OCR
in the mortuary temple of the deified king. Based on this concept, it can also be supposed that he carried out his duty as ‘royal wb?’ in the royal palace in Thebes. The importance of the stele from an historical perspective is that it proves the existence of the funerary cult of Horemheb,‘” who is represented on the object. His depiction in his divinized position does not refer to the absolute date of the stele, but gives a terminus post quem for its making and for the life of its owner. Indicators for the absolute dating, however, are the stylistic characteristics of the figures, since the impression of the art of the Amarna period can hardly be recognized, at the same time, initial signs of the typical artistic features of the Ramesside era have already appeared.“° The depiction on the back of the stele also supports the actual dating. The surface on its rear is rather rough, a goddess is depicted emerging from a tree, pouring water from two vessels, while ba-birds are drinking the poured water from their hands before the tree. This type of scene was quite common during the New Kingdom, however, the domination of the water donation and the addition of ba-birds are an innovation from the end of the 18" — beginning of the 19"" dynasty. This coincides with the narrowed time limit of Bresciani for the date of the stele to the reigns of Ramesses I or Sety L.‘5 In the second and third registers of the stele, family members of Ptahpatener are depicted, however, their relationship is somewhat doubtful. The identity of the two brothers of Ptahpatener in the third register is unambiguous. At the same time, the woman standing behind Ptahpatener in the second register, named Tauser, as well as the woman sitting behind him in the third register, named Henut, is designated as sn.t=f ‘his sister’, based on which it cannot be determined whether the term refers to a wife or an actual sister. The labels, however, above and behind another woman sitting in the third register behind Henut seem to confirm the meaning of the term as wife. This woman is Nebui and the small inscription behind her refers to her and Henut as sisters, whose mother is a certain Nakhtmut. According to these labels naming Henut as a sister, but not using the term in the case of Nebui, despite their having a common mother, one might conclude that Nakhtmut must have been the mother-in-law of Ptahpatener, while Henut and Nebui his wife and sister-in-law, respectively. As for Tauser, her position in the scene indicates that she is another wife of Ptahpatener, although there is also ‘9 Bresciani, 1985, 70; Ferrari — Piacentini, 1990, 129; Morigi — Govi, 1994, 36. 40 Ferrari — Piacentini, 1990, 129. © Bresciani, 1985, 68, Ferrari — Piacentini, 1990, 129. ‘= For. a detailed discussion on the tree goddesses and the water donation in these type of scenes in the transitional period between the 18" and 19" dynasty, see Keel, 1992, 74-76. 5° Bresciani, 1985, 70.