The Stela of the Viceroy Usersatet (Boston MFA 25.632),
his Shrine at Qasr Ibrim, and the Festival of Nubian Tribute under Amenhotep IIJohn Coleman Darnell
Yale University

I

N SPITE OF the surviving epigraphic and archaeological evidence concerning the Egyptian

administration of Nubia during the New Kingdom, the personal aspects of colonial rule
are at best shadows behind the more prosaic evidence of prosopography and titles,
architectural history and burial practices, that force etic analysis to march ahead of emic
understanding of Egyptian and Nubian interactions.1 When any archaeological or epigraphic
light shines on personal relationships within the administration, at least suggesting, if notrevealing, the attitudes of various members of the colonial administration, and hinting at
interactions between social strata in Nubia and Egypt, those who would understand Egyptian
and Nubian culture may be expected to show interest. The stela of the Viceroy Usersatet from
Semna,2 recording Amenhotep II’s personal transcription of his own royal decree toUsersatet, offering advice regarding interactions of Egyptians and Nubians within theviceregal administration, indeed casts some light on the interactions of king, viceroy, andNubian members of the Egyptian bureaucracy in the south [fig. 1]. The seeming obscurity of
the king’s advice, and the lack of transparency regarding the situation about which
Amenhotep II offers that advice, have resulted in considerable modern attention to the text,
but a certain looseness of interpretation has bedeviled many examinations of the inscription.
Defining exactly what the Usersatet stela illuminates has proved to be elusive. Several
Egyptological discussions of the inscription have fostered florid descriptions of thepersonality and character of Amenhotep II, in spite of the remaining uncertainties in properly
1

So S.T. SMITH, Wretched Kush, Ethnic Identities and Boundaries in Egypt’s Nubian Empire, London, New
York, 2003, p. 202, regarding how: “The individual actor is lost in the search for ethnic groups.”
2
D. DUNHAM, J.M.A. JANSSEN, Second Cataract Forts I, Boston, 1960, p. 17, pl. 82; W. HELCK, “Eine Stela desVizekönigs Wsr-St.t,” JNES 14, 1955, pp. 22-31; id., Urk. IV, 1343-1344; P. DER MANUELIAN, Studies in the
Reign of Amenophis II, HÄB 26, 1987, pp. 155-158; P. BEYLAGE, Aufbau der königlichen Stelentexte, vom
Beginn der 18. Dynastie bis zur Amarnazeit, ÄAT 54, 2002, pp. 417-419 and 751-752 (essentially following
Helck); S. MORSCHAUSER, “Approbation or Disapproval? The Conclusion of the Letter of Amenophis II to UserSatet, Viceroy of Kush (Urk. IV, 1344. 10-20),” SAK 24, 1997, pp. 203-222, produces some untenable rereadings (G.J. SHAW, Royal Authority in Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty, BAR International Series 1822, 2008,
p. 59, appears to accept most of Morschauser’s conclusions). A facsimile and a photograph of the stela, withbrief commentary, is R. LEPROHON, Corpus antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 3,
Mainz, 1991, pp. 1/4-4/4; see also the image at http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/stele-of-usersatet-viceroyof-nubia-146139. The author thanks Dr. Lawrence Berman of the MFA for study scans of the photograph HUMFA Expedition photograph A3310_NS; Dr. Berman also facilitated an examination of the stela at the MFA. He
and Ms. Emily Cole assisted the author in the examination of a number of questionable areas, and theirobservations contributed greatly to the improved copy of the stela accompanying this study. All epigraphic
comments and explanations of changes to the earlier drawing appear in notes at the appropriate places.

240John Coleman Darnell

interpreting the text. Recognition of the potential importance of the text – a personal addressof the king to his viceroy – and a desire to understand the motivations of pharaonicadministrators, has led sober Egyptologists in scholarly publications to develop imaginativeinterpretations of the text. Like the writings of many ancient historians and not a few of more
modern times,3 several discussions have departed from a firm basis in what we know and do
not know, employing adjectives, adverbs, and carefully flavored synonyms – none present in
the original text – to suggest a nuanced understanding of the thoughts and prejudices ofAmenhotep II.
In some interpretations of the text on Usersatet’s stela, Amenhotep II has not fared well, norhave the Asiatic women to whom he refers emerged unscathed. So the message ofAmenhotep II to Usersatet within the main text of the stela becomes evidence of “a real racist
jingoism.”4 Supposedly, “the imperial perspective of civil government is splendidlysuggested” in the decree, cited in a brief discussion of “the maintenance of colonial dominion
by soldiers and officials working without any sentimentality.”5 Terms for Asiatic womenappearing in the king’s decree for Usersatet, designations both straightforward and applicableto Egyptians as well as to foreigners, may summon uncommonly subjective and overwroughttranslations – in modern renderings of the text the older woman of Arrapkha may become a“crone,” the sƒm.t-©‡-servant of Byblos a “maid.”6 Amenhotep II’s references to foreign
women in the viceregal household even receive an interpretation as metaphors for the rape ofthe rulers whom they are assumed to represent.7 Amenhotep II is said to recognize Nubian
magical prowess “grudgingly,” though no such qualification appears in the text.8 The text ofUsersatet’s stela becomes the sole reference for the statement that Amenhotep II did notalways approve of “the incorporation of locals into the imperial administration.”9 The passage
referring more directly to the Nubians provides the follow-up to the statement that “even at
the best of times Nubians were irresponsible and lazy but dangerous because of their ability inblack magic.”10
The stela’s textual and visual references to the consumption of alcohol (an amphora in thelunette and one appearance of the verb swrµ, “to drink”) have suggested to several translatorsof the stela that Amenhotep II was intoxicated at the time when he issued the decree, although
3Compare L. PITCHER, Writing Ancient History, London, New York, 2009, pp. 5-14.
D.B. REDFORD, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times, Princeton, 1992, p. 230. Note the characterizationof the stela’s text in id., Akhenaten, the Heretic King, Princeton, 1984, pp. 32-33: “Had the ‘Horus-throne of the
Living’ been reduced to fit the rump of a macho, posturing pooh-bah?”
5
L. TÖRÖK, Between Two World: the Frontier Region between Ancient Nubia and Egypt, 3700 BC-500 AD,
PdÄ, Leiden, 2009, p. 170.
6
REDFORD, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times, p. 230; similarly, MORSCHAUSER, op. cit., p. 207, readsµ“(y).t as “old (crone),” and renders msw.t ‡rµ.t as “foundling.”
7
D. O’CONNOR, “Egypt’s Views of ‘Others’,” in J. Tait (ed.), “Never Had the Like Occurred”: Egypt’s View of
its Past, London, 2003, p. 156: “In one context, he [Amenhotep II] not only boasts of laying waste to Mitanni(northern Mesopotamia) and the Hittites of Anatolia – great powers of the day – but also of metaphorically
raping the defeated kings of Babylon, Byblos, Alalakh and Arrapkha (both in Syria) who – no less disquieting –are respectively imagined as a ‘woman, maiden, little girl and crone.’”8
SMITH, op. cit., p. 202.
9
A. GNIRS, “Coping with the Army: the Military and the State in the New Kingdom,” in J.C. Moreno García(ed.), Ancient Egyptian Administration, HdO 1/104, 2013, p. 681.
10
D. REDFORD, From Slave to Pharaoh: the Black Experience of Ancient Egypt, Baltimore, 2011, p. 6. Redford
echoes not so much Egyptian sentiments as we know them, but the relationship of more recent colonialconquerors and native magicians, the latter both reviled and feared, turning their magic into something withwhich to establish a more formidable reputation with regard to their overlords – compare M. TAUSSIG,
Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: a Study in Terror and Healing, Chicago, London, 1987.
4

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the grammar of the text indicates that the king was but commencing to drink at the time when
he offered advice to the viceroy.11 Another interpretation of the text has, to the contrary – andapparently more accurately – suggested that the king’s message “est toutefois d’une
familiarité très mesurée.”12 The content and context of Amenhotep II’s decree for Usersatet
appear to have become less important than the value of the text in presentations of thepresumed distasteful, bullying personality of the king.
The stela of Usersatet is indeed interesting, and the text unusual, providing a glimpse ofinterpersonal and cross-cultural attitudes during the reign of Amenhotep II, but a properinterpretation requires an appeal to other documentation. Another monument of Usersatet, hisrock shrine at Ibrim, fits together with the stela to provide two different views of a royal ritualof southern tribute reception – from both atop and below the royal dais. Neglected in earlier
studies of the stela, the Ibrim shrine and the event depicted there are key to understanding theroyal decree on the stela of Usersatet.
The reign of Amenhotep II sees a number of innovations, both artistic and administrative.13
The sensual nature of festival scenes in the private tombs of Thebes reaches a height in the
productions of the reign of Amenhotep II.14 Amenhotep II is the first ruler to appear wearing
the solarizing shebyou-collar while seated within a kiosk,15 and the first pharaoh whose
mummy reveals pierced ears to accommodate more massive earrings.16 From essentially thereign of Amenhotep II funerary art sees a relaxing of the use of grid lines for smaller figures
in tomb decoration, and a resulting exchange of earlier formality for a new sense of fluid
movement.17 The more trusted administrators during the reign of Amenhotep II appear tohave derived their association with the king not through importance of family or lineage ofauthority and service so much as through close personal association with the king from youth,
especially through military training and activity18 – efficient public servants under
Thutmosis III have become boon companions under Amenhotep II, equally trusted and, we
may hope and presume, most at least equally efficient. Scenes of foreign tribute, echoedalready during the time of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III, become a veritable icon ofpharaonic universalism by the reign of Amenhotep II, a stress on a theater of power
coinciding with the more athletic demonstrations of pharaonic physical power that replace to
11

So A.H. GARDINER, Egypt of the Pharaohs 3rd ed., Oxford, 1966, p. 199; H. BRUNNER, LÄ VI, 1986, col. 774,
s. v. “Trunkenheit;” REDFORD, Akhenaten, p. 32.
12
Cl. VANDERSLEYEN, L’Égypte et la vallée du Nil II. De la fin de l’Ancien Empire à la fin du Nouvel Empire,
Paris, 1995, p. 330.
13
Laudatory but pertinent is P. DER MANUELIAN, “The End of the Reign and the Accession of Amenhotep II,” in
E.H. Cline, D. O’Connor (eds.), Thutmose III: a New Biography, Ann Arbor, 2006, p. 426: “With the exceptionof some of Amenhotep II’s more unusual statements, none of Thutmose III’s successors could match him forinnovation and originality on a number of fronts, not the least of which, it seems, was his personal energy andcharisma.” See also the important remarks of St. PASQUALI, “Amenhotep II et les divinités du proche-orient en
Égypte, quelques éléments historiques et culturels d’un règne atypique de la XVIIIe Dynastie,” Égypte, Afrique& Orient 65, 2012, 11-24.
14
See S. SCHOTT, Das schöne Fest vom Wüstentale, Festbräuche einer Totenstadt, AWL 11, 1953, pp. (66)-(67).
15
M. HARTWIG, Tomb Painting and Identity in Ancient Thebes, 1419-1372 BCE, MonAeg 10, 2004, pp. 61 and127, n. 35.
16
Cf. C.H. ROEHRIG, in id. (ed.), Hatshepsut, from Queen to Pharaoh, New York, 2005, p. 70.
17
G. ROBINS, The Art of Ancient Egypt, Cambridge MA, 1997, pp. 141-42; on the art of the reign, see also
VANDERSLEYEN, op. cit., pp. 335-337.
18
See the summary in B. BRYAN, “The Eighteenth Dynasty before the Amarna Period (c. 1550-1352 BC),” inI. Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford, 2000, pp. 269-270; T. WILKINSON, The Rise andFall of Ancient Egypt, New York, 2010, pp. 227-234; J.J. SHIRLEY, “Crisis and Restructuring of the State: fromthe Second Intermediate Period to the Advent of the Ramesses,” in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp. 586-589.
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242John Coleman Darnell

some extent the expanding militarism of the early Eighteenth Dynasty.19 Periodic warfare andtemporary cessations of hostilities give way to more stable and formal diplomaticarrangements under Amenhotep II.20 Under Amenhotep II appear the first surviving images ofa recognizable southern tribute festival, a durbar in which the ruler seated in state oversees
and ritually enacts the Egyptian domination of Nubia.
A festival of Nubian tribute in the reign of Amenhotep II, depicted in the Qasr Ibrim shrine of
the Nubian Viceory Usersatet,21 finds a more “sensual” expression in the stela of Usersatet
from the fortress of Semna, recording a royal decree for the viceroy, apparently made during
the very sort of festival depicted at Ibrim. The decree has been interpreted as a necessity due
to the distant remove of the viceroy from the festival seating of the king, but the Ibrim shrine– apparently ignored in discussions of the stela and the royal decree recorded thereon –provides a background for the festival during which Amenhotep II appears to have prepared acopy of a special decree for his viceroy in the presence of the latter. While one publication
has deemed the Ibrim shrine to be possibly “the most informative and important ofUsersatet’s records in every respect,” another has concluded that “by far Usersatet’s mostinteresting and informative document is his stela from Semna fort.”22 Without choosing one
over the other, together the two monuments provide different views of the same event – theIbrim shrine allowed the visitor to stand in the ranks of officials and offering bearers in acelebration of royal power in Nubia under Amenhotep II, and the stela from Semna reveals an
aspect of the royal participation in that very event.
The first line indeed reveals that the stela of Usersatet is a copy of an wƒ-decree made by theroyal hands themselves. A royal wƒ-decree might indeed appear in the form of an w≈“rescript,23 an example of which is P. Turin 1896, an wƒ-nsw.t taking the form of an w≈“rescript sent by Ramesses XI to the Viceroy of Kush Panehesy. However, the designation of
the copy of an wƒ-decree prepared by the king with his own hands does not necessarily
indicate that the viceroy was not present, but simply indicates that the king acted as his own
stenographer. Helck has suggested that the second line may have begun with a passage
19

On mid-Eighteenth Dynasty scenes of foreign tribute, and the “power icon,” see D. PANAGIOTOPOULOS,“Foreigners in Egypt in the Time of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III,” in Cline, O’Connor (eds.), op. cit., pp. 377389 and 400-401; HARTWIG, op. cit., pp. 73-76; B. BRYAN, “The Egyptian Perspective on Mitanni,” in
R. Cohen, R. Westbrook (eds.), Amarna Diplomacy: the Beginnings of International Relations, Baltimore,
London, 2000, p. 75. On the physical prowess of Amenhotep II and its Egyptian and Near Eastern contexts, see
A. GNIRS, A. LOPRIENO, “Krieg und Literatur,” in R. Gundlach, C. Vogel (eds.), Militärgeschichte despharaonischen Ägypten: Altägypten und sine Nachbarkulturen im Spiegel aktueller Forschung, Krieg in derGeschichte 34, 2009, pp. 270-279.
20
See the overview in BRYAN, in Cohen, Westbrook (eds.), op. cit., pp. 77-79.
21
Shrine 4 in R.A. CAMINOS, The Shrines and Rock-Inscriptions of Ibrim, ASE 32, 1968, pp. 59-75 and pls. 2335 (see also S. Hallmann, Die Tributszenen des Neuen Reiches, ÄAT 66, 2006, pp. 64-69). For the monuments ofUsersatet, see W.K. SIMPSON, LÄ VI, 1986, cols. 901-903, s. v. “Usersatet;” A. GASSE, V. RONDOT, “TheEgyptian Conquest and Administration of Nubia during the New Kingdom: the Testimony of the Sehel rockinscriptions,” Sudan and Nubia 7, 2003, pp. 42-44; A. GASSE, V. RONDOT, Les inscriptions de Séhel,MIFAO 126, 2007, pp. 147-154 (nos. SEH 253-260); M. HARTWIG, “The Tomb of a Ì“ty-©, Theban Tomb 116,”
in S. D’Auria (ed.), Offerings to the Discerning Eye, CHANE 38, 2010, pp. 159-167. For thoughts on the career
path of Usersatet, see J.J. SHIRLEY, “What’s in a Title? Military and Civil Officials in the Egyptian 18th Dynasty
Military Sphere,” in S. Bar, D. Kahn, J.J. Shirley (eds.), Egypt, Canaan and Israel: History, Imperialism,
Ideology and Literature, CHANE 52, 2011, p. 292, n. 6, with references.
22
Suggesting the primacy of the Ibrim shrine, CAMINOS, op. cit., p. 75; opting for the Usersatet stela, DER
MANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 155.
23
For the w≈“-document as a rescript, see A.el-M. BAKIR, Egyptian Epistolography from the Eighteenth to theTwenty-First Dynasty, BdE 48, 1970, pp. 15-17 (P. Turin 1896 is pl. 31).
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parallel to a portion of the letter from Thutmosis I to his viceroy,24 and indeed such ispossible, and probable if Usersatet were in Nubia, far from the presumed Theban or even
Memphite location of the royal appearance. The Ibrim shrine reveals that at least on one
occasion, however, Usersatet oversaw a presentation of southern tribute to the king in Thebes.
The royal wƒ-decree, in spite of colloquialisms and intimacy of content and tone, would
nevertheless be something that the viceroy would be expected to heed, and something thatmight well compare to law – just as the vizier is the one who “hears every decree” (ntf sƒm
wƒ.t nb(.t)) of the ruler, so too judges appointed by the king are “those who hear the words ofthe palace, and the laws of the court” (sƒmy.w md.wt pr-nsw.t hp.w nyw ©ry.t).25
Lunette of the Stela
When complete, the lunette occupied approximately one-third of the height of the stela. The
area is divided evenly between the enthroned ruler to the left, and the standing viceroy to theright. The only surviving text is above and behind the image of the viceroy. The lunette of thestela is in fact a syncopation of the more elaborate images in the Ibrim shrine – there a host of
Nubians brings in an array of produce and products of the south, whereas on the stela those
goods are condensed into collars and rings on the two baskets in the hands of Usersatet, whoalone represents the officials and population of New Kingdom Egypt’s great southern
dependency.
Text in the Lunette
A broken text, restorable with reasonable confidence, occupies much of the right portion of
the lunette, commencing above the depiction of Usersatet (ll. 1-3), and continuing in twolonger columns behind the image of the viceroy (ll. 4-5):26
1

[sÚ“]

2

3

[mÌ] pr-Ìƒ m 4 b“kw ny K‡ ßsy.t (d)[µn] s“-nsw.t Èn (e) 5n Ìm≠f Wst-St.t[ws≈.w ©‡“].w (a)[©n.wt] nyw (b) ƒ©m (c)[Bringing:][collars of ] variegated colors / mixed stones ,[and rings of] electrum;[filling] the treasury with the b“kw-tax of wretched Kush
by the king’s son, brave one of his majesty, Usersatet.
(a) The designation ws≈ (n) ©‡“ (Wb I, 229, 5) may indicate “collar of mixed stones” and “collar ofvariegated colors;” depictions of such on Middle Kingdom coffins suggest the latter meaning (see24

