IFAO

Pharaonic inscriptions reused as part of the pavement of the Fatimid gate now called Bâb al-Tawfiq in Cairo were discovered in 2004 and 2005 during Ifao excavations. Three of them dating to the reign of Senwosret I are published here. These quartzite blocks were cut up and removed in the Middle Ages from the Heliopolitan temples’ area as we can deduce from the texts and especially from the dedication to the Bau Iunu, lords of the Hut-aat. The first document consists of a large slab on which 23 columns of originally, more developed royal annals are partly preserved. The text deals with the endowments granted yearly by the king to the Bau Iunu: for the four remaining years are listed the offerings made to the Heliopolitan gods (cattle, vases, offering tables, statues, sphinxes and cultic implements) and the buildings erected by the king (columned hall, obelisks). The text contains early mention of the goddesses Mut-who-is-under-her-mast and Hathor-Nebethetepet. The two other documents are a left doorjamb inscribed with the royal titulary and the upper part of a monumental round-topped stela decorated with a winged solar disk above the king’s titulary, combined with the names of the Bau Iunu and Atum.