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Egypt Exploration Society
Uschebti. Arbeiter im gyptischen Totenreich by Hermann A.
Schlgl; Christa Meves-SchlglReview by: John H. TaylorThe Journal of
Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 83 (1997), pp. 237-238Published by:
Egypt Exploration SocietyStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3822475.
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to our minds, is a much better study than that of Goedicke, SAK
20 (1993), 67-79, whichappearedat the same time.Despite the
shortcomingsof the potterychapter,which are more than made up for
by thestudies of Hope andKaper,this book is a valuableaddition o
the Tutankhamun omb literature,and for the most part,can be
highlyrecommended.
D. A. ANDB. G. ASTON
Uschebti. Arbeiter im agyptischen Totenreich. By HERMANNA.
SCHLOGL NDCHRISTAMEVES-SCHLOGL.27X315 mm. Pp. 78, pls. 104
(unnumbered).Wiesbaden,HarrassowitzVerlag,1993.ISBN 3 447 03357 6.
Price DM 108.This short book, dedicated to Erik Hornung, is a
publicationof 24 shabtis from privatecollections.With one
exception,all the figuresarehithertounpublished.A
one-pageprefaceprovidesan outline of the functionand developmentof
shabtifigures,andincludes a brief reviewof the main studies of the
subject.The remainderof the book is devotedto a descriptionof each
figure,with notes on the owner sname and titles,
dating,dimensions,material,colour,provenanceand condition.The
inscriptionsare reproduced n hand-copies,andtranslationsare
provided.Where appropriate,comments are given on the iconography,
exts,provenanceand datingof the figures. There are references to
other shabtis of the same owner,and to comparablepieces belongingto
differentpersons,one of the stated aims of the studybeingthe
identification, hrough stylisticsimilarities,of figureswhich
mayhavebeen producedin thesameworkshop.Eachfigureis illustrated n
two to fourblack and white photographs.Seven of the shabtis date to
the New Kingdom,five to the Twenty-firstand
Twenty-secondDynasties,and the remainder o the Twenty-fifthDynasty
o the PtolemaicPeriod. Since theydonot constitutea representative
ross-sectionof shabtidevelopment, t is not clearon whatbasisthe
selection has been made,nor is informationon the
presentwhereaboutsof the figuresgiven.Some have
reliableprovenances,others do not, and they rangefromhigh
qualitypieces, such asthose of
Djehutymose,HoriraaandWahibre-emakhet,o the verycrude specimens,
nos. 18 and21.With one exception,all the figuresare of well-known
ypes,and some (such as nos. 14-16) arefamiliar rom comparable
xamplesin variousmuseum collections.The most unusualpiece, no.3, is
a shabtimade for the burialof the overseerof cattle of
AmunDjehutymose,who was interredat Tuna
el-Gebel.Althoughconventional n other respects, the shabti has the
head of a baboonand in the text the name of the owner is precededby
that of Hapy,one of the sons of Horus.As the authorspoint out,
there is a jackal-headed habtibelongingto the same man now in
theToledo Museum of Art, although on this example the
inscriptionmentions only the Osiris,overseer of cattle Djehutymose
, leaving the jackal head unexplained.Hans Schneider had
supposed (Shabtis,I (Leiden, 1977), 264-5) that this figurewas
meant to identifythe ownerasAnubis, but the Schlogls are surely
correct in challengingthis view and in suggesting thatDjehutymose
possessed shabti figures representingall four of the sons of Horus.
There is avaluablediscussion of the possible significanceof these
figures, in which passing reference ismade to the onlyother
knowncanine-headed habti,that of Nahuher,BritishMuseum EA 47398.It
is perhapsworthmentioningthat this figurecomes from D. G. Hogarth s
xcavationsatAsyut,1906-7, and that it is inscribed with Chapter6 of
the Book of the Dead-not present on
theexamplesmadeforDjehutymose.These figures representan
interestingvariation n the standardrole and iconography f the
shabti,and it is much to be hoped that furtherexampleswill cometo
light, makingpossiblea moreaccurate nterpretation f their
function.Otherwise,the book calls for little comment. The
discussions are invariablyup-to-date anduseful. The photographsare
of somewhat unevenquality.Some are not sharp (nos. 5, 21, 22b)and
appearto have been printed at too great an enlargement.In others
the lighting is unsat-isfactoryand the contrastcorrespondingly
oor.Nonetheless,this is on the whole awell-produced
to our minds, is a much better study than that of Goedicke, SAK
20 (1993), 67-79, whichappearedat the same time.Despite the
shortcomingsof the potterychapter,which are more than made up for
by thestudies of Hope andKaper,this book is a valuableaddition o
the Tutankhamun omb literature,and for the most part,can be
highlyrecommended.