HELCK, JNES 14, 1955, p. 26, n. e, citing Urk. IV, 80.
G.P.F. VAN DEN BOORN, The Duties of the Vizier, Civil Administration in the Early New Kingdom, London,
1988, pp. 280-281.
26
Compared to the published drawing, fewer portions of the signs writing the title and epithet of Usersatet
survive; the traces indeed present do confirm, however, the reading presented here. The accompanying drawingof the stela was prepared by Mr. Alberto Urcia, on the basis of the earlier drawing by P. Der Manuelian,augmented by portions of the stela now missing (cross-hatched), with further collations by the author at the
MFA, Boston.
25

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244John Coleman Darnell

P. Lacau, Sarcophages antérieurs au Nouvel Empire, CGC Nos 28001-28086, Cairo, 1904, p. 159;
compare also the collars ßkr.w ©‡“.w [p. 167], and ws≈ m ‡bn [p. 159]). As applied to precious
stones, ©‡“ may connote “multicolored” – compare ©“.t ©‡“.t and ©“.t nb.t ©‡“.t (B. Letellier, “La cour
à péristyle du Thoutmosis IV à Karnak (et la « cour des fêtes » de Thoutmosis II),” in Hommages àla mémoire de Serge Sauneron 1927-1976 I. Égypte pharaonique, BdE 81/1, 1979, p. 58). Such a
use probably derives from ©‡“ as “mixed” (compare P. Posener-Krieger, Les archives du temple
funéraire de Néferirkarê-Kakaï (les papyrus d’Abousir) 1, BdE 65/1, 1976, p. 261, n. 3). The terms©‡“ and ßkr acquire the meaning “multicolored” with reference to stones (ßkry.t is used in a similar
way to describe a menat – Harris, Minerals, p. 132). For multi-colored stones µnw.w / mµnw.w, see
Cl. Traunecker, Coptos: hommes et dieux sur le parvis de Geb, OLA 43, 1992, p. 81, n. f.
According to a late description of a ws≈-collar offered to the goddess Hathor, the collar is nwb Ìr≈sb.t ‡bn m ©“.t nb.w, “gold and lapis lazuli, mixed with all precious stones” (É. Chassinat, Le
temple de Dendara III, Cairo, 1935, p. 20, l. 7). Restoring ©‡“ on the Usersatet stela encapsulates
the multiple materials and variegated colors of the collar. Also possible is ws≈.w ©“y.w (P. Grandet,
Le Papyrus Harris I (BM 9999) II, BdE 109/2, 1994, pl. 6, l. 3).
(b) The reading of nyw appears to be certain, as the top of the w“s-scepter extends a bit higher,
into the space a central stroke would have occupied.
(c) Helck, JNES 14, 1955, pp. 24-15 proposed: 1[sÚ“ mnw.w wr].w 2[ws≈.w nyw] ƒ©m, “[Vorführen
von gross]en [Denkmälern (und) Halskragen au]s ƒ©m-Gold.” Such a restoration fails to mention
the rings, which appear in other scenes as objects made of gold (so N. de Garis Davies,
A.H. Gardiner, The Tomb of Huy, Viceroy of Nubia in the Reign of Tutankhamun (No. 40), TTS 4,
1926, pls. 16, 24, 27, 29; É. Naville, The Temple of Deir el-Bahari III, London, 1898, pl. 69;
Hallmann, op. cit., pp. 13-14 and 40) and electrum (N. de G. Davies, The Tomb of Puyemrê at
Thebes I. The Hall of Memories, Robb De Peyster Tytus Memorial Series 2, 1922, pls. 32 and 36;
Naville, Deir el-Bahari III, pls. 78 and 80-81; E. Feucht, LÄ 1, 1975, cols. 1216-1217, s. v.
“Elektrum;” for ©n.wt of gold see also R. Drenkhahn, Darstellungen von Negern in Ägypten,
Hamburg, 1967, pp. 130-132). The plural pellets at the end of the first line support the reading ©‡“(compare the orthography in Wb I, 229, 5); a description of the collars should detail the materialsof which they are formed, only the contrepoids thereof likely to be exclusively of electrum – cf.
Grandet, op. cit., p. 206, n. 844.
(d) The b“kw that Usersatet offers to Amenhotep II is the proper tax of Nubia, parallel to that of
Egypt, as opposed to the µnw of Western Asia. On the ubiquity of b“kw(.t) for Egypt and Nubia,
and the relative paucity of the same for Western Asia, see S.T. Smith, Askut in Nubia, London,
New York, 1995, pp. 181-183; on the differences between Nubian and Asiatic dependencies of
Egypt during the New Kingdom see also W.J. Murname, “Imperial Egypt and the Limits ofPower,” in Cohen, Westbrook (eds.), op. cit., pp. 103-104; A.J. Spalinger, “Covetous Eyes South:
the Background to Egypt’s Domination over Nubia by the Reign of Thutmose III,” in Cline,
O’Connor (eds.), op. cit., pp. 358-362; J.C. Darnell, “The Eleventh Dynasty Royal Inscription from
Deir el-Ballas,” RdE 59, 2008, pp. 98-102; id., “A Bureaucratic Challenge? Archaeology and
Administration in a Desert Environment (Second Millennium B.C.E.),” in Moreno García (ed.), op.
cit., p. 791.
(e) Helck, JNES 14, 1955, p. 24, suggested Èn n Ìm≠f, “wenn auch die folgenden Spuren wenig
dazu passen.” The first sign of Èn is partially damaged, the sloping side coinciding with a long
crack in the surface, and the following n is only partially preserved. Although mÌ-µb n Ìm≠f,parallel to mÌ-µb n nÚr nfr on the British Musem stela of Usersatet (H.R. Hall, Hieroglyphic Texts
from Egyptian Stelae in the British Museum, London, 1925, pl. 34; A. el-H. Zayed, “La stèle duvice-roi de Nubie, Ousersatet, au British Museum,” Memnonia 10, 1999, pp. 213-233), would be aplausible epithet – Leprohon, op. cit., p. 1/4, reads “king’s [son and confidant] of His Majesty” on
the MFA stela – the traces are those of Èn (note that traces of the determinative do not appear to bepresent) in the title augmentation Èn n Ìm≠f (cf. Wb V, 42, 8).

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245(f) The orthography of µrp, upon examination of the stela, reveals an r over p and the twin vesselsthat determine the word. Identifiable traces of the nfr-sign are present.

Depictions in the Lunette
The images on the lunette provide a number of clues to the meaning of the text that fills mostof the surface of the stela. Stripped of unnecessary accoutrements and furniture, offerings
pared down to the most symbolic, the image of the king assumes the position of a deity – thedivine ruler – to whom the dedicator of the stela offers.
King, Throne, and LionIn the stela lunette, and in the Ibrim shrine as well, the king sits enthroned beneath abaldachin atop a dais,27 and adopts the same basic pose in each depiction – right proper arm
lowered and forearm extended above his thigh, holding an ©n≈-sign, the lower horizontal ofwhich extends above his knee; left proper arm bent at the elbow with the hand on the chest,
holding a flail over the left shoulder in the stela lunette, and an axe in the shrine.28
A lion appears to stride to the right, next to the chair on which Amenhotep II sits.29 The
animal might be a “pet lion,”30 or perhaps part of the tribute the viceroy presents – felines
indeed appear in the tribute of the south in the Ibrim shrine. Becoming the side of the throne
in the eyes of the viewer, a depiction of a living lion beside the throne could be a
representation of the lion-throne come to life.31 A close parallel to the depiction is, in fact, thelion throne of Ramesses III in the scenes of the Min Procession at Medinet Habu; on thatthrone, the lion is represented as though an element separate from and in front of the throne
proper, within the shrine atop the sedan.32 Lion-sided carrying chairs await Akhenaton and
Nefertiti in the scenes of “universal” tribute (the Year 12 durbar) at Amarna, and Akhenatonrides in such a conveyance to receive tribute from Syria.33 In the reception of tribute
following his Nubian campaign, as depicted in the temple of Beit el-Wali, Ramesses II
occupies a more subtle version of the lion throne, the feline element there limited to the headsof lions at the forward corners of the seat.34 A surviving example of such a lion-throne is the27

The hand of the king held against the chest, and the end of the flail he holds, are present; the arm holding the
ankh is more regularly shaped, as is the back of the ruler. The feet of the throne are complete
28
The pose is well attested, in statuary (E.R. RUSSMANN, Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the
British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 134-135) and in two-dimensional representations thereof (É. NAVILLE, The
Temple of Deir el Bahari V, London, 1906, pl. 123; N. de G. DAVIES, The Tomb of Ëen-Amuūn at Thebes I,
New York, 1930, pls. 15-17; THE EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple I. The Festival
procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall, OIP 112, 1994, pl. 78 and p. 29 [W.R. JOHNSON, “Honorific Figuresof Amenhotep III in the Luxor Temple Colonnade Hall,” in Silverman (ed.), For his Ka, SAOC 55, Chicago,
1994, pp. 133-142; W. WAITKUS, Untersuchungen zu Kult und Funktion des Luxortempels I, Aegyptiaca
Hamburgensia 2, 2008, pp. 232-233, 240-241, and 260]).
29
The paws of the lion are a bit more regular, evincing three separate toes.
30
So DER MANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 157; R.M. and J.J. JANSSEN, Growing Up andGetting Old in Ancient Egypt, London, 2007, p. 123; see also Helck, op. cit., p. 22.
31
J. DORESSE, “Le dieu voilé dans sa châsse et la fête de la décade,” RdE 32, 1971, pp. 113-136; RdE 25, 1973,
pp. 92-135; and RdE 31, 1977, pp. 36-65. MORSCHAUSER, op. cit., p. 206, n. 15, takes this to be a representationof the lion-throne.
32
EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Medinet Habu IV. Festival Scenes of Ramses III, OIP 51, 1940, pl. 197.
33
N. De G. DAVIES, Rock Tombs of El Amarna III, ASE 15, 1905, pl. 13; id., The Rock Tombs of El Amarna II,
ASE 14, 1905, pls. 37 and 40.
34
THE EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, The Beit el-Wali Temple of Ramesses II, OINE 1, 1967, pl. 9.
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gold throne of Tutankhamun. The lion is a well-attested and appropriate image of the king in
Nubia, and the king of Egypt appears as “the lion” in the lamentations of Nubian enemies.35
Behind the king is a vertical object with rounded bottom, held above the base of the dais by apersonified ©n≈-sign. The raised arm is visible, with the vertical edge of the right tie of the ©n≈appearing beneath the arm; the other arm was lower, and is lost in the damage near the bottomof the pole.36
AmphoraThe king is not yet intoxicated – the text (see below) states that he is “commencing to drink
and make holiday;” the amphora on the stand before the king presumably contains the wine
Amenhotep II is about to consume.37 The vessel may represent an actual Canaanite import,38 avisual evocation of the prominence accorded to Syro-Palestinian toponyms in the king’s
statement on the stela. Wine from the northeast is not entirely out of keeping with thepresentation of offering by the Viceroy of Kush: scenes of the presentation of southern
offerings in the tomb of Huy are balanced by depictions of that viceroy also presenting theofferings of southwestern Asia. The great Year 12 durbar of Amarna – although universal in
its inclusion of human representatives of the major nodes of the Egyptian cosmos – may
ultimately have resulted from the Year 12 military action of Akhenaton, carried out by his
viceroy Djehutymose in the Wadi Allaqi.39 The prefacing of a discussion of southern
35

For Nubian lamentations referring to the Egyptian ruler as a lion, see J.C. DARNELL, “A Stela of the Reign ofTutankhamun from the Region of Kurkur Oasis,” SAK 31, 2003, pp. 90-91, text n. e, with corrections in id., “A
Stela of Seti I from the Region of Kurkur Oasis,” in M. Collier, S. SNAPE (eds.), Ramesside Studies in Honour ofK.A. Kitchen, Bolton, 2011, pp. 143-144.
36
HELCK, JNES 14, 1955, p. 22, believed two arms were present, and suggested that the closeness of the hands
to the top of the dais suggested an ©n≈-sign and ruled out a human attendant; LEPROHON, op. cit., p. 1/4, suggeststhat “behind the king is a servant holding a tall staff, which may be an ankh sign.”. A close parallel to theposition of the ©n≈-arms, with the end of the tie touching the elbow of the raised arm, is a personified ©n≈ holdinga ≈w-fan in A.M. CALVERLEY, M.F. BROOME, The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos II, 1935, pl. 5.
37
The stand is a bit better preserved than in the earlier drawing, and a portion of the left side of the neck of theamphora is present.
38
R. AMIRAN, Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land from its Beginnings in the Neolithic Period to the End of theIron Age, Jerusalem, 1969, p. 139; A. LEONARD Jr., “‘Canaanite Jars’ and the Late Bronze Age Aegeo-Levantine
Wine Trade,” in P.E. McGovern, S.J. Fleming, and S.H. Katz (eds.), The Origins and Ancient History of Wine,
Amsterdam, 1996, pp. 233-254, particularly the fig. 15.3 chart, p. 237; the amphora depicted on the Usersatet
stela has steeply rounded shoulders, the typical LBIA form, in use ca. 1570-1482 BC. Depictions of amphorae
similar to that on the Stela of Usersatet appear along with other items of Syro-Palestinian tribute in the tomb of
the Vizier Rekhmire (late Thutmosis III-early Amenhotep II – N. De Garis DAVIES, The Tomb of Rekh-mi-Rē© at
Thebes, PMMA Expedition 11, 1943, pls. 21-23); amphorae of the same general shape also appear in scenes ofpurely Egyptian production, however – ibid., pls. 33 and 45-46. The relatively low placement of the handles of
the amphora on the Usersatet stela supports a genuine Canaanite import – compare J. BOURRIAU, “TheBeginnings of Amphora Production in Egypt,” in id. and J. Phillips (eds.), Invention and Innovation: The Social
Context of Technological Change II. Egypt, the Aegean and the Near East 1650-1150 BC, Oxford, 2004, pp. 8991.
39
N. de G. DAVIES, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna II. The Tombs of Panehesy and Meryra II, ASE 14, 1905,
pls. 37, 40; id., The Rock Tombs of El Amarna III. The Tombs of Huya and Ahmes, ASE 15, 1905, pl. 13; for the
relation of the scenes to the “King as Solar Priest” and human representatives of spiritual forces on the edges ofcreation, see J.C. DARNELL, “Supposed Depictions of Hittites in the Amarna Period,” SAK 18, 1991, p. 137,
n. 82. For the Nubian war of Akhenaton see H.S. SMITH, The Fortress of Buhen, the Inscriptions, London, 1976,
pp. 124-129 (no. 1595), pls. 29 and 75; A. SCHULMAN, “The Nubian War of Akhenaton,” in L’Égyptologie en
1979, Paris, 1982, pp. 299-316; W. HELCK, “Ein ‘Feldzug’ unter Amenophis IV. gegen Nubien,” SAK 8, 1980,
pp. 117-126; W.J. MURNANE, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt, Atlanta, 1995, pp. 101-103. A
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domination with a reference to Egyptian victories in the north – the order in which
Amenhotep II discusses the foreigners with whom Usersatet must contend – appears in otherNubian monuments, such as the stela of Sety I’s viceroy, Amenemipet, at Ibrim.40
Object behind Baldachin
The personified ©n≈ behind the throne may support a fan, although in the scenes of southern
tribute in the shrine of Usersatet at Ibrim, a more unusual object appears, and this may
originally have been present on the stela of Usersatet. The object behind the throne of the kingin the Ibrim shrine appears to be a lamp or incense burner atop a large tubular stand, with asort of foot – or perhaps more likely bracket – for support. The foot support finds a close
parallel in screens for the temple of Karnak in donation texts and representations ofThutmosis III (Urk. IV, 629). A close parallel for such a lamp stand is the tall lamp from theDeir el-Medina tomb of the architect Kha, JdE 38642;41 the foot suggests a possible parallelwith X-shaped lamp bases attested for the New Kingdom.42 Lamps and torches are associatedwith nocturnal festivals,43 and as ©≈.w intended for the presentation of incense and burnt
offerings they could well be elements of temple furniture.44 The apparent lamp occupies aplace behind the king parallel to that of a fan, which would be appropriate to a deified
image.45 The brazier behind the head of the king might well provide beatifying light behind
the royal head, evoking the concept of the divine ruler as solar giver of both light andshadow.46
Usersatet’s Offerings
The offering of collars and rings suggest that the lunette of Usersatet’s stela presents a
syncopated version of the offerings one might expect the king to receive during a southern
tribute festival (see below). Amongst the objects may have been the elaborate “centerpieces”
that depict the southern landscape, such as the complex depiction of southern plant andanimal life that the tomb owner offers to Amenhotep II alongside the riot of other New Yearspreliminary comparison of the Egyptian festival to the durbar of the British Raj appears in J.C. DARNELL,
C. MANASSA, Tutankhamun’s Armies: Battle and Conquest during Ancient Egypt’s Late 18th Dynasty, Hoboken,
2007, pp. 125-131; the author will develop this in a forthcoming study of Nubian self-representation, in which
the Egyptian tribute festivals, the durbars of the Raj, and viceregal celebrations in New Spain (Cuzco and
Mexico City) are compared.
40
CAMINOS, op. cit., pp. 83-90 and pls. 39-40.
41
E. SCHIAPARELLI, Tomba intatta dell’Architetto Cha, Turin, 1927, pp. 144-145; compare also the bronze lamp
in K. MICHALOWSKI, C. DESROCHES, J. DE LINAGE, J. MANTEUFFEL, M. ZEJMO-ZEJMIS, Tell Edfou 1939,
FFP 3, Cairo, 1950, pl. 21, nos. 4, 7-9, 11-13, 14, and 18.
42
See the description and references in Egypt’s Golden Age: the Art of Living in the New Kingdom, 1558-1085
B.C., Boston, 1982, pp. 65-66.
43
See the references in J.C. DARNELL, The Rock Shrine of PaÌu, Gebel Akhenaton, and Other Rock Inscriptions
from the Western Hinterland of Qamûla, Theban Desert Road Survey 2, YEP 1, 2013, p. 91.
44
Compare A.H. GARDINER, “Davies’s Copy of the Great Speos Artemidos Inscription,” JEA 32, 1946, pl. 6,
l. 4; Urk. IV, 634, silver ©≈.w-stands of Thutmosis III.
45
See the discussion in L. BELL, “Aspects of the Cult of the Deified Tutankhamun,” in P. Posener-Kriéger (ed.),Mélanges Gamal Eddin Mokhtar I, BdE 97/1, 1985, pp. 31-59.
46
Compare the text of the small votive stela of Huy from the Karnak cachette (Cairo JdE 37463), in which theviceroy apparently prays to the divine, Amunized Tutankhamun to release the viceroy from the grip of thedivinely inflicted blindness from which Huy suffered: m““≠µ ßr.t-hrw kkw n µr.n≠k sÌƒ n≠µ m“≠µ tw, “As I daily see
the darkness you inflicted – shine for me, that I see you.” (see A. ROWE, “Newly-Identified Monuments in the
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gifts in the tomb of Qenamun.47 Those baroquely elaborate and gilded objects project onto theruler who receives them the aura of the god Shu,48 and in a ritual setting the broad collars
themselves have a solarizing influence on the royal person. An offering of collars in the
Eastern High Gate at Medinet Habu has the effect of transforming the body of the king into
the elements of the collars themselves, fossilizing the king into a solar statue like the ageing
sun god himself.49 In Late Period scenes of the king himself offering the ws≈-collar to deities,
the offering is associated with divine protection, particularly that offered by Atum and theennead of Heliopolis, with the king compared to Shu, the child of Atum.50
Main text
The main portion of the stela contains 14 horizontal lines of hieroglyphic text, written right toleft; significant damage mars the ends of the first two lines of text, a portion near the end ofline 3, and the openings of lines 1 through 9 (almost half of line 2, a bit more than half of line
3, again about half of line 4, and decreasing portions of lines 5 through 9). The inscription
opens with the date – specified as the celebration of the king’s accession – and a descriptionof the setting in which the king personally prepared a copy of the royal decree of which
Usersatet’s stela presents a monumental copy. In the decree, the king alludes to populations to
the northeast of Egypt by means of referencing humans who appear to belong to thehousehold of his viceroy. The king expresses himself in a more colloquial grammaticalregister than one might expect for such a decree and the resulting monument memorializing
it.51 The text divides into three portions:
1. the introduction, providing the date and setting of the royal decree;
2. the first portion of the decree, consisting primarily of epithets of the viceroy, thesecond part of which details the northern captives who are members of the viceroy’s
household;3. the second and final portion of the decree, introduced with ky ƒd, referencing the
Nubians with whom the viceroy is now primarily concerned.

