OCR
Ramessesashahebused adoring the praenomen of Ramesses II, however, the identíty of the names cannot unequivocally prove the identification of the owner with the ‘royal wb3’ Ramessesashahebused. The four stelae were set in the direct vicinity of the Hathor temple in Serabit elKhadim,* implying that Ramessesashahebused had taken part in expeditions to the turquoise mines there at least four times.’ His first attestation on the site is proved by stele No. 247 from the 8" year of Sety I. He appears at the bottom of the northern face of the stele as Ashahebused, adoring the cartouches of the king, with 8 lines of inscription above him praising the ruler, who is depicted in the lunette of the stele making an offering to Re-Harakhti. Ramessesashahebused bore the titles wpwt nswt n h3s.wt nb.wt ‘royal envoy to every foreign land’ and hrj-pd.t gnj ‘valiant troop commander’. The latter title is present on all of his stelae from Serabit el-Khadim, and might indicate his participation in expeditions as the leader of a military unit.** His other title indicates his taking responsibilities for minor diplomatic affairs as an agent of the king.“ The southern face of the stele, with the adoring figure of the ruler before Hathor in the lunette, must have contained the official record of the expedition,**° however, the inscription is severely damaged. On the western face of the stele, an additional scene was added some years later by a certain Arj-pd.t t3 hnm.t R-ms-sw mrj-Jmn ‘troop commander of the Well of Ramesses II’ Amenemope, in the memory of his father, Amenemhat. Amenemope was definitely in a collegial relationship with Ramessesashahebused, since he reappears on two other monuments to him (stelae No. 252 and No. 260), discussed in detail later. Stele No. 250 is a fragment that depicts Ashahebused on the lower part, with four columns of inscription before him, and the feet of two royal figures on the upper part. This piece was taken as evidence for the coregency of Sety I and Ramesses II.° According to Kitchen, since Ramesses II is designated as s3 nswt=f‘his royal son’, he should not be termed. as a coregent in the full sense, but rather a prince regent, and this coregency cannot be dated earlier than the 8" year of Sety I, based on the previous stele, which named Sety I a 56 However, the original, as well as the present place of the stele No. 250 is unknown, stele No. 247 stood on the approach of the temple, stele No. 252 was erected in front of the entrance, and stele No. 260 was found in front of the temple. Cerny, 1955, 175, 177, 180. Davies counts only three expeditions to Ramessesashahebused, however, the four stelae from four different years refer to at least four separate expeditions. Davies, 2013, 172. Schulman, 1964, 30-32, 53-56, 151; Al-Ayedi, 2006, 387. For the title ‘royal messenger’ see Valloggia, 1976, esp. 120, no. 64; El-Saady, 1999, esp. 411-412; Taylor, 2001, 97; Al-Ayedi, 2006, 387. 4° Brand, 2000, 126. 6 Murnane, 1977, 62-64. 63 a 63 85 63. ©