D. A. ANDB. G. ASTON
Uschebti. Arbeiter im agyptischen Totenreich. By HERMANNA.
SCHLOGL NDCHRISTAMEVES-SCHLOGL.27X315 mm. Pp. 78, pls. 104
(unnumbered).Wiesbaden,HarrassowitzVerlag,1993.ISBN 3 447 03357 6.
Price DM 108.This short book, dedicated to Erik Hornung, is a
publicationof 24 shabtis from privatecollections.With one
exception,all the figuresarehithertounpublished.A
one-pageprefaceprovidesan outline of the functionand developmentof
shabtifigures,andincludes a brief reviewof the main studies of the
subject.The remainderof the book is devotedto a descriptionof each
figure,with notes on the owner sname and titles,
dating,dimensions,material,colour,provenanceand condition.The
inscriptionsare reproduced n hand-copies,andtranslationsare
provided.Where appropriate,comments are given on the iconography,
exts,provenanceand datingof the figures. There are references to
other shabtis of the same owner,and to comparablepieces belongingto
differentpersons,one of the stated aims of the studybeingthe
identification, hrough stylisticsimilarities,of figureswhich
mayhavebeen producedin thesameworkshop.Eachfigureis illustrated n
two to fourblack and white photographs.Seven of the shabtis date to
the New Kingdom,five to the Twenty-firstand
Twenty-secondDynasties,and the remainder o the Twenty-fifthDynasty
o the PtolemaicPeriod. Since theydonot constitutea representative
ross-sectionof shabtidevelopment, t is not clearon whatbasisthe
selection has been made,nor is informationon the
presentwhereaboutsof the figuresgiven.Some have
reliableprovenances,others do not, and they rangefromhigh
qualitypieces, such asthose of
Djehutymose,HoriraaandWahibre-emakhet,o the verycrude specimens,
nos. 18 and21.With one exception,all the figuresare of well-known
ypes,and some (such as nos. 14-16) arefamiliar rom comparable
xamplesin variousmuseum collections.The most unusualpiece, no.3, is
a shabtimade for the burialof the overseerof cattle of
AmunDjehutymose,who was interredat Tuna
el-Gebel.Althoughconventional n other respects, the shabti has the
head of a baboonand in the text the name of the owner is precededby
that of Hapy,one of the sons of Horus.As the authorspoint out,
there is a jackal-headed habtibelongingto the same man now in
theToledo Museum of Art, although on this example the
inscriptionmentions only the Osiris,overseer of cattle Djehutymose
, leaving the jackal head unexplained.Hans Schneider had
supposed (Shabtis,I (Leiden, 1977), 264-5) that this figurewas
meant to identifythe ownerasAnubis, but the Schlogls are surely
correct in challengingthis view and in suggesting thatDjehutymose
possessed shabti figures representingall four of the sons of Horus.
There is avaluablediscussion of the possible significanceof these
figures, in which passing reference ismade to the onlyother
knowncanine-headed habti,that of Nahuher,BritishMuseum EA 47398.It
is perhapsworthmentioningthat this figurecomes from D. G. Hogarth s
xcavationsatAsyut,1906-7, and that it is inscribed with Chapter6 of
the Book of the Dead-not present on
theexamplesmadeforDjehutymose.These figures representan
interestingvariation n the standardrole and iconography f the
shabti,and it is much to be hoped that furtherexampleswill cometo
light, makingpossiblea moreaccurate nterpretation f their
function.Otherwise,the book calls for little comment. The
discussions are invariablyup-to-date anduseful. The photographsare
of somewhat unevenquality.Some are not sharp (nos. 5, 21, 22b)and
appearto have been printed at too great an enlargement.In others
the lighting is unsat-isfactoryand the contrastcorrespondingly
oor.Nonetheless,this is on the whole awell-produced
1997997 REVIEWSEVIEWS 23737
This content downloaded from 193.205.136.30 on Tue, 18 Jun 2013
05:31:14 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
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8/13/2019 ushebti
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and useful addition to the literature on one of the most
fascinating classes of Egyptianantiquities.JOHNH. TAYLOR
Akoris. Report of the Excavations at Akoris in Middle Egypt,
1981-1992. By THE PALEOLOGICALASSOCIATION F JAPAN, INC., EGYPTIAN
COMMITTEE. 215 X 303 mm. Text volume, pp. xix + 484,figs. 304.