Egyptian Museum Showing the Deification of the Dead,” ASAE 40, 1940, pp. 47-49; Urk. IV, 2075, 14-2076, 8;
BELL, op. cit., pp. 37-38 [and n. 168, pp. 54-55, for parallels to the passage]; M.M. LUISELLI, Die Suche nach
Gottesnähe: Untersuchungen zur persönlichen Frömmigkeit in Ägypten von der Ersten Zwischenzeit bis zum
Ende des Neuen Reiches, ÄAT 73, 2011, pp. 347-348).
47
DAVIES, The Tomb of Ëen-Amūn at Thebes 1, pls. 13-14.
48
S. DONNAT, “Les jardins d’orfèvrerie des tombes du Nouvel Empire: essai d’interprétation,” in S.H. Aufrère(ed.), ERUV 1, OrMonsp 10, Montpellier, 1999, pp. 209-218, discusses the elaborate centerpieces asrepresentations of the Nubian landscape that is the home to Hathor-Tefnut, whom the golden metal itself evokes.
49
THE EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Medinet Habu VIII. The Eastern High Gate, OIP 94, 1970, pl. 648, ll. 1-5; pl. 630
et passim; J.C. DARNELL, Colours of the Uraei (forthcoming).
50
See R. BEAUD, “L’offrande du collier-OUSEKH,” in S. Israelit-Groll (ed.), Studies in Egyptology Presented to
Miriam Lichtheim I, Jerusalem, 1990, pp. 46-62.
51
Citing the Usersatet stela, L. POPKO, Untersuchungen zur Geschichtsschreibung der Ahmosiden- undThutmosidenzeit, Wahrnehmungen und Spuren Altägyptens 2, 2006, p. 80, n. 86, notes that even the king in theearly Eighteenth Dynasty spoke Late Egyptian. According to P. COLLOMBERT, L. COULON, “Les dieux contre lemer. Le début du ‘papyrus d’Astarté’ (pBN 202),” BIFAO 100, 2000, p. 225, the stela of Usersatet provides
evidence that vernacular grammar – Late Egyptian – “imprégnait déjà la langue de chancellerie.”
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I. Introduction – Date and Setting
1

Ìsb.t 23 “bd 4 “≈.t sw 1 hrw ny Ìb ≈©.t-nsw.t (a)mµ.ty wƒ µr.n Ìm≠f m ©.wy≠fy ƒs≠f (b)n [s“-nsw.t ny K‡ Wsr-St.t]
2[µst (c) ≈©.t Ìm≠f Ìr ÚnÚ“.t] ©“.t n(y.t) pr-©“ ©n≈ wƒ“ snb (d)tµ-sw m Ìms <Ìr> swrµ <Ìr> µrµ hrw[-nfr] (e)Year 23, month four of akhet, day 1 – day of the festival of the royal accession:
Copy of the decree that his majesty made with his own handsfor [the viceroy Usersatet],[at the time of his majesty’s glorious appearance upon the] great [dais] of pharaoh, l.p.h.,when he was commencing to drink and celebrate holiday.

(a) For the accession date of Amenhotep II, and possible coregency with Thutmosis III, see P. Der
Manuelian, in Cline and O’Connor (eds.), op. cit., pp. 420-421. The date is almost entirely intact inthe original photograph (HU-MFA Expedition photograph A3310_NS), although now most of the
rnp.t-sign, all of the t-loaf, and the strokes beneath 20 are gone. The Object Register mentions only
two fragments, and the MFA has only two pieces accessioned, so the missing area appears to havecrumbled away before or during the transport of the object.
(b) The wƒ appears to belong to the category of the wƒ-nsw.t – P. Vernus, “Les ‘decrets’ royaux(wƒ-nsw): l’énoncé d’auctoritas comme genre,” in S. Schoske (ed.), Akten des vierteninternationalen Ägyptologen Kongresses, München 1985 IV, BSAK 4, 1991, pp. 239-246; id., “TheRoyal Command (wƒ-nsw): a Basic Deed of Executive Power,” in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit.,
pp. 259-340 (refs. to Usersatet’s stela pp. 260, 280, 292, 307, 314-315). What the king preparedwith his own hands is the copy, of which Usersatet’s stela is a tertiary, monumental version; thefact of setting down the wƒ in writing appears to ensure that the matter was indeed an wƒ-nsw.t.
What the wƒ initially was – written or spoken – remains unstated, although the parallelism between
the stela and the Ibrim shrine suggest that Amenhotep II may initially have spoken the wƒ(compare Vernus, in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., p. 269-270 and 277 [citing Horemheb’s nsw.t
ƒs≠f ƒd m wƒ, “it is the king himself who speaks as a command”], pp. 279-281 for writing thedecree, even if not overtly labeled as an wƒ-nsw.t).
(c) Helck reasonably suggested parallels involving µsÚ introducing the concomitant event. Usersatet
employed tµ-sw as a further embedded description in the following clause.
(d) Although Helck restored k“p, “private apartments,” and in spite of the fact that subsequenttranslations have followed him (cf. E.F. Wente, Letters from Ancient Egypt, Writings from theAncient World 1, 1990, p. 27: “the private apartment”), the apparent k“p-sign (on the forms ofwhich see H. Brunner, “Die Hieroglyphen dür ‘räuchern’, ‘bedecken’, ‘Handfläche’ und die ihnen
entsprechenden Wörter,” NAWG 1965 Nr. 3, 1965, p. 84-86) is not clearly preserved. As Helckrecognized, the k“p – associated with the “children of the k“p” (cf. W. Helck, Zur Verwaltung desMittleren und Neuen Reichs, PdÄ 3, 1958, pp. 252-254; A.-P. Zivie, “La Tombe d’un officier de la
XVIIIe dynastie à Saqqara,” RdE 31, 1979, pp. 140-141 and 144-151) – is not a usual area forcelebration of a hrw-nfr in state (Helck’s restoration leads to Redford, Akhenaten, p. 32; id., Egypt,
Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times, p. 230, suggesting that the king was in the “harem”). The
stone to the right of the damaged ny pr-©“, visible in HU-MFA Expedition photograph A3310_NS(published in Helck, JNES 14, 1955, pl. 2), was no longer present by the time of Dunham’s
publication, and no smaller fragments are mentioned in the Object Register or in the records of the
MFA. What Helck interpreted as a down-turning element to the left of a horizontal sign in the earlyphotograph is too deep and irregularly formed to be anything but damage. A doubled horizontal
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line to the right, visible in the field photograph, may be carved, however, and is consistent with ahorizontal ©“-sign. The location of the event is probably the same as that described in the shrine ofUsersatet at Ibrim – ≈©y.t Ìm≠f m-ßnw W“s.t Ìr ÚnÚ“.t ©“.t, “glorious appearance of his majesty within
Thebes upon the great dais” (Caminos, Ibrim, pl. 28, l. 2 of main horizontal text). On the ÚnÚ“.t, see
V. Rondot, La grande salle hypostyle de Karnak: les architraves, Paris, 1997, p. 13, n. h to No. 3
upper; Grandet, op. cit., p. 167, n. 676.
(e) The appearance of m Ìms (m + infinitive of a verb of posture) is an early attestation of Ìmsµ as
auxilliary verb (see J.-M. Kruchten, Études de syntaxe néo-égyptienne, AIPHOS, Supplément 1,
1982; id., “¢Ì©, Ìmsµ et sƒr en néo-égyptien,” GM 84, 1985, pp. 33-40); the two adverbial adjuncts(for the auxiliary with two adverbial complements, see Kruchten, Études de syntaxe néoégyptienne, pp. 74-76) are Ìr + infinitive, Ìr not unexpectedly omitted (cf. Fr. Junge, trans.
D. Warburton, Late Egyptian Grammar, an Introduction, Oxford, 2001, p. 112) in a text revealingsome early Late Egyptianisms. A parallel for Ìr µrµ hrw nfr as the second adjunct following Ìmsµappears in A.H. Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Stories, BiAeg 1, 1932, p. 94, ll. 8-9; for Ìmsµ “tocommence” with Ìr µr.t hrw-nfr as adjunct, compare ibid., pp. 7 (l. 10), 25 (ll. 15-16), and 28(l. 13). As the king is just commencing to drink, the suggestion of Redford, Akhenaten, p. 32, thatthe king “was drinking wine (which in part explains the tenor of the missive)”, is not entirely
convincing – Amenhotep II was apparently not drunk either when he issued or copied the decree.
Vernus, in Moreno Garcia (ed.), op. cit., p. 307, reads “when he was in the position of one who
eats, who drinks, who spends a happy day”, interpreting the damaged seated man as Gardiner A2
for wnm. The traces suit a seated male figure with arm bent to left (contrast the lowered arm of thedeterminative to Ìmsµ at the end of l. 4, with right forearm raised), and an abbreviated orthography
is more appropriate to Ìmsµ than to wnm (compare R. Hannig, Ägyptisches Wörterbuch II. Mittleres
Reich und Zweite Zwischenzeit, Mainz, 2006, vol. 2, p. 1685; L.H. Lesko, with B.S. Lesko, A
Dictionary of Late Egyptian 2nd ed., Providence, 2004, vol. 1, p. 314). A bit of the back of the headis present (that line is too far to the right and the angle of the arm too low and long for the sign tobe a squatting figure wearing the khat-headdress), and the lower level of the toes to the rear – as in
the determinative to Ìmsµ in l. 4 – also supports reading Ìmsµ. Drunkenness, myrrh, and hrw nfr are
frequently associated, but eating is not stressed in festival descriptions of hrw nfr (see J.C. Darnell,
et al., Theban Desert Road Survey 1, OIP 119, 2004, pp. 130-132). The amphora directly
represents the drinking that is about to commence, but no food is present; even when Akhenaton
and Nefertiti appear at meal, they sit on light furniture in front of tables, not enthroned atop a dais(cf. N. de G. Davies, The Rock Tombs of El Amarna III. The Tombs of Huya and Ahmes, ASE 15,
1905, pl. 4 and 6).

II. The Decree, Section 1 – Praise of King and Viceroy3[…] Ìwµ [m] s≈.t ≈p‡ (?) (a) n≈t[-© Èn] Ìr ≈p‡≠f w©f 4[…] m s.wt≠sn nb(.t)
nn rÈy m t“ nb (b)Ìms≠k (c) 5[…] Èny kf©w Ìr ≈“s.wt nb(.wt) snn(y) ‡f©w n Ìm≠f (d) ’Imn-Ìtp ÌÈ“-’Iwnw
6[…] Nhryn“ dµw ‡“(µ) P“≈“ty (e)7p“ [nb Ìm.t] (f) m Sngr sƒm.t-©‡ m Kbn msw.t 8 ‡rµ.t ny.t ’Irr≈ µ“(y).t ny.t ’Irp≈
n“y Tµ≈sy 9bn nk.t r ƒr≠w (g)µw≠w r µ≈ m kf(“).t (h)[…] who smites [with] a blow of the scimitar(?), powerful of [arm, valiant]with his strong arm,
who bends back […] wherever they may be,
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with the result that there is no rebel in any land.
You are taking up residence […], brave one who captures in all foreign lands,chariot warrior who fights for his majesty Amenhotep-Ruler-of-Heliopolis,[the one who …] Naharin, who arranged the destiny of Pakhaty.
Oh you [possessor of a] female-servant from Babylon, a female worker from Byblos,a little girl of Alalakh, and an old woman of Arrapkha –Those of Takhsy are entirely worthless;what good are they at all?

(a) The now missing text following hrw-nfr probably contained the beginning of the royal decree.
Helck suggested a restoration based on the letter of Thutmosis I to his viceroy, Urk. IV, 80 (mkµn.tw n≠k wƒ pn n nsw.t); the content of an wƒ-nsw.t might indeed be similar to that of a letter(Vernus, in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp. 261 and 289-290). Even were this correct, thedelivery would not confirm a long-distance letter. The surviving epithets relate entirely to thesubjugation of foreigners, and one might expect the opening of the decree to have contained at leasta brief reference to the king producing peace and quiescence in Egypt – compare the pair mk Km.tw©f ≈“s.wt (see Chr. Desroches-Noblecourt, Ch. Kuentz, Le petit temple d’Abou Simbel I. Étudearchéologique et épigraphique, essai d’interprétation, Cairo, 1968, pp. 52-55). Just in front of s≈.t
is a trace that resembles the foot of a standing human figure, possibly the determinative of Ìwµ; ahorizontal sign must have occupied the available space in the text above s≈.t, and with appeal to
Wb III, 468, 3, the suggested Ìwµ m s≈.t ≈p‡ is possible. The element s≈.t ≈p‡ does not appear to becommon in military epithets, but does fall under Wb III, 467, 14 (blow of a sword); the Zetteln do
not include an example with ≈p‡, although they cite the s≈.wt n(y.wt) dm.wt of the Great Karnak
inscription of Merneptah (C. Manassa, The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah, YES 5, 2003,
pl. 9, l. 38).
(b) Helck suggests a number of possible parallels for the missing text. The Èn copied as present inHelck, JNES 14, 1955, p. 23 does not survivie, and the field photograph shows that portion of thestela already to have disappeared. Surviving bits of ≈p‡≠f are visible. The syncopated royal eulogy
is in keeping with the “decree” nature of the text (see Vernus, in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp.
302-304).
(c) The sƒm≠f of Ìmsµ may be an example of the uncommon Late Egyptian use of the preteritesƒm≠f instead of the stative – cf. J. Černý, S.I. Groll, A Late Egyptian Grammar, 3rd ed., Studia
Pohl: Series Maior. Dissertationes scientificae de Rebus Orientis Antiqui 4, 1984, pp. lxxxii and211. The use of Ìmsµ at the opening of Amenhotep II’s message echoes, in the context of the stela,
the description of Amenhotep II in l. 2, where Ìmsµ is an auxiliary verb. Amenhotep II appears tomake reference to the time when the viceroy took up residence in Nubia, as does a scene in thetomb of Huy (Davies, Gardiner, op. cit., pl. 11).
(d) Helck observed the parallelism between Èny and snny, and this in fact extends to the following
participles: Èny kf©w and snny ‡f©w.
(e) For dµw as a Late Egyptian participial form, compare K. Sethe, Das aegyptische Verbum II,
Leipzig, 1899, p. 368, § 862. For ‡“µ, “destiny, disposition,” J. Quaegebeur, Le dieu égyptien Shaïdans la religion et l’onomastique, OLA 2, 1975, particularly p. 62; for the use with rdµ, ibid.,
p. 109. The toponym P“-⁄“ty appears only here, a construction parallel to P“-K“n©n©. The latter
toponym – in which some have seen a designation of Gaza – appears always to have referred to
Canaan as a whole (M.G. Hasel, “Pa-Canaan in the Egyptian New Kingdom: Canaan or Gaza?,”
JAEI 1/1, 2009, pp. 8-17). Although Pakhaty might reference a “place of Hatti” as gateway to theregion – perhaps Takhsy (area of Qadesh itself – Redford, Wars in Syria and Palestine of
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Thutmose III, p. 244) – the parallelism of Pa-Canaan supports the interpretation of Pakhaty as analternate designation of Hatti (so Vandersleyen, op. cit., p. 331). Also possible is a reading “theHittite” – compare the writing of the same with foreign land determinative in J.C. Darnell,
R. Jasnow, “On the Moabite Inscriptions of Ramesses II at Luxor Temple,” JNES 52, 1993,
pp. 271-273.
(f) Helck suggests Ìnw.t; a more neutral Ìm.t or s.t (or s.t-Ìm.t) is also possible; Ìnw.t designates
the consort of the ruler of Joppa in the Taking of Joppa (cf. Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Stories, p. 84,l. 8). The geographic pairing of the first two toponyms on the one hand, and the third and fourth on
the other (see below) suggests a similar parallelism for the labels of the women. With the second
pair bearing designations relating to age, the first two should be similarly parallel; the surviving
sƒm.t-©‡ suggests the broken word was a term for servant, and the space at the beginning of l. 7
allows for nb with a following Ìm-stick with feminine t. Vandersleyen, op. cit., p. 331, suggests theseated figure at the end of the break at the beginning of the line is a seated male figure, Gardiner
A 41, 42, or 49; how he would understand the text is unclear. The p“ probably introduces avocative (so Morschauser, op. cit., p. 207, n. 19, although his suggested p“ s“ nsw.t neither fits theavailable space nor yields a good sense for the passage). Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel,p. 230, reads “viol[ator of the] Babylonian [woman],” without explanation. E. Hornung, “ThePharaoh,” in S. Donadoni (ed.), The Egyptians, Chicago, London, 1997, p. 291, suggests “wife.”(g) The two statements regarding the people of Takhsy (for n“y + toponym see R.A. Caminos, A
Tale of Woe, Oxford, 1977, p. 68, nn. 2 and 8) begin the second address to the viceroy in the firstportion of the decree, following the lengthy direct address in which the viceroy appears as
possessor of an array of Western Asiatic women. For the grammar, see P. Vernus, “Études dephilologie et de linguistique (IV),” RdE 36, 1985, p. 164, an example of his “bn predicative + sujet
indéfini en Néo-égyptien.” Vernus translates “Ceux de T≈sy sont tous des moins que rien (lit. sansrien),” understanding: “Ici, bn + sujet indéfini se subsume en prédicat d’une phrase adverbiale dontn“y T≈sy est le sujet, selon le principe déjà observé avec bn + sujet indéfini.” See also B. Kroeber,
Die Neuägyptizismen vor der Amarnazeit: Studien zur Entwicklung der ägyptischen Sprache vom
Mittleren zum Neuen Reich, unpublished PhD dissertation, Tübingen, 1970, pp. 40 (§ 21.12.2, ex.
13, and § 21.2, ex. 2) and 62 (§ 23.42, ex. 2), “Diese T≈sjw sind ganz und gar nichts.”(h) For µw≠w r µ≈ m kf“.t, see Kroeber, op. cit., p. 38 (§ 21.12.2, ex. 5), “wozu sind sie denn gut?”
For µw≠w r µ≈ as “Adverbialsatz des Futurums,” H. Satzinger, Neuägyptische Studien, Vienna,
1976, p. 201; see also S.I. Groll, The Negative Verbal System of Late Egyptian, London, New
York, 1970, pp. 140-141; A. Shisha-Halevy, “Quelques thématisations marginales du verbe en
Néo-Égyptien,” OLP 9, 1978, p. 60. Der Manuelian, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 157,“of what are they trustworthy?,” confuses m kf(“).t with kf“(-µb), and may have influenced the entry
for kft (kf“t), “Vertrauenswürdigkeit,” in R. Hannig, Grosses Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch(2800-950 v. Chr.), Mainz, 1997, p. 881. Morschauser, op. cit., p. 207, n. 18, opts for “upondisclosure,” an unattested use of kf“µ of Wb V, 119. The ending m-kf“.t normally appears withnegatives, and is otherwise a rare element of more literary Late Egyptian – R.A. Caminos, LateEgyptian Miscellanies, BES 1, 1954, p. 196, with references; H. Satzinger, “Der Leiter desSpeicherwesens Si-êse Sohn des Qeni und seiner Wiener Statue,” Jahrbuch der KunsthistorischenSammlungen in Wien 74, 1978, p. 16, n. r; Lesko and Lesko, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 173; B. Mathieu, La
poésie amoureuse de l’Égypte ancienne, recherches sur un genre littéraire au Nouvel Empire,
BdE 116, 1996, p. 40, n. 64; on the basis of orthography and use, m kf“.t probably corresponds inmeaning to English “in the end.”

