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III.32. Unknown 5
Date: early 19 dynasty (based on the stylistic criteria of the stele)
Genealogy: unknown
Tomb: unknown
Remains: — stele fragment, Hanover, August-Kestner-Museum, 1935.200.225
Functional titles: wb3 nswt
GntnnbB.wj
The upper part of the round-topped stele, presumably dated to the early 19" dynasty‘
and now located in Hanover (1935.200.225),“° was probably a personal gift donated to
Meretseger by an unknown ‘royal wb3’. The provenance of the stele is not known,
however, it might have originated from Thebes, presumably from the small sanctuary
dedicated to Ptah and Meretseger, located half-way between Deir el-Medina and the
Valley of the Queens, where several similar stelae were once embedded in the limestone
rock of a natural cave.*° Meretseger is depicted on the front of the stele, with Horus
in his falcon-form protecting her from behind. The label names the goddess, otherwise
she does not have any personal attribute based on which she can be identified. On
each side of the stele, remains of a single column of inscription runs downwards,
probably with the same content, however, the craftsmanship is rather poor, and it is
barely legible. Unfortunately, the name of the donator has been lost on both sides,
only two of his titles have remained: wb} nswt ‘royal wb? and 3 n ".tn nb B.wj ‘chief of
the chamber of the lord of the Two Lands’.*” There are only two other ‘royal wb3s’ in
the corpus who bore the same titles: Neferrenpet (I),°? who served under Amenhotep
III, but he is too far back in time to allow us to identify him with the owner of the
Hanover stele; and Ramessesnakht who very likely served either under Ramesses II
of the monuments themselves is far from Abydos, for instance the tomb of Nebamun in Thebes (TT
24), the block statue (CG 632) of Sarenenutet Tjaui from Karnak, or the stele of Tjai Ta from Saqqara.
Gessler-Löhr, 1989, 32.
45 Mynafová — Onderka, 2007, 268; Dziobek — Höveler-Müller — Loeben, 2009, 169.
49 [would hereby like to thank Dr Christian Loeben, who provided me the photos of the stele, for his
kind help.
@° Mynafovä — Onderka, 2007, 268; Dziobek — Höveler-Müller — Loeben, 2009, 169.
@ Dziobek — Höveler-Müller — Loeben, 2009, 168-169.
@ Grajetzki and Loeben have given a presumed translation of the inscription: “For the Ka of the King’s
Butler and the Great One of the Chamber of the Lord of the Two Lands ...”. Dziobek — Höveler¬
Müller — Loeben, 2009, 169.
“3 For the discussion on Neferrenpet (1), see p. 140.