Platesvolume, monochromepls. 157, colourpls. 6. Kyoto,KoyoShobo,
1995. ISBN4 7710 0755 1.Yen 20,000.Excavationsand surveysof Tehneh
el-Gebel (Akoris)have been undertaken poradicallyromat least 1716
(cf. C. Sicard, Oeuvres I. Lettres et relations inedits (Cairo,
1982), 7-8), andexcavationreports are scattered
throughoutEgyptological iterature. The book under review,however, s
the firstmonographdedicatedsolely to excavationsat this
interestingsite in MiddleEgypt, and basicallydescribes the results
of severalseasons work by the Heian Museum
ofAncientHistory,continuedafter the Museum s closure in 1988,by the
PaleologicalAssociation
of Japan.Separatedinto eight sections, written by a number of
different authors, the bookcomprises:a generalintroduction pp.
1-10); a chapter-really much morethanjust a chapter-entitled
Architectureand Stratigraphy ,which describes the actual
excavations pp. 11-179); adetailed list of the objects found (pp.
181-259); technologicalstudies (pp. 261-97); philologicalstudies
(pp. 299-380); chemical studies (pp. 381-420); and
variousappendices (pp. 421-472),endingwith a historicalsummary n
EnglishandJapanese.The introductory ection comprisesa short
descriptionof previouswork at the site, a list ofstaff members,and
a statement of the purposeof the excavations,whichwe are told,was
1) toelucidate the constitution and function of the city;2) to
establish the chronological equence ofthe city;3) to verify he
philologicalresults of previousstudies;and4) to obtainCoptictexts.
Thegeneraldescriptionof previouswork at the site is verybrief and
incomplete;for a much fullertreatmentof this topic, the reader
would be better advised to consult E. Bernard,
nscriptionsgrecqueset latines d Ach6ris(Cairo, 1988),vii-xx
(hereafterIGLA). Interestingly, he Japaneseteam chose both to
re-excavateparts alreadycleared,sometimes with surprisingresults,
and toexcavateareaspreviouslyuntouched.The section devoted to the
actualexcavationsbegins witha reclearanceof six tomb chapels,
designated by the excavatorsA-F, located near the so-calledWestern
Temple. When the shaft in Chapel B was recleared,the south burial
chamber stillcontained he burnt,damagedremnantsof three burialsof
the earlyTwelfthDynasty pp.27-33),with extant remainsof three
coffins,awooden boatmodel,kohlpots, a woodenheadrest,a
bronzemirrorandpottery.Whilst datedsimplyto the MiddleKingdombythe
excavators, nd to the lateEleventh-earlyTwelfthDynastybythe
restorersof the boatmodel,the groupcan be morecloselydatedto the
reign of Sesostris I by the associatedpottery. ChapelsC-F were
originallyclearedbyAbou Seif (ASAE26 (1926), 32-8), and
numberedfrom 1-4. H. Kawanishiand S. Tsujimuraseem surprised (pp.
37-8) that the 380 shabtis and broken coffins found by Abou Seif
withinChapelD ( = Tombeau3) were no longerthere.It may
nterestthemto knowthat the 380 shabtis(of the overseerof the city,
and vizierAnkhwennefer)are now in
Cairo,inventorynumbersJE49639-51,whilstthe maskof the
innermostcoffin is also in Cairo(JE 49652),the
remainingcoffinfragments presumably having been too decayed to
save. Indeed, it is strange that althoughKawanishiand
Tsujimurarefer to both Abou Seif s and Gauthier s (ASAE 26 (1926),
41-3)reportsand their finds, they do not mentionthe namesof the
peopleburied here. As well as thevizierAnkhwennefer,heyarethe
secondprophetofAmun, Pasherenese, he liketitled Ankhefen-khons, an
ordinarypriest of Amun, Ankhefenthothand a god s father of Amun,
Amen-emopet.From their titles these men clearlyexercisedduties in
Thebes, but arecuriouslyomittedfrom K. A. Kitchen s The
ThirdIntermediatePeriod in Egypt1100-650 BC
(Warminster,1972,supplement1986,reprintwith
additionalpreface1996).Excavationswithinthe WesternTemple area
itself are describedin detailon pp. 43-130. Thetemplewas
originallybuilt under Nero and subsequentlyoverbuiltby domestic
structures,andit is these which are describedin depth,whilst the
temple itself is mostlyignored.Test trenches
and useful addition to the literature on one of the most
fascinating classes of Egyptianantiquities.JOHNH. TAYLOR
Akoris. Report of the Excavations at Akoris in Middle Egypt,
1981-1992. By THE PALEOLOGICALASSOCIATION F JAPAN, INC., EGYPTIAN
COMMITTEE. 215 X 303 mm. Text volume, pp. xix + 484,figs. 304.