III. The Decree, Section 2 – Advice to the Viceroy
ky ƒd n p“ s“-nsw.t (a)m n©.t (b) 10n NÌsy(.w) m kf(“).t
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s“y tw (c) r n“y≠sn rmÚ.w Ìn© n“y≠sn 11Ìk“w.w (d)ptr p“ b“k ny nmÌy.w (e) µn.n≠k (f) r dµ.t≠f r sr
12

µw bn sr pw n p“y≠k smµ.t≠f n Ìm≠f (g)r“-pw r dµ.t sƒm≠tw (h)µn-g“w (i) 13µÈÌw m ƒ©mµstnw m Ìsmn (j)tµsw ƒrµ(w) (k) m s.t-n.t
14
p“ ky m b©r-‡nd.t (l)m-µr sƒm n md.wt≠sn m ƒ© wp.(w)t≠sn (m)A further statement for the viceroy:
Do not be lenient in the least toward the Nubian(s);guard yourself against their people and their magicians.
Look after the bureaucratic outsider of a servant whom you recruitedin order to make into an official.
(though he is not an official of your reporting him to his majesty,
unless it is in order to cause one [scil. the king] to hear:“For lack of a battle axe of fine gold,
the hafting of bronze,
the one tµsw-staff is reliable in the place of the flood,
the other (is reliable) in the b©r-water of acacia.”)
Do not heed their words in searching out their report(s).
(a) Following the eulogistic preamble, the royal wƒ-decree employs the ky dƒ “substitute”
introductory formula of Bakir, op. cit., pp. 52-54.
(b) For m + apparent infinitive n©µ.t, Helck, JNES 14, 1955, p. 27, suggested a version of n©µ of
Wb II, 206, 4-6 (see also W. Vycichl, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue copte, Leuven, 1983,
p. 136; note also J. Osing, Die Nominalbildung des Ägyptischen 2, Mainz, 1976, pp. 439-440, on
the occurrence of the variants
and[the latter from a form with final t] from n©µ.t in
Apokryphon II), with unusual determinative. According to Kroeber, op. cit., p. 174 (§ 35.3, ex. 9),n©µ.t in the Usersatet text is an early example of the infinitive replacing the negatival complement.
A possible explanation of the bird determinative of n©µ.t is that the t and bad-bird are a graphic
corruption of the wakeful eye (compare M. Marciniak, Les inscriptions hiératiques du temple deThoutmosis III, Deir el-Bahari 1, 1974, particularly 1, 29; 39, 4 examples), in which case thiswould be the more usual Middle Egyptian negatival complement. Morschauser, op. cit., p. 208,
n. 22, suggests “to be entangled with,” by unlikely argumentation associating n©µ with Wb II, 201,
1, “Stricke drehen;” see also D. Meeks, AnLex, 78.1991.
(c) So Kroeber, op. cit., p. 27 (§ 12.3).
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John Coleman Darnell(d) Morschauser, op. cit., pp. 208-209, assumes Amenhotep II would not be concerned with magicor magicians, and without good parallel produces a rendering “demagogues” or “flatterers” forÌk“w.w; his argument that a belief in magic would be contrary to the “rational” nature of the royalmessage ignores the Egyptian understanding of magic, as is well described in R.K. Ritner, The
Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, SAOC 54, Chricago, 1993. Nubia as the home ofpotentially dangerous magic is well attested in Egyptian documents – cf. Y. Koenig, “La Nubie
dans les textes magiques, l’inquiétante étrangeté,” RdE 38, 1987, pp. 105-110; H.-J. Thissen,“Nubien in demotischen magischen Texten,” in D. Mendel, U. Claudi (eds.), Ägypten im Afroorientalischen Kontext (Gedenkschrift Peter Behrens), Cologne, 1991, pp. 369-376. The use of
execration images as one means of countering such a threat (cf. G. Posener, Cinq figurines
d’envoûtement, Cairo, 1987, pp. 17-34) was a case of fighting paranormal fire with paranormalfire, and Amenhotep II’s treatment of the rulers of Takhsy may represent a use of live captives forsuch a ritual (see below).
(e) The verb ptr need not have the cautionary sense of “keep an eye on, beware of,” but may takeon a more benevolent, or at least proprietary, sense of “look after, have a look at” – compare
R.J. Demarée, with B. Leach and P. Usick, The Bankes Late Ramesside Papyri, British Museum
Research Publication 155, 2006, p. 12 (P. BM EA 75018 recto l. 10). The b“k ny nmÌy.w involves
an attributive genitive with the term nmÌy, referring to people outside of the official service, not of
the bureaucracy (see below). Redford, Akhenaten, p. 32: “See to the tax of the sharecroppers …”(id., Slave to Pharaoh, p. 6: “See to the labour-taxes of the peasants”), does not suit theorthography of b“k, or the lack of article to nmÌy.w, nor does it reveal the best understanding of
nmÌ. A.H. GARDINER, Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford, 1961, p. 199, interprets the text to mean that
Amenhotep II urges Usersatet to “replace any objectionable chief by some man of humble birth.”(f) For µnµ, “to recruit,” note Merikare E62 – W. Helck, Die Lehre für König Merikare, Wiesbaden,
1977, p. 36, § XXII (J.Fr. Quack, Studien zur Lehre für König Merikare, GOF IV/23, 1992, p. 176)
– m Ún s“ s r nƒs µn n≠k s Ìr r“-©.wy≠fy, “Do not distinguish between the son of a s-man over (theson of) a nƒs-man – recruit for yourself a man because of his deeds.” Compare also Tjehemau
No. 3, ll. 15-19: ≈d.n Ÿhm“w n≈t mµ m“w S“-R© Bµty Ìn© m‡©≠f pn µn.n≠f, “Tjehemau the victorious
sailed north like the lion, the Son of Re, the Bµty-king, together with this army of his which herecruited”). An official might relate his µnµ r-recruitment, without referencing the agent thereof –cf. J. Stauder-Porchet, La préposition en égyptien de la première phase. Approche sémantique,
AegHelv 21, 2009, p. 116.
(g) For the grammar see Kroeber, op. cit., pp. 62 (§ 23.42, ex. 3), 133 (§ 33.12.4, ex. 3), and 189(§ 41.31, ex. 2); J.Fr. Quack, Die Lehren des Ani, OBO 141, 1994, p. 38; Darnell, SAK 31, 2003,
p. 80, n. e. The reading of Der Manuelian, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 158: “although
he is not an official of your (stature?, nevertheless) let him be reported to his Majesty” is faulty(ibid., n. 24 is more plausible); Redford, Slave to Pharaoh, p. 7, reads “if there is no officer of yourown, let it be reported to His Majesty,” difficult to reconcile with the grammar. Morschauser, op.
cit., p. 212, “it is a matter (r“) for one to pay attention to,” attempting to do away with r“-pw, isuntenable, both grammatically (preposition r) and lexically (r“ instead of md.t).
(h) For r“-pw, see Junge, op. cit., p. 87; also Kroeber, op. cit., p. 55 (§ 23.1, ex. 3): “In diesem
Beleg leitet das r“-pw einen neuen Satz ein, der eine Alternative zum vorher Ausgesagten enthält.”(i) For initial adverbials, see A.H. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar 3rd ed., Oxford, 1957, p. 117,
§ 153; A. Loprieno, “Focus, Mood, and Negative Forms: Middle Egyptian Syntactic Paradigms andDiachrony,” LingAeg 1, 1991, pp. 205-208, on leftward movement of focalized adverbial
predicates. The closest parallel (already Gardiner, Grammar, pp. 115 [§ 148.5] and 134 [§ 178]) – a
sentence beginning with mk µn-g“w – is P. UC 32201 verso l. 8 (P. Kahun 31, verso 8-10/Letter
VI.4 verso, l. 8): F.Ll. Griffith, Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob (Principally of the Middle
Kingdom), London, 1898, pls. 30-31; M. Collier, St. Quirke, The UCL Lahun Papyri: Letters, BAR
International Series 1083, 2002, pp. 104-109, CD files UC32201-f-TO and BO, UC32201-b-TO
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and BO (Wente, Letters, no. 99, p. 81; E. Oréal, Les particules en Égyptien ancien, de l’Ancien
Égyptien à l’Égyptien Classique, BdE 152, 2011, p. 34). This might be a writing of ng“w, “to lack,”
Wb III, 349, 8; D. Meeks, AnLex, 79.1648; or “one lacking,” Wb III, 349, 7; Meeks, AnLex,
79.1647 (on the ambiguity of ng“ or n-g“w, see Caminos, Late Egyptian Miscellanies, p. 128 [ref.
to P. Anastasi IV 1b, 2]). Morschauser, op. cit., pp. 212-213, wants to see here the verb ngµ / ng“,
“to break,” Wb II, 348, 6-14, although the determinative is not appropriate; through improbableargumentation he derives a meaning of “lawbreaker,” ultimately “traitor,” for the word. Redford,
Slave to Pharaoh, p. 7, reads “an axe of electrum with fixtures of bronze is missing, and the stout
quarter-staff is in a water hole, and the other one is in the marsh(??),” taking ng“ as an initial verb.
Theoretically n g“w could conclude the preceding clause, but this would leave the reference to thebattle axe hanging, and its relation to the staves unclear.
(j) The µstnw is the hafting of the blade, normally of leather; in parallel to the preceding (object + m+ designation of material), µstnw is a nomen instrumentis. For hafting see W.V. Davies, Catalogueof Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum VII. Tools and Weapons 1. Axes, London, 1987,
p. 69, with reference to µstnw as leather bindings in P. Reisner II; ibid., n. 7, Davies renders theUsersatet passage: “a battle-axe (µÈÌw) is described as being ‘bound with bronze’ (µstnw m Ìsmn),
probably referring to bronze wiring.” A. De Buck, A.H. Gardiner, in A.H. Gardiner, Chester Beatty
Gift, HPBM, Third Series, London, 1935, p. 3, n. 3 already compared the Usersatet stela passage toa portion of the story of Truth and Falsehood (Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Stories, p. 35, ll. 12-16[with the partially parallel but broken passage p. 30, ll. 9-12], discussed in Davis, Axes, p. 68) – “Isthere an axe as big as you said, wherein is the mountain of El as a blade, the trees [?] of Coptos as ahaft [‡“tµ], the tomb of the god as a socket [?] [m“yt], and the cattle of Kar as a binding [µstnw]?”
For elaborate weapons as markers of office and favor, see the discussion below.
(k) The tµsw cannot refer to the handle, the common term for which would be ‡t / ‡“tµ – see Davies,
Axes, pp. 69-70. Morschauser, op. cit., pp. 215-216, notes the frequent occurrence of officials
acting with the “firmness of bronze” (ƒrµ mµ bµ“ – see the references in Caminos, Late Egyptian
Miscellanies, p. 608).
(l) Der Manuelian, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 158, reads “a staff from the canal bankis as good as one from acacia”. For unmarked “one” and article-introduced p“ ky, see Wb V, 113, 2.
The Usersatet passage may reveal a chiastic construction – a place of water, water of a place (seebelow). The description of each staff beginning with m might also indicate the places of origin of
the staves – compare the description of the wood of a chariot in Davies, Tomb of Ëen-Amūn, pl. 22( ≈.t≠s m t“-nÚr Ìr ≈“s.t ny.t Nhryn). Morschauser’s proposed “let another fly away” (Morschauser,
op. cit., p. 216) for p“ ky might work in the context of a fleeing enemy compared to a bird, or one
retreating quickly by ship, which may fly (see the references in J.C. Darnell, “Two Sieges in the
Aethiopic Stelae,” in Mendel, Claudi (eds.), op. cit., pp. 91-93 [with n. 80]), and have its oars
compared to the feathers of the wing of a vulture (Caminos, Late Egyptian Miscellanies, p. 173[P. Anastasi IV 10, 4]). No such imagery is apparent in the text of the Usersatet stela. The passage
Morschauser cites from Medinet Habu (The Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu I. Earlier Historical
Records of Ramses III, OIP 8, 1930, pl. 37, l. 16 [and pl. 79, l. 10, as cited in W. Edgerton,
J.A. Wilson, Historical Records of Ramses III, SAOC 12, 1936, p. 41]) states that the ba-souls of
the enemy have flown, expressly revealing the avian aspect of the flight, whereas ky is neitherfeathered nor particularly fowl. Morschauser also appeals to Wb I, 494, 11, which, however, cites
only P. D’Orbiney 18, 4, a passage of the Tale of the Two Brothers in which a splinter from a tree
being felled flies off into a lady’s mouth, not pertinent to some supposed and unnamed ky
removing himself by his own volition.
(m) According to P. Vernus, “Du moyen égyptien au néo-égyptien, de m à m-jr: l’auxiliation del’impératif à la dix-huitième dynastie,” in Z. Hawass, J.H. Wegner (eds.), Millions of Jubilees:
Studies in Honor of David P. Silverman, Cairo, 2010, pp. 317 (ex. 5) and 328 (nn. 20-21) (so also
Morschauser, op. cit., pp. 218-219), the passage involves but one Late Egyptian negative

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imperative – m-µr – with m ƒ©(r) being m + infinitive. For Kroeber, op. cit., p. 186 (§ 41.2, ex. 4),
both a Late Egyptian negative imperative (m-µr) and a Middle Egyptian negative imperative (m ƒ©)
are present: “Die sprachliche und stilistische Unsicherheit dieser Zeit spiegelt sich eindrucksvoll inder Tatsache, dass gleich im nächsten Satz [after m-µr sƒm] dieses Textes erneut ein Vetitiv auftritt,
diesmal aber in der klassischen Form” (so already Helck, JNES 14, 1955, p. 25; also Der
Manuelian, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 158 and n. 26; WENTE, Letters, p. 28; Redford,
Slave to Pharaoh, p. 7).

