IFAO

The article discusses inscriptions from forty-five previously unpublished limestone and -terracotta ostraca housed at the French Institute in Cairo with their transcriptions and translations.

The author argues for a Theban origin dating to the VIIth and VIIIth centuries B.C. based on internal criteria such as dialect and subject matter. Acknowledging the monastic context for the inscriptions, the author classifies the themes as epistolary – in particular requests and accounts – and writing exercises derived from prayers, biblical fragments and as yet, undetermined texts.

The sign G21, identified by L. Keimer as a reference to the Guineafowl, Numida meleagris L., has the phonetic reading nḥ, which is also the bird’s name, Nḥ. It is commonly used in the writing of the word for cyclical eternity, Nḥḥ.

Nḥ is mentioned in funerary texts, connected to sunrise.

The palaeography of the sign G21, the study of the bird’s behaviour, and a careful analysis of funerary texts throw a light on the link established by the Ancient Egyptians between the -Guineafowl, the sun and cyclical eternity.

This paper reconsiders the delicate problem of Djoser and Imhotep, two well known figures during the Ptolemaic period in the region of the first cataract. Why is Imhotep, a popular Memphite personnage since the Old Kingdom, worshipped in the Elephantine area, far from his original cult centre? Is it possible to improve our knowledge of the process by which the Egyptians instituted a cult of Imhotep there? Is this cult based on local historical events which would have made the introduction of this Memphite demigod into the Elephantine pantheon easier?

Partly based on the analysis of the delicate problem of the Famine stela, the present paper gathers together the pieces of a puzzle, from Memphis-Saqqara and Hermopolis to Elephantine. It demonstrates that the cult of Imhotep in Elephantine probably emanated from both Memphite and Hermopolite religious traditions. This paper shows how the establishment of his cult at -Elephantine was based on a comparison of Imhotep with Ptah and Khnum and their influence on the development of embryo. Moreover, it shows that the specific characteristics of Imhotep were particularly appreciated during the Late Period because he was considered (as a son of Ptah and Khnum) able to use his influence with both deities, to accelerate the flood process and protect pregnant women.