Platesvolume, monochromepls. 157, colourpls. 6. Kyoto,KoyoShobo,
1995. ISBN4 7710 0755 1.Yen 20,000.Excavationsand surveysof Tehneh
el-Gebel (Akoris)have been undertaken poradicallyromat least 1716
(cf. C. Sicard, Oeuvres I. Lettres et relations inedits (Cairo,
1982), 7-8), andexcavationreports are scattered
throughoutEgyptological iterature. The book under review,however, s
the firstmonographdedicatedsolely to excavationsat this
interestingsite in MiddleEgypt, and basicallydescribes the results
of severalseasons work by the Heian Museum
ofAncientHistory,continuedafter the Museum s closure in 1988,by the
PaleologicalAssociation
of Japan.Separatedinto eight sections, written by a number of
different authors, the bookcomprises:a generalintroduction pp.
1-10); a chapter-really much morethanjust a chapter-entitled
Architectureand Stratigraphy ,which describes the actual
excavations pp. 11-179); adetailed list of the objects found (pp.
181-259); technologicalstudies (pp. 261-97); philologicalstudies
(pp. 299-380); chemical studies (pp. 381-420); and
variousappendices (pp. 421-472),endingwith a historicalsummary n
EnglishandJapanese.The introductory ection comprisesa short
descriptionof previouswork at the site, a list ofstaff members,and
a statement of the purposeof the excavations,whichwe are told,was
1) toelucidate the constitution and function of the city;2) to
establish the chronological equence ofthe city;3) to verify he
philologicalresults of previousstudies;and4) to obtainCoptictexts.
Thegeneraldescriptionof previouswork at the site is verybrief and
incomplete;for a much fullertreatmentof this topic, the reader
would be better advised to consult E. Bernard,
nscriptionsgrecqueset latines d Ach6ris(Cairo, 1988),vii-xx
(hereafterIGLA). Interestingly, he Japaneseteam chose both to
re-excavateparts alreadycleared,sometimes with surprisingresults,
and toexcavateareaspreviouslyuntouched.The section devoted to the
actualexcavationsbegins witha reclearanceof six tomb chapels,
designated by the excavatorsA-F, located near the so-calledWestern
Temple. When the shaft in Chapel B was recleared,the south burial
chamber stillcontained he burnt,damagedremnantsof three burialsof
the earlyTwelfthDynasty pp.27-33),with extant remainsof three
coffins,awooden boatmodel,kohlpots, a woodenheadrest,a
bronzemirrorandpottery.Whilst datedsimplyto the MiddleKingdombythe
excavators, nd to the lateEleventh-earlyTwelfthDynastybythe
restorersof the boatmodel,the groupcan be morecloselydatedto the
reign of Sesostris I by the associatedpottery. ChapelsC-F were
originallyclearedbyAbou Seif (ASAE26 (1926), 32-8), and
numberedfrom 1-4. H. Kawanishiand S. Tsujimuraseem surprised (pp.
37-8) that the 380 shabtis and broken coffins found by Abou Seif
withinChapelD ( = Tombeau3) were no longerthere.It may
nterestthemto knowthat the 380 shabtis(of the overseerof the city,
and vizierAnkhwennefer)are now in
Cairo,inventorynumbersJE49639-51,whilstthe maskof the
innermostcoffin is also in Cairo(JE 49652),the
remainingcoffinfragments presumably having been too decayed to
save. Indeed, it is strange that althoughKawanishiand
Tsujimurarefer to both Abou Seif s and Gauthier s (ASAE 26 (1926),
41-3)reportsand their finds, they do not mentionthe namesof the
peopleburied here. As well as thevizierAnkhwennefer,heyarethe
secondprophetofAmun, Pasherenese, he liketitled Ankhefen-khons, an
ordinarypriest of Amun, Ankhefenthothand a god s father of Amun,
Amen-emopet.From their titles these men clearlyexercisedduties in
Thebes, but arecuriouslyomittedfrom K. A. Kitchen s The
ThirdIntermediatePeriod in Egypt1100-650 BC
(Warminster,1972,supplement1986,reprintwith
additionalpreface1996).Excavationswithinthe WesternTemple area
itself are describedin detailon pp. 43-130. Thetemplewas
originallybuilt under Nero and subsequentlyoverbuiltby domestic
structures,andit is these which are describedin depth,whilst the
temple itself is mostlyignored.Test trenches
REVIEWSEVIEWS JEA 83EA 833838
This content downloaded from 193.205.136.30 on Tue, 18 Jun 2013
05:31:14 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