The Literary Nature of the Royal Decree
Based on the grammar of line 2, Amenhotep II appears not to have been intoxicated, butrather just to have commenced to drink, at the time when he prepared the copy of his wƒdecree for Usersatet – the king was apparently sufficiently in possession of his literary
faculties to compose the well-constructed decree that he subsequently copied and that
Usersatet preserved on his stela. The incipient drinking would affect only the king’s copyingof the decree, not the prior issuing thereof. As a self-adulatory preamble, the king begins witha series of epithets that describe his prowess in subduing foreigners, setting the stage for thefollowing epithets of the viceroy, and the advice that the king will offer to him. Though not so
specific as the epithets of Amenhotep II that form a similar opening to the roughly
contemporaneous story of Astarte and the Sea, the epithets of the king at the beginning of thedecree for Usersatet also foreshadow topically what follows.52 Amenhotep II’s self adulation
provides a more florid introduction to the following message than one might expect in a letter,but a manner of opening that well suits the wƒ-nsw.t genre That the king commits his own
wƒ-decree to writing is also unusual, although in a literary context the event recalls Snofru
writing down the wisdom of Neferti53 – as in Neferti, by personally writing down an official
pronouncement the ruler inextricably intertwines the formal and the informal.
The first half of Amenhotep II’s address to the viceroy is chiastic in arrangement – astatement to the viceroy (Ìms≠k […]) plus laudatory direct address to the viceroy involving
militaristic epithets; second laudatory direct address to the viceroy involving references to his
possession of various Asiatic women plus a statement to the viceroy (n“y Tµ≈sy andfollowing). Within the first half of the address, the Asiatic women are listed in what appears
to be two pairs – the first two probably labeled as servants (one specification is damaged), thesecond pair of women distinguished according to their ages. The toponyms whence thewomen come also occur in a chiastic arrangement of east to west, west to east. First distant
Babylon, then Byblos on the Mediterranean coast, form a pair bracketing the extent of thenorthern area from east to west along a southerly line. The following Alalakh, east of thewestern turn of the Orontes, and Arrapkha, east of Ashur, bracket from west to east an area in
the north, defining a border between the Hittites and the northernmost Egyptian holdings, thewestern portion of this region encompassing the territory that would become Amurru. The
people of Takhsy, inhabiting the northern Beqaa Valley,54 appear outside the two pairs, andare dismissed as useless.
The second half of the decree involves four imperatives, broken only by the lengthy
parenthetic passage following the third imperative. Again, as in the first portion of the52

See C. MANASSA, Imagining the Past: Historical Fiction in New Kingdom Egypt, Oxford, 2013, pp. 17, 127,
and 210 (n. 103), with references.
53
W. HELCK, Die Prophezeiung des Nfr.tj, Wiesbaden, 1970, pp. 12-13 (IIn-IIq).
54
D.B. REDFORD, The Wars in Syria and Palestine of Thutmose III, CHANE 16, 2003, p. 169, n. 23.
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message, Amenhotep II employs a chiastic construction – negative imperative (m n©.t) +imperative (s“y); imperative (ptr) + negative imperative (m-µr sƒm).
Amenhotep II’s message is: “I, Amenhotep II, am a great conqueror, who has warred in Asia.
You, Usersatet, have now taken up office in the south, and you have been quite a warrior, one
who has fought for me, Amenhotep II, the one who has arranged the affairs of the lands of the
far north. You have female household members from the full extent of the lands north of theEgyptian holdings in the Levant, and are therefore aware of the problems inherent in dealing
with people to the northeast of Egypt. Look out for the Nubians, and take care of that man
outside the bureaucracy whom you have elevated to sr-status – I suppose you want to remindme that in lieu of an elite official, two strong but unassuming civil servants are effective.” At
the heart of the message, taking the epithets and advice together, Amenhotep II reminds
Usersatet that the latter has a wide experience of the world and its people, not incidentally
through the patronage of his if anything more widely traveled royal friend and patron.
The text does not reveal any overt violence or disrespect toward any of the four foreign
women to whom the king refers. Although Amenhotep II demonstrated what – in comparison
to other Egyptian military accounts – appears to have been an uncommon brutality toward
Takhsy, and he indeed inserts a disparaging parenthetic allusion to them into his decree forUsersatet, Amenhotep II did not disdain “foreignness” in general, to judge from the literary
and artistic productions of his reign. Asiatic terms permeate literary texts of the time, andeven in his decree to Usersatet, Amenhotep II refers to the foreign household members of his
Nubian viceroy as evidence of Usersatet’s broader than common knowledge of humanity.
Amenhotep II cautions Usersatet against the people and magicians of the Nubians. The termb“k ny nmÌy.w is not derogatory, however, nor is any term for the Nubians pejorative. The“servant outside of the bureaucracy” is not specified as being a Nubian, although the context
supports such a view. This person is singled out from the people and magicians with respect
to whom Usersatet should be on guard – the admonition to “look out for, look after” theperson may indicate more benevolent attention than wariness.
Prominent in the decree are the staves of the “proverb,” tµsw probably being a Nubian term.
The king himself was fond of the so-called Nubian wig,55 and in the tomb of Qenamun,
depictions of royal statues suggest that Amenhotep II enjoyed playing a sort of imperial“dress-up,” creating an iconographic alchemy to blend expressions of Egyptian and Nubian
military prowess.56 In Qenamun’s presentation of northern tribute, southern imagery is frontand center – the expression of universal pharaonic rule is not achieved through demonstrationof Egyptian cultural dominance, but rather through the importation, blending, and Egyptian
adoption of foreign imagery.57

55

So DRENKHAHN, op. cit., p. 71.
This Egyptian participation – at the highest level – in the process of combining Egyptian and Nubian regalia
reveals that Nubians engaging in similar displays, such as Heqanefer under Tutankhamun, were not being forced
to wear Nubian costumes (DARNELL, MANASSA, op. cit., pp. 128-130 and 134-135).
57
On the question of acculturation, see Th. SCHNEIDER, “Akkulturation-Identität-Elitekultur. Eine
Positionsbestimmung zur Frage der Existenz und des Status von Ausländern in der Elite des Neuen Reiches,” inR. Gundlach, A. Klug (eds.), Der ägyptische Hof des Neuen Reiches, seine Gesellschaft und Kultur im
Spannungsfeld zwischen Innen- und Aussenpolitik, Königtum, Staat und Gesellschaft früher Hochkulturen 2,
2006, pp. 201-216 (particularly pp. 210-211 for Amenhotep II and the Astarte text of P. BN 202).
56

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The Ibrim Shrine of Usersatet and the Usersatet Stela – Two Views of a Festival
The stela of Usersatet refers to a celebration of the anniversary of the royal accession, and thegeneral scholarly consensus seems to be that the king was at the time of the celebration far
removed from his viceroy.58 The stela does not appear to have provided a geographic location
for the royal celebration, merely specifying that the king was upon the ÚnÚ“.t-dais. The
depiction in the lunette of the Usersatet stela, showing the Nubian viceroy presenting productsof the south to the king, the latter enthroned on the stepped dais, represents a syncopatedsummary of the decoration in Shrines 1 and 4 at Qasr Ibrim – Shrine 4 is that of Usersatet
himself.59
Such an event as that which appears with much greater detail in Ibrim Shrine 4 may be thesetting for the royal appearance and wƒ-decree of Amenhotep II. The Ibrim shrine and thetomb of Huy represent the southern tribute festival as an official participant might haveviewed it, but they depict the king as an icon of divine royalty, apparently avoiding any
reference to an intrusion of the mortal person – and personality – of the king. Just as
P. Koller 3, 3-5, 460 presents such a festival as a terrified local official might have experienced
it, so the stela of Usersatet provides a view of a Nubian tribute festival from the ÚnÚ“.t itself.
In the Ibrim scene, the king sits in state atop the ÚnÚ“.t-platform; the accompanying text locatesthat event in Thebes.61 The horizontal lines of the annotation to the Ibrim scene record thenature of the royal appearance, and include a loyalist statement by the courtiers and army
gathered before the royal platform:≈©y.t Ìm≠f m-ßnw W“s.t Ìr ÚnÚ“y.t ©“.t r sr bµ“.t n m‡©≠f […] ©Ì© m skw
wƒy.t […] nb ©Ì© [r] gs Ìm≠fmsy µnw ny ≈“s.wt rsy.(wt) m-b“Ì © nÚr pn nfr‡ny.t Ìr rdµ(.t) µ“wm‡© pn Ìr dw“ Ìm≠fƒd≠sn
wr b“w≠k nÚr pn nfr mnwy ©‡“ bµ“(y).twr µnw pn r t“.w
n m“w nn ƒr tpy.w-©
n µr s.t ≈pr.w-Ìr-Ì“.t≈pr s.t nb≠n
Glorious appearance of his majesty in Thebes, upon the stepped dais in order toproclaim marvels to his […] army, steadfast in combat.
As for the expedition, every […] is standing [at] the side of his majesty,
58

So HELCK, JNES 14, 1955, p. 28; DER MANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 158.
CAMINOS, Ibrim, pls. 10 (Shrine 1); 28 and 30 (Shrine 4); in Shrine 2 (pls. 14-15) the viceroy and officials
offer to the enthroned king on the dais, but depictions of southern products are lacking.
60
GARDINER, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, pp. 118, l. 14-120, l. 8; CAMINOS, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies,
pp. 437-446. Gardiner already suggested this text as a description of events such as those depicted in the tomb of
Huy (DAVIES, GARDINER, op. cit., p. 28).
61
The uraeus as determinative (deriving from the word for “crown”) in ≈©.t-nsw.t on the stela of Usersatet (awriting of ≈©(y).t as “appearance” – cf. D. MEEKS, AnLex, 77.3011, 79.2160) also appears in the orthography of≈©y.t in the Ibrim text.
59

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presenting tribute of the southern foreign lands before this good god,
the court giving praise,
this army adoring his majesty,
saying:“ Great is your power, oh good god, man of monuments, rich in marvels ;greater is this tribute than (that of) the flat lands;
this has not been seen since the ancestors; those aforetime did not do it;
yet our lord is bringing it about.”

The remainder of the horizontal text lists the numbers of the bearers of the various items oftribute, thereby enumerating the products but emphasizing the bearers thereof. The reference
to a wƒy.t-expedition may indeed allude to a military campaign, although the lack of any
bound prisoners – such as those present in the scenes of festivals under Tutankhamun and
Akhenaton – speaks against the tribute event depicted at Ibrim being a direct result of
combat.62 As wƒy.t may also refer to non-military expeditions,63 the Ibrim shrine of Usersatet
could commemorate a trading expedition, a military campaign, or some amalgamation of thetwo. The date of the great durbar of Akhenaton did not correspond to the most plausible date
for the royal accession, but apparently occurred approximately 78 days after an actual battle
in the south; the date of the festival of southern tribute under Tutankhamun remains
unknown.64 That Amenhotep II may have celebrated his own version of such a festival on theanniversary of the royal accession – if the events on the Usersatet stela and in the Usersatet
Ibrim shrine indeed relate to a similar celebration – is consistent with the lack of appearanceof prisoners relating to a specific event.65
The vertical lines in the lower register, beneath the horizontal text in the upper register, record
a statement by Usersatet himself. The viceroy addresses Amenhotep II as the hypostasis ofseveral deities – Re, Khnum, the demiurge itself as creator of provisions,66 and apparently
moves on to describe the power of the king extending over the southern regions. Althoughmost of the final four lines of the text are heavily damaged, they provide a hint at the sort ofeulogistic pronouncement that the viceroy may have made at the time of his formal
presentation of the southern tribute:
62

DER MANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, pp. 92-93 and 155, suggests that the Ibrim scene may
relate to an actual campaign; E.F. MORRIS, The Architecture of Imperialism: Military Bases and the Evolution of
Foreign Policy in Egypt’s New Kingdom, PdÄ 22, 2005, p. 191, n. 257, interprets the scene as relating to thepeaceful delivery of tribute.
63
On wƒy.t see A.J. SPALINGER, Aspects of the Military Documents of the Ancient Egyptians, New Haven,London, 1982, pp. 227-228; REDFORD, The Wars in Syria and Palestine of Thutmose III, pp. 60-61. That wƒy.t
may make reference to a festival is clear in KRUCHTEN, Le décret d’Horemheb, pl. 1 and p. 106 (l. 29), where t“
wƒy.t r nµw.t designates the royal procession to Thebes for the festival of Opet.
64
M. GABOLDE, D’Akhenaton à Toutânkhamon, Lyon, Paris, 1998, pp. 14-16; DARNELL, MANASSA, op. cit.,
pp. 125-131.
65
If the scene in Theban Tomb 143 of an Egyptian expedition meeting Puntite boats, presumably on the Red Sea
coast, occurred during the reign of Amenhotep II (see below), then the wƒy.t-expedition to which the Ibrim
shrine of Usersatet refers might well be similar to – if not identical with – that reception of the products of the
far southeast.
66
N. GRIMAL, Les termes de propagande royale égyptienne, de la XIXe Dynastie à la conquête d’Alexandre,
Paris, 1986, pp. 260-263.
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1[…] ny ≈“s.t rsy.t m p“ ≈p‡ Èny ny 2[…]s“ nsw.t […] ƒd≠fµnƒ 3Ìr≠k nÚr / nsw.t pn ‡psy […] ny wn.t sn.nw≠f
ntk R© Ìr-tp psƒ.t
4∫nmw µr nÚr.w nb[.w... ] nb k“.w ©“ ƒf(“).w©È m 5r≈ mµ ·Ìwty […] mµ ≈nty-Îsr.twr pÌ.ty 6wsr […] m ⁄nt-Ìn-nfr[…] m bw nb 7ny ≈“s.wt rsy.(w)t 7-10[…][…] of the southern foreign land by means of the brave strong arm of […]king’s son […] says:
Greetings, oh august god / king , […] without his equal.
You are Re, chief of the ennead;
Khnum, maker of all the gods […] lord of provisions, great of food;embued with knowledge like Thoth […] like the foremost of Heseret (Thoth);great of might, powerful […] in Khenthennofer[…] in every place of the southern foreign lands […]The texts of the Ibrim shrine reference three pronouncements:
1. the royal statement or decree (attested through the phrase sr bµ“);
2. the statement of the expeditionary force;
3. the statement of the viceroy.
The royal proclamation does not, however, appear in the texts of the shrine; though themonument is damaged, no space was set aside for such a royal sr-proclamation. The ≈©y.tnsw.t – the event depicted in the Ibrim shrine – was, however, a time for “the issuance ofpharaonic reports and directives.”67
Similarly, in the depictions of the festival of Nubian tribute of the Viceroy Huy under
Tutankhamun, the accompanying annotations record pronouncements of Egyptian and Nubianparticipants, but no speech of the king. Nevertheless, a parallel for the opening line of thelabel to the Ibrim image of southern tribute appears on two of the shields from the tomb of
Tutankhamun (shields 350 and 488b):68 “His majesty appearing in glory within Thebes upon
the stepped dais for proclaiming marvels (sr bµ“y.t)” (text common to both shields, with royal
prenomen and nomen following in no. 350; epithet nb ≈p‡ with prenomen in no. 488b). In
Huy’s scenes of the presentation of southern tribute to Tutankhamun are depictions of shields
that may represent at least some of those deposited in Tutankhamun’s tomb.69 The shields
from the tomb, if not elements of the event Huy recorded in his own tomb, are nevertheless67

REDFORD, The Wars in Syria and Palestine of Thutmose III, p. 118.
H. BEINLICH, M. SALEH, Corpus der hieroglyphischen Inschriften aus dem Grab des Tutanchamun, Oxford,
1989, pp. 172 and 193.
69
DARNELL, MANASSA, op. cit., pp. 128-129.
68

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most likely all to have been part of the visual display of some such celebration of Egyptian
dominion over Nubia. At the southern tribute festival of Usersatet, and possibly in Huy’scelebration of the same under Tutankhamun, the ruler performed sr bµ“y.t, but nopronouncement that might accompany the royal seating has survived, except for Usersatet’s
copy of the rescript of Amenhotep II’s wƒ-decree.
Eulogistic texts from the New Kingdom, accompanying historical inscriptions, elements ofliterary texts, and central to many of the Late Egyptian Miscellanies, reveal a practice of
public performance of eulogies.70 The stela of Usersatet contains a royal decree with selfeulogizing preamble by Amenhotep II, followed by a direct address of the ruler to the viceroy– the entire text could well relate the specifics of a sƒd or sr n≈t.w. In the Qasr Ibrim shrine ofUsersatet, the king refers to “proclaiming / predicting marvels” (sr bµ“) apparently asomewhat less militaristic version of the “proclaiming of victories” (sr n≈t.w). In scenes ofAsiatic tribute in the tomb of Huy, the northern rulers conclude their request for the breath oflife with the promise that they will relate the n≈t.w of the king.71 The bµ“.yt of the successful
ruler are deeds both peaceful and militaristic – a text in the temple of Medinet Habu presages
an overview of the king as giver of food and peace to his people, bringer of war to illdisposed foreigners, and receiver of tribute from properly submissive outsiders, with thewords: “I have caused that all the plans that you have made should come about, and that yourbµ“-marvels take effect.”72 As part of the self adulatory pronouncements that the ruler was
expected to make during an official appearance on the ÚnÚ“.t-platform, Amenhotep IIsummarizes his career in a brief series of epithets, before engaging more directly with his
Nubian viceroy.73
The Usersatet stela appears to record the more personal activities of the king during a festival
appearance on the stepped dais. The event in which the decree of the stela was made may be
the presentation and reception of southern tribute that appears in the shrine of Usersatet at
Qasr Ibrim. The peculiarities of the Usersatet stela text result from the scarcity of other scenes
and inscriptions recording or characterizing the “royal gaze” during a festival, for which othersurviving documents preserve more of a visual overview, recording pronouncements of theother participants but avoiding the “proclaiming of marvels” that the king would have madein such a context.
The Date of the Event
The Usersatet stela gives IV “≈.t 1 (iv, 1) as the date of the festival of royal accession (hrw ny
Ìb ≈©.t-nsw.t), during which Amenhotep II provided Usersatet with the decree the latter
70

A.J. SPALINGER, “New Kingdom Eulogies of Power: a Preliminary Analysis,” in N. Kloth, K. Martin,
E. Pardey (eds.), Es werde niedergelegt als Schriftstück, BSAK 9, 2003, pp. 415-428; see also id., “Encomia andPapyrus Anastasi II,” in St. Quirke (ed.), Discovering Egypt from the Neva: the Egyptological Legacy of Oleg D.
Berlev, Berlin, 2003, pp. 123-144.
71
DAVIES, GARDINER, op. cit., pl. 19.
72
THE EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Medinet Habu IV. Festival Scenes of Ramses III, OIP 51, 1940, pl. 231, ll. 4-5(speech by Amun-Re). For “thaumaturgic” royal marvels, see epithets in GRIMAL, op. cit., pp. 352-254 and 506508.
73
This self-eulogizing “autobiography,” with record of interaction with officials, real or imaginary, recalls the
text of the self-eulogizing sƒd-reminiscence, with interjected passage by another reciter, at the time of a possible≈©.t-nsw.t, on O. DeM 1610 – see H.W. FISCHER-ELFERT, “Ostrakon DeM 1610 «Autobiographie d’un roi
divin?’,” in J. Assmann, E. Blumenthal (eds.), Literatur und Politik im pharaonischen und ptolemäischenÄgypten, BdE 127, 1999, pp. 197-208.
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monumentalized at Semna. The date on the Usersatet stela differs from the IV pr.t 1 (viii, 1)
date that one may assume for the royal accession following the death of Thutmosis III on III
pr.t 30 (vii, 30). The IV “≈.t 1 date could represent the date of the inception of a proposed
coregency between Thutmosis III and Amenhotep II, or simply be an error for IV pr.t 1.74
Amenhotep II is not, however, the only ruler for whom two accession dates are attested, andhe appears rather to be the first of two New Kingdom rulers whom surviving documents
reveal to have celebrated their accession – at least on occasion – in conjunction with anotherfestival. Although apparently thus far unrecognized, Ramesses III provides a parallel for thetwo accession dates of Amenhotep II.75
According to the lunar based76 festival calendar at Medinet Habu, in addition to thecelebration of what appears to have been the actual date of his accession to the throne on I
‡mw 26, Ramesses III also celebrated – on I pr.t 1– the “day of the Nehebkau festival of theroyal appearance of King Usermaatre-meryamun.”77 The two dates for an accession
celebration of Ramesses III – one the day of the event itself, the other a coupling of theaccession with the Nehebkau festival – indicate that Ramesses III was able to celebrate hisaccession on both the chronologically significant, regnal-year-beginning date of the event,and on another day significant for the royal ideology.78
The Nehebkau festival occurred at the time of the second “opening of the year” on I pr.t 1. In
the early Eighteenth Dynasty tomb of Paheri at Elkab, three events appear as thoughcelebrated simultaneously on I pr.t 1: the festival of Nehebkau, the festival of k“-Ìr-k“, andthe opening of the year. Due to the offset overlap of the lunar and civil calendars, the k“-Ìr-k“
festival could be dated instead to the civil calendar date IV “≈.t 1, the date of the celebrationof the accession festival of Amunhotep II in the stela of Usersatet – the IV “≈.t 1 festival dateon the Usersatet stela could represent the civil calendar date that corresponds to the lunar
calendar date of I pr.t 1, linking the k“-Ìr-k“ festival and the second New Year.79 Ramesses III
deliberately attached his accession festival to the Nehebkau festival, while celebrating
independently the day of his actual accession. Amunhotep II appears to have chosen the k“Ìr-k“ festival as his own significant date for a secondary accession celebration; with
Amenhotep II utilizing the civil calendar and Ramesses III the lunar calendar, both rulers
74

