queen’s right arm.

Both Daressy and Gayet regard this scene as the birth of the king.

Above the queen are two cartouches ; the nearer one is her own, with the titles, “ Royal Mother, living like Ra ” ; and the other, facing the queen, is that of the infant king, Ra-maat-neb, crowned by the royal falcon, which denominates him a Horus. In front of the queen and facing her are two goddesses kneeling, each suckling a child, the infant king to whom the last and the next

THE NURSING OF THE CHILDREN cartouches apply. The nurses are Hat-hors, who also wear the same head-dress as the Ra-name of the king. In Der el Bahri the two nurses have cows’ heads. Below the row of amulet buckles ( thet ) which support the couch, we have two Hat-hor cows, with disc between their horns, which give milk to the child and his Ka. The children are seen kneeling' below the cows, which look round affectionately at them. In the restoration of the scene at Der el Bahri the children were forgotten. The most perfect example of Hat-hor as a cow suckling the boy-king is afforded by the magnificent and unrivalled statue of the Hat-hor cow, which was discovered by Naville on Feb. 7th, 1906, at Der el Bahri, and now in the Cairo Museum. The king there represented is Amon-hotep II., son of Thothmes III. by the daughter of Queen Hatshepsut, and grandfather of the boy here represented.

Surrounding the cows we have fragmentary inscriptions : “Words said by . . . as King of the South and of the North, the living, rejoicing thy heart upon the throne of Horus ; thou wilt guide the living and rule as lord of the Two Lands, in righteousness, like Ra for ever and ever.’’ The wrords seem to be uttered by Hat-hor, who appears to be called “ the President of the chamber of the fire1 (flame) . . . has given to thee life, all health that is in her power like Ra (repeated).”

1 The words are Khcnt per neser , followed by dets. of fire and palace. This seems to be the name of this room as well as of the birth room : they are probably the same apartment. This agrees with the reference to “ flame ” at the birth.

To the right are seen nine deities, in three rows, nursing but not suckling the Kas, and kneeling towards the queen, while their heads are turned to the right. In the Der el Bahri scene the number is twelve, also in three rows, and their attitude is the same as here ; but it is difficult to understand what these deities are. Naville, speaking of that scene, makes out that these twelve, each nursing a Ka, along with the two Hat-hors suckling the child, indicate the number of Kas, fourteen, which a human being might have. In the Der el Bahri scene the “ nurses ” have as head-dress the Ka sign alternately with the shield and crossed-arrow symbol of the goddess Neith. All the “nurses” with Ka signs have beards. Here the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh, and ninth have the Ka sign, and the remainder have heb, the word for festival or anniversary. It is right to point out that all the head-symbols are restorations, and that all or nearly all the “nurses,” Neith included, are bearded; whereas in Der el Bahri, only the “nurses” that wear the Ka symbol have beards, the others wearing the symbol of Neith are innocent of these appendages.