IFAO

Publication of four New Year’s bottles found in Tell Marqula during excavations carried out by the Antiquities Inspectorate of Dakhla (1988-1992). These bottles are dated to the XXVIth Dynasty and are inscribed with short inscriptions mentioning some names of divinities (Nebet-Hetepet, Ptah, Amun-Ra and Seth) and some proper nouns (Psammetik and Sethirdis).

Examination of some epithets related to the god Thoth from the Qasr el-Aguz, his temple having been built by Ptolemy Evergete II near Medinet Habu. This article includes a full discussion of the names Ḏd-ḥr-pȝ-hb, Ḏḥwty-stm and of related topics. The god Thoth from the Qasr el-Aguz is a specific form of the ibis god, implicated namely in the liturgy of the cults of Djeme. His principal epithet should be understood as "Thoth the setem-(priest)" (and not as "Thoth-the-hearer"). The Hypothesis of an oracular temple of Thoth is here rejected after discussion of the subject.

Publication of two statues representing Ptolemy VI Philometor and Cleopatra II, from the Amun temple at Karnak. Preliminary considerations of Ptolemaic royal statues in Egyptian temples allow us to clarify the role and the date of the setting up of these monumental statues at the entrance of Amun’s temple.

Wadi Maghara (Sinai) is known largely for having been a mining place for turquoise under the pharaos of the Old Kingdom. This area has however experienced another period of intense exploitation during the Middle Kingdom, under the last two kings of the XIIth dynasty. Some newly discovered documents cast light on the conditions of the re‑opening of this site from the second regnal year of Amenemhat III. They show the important role played by two categories of officials in this specific context: the "Scorpion Removers" (šd wḥʿwt) and the "Petty Officials" (jry ʿt).

The purpose of this article is to show that both small animals of the Turin stele no. 50056 – one cat and a swallow – are not "secondary divinities" or deified animals but simply an aspect of a more important divinity: the rising sun for the bird, before Re crossed the horizon, and Hathor-Nebet-Hetepet for the cat, responsible for calming down the sun after the hard battle he does with his opponents every morning.

Nbtyt rḫyt "queen of the rekhyt" is primarily a title of the goddess Isis. As nbtyt rḫyt, Isis possesses the royal function given to her by her father Geb at her birthday "the day of the night of the infant in his nest". The title emphasises her relation with Osiris and Harsiësis "the son she puts on the throne of his father". In this way, Isis becomes the link between the royalty of the father and that of the son. This title is most frequent in the temple of Dendera, birthplace of the goddess Isis, specifically, in the chapel "the place of birth" (st-msḫn) and on the eastern gate leading to the temple of Isis. The title is also taken over by Hathor in order to underline the close relation between Isis and Hathor. The title is frequently attested in Philae and Edfu but becomes scarce in other regions. Nevertheless, the title keeps always the same meaning.

During a systematic inventory of headrests carried out for a PhD thesis, two atypical artefacts stood out from the whole corpus. Both contain an almost identical magic -inscription, mentioning protective deities.

Republication of a papyrus fragment which was published without transliteration or translation as "Brief (Eingabe an Götter)". This article corrects misconceptions and produces a new understanding and interpretation, concluding that it is a hierodule document. The present papyrus fragment in the Cairo Museum is a further contribution to the study of hierodules, hitherto published only in a few pieces. It is one of the latest, if not the latest, in date; it is probably very late Ptolemaic, found in the Fayyum.

The present P. Vindob. D 6850 (Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna) from the regnal year 1 of Caesar Augustus (30 / 29 B. C.) refers to a late demotic "receipt of payment" (ỉw) for the royal wȜty-tax, whose exact character is still rather unclear. The collectors of the tax are two "administrators of the King" (nȜ sḥn.w pr-ʿȜ) as well as the wʿb-priests of the island of the great god Soknopaio. The five persons taxed are "the administrators of the weavers (nȜ sḥn.w nȜ mḏḳn.w) of the island of the great god Soknopaio".