See the discussion of St. PASQUALI, “La date du Papyrus BM 10056, Thoutmosis III ou Amenhotep II?,”
RdE 58 (2007): 71-86 (I thank the author for comments and for this reference). The date for the death ofThutmosis III in the autobiographical text of Amenemhab is Urk. IV, 895, 16.
75
W. BARTA, “Thronbesteigung und Krönungsfeier als unterschiedliche Zeugnisse königlicher
Herrschaftsübernahme,” SAK 8 (1980): 48 et passim, discusses the dates of Amenhotep II and Ramesses III, butwith a different understanding, believing that they provide evidence for separate accession and coronation dates.
76
B.J.J. HARING, Divine Households: Administrative and Economic Aspects of the New Kingdom Royal
Memorial Temples in Western Thebes, EU 12, 1997, p. 76.
77
The accession festival on the actual accession day appears as hrw [ny] ≈©(.t)-nswt ny nswt-bµty Wsr-m“©.t-r©
mr(y)-Imn (EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Medinet Habu III. The Calendar, the “Slaughterhouse,” and Minor Records ofRamses III, OIP 23, 1934, pl. 152, l. 601 [List 21]. The Nehebka(u) festival with royal accession festival
combined (hrw ny nÌb-k“ ny ≈©.t-nswt ny nswt Wsr-m“©.t-r© mr(y)-Imn) is ibid., pl. 163, l. 1191 (List 52, the list
recarved for the Meshwesh victory festival – HARING, op. cit., pp. 82-84).
78
P. GRANDET, Ramsès III, histoire d’un règne, Paris, 1993, pp. 47-48 (and p. 346, n. 9) recognizes both theactual accession date of Ramesses III, the celebration of the event in conjunction with the Nehbkau festival atMedinet Habu, and the ideological significance of the link; note, however, that his suggestion of a delay incelebrating the accession at the time of the actual event ignores the presence of two accession festivals in the
Medinet Habu calendar. For Nehebkau, the second New Year, and Ramesses III, see also W. BARTA, LÄ VI,
1986, col. 389; H. ALTENMÜLLER, LÄ II, 1977, col. 176 and n. 96.
79
A.J. SPALINGER, “The Date of Amunhotep II’s First Accession,” SAK 39 (2011): 385-397, suggested thesignificance of the Usersatet date, although he does not seem to have recognized the parallel for Ramesses III.
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could celebrate an accession festival in conjunction with a marker of the second “opening of
the year,” a sort of annual evocation of the Jubilee. Amenhotep II appears to have dated on
the basis of his IV pr.t 1 accession, as the regnal years of Ramesses III date from his I ‡mw 26
accession; the IV “≈.t 1 accession of Amenhotep II thus has no bearing on a proposed
coregency.80
The bringing of Nubian tribute to Amenhotep II as it appears in the Ibrim shrine of Usersatet
would correspond well to the bringing of New Year presents to the ruler. Indeed images of theking in Nubian garb, and an elaborate centerpiece representing the southern dominions of theruler, appear amongst the gifts designated as New Year present for the king in scenes in thetomb of Qenamun.81 The probable tall lamp behind the seated ruler in the Ibrim scene (seeabove) would be particularly appropriate for a celebration associated with the k“-Ìr-k“
festival, evocative of the lighting of torches associated with New Year festivals.82 IV “≈.t 1
would be a date appropriate to both the celebration of a festival of southern tribute, and theissuing of royal a royal decree evocative of the inverted world of the New Year,83 a world inwhich the Nubian viceroy had apparently taken it upon himself to appoint his own, Nubian,
second in command.
Two Staves, Two Biomes, and the Two Divisions of Nubia
In his decree, Amenhotep II quotes a saying that refers to two staves, each in a different place.
Two compound terms designate these areas, each compound apparently employing a word fora type of water.84 The first aquatic term, the n.t-water, refers to the surface water of the Nileor a canal,85 relating specifically to surface water arising from the primeval waters.86 The
second term, the uncommon b©r, occurring on the stela of Usersatet and once in the
Miscellanies, is of obscure origin and almost equally uncertain meaning.87 The passage in the80

See the remarks of PASQUALI, RdE 58 (2007): 71-86, particularly his references to Vandersleyen’s discussionsof the reign, and the improbable coregency (VANDERSLEYEN, op. cit., pp. 319-324).
81
DAVIES, Tomb of Ëen-Amūn, pls. 13-24.
82
H.G. FISCHER, LÄ II, 1977, col. 80.
83
See the comments of D. KESSLER, “Der satirisch-erotische Papyrus Turin 55001 und das ‘Verbringen desschönen Tages’,” SAK 15 (1988): 171-196.
84
Compare the Coffin Text’s mdw ny ‡ in Zaubersprüche für Mutter und Kind, 6, 8 (K. SETHE, Hieratische
Papyrus aus den Königlichen Museen zu Berlin III. Schriftstücke der VI. Dynastie aus Elephantine,
Zaubersprüche für Mutter und Kind, Ostraka, Leipzig, 1911, pl. 19; H. WILLEMS, The Coffin of Heqata (Cairo
JdE 36418), OLA 70, 1996, p. 77), as something carried by the officiating magician.
85
Compare D. KLOTZ, Adoration of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple, YES 6, 2006, p. 103,
n. c; P. WILSON, A Ptolemaic Lexikon, OLA 78, 1997, p. 554 (a reference to the floodwaters, and in the name of
the temple canal); Fr.R. HERBIN, Le livre de parcourir l’éternité, OLA 58, 1994, p. 134 and pl. 2 (P. Leiden T 32
II, 18): hrw pfy n sƒ“ n.t, “on that day of crossing the water,” in which the n.t is the Nile, which Amun crosses
during the Beautiful Festival of the Valley; the Great Abydos Inscription of Ramesses II, l. 33 (KRI II, p. 325,
l. 12; A.J. SPALINGER, The Great Dedicatory Inscription of Ramesses II, A Solar-Osirian Tractate at Abydos,
CHANE 33, 2009, p. 129, l. 33): the n.t n(y.t) mr ny T“-wr is “the water of the canal of Thinis” (so ibid., p. 24)
unless the mr-sign represents an attested variant for ‡, referring to that portion of the Nile flowing through theThinite nome (cf. J.C. DARNELL, The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar-Osirian Unity: Cryptographic
Compositions in the Tombs of Tutankhamun, Ramesses VI, and Ramesses IX, OBO 198, 2004, p. 53, n. 85).
86
Compare the parallelism of N.t-wr and MÌ.t-wr.t in the Litany of Re – E. HORNUNG, Das Buch der Anbetungdes Re im Westen, AegHelv 2-3, 1975-1976, vol. 1, pp. 180-181; vol. 2, p. 138, n. 409.
87
J.E. HOCH, Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton,
1994, pp. 92-93; G. TAKÁCS, Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian 2: b-, p-, f-, HdO I 48/2, 2001, pp. 167-168,
rejects various proposals for the etymology of b©r, including baÌr, and suggests a possible association – although
not as a borrowing – with “Geez ba©ara ‘to dig, plough, break clods.’”
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Miscellanies, however, reveals something of the aquatic nature of the word. In P. Anastasi III
2, 8, b©r occurs in a description of the natural wealth of the Delta Residence, refers to thehome of the ©ƒw-mullet, Mugil cephalus, and relates as well to a fish associated with themouth of the Nile:88©d.w n ≈[pw]89 n b©rhwÚn n Ì“.t p“ d(“)b.w ny ©“-n≈.wt
mullet of the shore of the b©r,
hwÚn-fish of the river mouth (called) “the one of the figs of Great-of-Victories (Piramesse)”

Mullet can live in waters both saline and fresh, although the fish appears to prefer coastal sea
zones.90 The direct association in the P. Anastasi III text between a coastal fish and anotherrelated to the mouth of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile supports a meaning of b©r related to“saline water” in the coastal region of a sea.91 This use of an uncommon word for a saline
body of water near a Nile mouth, a home for an edible fish, calls to mind the brackish lagoonsof the Delta – specifically (in the environs of Piramesse) the lakes Ballah, Timsah, and even
Menzaleh92 – and probably represents the Egyptian designation of a tidal lagoon.
The compound b©r-‡nƒ.t, the word for acacia in construct with a term that at least includes
saline, coastal waters, appears to refer to a different biome from that of the “place of n.twater.” As the proverb is associated with a decree for the viceroy of Nubia, and as the tµswstaves also appear to have a Nubian association, the b©r-‡nƒ.t most probably describes an areaof Nubia. Although the region of Khartoum appears long to have marked the beginning of thegreat southern acacia forests to the south,93 the word b©r, designating a saline coastal water,
does not easily relate to the far south of Upper Nubia.94

88

A.H. GARDINER, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, BiAeg 7, 1937, p 22, ll. 7-9.
The word beginning ≈- is probably the ≈“pw / ≈pw of the Story of Anat: A. ROCCATI, “Une legende égyptienned’Anat,” RdE 24, 1972, pl. 14, l. 2; see LESKO and LESKO, op. cit. 1, p. 348; HOCH, op. cit., pp. 241-242(no. 334). The term also appears in V. CONDON, Seven Royal Hymns of the Ramesside Period: Papyrus Turin
CG 54031, MÄS 37, 1978, pl. 20, Column I, l. 7 (also p. 34; MEEKS, AnLex 2, 78.2942, the word of Wb III, 230),
there a reference to the personified riverbank in joy at the royal arrival. See also Th. SCHNEIDER,“Nichtsemitische Lehnwörter im Ägyptischen. Umriß eines Forschungsgebietes,” in id. (ed.) Das Ägyptische
und die Sprachen Vorderasiens, Nordafrikas und der Ägäis, AOAT 310, 2004, p. 24; F. BREYER, “Anatolisches
Sprachmaterial in ägyptisch-hieroglyphischen Inschriften – ein Vorbericht,” in ibid., p. 267.
90
See http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Mugil_cephalus/en.
91
Reading the word in either occurrence as Baal (so CAMINOS, Late Egyptian Miscellanies, pp. 74 and 542;
MORSCHAUSER, op. cit., p. 217) is not the happiest solution, and Morschauser’s reading of ‡nn.t as an unattested
term for “reed,” based on an assumed meaning “to be round” for ‡nµ, ignores the thumb of d.
92
For mullet and those lakes, cf. http://www.fao.org/fi/oldsite/FCP/en/EGY/profile.htm.
93Compare A. GAFAAR, Forest Plantations and Woodlots in Sudan, African Forest Forum Working Papers
Series 1/15, 2011, p. 15, fig. 1 (the range of the forests has changed somewhat through the course of the
Holocene – compare the chapters in F.A. Hassan (ed.), Droughts, Food and Culture: Ecological Change andFood Security in Africa’s Later Prehistory, New York, 2002, and the map on p. 112). According to Gleichen(ed.), The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: a Compendium Prepared by Officers of the Sudan Government I, London,
1905, pp. 12-13, early twentieth century Sudan was home to few forests north of Khartoum; south of Khartoum,bands of forests, as well as inland “open woods,” especially in Kordofan, on the White Nile as far as the Sudd,
and to some extent in the Bahr el-Ghazal; see also P. OZENDA, Flore du Sahara, 2nd ed., Paris, 1977, pp. 481-482
et passim.
94
Tempting, but without support, might be an equation of the Arabic sāÌil, shore of a sea or river, with b©r, thelatter referring to the transitional area between the Sahara and the southern savanna – the Sahel.
89

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Most probably Amenhotep II employs the term b©r to describe the Nubian counterparts to thecoastal waters that term designates in P. Anastasi III.95 The n.t-waters in the proverb relate to
the Nile and any canals branching off therefrom; the b©r-‡nƒ.t should reference a more distantregion of Nubia, and one with brackish water – apparently coastal water, perhaps lagoon-liketo judge from the P. Anastasi III attestation of b©r – and acacias. For Nubia, the brackish
water, aside from poor quality wells, would be most prominent as the Red Sea. The b©r-‡nƒ.t
probably refers to temporary tidal lagoons (Arabic sabkha) or larger mersa-embayments thatform along the Red Sea coast, low areas of littoral land filled with shallow, temporary, saline
lakes, liable to be visited by mullet96 and to be edged with acacia.97 One staff is in the Nilotic,
more “Egyptianized” part of Nubia, and the other out at the Red Sea fringe of the region.98
Stick People
The axe and the two staves belong to a proverb that – at least in Amenhotep II’s use thereof –applies to members, and potential members, of the southern administration. The statements
regarding people and their relative worth bracketing the proverb make this a reasonableconclusion, as does the personification of weapons and fortifications elsewhere in Egyptian
texts.
The term “staff of old age” applies the imagery of a wooden staff more broadly to anyone
acting as a proper descendent in the context of mortuary religion, and the mdw-staff appears
metaphorically in several Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom titles as well.99 According to95

Amenhotep II might refer to Nubia and Egypt in the proverb, but as the juxtaposition he is discussing is thecomparison of the ideal southern civil servant and the “new man” of Usersatet’s appointing, a reference toLower Egypt would seem out of place.
96
See U. ZAJONZ, M. BEECH, A.C. GILL, “Fishes of Sabkha-Related Habitats,” in H.J. Barth, B. Böer (eds.),
Sabkha Ecosystems I. The Arabian Peninsula and Adjacent Countries, Dordrecht, Norwell, 2002, p. 287.
97
O.O. KARRAR, “Overview of Halophytic Plants of the Sudanese Red Sea Salt March,” in M. Öztürk, B. Böer,
H.-J. Barth, S.-W. Breckle, M. Clüsener-Godt, M.A. Khan (eds.), Sabkha Ecosystems III. Africa and Southern
Europe, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York, 2011, p. 48 attests Acacia tortilis. See also A.G. FAHMY,
B. BÖER, “Flora and Phytogeographical Aspect of the Red Sea Sabkhat in Egypt,” in Barth, Böer (eds.), op. cit.,
pp. 161-170. Acacia would have been present in the wadis in the immediate environs of the Red Sea, in the
Egyptian and Nubian Eastern Deserts – compare C. LE QUSENE, Quseir: an Ottoman and Napoleonic Fortresson the Red Sea Coast of Egypt, Cairo, 2007, p. 279. Mangroves would also occur, especially in the more
southerly coastal regions, probably no farther north than near the modern border between Egypt and Sudan (cf.
A.A. GABALLA, K.K. ISHRAK, M.M. WALEED, M.M. FOUDA, “Ecology of Avicennia marina Mangals along
Gulf of Aqaba, South Sinai, Red Sea,” Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries 14, 2010, pp. 79-80;
B.F. MOHAMED, “Ecological Observations on Mangroves of the Red Sea Shores of the Sudan,”Hydrobiologia 110, 1984, pp. 109-111). Note also the description of the region of Suakin and Port Sudan in
B. ROBSON, Fuzzy-Wuzzy: the Campaigns in the Eastern Sudan 1884-85, Tunbridge Wells, 1993, p. 12.
98
In his description of the annexation of Lower Nubia, Monthuhotep II also includes a reference to appointing
someone (an agent?) to the shore of the Red Sea – see J.C. DARNELL, “The Eleventh Dynasty Royal Inscription
from Deir el-Ballas,” RdE 59, 2008, pp. 90-91 and 97-98. The depictions in Theban Tomb 143 (time ofThutmosis III / Amenhotep II) of Puntite vessels, and a group of Egyptians that received the Puntite products,
suggests that expeditions to the Red Sea coast may have not have been infrequent during the time of Usersatet’s
service as viceroy (see K.A. KITCHEN, “The Land of Punt,” in T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah, A. Okpoko (eds.),
The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns, London, New York, 1993, pp. 597-600; D. MEEKS,“Locating Punt,” in D. O’Connor, St. Quirke (eds.), Mysterious Lands, London, 2003, pp. 61-63; WACHSMANN,
Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant, College Station, TX, London, 1998, pp. 32-33).
99
See with caution MORSCHAUSER, op. cit., pp. 214-215 (citing the mdw µ“w p. 215, n. 47); for the titles see
Wb II, 178, 11-14; H.G. FISCHER, LÄ VI, cols. 50 and 56, n. 17, s. v. “Stöcke und Stäbe;” HANNIG, Ägyptisches
Wörterbuch II, vol. 1, pp. 1160-1161. Rekhmire provides a literal description of his application of the term mdw
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the autobiographical text of Rekhmire, Amenhotep II’s father has made the vizier into a“proverbial” stick (dµ.n≠f wµ m mdw n md.t); Rekhmire describes himself in the same text as
one who, in the exercise of his office, puts “stick to back” (≈.t Ìr psd).100 For Amenhotep II’s
official Qenamun as well, the staff is an image, as the king informs the newly appointed
official that “your stick is upon the back(s) of the infantry” (≈.t≠k Ìr psd(.w) nyw mnfy.t).101
The designation of the ushebti as a mdw-staff, in the sense of “substitute,”102 clarifies the staff
imagery for an official – the ruler may bestow staves on his loyal subordinates, who in turnact as staves, substitutes for the ruler. The official derives his authority from the ruler andrepresents that authority as the ushebti represents the deceased.
The two sticks are there in lieu of the presence of a very elaborate axe. As the sticks appear torepresent people, so the elaborate axe could stand for a particularly important official, if not
the king himself. A broader Egyptian and Near Eastern concept of a deity handing on a divine
and divinizing panoply to a ruler appears under Amenhotep II, specifically in the tale ofAstarte and the Sea.103 A close parallel to the ornate axe to which Amenhotep II refers is theaxe of Ahmose from the burial of Ahmose-Nefertary;104 a slightly earlier golden axe occurs as
an award from the Second Intermediate Period ruler Dedumose,105 and a Western Asiatic
version of the same appears in the Annals of Thutmosis III.106 The parade panoply of at least
one military veteran contained several gilded axes – Ahmose Pennekhbet records his
reception of two such weapons from Thutmosis I, and a second pair from Thutmosis II.107
More contemporaneous with the stela of Usersatet are two-dimensional representations ofelaborate axes with silvered blades in the tomb of Qenamun.108 The royal quotation of aproverb concerning an axe, in the presence of the viceroy, would have a particular piquancy,
as an axe and ≈w-fan together constituted part of the insignia of a number of officials,
including the viceroy Usersatet.
On the basis of the scene of the festival of Nubian tribute in the Ibrim shrine, two axes as partof the viceregal insignia may well have been in the king’s sight when he quoted the saying
regarding the axe and two staves. In Usersatet’s Ibrim shrine, two men stand before the king,µ“w when he describes how (A.H. GARDINER, “The Autobiography of Rekhmerē,” ZÄS 60, 1925, p. 70): “I
cared for the elderly man, giving [to him] my staff ” (µw srw≈ .n≠µ µ“w dµ≠µ [n≠f] mdw ≠µ).
100
DAVIES, Tomb of Rekhmire, p. 15; Urk. IV, 1075, l. 4, 1076, l. 4, and 1080, l. 14 (according to 1075, l. 2, theÈnb.t may collectively be a ≈.t-stick in the charge of the vizier); GARDINER, ZÄS 60, 1925, pp. 67 (“stick to theback”) and 68 ([text switched h and n] vizier as mdw-staff); also HASSAN, op. cit., p. 184.
101
N. de G. DAVIES, The Tomb of Ëen-Amūn at Thebes 1, pl. 8, l. 26 (end).
102
MEEKS, AnLex, 77.1941.
103
COLLOMBERT, COULON, op. cit., pp. 221-222 et passim; GNIRS, LOPRIENO, op. cit., pp. 261 (with n. 73) and272 (with n. 124).
104
See, from the numerous representations, A. Bongioanni, M.S. Cole, L. Accomazzo (eds.), The Illustrated
Guide to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Cairo, 2001, pp. 368-369; on the nature of the weapons in the burial of
Ahmose-Nefertary, see the remarks of A. GNIRS, “Ägyptische Militärgeschichte als Kultur- undSozialgeschichte,” in Gundlach, Vogel (eds.), op. cit., pp. 99-109.
105
W. HELCK, Historisch-biographische Texte der 2. Zwischenzeit und neue Texte der 18. Dynastie, 3rd. ed.,KÄT 6, 1, 2002, p. 43, l. 13 (ll. 8-9 of the stela).
106
Urk. IV, 669, 15; see HOCH, op. cit., pp. 303-304; W. WOLF, Die Bewaffnung des altägyptischen Heeres,
Leipzig, 1926, p. 65.
107
Urk. IV, 39, l. 1. Less ornate axes were presented as well – compare the bronze axe presented by
Amenhotep II to the w©w-soldier NeÌmem, of the vessel “Mery-Amun” (DAVIES, Axes, p. 51, pls. 27 and 32).
108
DAVIES, Tomb of Ëen-Amūn, p. 29. For weapons as rewards, with references to other elaborate versions
thereof, see S. FOCKE, “‘His Majesty Saw My Valour’: Weapons as Rewards for Feats on the Battlefield,” inS. O’Brien, D. Boatright (eds.), Warfare and Society in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean, BAR International
Series 2583, 2013, pp. 5-18 (with caution regarding the transliterations of texts).
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each holding a short-handled battle axe and presenting a ≈w-fan to the royal visage; the imageof Usersatet himself was destroyed before the recording of the shrine, but presumably once
stood facing the platform, introducing the tribute bearers and the products they carry to theking.109 Parallels for the two bearers of ≈w-fans standing before the king in his baldachin
appear in scenes of presentation of foreign products in TT 90 and TT 91; in the former, thetomb of the ship’s standard bearer Nebamun, the fan-bearers also carry battle axes, the bladesof which they face toward themselves and away from the ruler.110 As in the tomb of
Nebamun, the two fan- and axe-bearers in the Ibrim shrine are at a scale larger than that of theforeign tribute bearers, and smaller than that of the king (and presumably the now-missing
figure of the viceroy).111
The Nubian associations of the tµsw-staff112 belong to a broader association of Nubian soldierswith sticks and clubs, in both warfare and ritual.113 In a scene of Qenamun offering anelaborate centerpiece to Amenhotep II – a three-dimensional manifestation of Nubia and thereligious and economic significance of the south – tµsw-staves appear several times.114 In
addition to the staves alone are three statues of Amenhotep II, in Nubian garb, each carrying atµsw-staff in one hand and a battleaxe in the other, evocative illustrations of the proverb on thestela of Usersatet.
Although the proverb does not refer to the construction of the staves, such objects could also
be quite elaborate; even a simple reed might be mounted in gold.115 Already during the
Twelfth Dynasty, the warrior Khusobek received, amongst other rewards for valor, a sÚs-staff
of electrum and a dagger of the same metal.116 The official Ahmose-Ruru describes how hereceived two silver ©wn.t staves, one from Hathshepsut and the other from Thutmosis III, atleast one of the staves having a golden pommel.117 Gifts for Amenhotep II depicted in thetomb of Qenamun include a group of three tµsw-staves, representing the total of 30 in a label
accompanying the depiction. The rightmost staff receives two additional annotations, one
describing the tip of the curved upper portion as nbw-gold, apparently referring to a metal cap

109

CAMINOS, Ibrim, p. 66, notes that the name of Usersatet does not appear within the shrine.
HARTWIG, Tomb Painting and Identity in Ancient Thebes, pp. 63, 225 (fig. 24), and 231 (fig. 30).
111
CAMINOS, Ibrim, pp. 69-70, assumes the figure of Usersatet may have appeared in the lower register to theright of the lower text in front of the royal ÚnÚ“.t.
112
R. DRENKHAHN, op. cit., pp. 137-138.
113
J.C. DARNELL, “Hathor Returns to Medamûd,” SAK 22, 1995, p. 74 and n. 141. The appearance of two pairsof tµsw-staves in scenes of of a military guard of standard bearers in the tomb of Qenamun (DAVIES, Tomb ofËenamūn I, pls. 20-21 and 23, and vol. 2 pl. 22 A) suggests that a pair of such staves, such as those to which
Amenhotep II refers in the proverb, may have been familiar within a military context.
114
DAVIES, Tomb of Ëenamūn I, pls. 16-17 (statues of Amenhotep II holding tµsw-staves) and 18 (tµsw-staves; on
p. 26, n. 2, citing id., Tombs of Two Officials, pl. 26), and W. WRESZINSKI, Atlas zur altaegyptischen
Kulturgeschichte I, Leipzig, 1923, pls. 29a [tomb of Suemniut, statue of Amenhotep II in normal kilt, with short,“Nubian” wig, holding mace and tµsw-staff] and 94a [Amenemheb, reign of Amenhotep II, holding a tµsw-staff
and overseeing the registration and provisioning of troops]); H.G. FISCHER, “Notes on Sticks and Staves inAncient Eypt,” MMAJ 13, 1979, pp. 13-14.
115
Compare N. REEVES, The Complete Tutankhamun: the King, the Tomb, the Royal Treasure, London, New
York, 1990, p. 178 (detail photograph of the gold mounted end in Z. HAWASS, Discovering Tutankhamun: fromHoward Carter to DNA, Cairo, 2013, p. 158).
116
J. BAINES, “The Stela of Khusobek: Private and Royal Military Narrative and Values,” in J. Osing,
G. DREYER (eds.), Form und Mass, ÄAT 12, 1987, pl. 1 (§ C l. 5), with pp. 47 and 52 (nn. pp-rr).
117
See MANASSA, Imagining the Past, p. 84, with references (comparing Ahmose-Ruru’s staves to the ©wn.t-staffof pharaoh with which General Djehuty dispatches the ruler of Joppa).
110

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over the wood; the ferrule at the bottom is labeled as Ìƒ-silver.118 Also in the tomb of
Qenamun, depictions of tµsw-staves in the hands of military standard bearers are almost
equally elaborate and “expensive” in construction.119 From the tomb of Tutankhamun, a tµswstaff ornamented with gold and marquetry inlay (no. 227a)120 would not entirely pale into
insignificance in the presence of the elaborate axe in the proverb. Some slightly elaborate
staves might have gone into battle, at least in the hands of veterans and officers – so on theFirst Intermediate Period stela CG 20513, an official Ded claims: “I fought for my lord with astaff of copper” (©Ì“.n(≠µ) Ìr nb≠µ m mdw / Ìƒ(?) Ìmt).121
The saying in the royal decree recorded on the Usersatet stela indicates that one tµsw-staff isin the area of Nilotic waters, the other in the b©r of acacia. These staves fill the lack of animpressively elaborate battleaxe, all three weapons representing people in the southern
administration, in a proverb providing a response to some initiative that Usersatet mounted inappointing some new and native official in the Nubian administration. The staves themselves
may have been of acacia, and a surviving “illustration” of the proverb’s staves may be thestaff of acacia from the tomb of Amenhotep II122 with the text “the good god, aggressive
leopard, Aakheperoure beloved of Monthu” (nÚr nfr “by s≈m-µb ©“-≈pr.w-R© mry MnÚw) – a“militaristic” acacia staff that might well replace an elaborate axe. The elaborate axe would be
intelligible to both king and viceroy as a royal object, a representation of the ruler himself, orat least of his supreme pleasure in the performance of a subordinate as a “parade” weapon.
The staves are specified as tµsw-staves, particularly appropriate for references to the Nubian
milieu, and well known – in elaborate forms as well – to Amenhotep II. Just as an elaborate
axe might refer to an object carried by the viceroy, or for the viceroy by one of his
subordinates, so a staff might indicate the office of a local Nubian official, accompanying him
on his tours of a district.123
Foreigners and Amenhotep II
The texts accompanying the scenes of Nubian tribute in the Ibrim shrine of Usersatet
interestingly and uncommonly record not the amount of materials delivered to the king, but
118

DAVIES, Tomb of Ëenamūn, pl. 18 (according to Davies, p. 28, two of the three staffs on pl. 18 are colored tocorrespond to the label, the third being red in color; three representing thirty, with two having precious metaltips, twenty of the staves may have been so capped, the rest lacking the tips and ferrules).
119
Two pairs of tµsw-staves appear in the procession of military insignia, ibid., vol. 1, pls. 20-21 and 23; vol. 2,
pl. 22 A), characterized by Davies (ibid., p. 32) as “a pair of the curved staves which the officers of the Mezay
mercenaries carried.” The insignia are (right to left) – royal name fan, flail ensign, two tµsw-staves, royal namefan, two flail ensigns, royal name fan, two tµsw-staves, and perhaps another, now missing element (considering
the space, more probably a flail ensign than a royal name fan). According to Davies (ibid., p. 32), the first pairare one of ebony inlaid with ivory, the other having “variegated bands,” tipped with silver (white) ferrules; thesecond pair comprises one tµsw of ebony with gold ferrule, the other of a “banded” wood, the tip (white)apparently of silver. On the flail ensigns, first appearing in scenes in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari,
and apparently no longer in use by the Ramesside Period – see the references in EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Reliefs
and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple I, p. 8.
120
REEVES, op. cit., p. 178.
121
H.G. FISCHER, The Orientation of Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Studies 2, 1977, pp. 143-146 (slightly different
interpretation id., Dendera, p. 145). Based on shape, the word for staff could be “ms or ≈.t (compare
H. WILLEMS, The Coffin of Heqata (Cairo JdE 36418), OLA 70, 1996, pp. 77-78).
122
G. DARESSY, Fouilles de la Vallée des Rois (1898-1899), CGC Nos. 24001-24990, Cairo, 1902, p. 66,
no. 24113; see also HASSAN, op. cit., p. 133.
123
T. SÄVE-SÖDERBERGH, “The Paintings in the Tomb of Djehuty-hetep at Debeira,” Kush 8, 1960, pp. 41-42
and pl. 15c; id., New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites: the Finds and the Sites, SJE 5/2, 1991, p. 199.
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the numbers of the people making the deliveries. Similarly, the decree of Amenhotep II on thestela of Usersatet emphasizes not foreign goods and the values thereof, but foreign people andapparently the advantages they may bring (and in at least one case not bring) to Egyptian
service. This stress on people, even when bringing prized foreign products, is in keeping withsimilarly interesting and unusual lists and tallies of people in military accounts from the reignof Amenhotep II.124 As noted above, the listing of women belonging to Usersatet’s house isordered in such a way as to describe a roughly rectangular region north and east of areas of
Egyptian hegemony in the Levant; not one of the toponyms relates to an object of Amenhotep
II’s aggression.
Usersatet does not appear to have anyone from Takhsy, so Amenhotep II apparently says thisas a way of making light of the fact. The absence of anyone from Takhsy in Usersatet’s
household is probably a reflection of the fate of that region, located near Kadesh on the
Orontes. According to the Amada Stela of Amenhotep II, the king personally dispatched bymeans of his mace seven rulers of the region of Takhsy. Their bodies were suspended upsidedown from the prow of the royal falcon-bark (as Thutmosis I had done with a Nubian leader
earlier), with six finally hung from the wall of Thebes and one from the wall of Napata.125
That Amenhotep II parenthetically alludes to the lack of anyone from Takhsy in the viceroy’s“family” may represent an example of a brutal sort of humor.126 That Usersatet has no humanmemento of the Takhsy campaign is interesting – only Takhsy might have yielded a person
who could have entered Usersatet’s household as a true spoil of battle.127
Some of the northern female members of Usersatet’s household might have been acquired at
the time of the campaigns during Amenhotep II’s first decade of rule, but the girl of Alalakh
at least must be a rather recent addition to Usersatet’s entourage.128 Even if several wereencountered during Amenhotep II’s northern campaigning, only if they were already in a land
foreign to them could the women to whom Amenhotep II refers have been acquired as part ofsome campaign booty – Babylon, Byblos, and Arrapkha were never the objects of Egyptian
military activity under Amenhotep II; Babylon was known only through diplomacy, Byblos
was well established again as part of the Egyptian world after the disruptions of the Second
Intermediate Period, and aside from the stela of Usersatet, distant Arrapkha, east of Ashur, is124

See the remarks of A.J. SPALINGER, War in Ancient Egypt, Oxford, 2005, pp. 140-145.
For the Takhsy campaign see the summary in DER MANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, pp. 4756; for the question of the relationship of the Takshy campaign of Amenhotep II to activity in the area under
Thutmosis III, see D.B. REDFORD, “The Northern Wars of Thutmose III,” in Cline, O’Connor (eds.), op. cit.,p. 335. For the texts detailing the executions see BEYLAGE, op. cit., pp. 267-281 and 696-700; A. KLUG,
Königliche Stelen in der Zeit von Ahmose bis Amenophis III, Brepols, 2002, pp. 278-292. For the solar imageryof the bark of the sun traveling over the body Apep as the prototype for Thutmosis I, see DARNELL, MANASSA,
op. cit., pp. 18-19 (refs. pp. 218-219); the seven Takhsy rulers also evoke the seven neck vertebrae of Apep
(references in DARNELL, Enigmatic Netherworld Books, pp. 304-305). See also KLUG, op. cit., p. 292, for“netherworldly” aspects to the fate of the Takhsy prisoners.
126
Perhaps an example of the “grotesque humor” that A.J. SPALINGER, Icons of Power: a Strategy ofReinterpretation, Prague, 2011, p. 123, sees in some of “the rather vicious war records” of Amenhotep II (ibid.,
pp. 88-89 and 121). Note, however, that the executions and hangings of the bodies create “living” tableaux of
execration ritual, for the elements of which in Amenhotep’s treatment of the Takhsy rulers, see RITNER,
Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice, pp. 170-171.
127
For the Takhsy campaigns of Thutmosis III and Amenhotep II, see the references in REDFORD, Wars in Syria
and Palestine of Thutmose III, p. 171; VANDERSLEYEN, op. cit., pp. 323-324.
128
Conclusions such as that of JANSSEN and JANSSEN, op. cit., p. 123 (the women are somehow related to “someAsiatics whom they [Usersatet and Amenhotep II] had once defeated as brothers-in-arms”) and MORSCHAUSER,
op. cit., p. 207, n. 19 (the women represent “a supposed reference to User-Satet having sacked the cities listed in
the dispatch while campaigning earlier with Amenophis II”) are not possible.
125

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but a name in topographical lists.129 Pakhaty as well, whether a reference to the Hittite
homeland or some fringe area thereof, was not an area that Amenhotep II attacked, to judge
from surviving records. The Hittites of ⁄t“ ©“ in fact were disposed to send µnw to
Thutmosis III;130 Alalakh delivered tribute, including people, to Thutmosis III, but does notappear to have been the object of any direct aggression under Amenhotep II.131 All of theforeign women to whom Amenhotep II refers are natives of areas outside direct Egyptian
political control or military action during the reign of Amenhotep II; they represent noncombatants of essentially friendly or neutral Near Eastern powers. Only a female from
Takhsy might have been captured directly, and such a woman or girl is pointedly absent.
Amenhotep II says nothing derogatory about the female dependents, and does not criticize
Usersatet for having acquired them; the women and girls in question are likely to have beenpresented to the viceroy by the king himself; they are further likely to have been presented to
the king as part of the tribute of the foreign states whence they came.132 Nothing in the text
suggests that the women of different ages from the various northern sites represent the rulersof those areas, and they belong not to Amenhotep II’s household but to that of Usersatet.
Certainly they feminize those lands within the king’s message, but they are not the objects ofany violence or scorn on the part of the king – that is reserved for Takhsy. Texts of the time
reveal a relatively multilingual, “Asiatic” milieu in which Amenhotep II and many of his
close associates may have spent much time in their younger days, and the use of Western
Asiatic loan words and introduction of divine cults of Western Asiatic origin during the reignof Amenhotep II suggest that the ruler was not inalterably opposed to Asiatic culture or
people.133 The only Western Asiatics of whom Amenhotep II has anything derogatory to say
are the people of Takhsy, and they are inhabitants of the only one of the Asiatic toponyms hementions against which Amenhotep II campaigned militarily. The people of Takhsy are also
the only Asiatics not feminized in the text, so the concept that the reference to foreign womenis intended to demean the lands whence they came is without basis – the women are more
likely actual members of Usersatet’s household than some odd metaphors. Foreign women, in
Egyptian depictions and accounts of military conflict, can in fact be more active and potent
than foreign men.134
129

The importance of an allied Byblos for the early Eighteenth Dynasty is discussed in SPALINGER, War in
Ancient Egypt, pp. 52-58. For Arrapkha, see W. HELCK, LÄ I, 1975, col. 450, s. v. “Arrapha,” but note also
VANDERSLEYEN, op. cit., p. 331 and n. 2.
130
Urk. IV, 701, ll. 10-14.
131
Urk. IV, 719, 16-720, 4. For Alalakh as essentially a fringe state of the Mitanni hegemony, see REDFORD,
Wars in Syria and Palestine of Thutmose III, pp. 199 and 231.
132
On foreign children in Egypt, see E. FEUCHT, “Kinder fremder Völker in Ägypten I,” in A. Eggebrecht,
B. Schmitz (eds.), Festschrift Jürgen von Beckerath, HÄB 30, 1990, pp. 29-48; id., “Kinder fremder Völker inÄgypten II,” SAK 17, 1990, pp. 177-204. According to SMITH, Wretched Kush, p. 202, “Amenhotep II clearly
was a bit worried about Usersatet’s view of foreigners, however, acknowledging that even key members of theEgyptian elite did not necessarily buy into the foreigner topos. Usersatet’s acquisition of women from Egyptiancontrolled Syro-Palestine, and even exotic Babylon, apparently made Pharaoh question whether his new viceroy
took a proper view of foreigners.” Such an interpretation is unlikely – any Babylonian servant would probably
have been presented to the king as part of a diplomatic mission, and would be unlikely to have enteredUsersatet’s household without the knowledge if not active donation of Amenhotep II himself.
133
See COLLOMBERT, COULON, op. cit., pp. 217-219; M. BIETAK, “Egypt and the Levant,” in T. Wilkinson (ed.),The Egyptian World, London, New York, 2007, p. 436; PASQUALI, Égypte, Afrique & Orient 65, 2012, 11-24;
also BRYAN, in Shaw (ed.), Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, pp. 252-253.
134
MANASSA, Imagining the Past, pp. 91-94. The king may be said to see foreign troops “as women” (cf. THE
EPIGRAPHIC SURVEY, Medinet Habu I. Earlier Historical Records of Ramses III, OIP 8, 1930, pl. 9, ll. 5-7), butforeign troops never appear in military scenes or texts as though they actually were women.
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Amenhotep II is not averse to the definite article in his decree (cf. p“ s“-nsw.t and p“ b“k nnmhy.w), so the studious avoidance of t“ in the list of women suggests that each is indeed “a”
rather than “the;” the women are perhaps a sampling of those in Usersatet’s household,chosen to recall the diplomatic and military exploits of the viceroy and the king and to fit thechiastically constructed allusion to the far reaches of the area of Egyptian control andadventure in Western Asia, members of an essentially extended family, like those listed in thetomb of Ahmose son of Ibana at Elkab.135 Rather than being exotic aspects of Usersatet’s
household that might have seemed uncommon to those who would read the text of his stela,many officials during the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty probably had members of theirhousehold who came to them ultimately as the result of Egyptian diplomatic and militaryactivities in foreign lands. So the chief of the Medjoy-police and governor of the Theban
Western Desert, Dedu, who served under Thutmosis III and Amenhotep II, wrote a
peremptorily worded letter to a subordinate regarding some improper handling of a girlnamed Hupat, probably another foreign, perhaps Asiatic, servant in Egypt.136
Amenhotep II’s final admonishing of Usersatet is not a remarkable suggestion that an official
not hear subordinates, at odds with the Egyptian concept of the proper official as anadministrator of maat.137 The king does not say that Usersatet should not hear the words (sƒm+ direct object), but that the viceroy should not harken to those words (sƒm + n and indirect
object), should not heed them as a matter of course. In some ways Amenhotep II describes a
scenario similar – in extreme syncopation – to that of the Eloquent Peasant: an official brings
in a “lowly” potential official (someone from outside of Nilotic Egyptian society, if the b“k nynmÌy.w is a Nubian) with the result that the ruler hears a metaphoric saying. The saying that
Amenhotep II quotes apparently advises that two more workmanlike weapons / officials areworth a ceremonial weapon / official, and the king admonishes not heeding “them,” theNubians from whom the possibly eloquent official is apparently drawn.
Nubians participated in Egyptian society, as soldiers already during the Old Kingdom, as
important elements of the Theban military during the time of Monthuhotep II, as members ofleast the lower elements of the pharaonic state during the early Twelfth Dynasty, to name but
a few. The Nubians to whom a Twelfth Dynasty text in the Wadi el-Hudi addresses itself are
offered Ìm-servant status in the pharaonic world if they will but enter into b“k-servant
status.138
Amenhotep II discusses people and the values and problems thereof as objects of trust for theviceroy; he then goes on to offer advice by means of a saying in which weapons represent
people. If the staves indeed refer to two people, doing the duty of the one “fancy” official
whom the axe represents, then the saying is particularly appropriate for the viceregal
administration of Usersatet. The administration of Nubia prior to the reign of Amenhotep II
was under the control of the viceroy, but no evidence for a well-developed system of deputies
135

Urk. IV, 11, 3-14.
R.J. DEMARÉE, “A Letter of Reproach,” in E. Teeter, J.A. Larson (eds.), Gold of Praise, SAOC 58, Chicago,
1999, pp. 75-82 (and p. 79, n. h on the name).
137
Note the remarks of A. DAVID, “The nmÌ and the Paradox of the Voiceless in the Eloquent Peasant,” JEA 97,
2011, pp. 80-81.
138
DARNELL, in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp. 791-792 with nn. 31-32. This need not be necessarily highminded and un-exploitative; a concept of working into a civilized state, predicated on an assumption of a“native” idleness, figures in arguments for forced labor in viceregal Mexico (see A. CAÑEQUE, The King’s Living
Image: The Culture and Politics of Viceregal Power in Colonial Mexico, New York, London, 2004, pp. 201212).
136

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272John Coleman Darnell

is in evidence prior to the Amarna Period. Nevertheless, Usersatet’s time as Viceroy
witnessed the installation of a powerful second-in-command, a native Nubian deputy who
may have carried out the functions later divided between the deputies of Wawat and Kush.
The fact that Amenhotep II warns Usersatet to take care around magically powerful Nubians,
and be suspect of local reports, indicates that some incorporation of Nubians within theviceregal administration was already an accepted practice.139
The Possible Identity of the Bureaucratic Outsider
Rather than bearing a derogatory designation,140 the person to whom Amenhotep II refers as“the bureaucratic outsider of a servant” (p“ b“k ny nmÌy.w), is simply a b“k-servant from thegroup of people not part of sr-officialdom, the nmÌy.w in the Decree of Horemheb directly
corresponding to “every soldier of the army and every person in the entire land” (©n≈ nb nym‡© rmÚ nb nty m t“ r-ƒr≠f).141 The designation b“k is one that even the viceroy might modestly
apply to himself – in the shrine of Nehy at Ibrim, the viceroy states “I am an effective b“kservant for his lord” (µnk b“k “≈ n nb≠f).142 The advancement of a person of nmÌ-status into thebureaucracy may not have been an uncommon occurrence, and the claim of presentation forelevation from the state of a nmÌ to the rank of an administrator is a topos that not
infrequently appears in the tomb inscriptions of Amarna.143 Even the royal lady AhmoseNefertary herself might claim to have been raised from nmÌ-status: “he caused that I become
powerful, while I was yet of nmÌ-status” (rdµ≠f wsr≠µ µw nmÌ.kw).144
Following the reconquest of Nubia under Kamose, the chief Egyptian administrator may havebeen the commander of Buhen, although already under Kamose and Ahmose, officials
bearing the court title s“-nsw.t appear in rock inscriptions at Toshka.145 The title of the chief
Egyptian administrator in Nubia evolved relatively quickly through the reigns of the first139

So M. FITZENREITER, “Identität als Bekenntnis und Anspruch – Notizen zum Grab des Pennut (Teil IV),” Derantike Sudan MittSAG 15, 2004, pp. 182-183.
140
As translators have generally assumed – cf. WENTE’s “that servant of nobodies;” also MORSCHAUSER, op. cit.,
pp. 210-211. LEPROHON, op. cit., p. 1/4, “the servant of private people,” is closer to the meaning; so also DERMANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, p. 158: “the servant of private citizens.”
141
J.-M. KRUCHTEN, Le décret d’Horemheb: traduction, commentaire épigraphique, philologique etinstitutionnel, Brussels, 1981, pp. 31-33; for the economic aspect of nmÌ – “without superior control,” and “norequired or forced ‘Zwangsarbeit,’” see SPALINGER, Great Dedicatory Inscription of Ramesses II, p. 30, n. 91;
H.-J. THISSEN, Die demotischen Graffiti von Medinet Habu: Zeugnisse zu Tempel und Kult in ptolemäischenÄgypten, DemStud 10, 1989, pp. 39-40. S.L.D. KATARY, “The Administration of Institutional Agriculture in the
New Kingdom,” in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp. 750-752, discusses “Ì.t-nmÌ, the land of socially inferior
smallholders. For D.A. WARBURTON, State and Economy in Ancient Egypt: Fiscal Vocabulary of the New
Kingdom, OBO 151, 1997, pp. 20, 253, 338, et passim, the nmÌ.w were “private people,” whom changing
economic conditions at the end of the New Kingdom forced increasingly from the position of land owner to thatof tenant.
142
CAMINOS, Ibrim, pl. 10, second line of text above the viceroy and offering bearers.
143
Compare the examples in DAVID, op. cit., pp. 73-85.
144
HELCK, Historisch-biographische Texte, p. 102, l. 15 (stela l. 20); Cl. VANDERSLEYEN, Les guerres d’Amosis,
MRE 1, 1971, p. 195, n. 5 (reading “alors que je n’étais qu’une simple citoyenne”).
145
For the administration of Nubia see the forthcoming study of M. BROWN, Keeping Enemies Closer; GNIRS, in
Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp. 676-686; R. MORKOT, “From Conquered to Conqueror: the Organization of
Nubia in the New Kingdom and the Kushite Administration of Egypt,” in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., pp. 911963. The Toshka inscriptions are A.E.P. WEIGALL, A Report on the Antiquities of Lower Nubia (the First
Cataract to the Sudan Frontier) and their Condition in 1906-7, Oxford, 1907, p. 127 and pl. 65; W.K. SIMPSON,
Heka-Nefer and the Dynastic Material from Toshka and Arminna, New Haven, Philadelphia, 1963, p. 34,
fig. 27, pl 17b; L. HABACHI, “The First Two Viceroys of Kush and their Family”, Kush 7, 1959, pp. 45-62.
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three rulers of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Turo, appointed “Commander of Buhen” (Úsw ny Bhn)
under Ahmose, became “Overseer of the Southern Foreign Lands” (µmy-r“ ≈“s.wt rsy.wt)
under Amenhotep I, and “King’s Son and Overseer of the Southern Foreign Lands” (s“-nsw.tµmy-r“ ≈“s.wt rsy.wt) under Thutmosis I.146 The standard title “King’s son of Kush” (s“ nsw.t
ny K‡) appears by the reign of Thutmosis IV, by which time the officers who will become thetwin deputies of the viceroy have begun to appear in the epigraphic record.147
The offices of “Deputy of Wawat” and “Deputy of Kush” appear both to have been firmly inplace by the reign of Tutankhamun, probably originating during the reign of Akhenaton, if notlate in the reign of Amenhotep III.148 Those twin assistants represent a division of the earlier
office of “deputy of the Viceroy”149 that appears to have witnessed some administrative
foreshadowing during the reign of Amenhotep II, under the auspices of Usersatet. The time ofAmenhotep II through Thutmosis IV also appears to see the creation of a chief of Nubian
military forces under the viceroy,150 an additional example of a multiplication of specific“cabinet overseers” as under-administrators for the viceroy, and an administrative reflectionof the shift in the administrative focus of the viceroy from military occupation to civil
administration. Usersatet had two deputies, Sennefer and Meh, attested in rock inscriptions at
Aswan (with one attested in the Eastern Desert);151 if both served together and not insuccession, they might presage the later deputies for Wawat and Kush.
Under Usersatet, a second southern overseer appears, a member of a newly dual
governorship, in which pair Usersatet remained primus inter pares. The other “Overseer ofSouthern Foreign Lands,” (Pa)heqaemsasen,152 may have been a Nubian, and is accorded
equal iconographic status with Usersatet in a rock stela at Tombos. According to the editor of
the Tombos stela:153 “It is clear that the rock-monuments at Tombos commemorate victory
and appropriation. This stela, with its unusual double scene, may symbolize the integration of
the indigenous elite into the Egyptian governance of Kush, a process known to have formed a
146

For Turo see BROWN, op. cit.; L. HABACHI, LÄ III, 1979, cols. 630-631, s. v. “Königssohn Von Kusch;” on
the title see DARNELL, MANASSA, op. cit., pp. 106-107; B. SCHMITZ, Untersuchungen Zum Titel Sa-Njswt“Königssohn”, Bonn, 1976, pp. 267-268; A. GNIRS, Militär und Gesellschaft: ein Beitrag Zur Sozialgeschichte
Des Neuen Reiches, Heidelberg, 1996, pp. 35-36 and 134-141.
147
GNIRS, in Moreno García (ed.), Ancient Egyptian Administration, p. 677, n. 156.
148
DARNELL, SAK 31, 2003, pp. 73-91 (esp. 78-79); D. Klotz (in press) presents the first proper reading of acryptographic inscription on the statue MFA 24.743 (G.A. REISNER, D. DUNHAM, J.M.A. JANSSEN, Semna
Kumma, Boston, 1960, pp. 33-43 [title at top of p. 37]).
149
For the µdnw see conveniently MORKOT, op. cit., pp. 936-937.
150
Ibid., p. 941 (p. 936 on transformation of the office of deputy into deputies of Wawat and Kush as part of a“formalization or restructuring of the [deputies] system in the period of Amenhotep II-Amenhotep III”); for anµdnw of Thutmosis III, see DARNELL, in Moreno García (ed.), op. cit., p. 825, n. 179.
151
See BROWN, op. cit., citing four inscriptions in the Wadi Dunqash (R.D. ROTHE, W.K. MILLER, G. RAPP,
Pharaonic Inscriptions from the Southern Eastern Desert of Egypt, Winona Lake, 2008, pp. 288 and 290-292)
naming a deputy Seninefer, perhaps identical with the man of the same name who was a deputy of Usersatet,
mentioned in a rock inscription on the island of Sahel (J. DE MORGAN, et al., Catalogue des monuments etinscriptions de l’Égypte antique I. Haute Égypte 1, de la frontière de Nubie à Kom Ombos, Vienna, 1894, p. 91,
no. 106; GASSE, RONDOT, Sudan and Nubia 7, 2003, p. 43; id., Les inscriptions de Séhel, pp. 153-154 [no. SEH259]). A second deputy of Usersatet, MeÌu, appears in an inscription at Gebel Tingar – L. HABACHI, Sixteen
Studies on Lower Nubia, SASAE 23, 1981, pp. 41-42.
152
M. DEWACHTER, “Un fonctionnaire préposé aux marches méridionales à l’époque d’Aménophis II: (Pa)Heka-emsasen,” CRIPEL 4, 1976, pp. 55-60; DER MANUELIAN, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, pp. 93-94
and 111-112; GASSE, RONDOT, Les inscriptions de Séhel, p. 155 (no. SEH 261); MORKOT, op. cit., p. 949.
153
W.V. DAVIES, “The British Museum Epigraphic Survey at Tombos: the Stela of Usersatet and Hekaemsasen,”
British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 14, 2009, pp. 25-50 (quotation p. 29).
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274John Coleman Darnell

significant element of colonial strategy in the south.” Nothing suggests that (Pa)heqaemsasen
was an µdnw of Usersatet, but the geographical locations of (Pa)heqaemsasen’s surviving
memorials – particularly Gebel Barkal and Tombos – imply that he was particularly
associated with the southern portion of Nubia.154 (Pa)heqaemsasen’s loyalist name, referringto the punitive and compelling nature of Egyptian rule – “the ruler is after/makes a claim
against them” – is appropriate to a role focused on the southern frontier zones.155
Amenhotep II may have known (Pa)heqaemsasen personally, to judge from the latter’s titles“overseer of the portal” (µmy-r(“) rwy.t) and “fan bearer” (Ú“y ≈w).156
Usersatet had a viceregal scribe with the name Nehesy,157 probably an Egyptianized Nubianin the southern administration, an indication that Usersatet may indeed have taken at least one
Nubian into his confidence. The appointment of (Pa)heqaemsasen as a secondary southernoverseer may have been an initiative of Usersatet himself. Usersatet was an important
administrative official as Viceroy, and appears to have had a particularly close relationshipwith the king,158 because of which Amenhotep II may have offered him advice in what to us
seems a somewhat off-hand and informal manner. The reference in the proverb to two staves
standing for one fancy axe probably refers – in Amenhotep II’s use of the saying – to theviceroy and his Nubian counterpart. Amenhotep’s concern does not appear to arise from thepotential appointment of a Nubian, but from the appointment of someone from outside theaccepted candidates. Rather than making the apparently more usual choice of a native
administrator from amongst children sent to Egypt to study and achieve an early
acculturation, Usersatet has looked to someone entirely outside of the bureaucracy.159
Usersatet apparently set up his stela near the area of the Thutmoside temple in Semna fortress,
to judge from the find spots of the two fragments into which the monument was broken, bothnear the bottom of the stair at the east end of the River Corridor.160 Usersatet may havewished to publicize the decree of Amenhotep II in order to make clear to the officials of New
Kingdom Nubia – Egyptian as well as Nubian – that he had gone somewhat out on a limb inlooking beyond the usual candidates for advancement to high office. The apparent associationof the stela with the river access of the fortress would have provided a resonance of thelandscape with the content of the proverb that Amenhotep II quoted – the stela of Usersatet
indeed stood at a place of n.t-waters, the place of the staff that may have represented
Usersatet himself. The prominence of (Pa)heqaemsasen in the rock inscription he shares with
Usersatet at Tombos indicates the importance of (Pa)heqaemsasen in the distant marches of
Nubia; (Pa)heqaemsasen would well suit the embodiment of the second staff in the sayingthat Amenhotep memorialized in his decree to Usersatet.
The Harvard-MFA excavation discovered the stela of Usersatet on January 24, 1924. In his
excellent overview of the stela two weeks later, in an entry for Thursday, February 7, 1924,
154

See DEWACHTER, op. cit., p. 60, n. 19; MORKOT, op. cit, p. 949.
For (Pa)Ìeqaemsasen’s name compare the Year 11 Poem on the Second Libyan War of Ramesses III –Libyans hurry to seek peace, “as if there were a stick at their back(s)” (mµ nty mdw m-s“≠sn, KRI V, 68, 12); form-s“ as “make a claim against,” see the references in QUACK, Lehren des Ani, p. 101, n. 60.
156
DAVIES, British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 14, 2009, p. 28; MORKOT, op. cit., p. 949.
157
Graffito SHE 258 at Sehel – GASSE, RONDOT, Les inscriptions de Séhel, p. 153.
158
Usersatet was also “great chief spokesman in the entire land” (r“ Ìry wr m t“ r-ƒr≠f – GNIRS, Militär undGesellschaft, p. 106, n. 566), a designation uncommon for the Eighteenth Dynasty and later associated with thesecond most powerful administrator in Egypt (ibid., pp. 105-106).
159
So also K. ZIBELIUS-CHEN, Die ägyptische Expansion nach Nubien, eine Darlegung der Grundfaktoren,
BTAVO B 78, 1988, p. 121.
160
DUNHAM, JANSSEN, op. cit., p. 17.
155

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George Andrew Reisner summarized his initial and percipient though brief analysis of thestela with the words: “The whole text is new.”161 In the sense Reisner clearly intended –unique and otherwise unparalleled – the stela of Usersatet remains as “new” now as it was in
1924.

161

G.A. REISNER, Harvard University – Museum of Fine Arts, Expedition Diary XII. Sudan 8. Semna, Kumma,
p. 21 (again I thank Dr. Lawrence Berman for permission to cite the document, and Ms. Emily Cole forproviding me with copies of pertinent portions of Reisner’s manuscript).
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Fig. 1. The Stela of the Viceroy Usersatet (Boston MFA 25.632). Drawing based on the copy by
P. Der Manuelian, with some adjustments by A. Urcia on the basis of a collation of J.C. Darnell.

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