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Mythological papyrus of Meshareduisekeb, singer of Amun

The papyrus belongs to a woman who bears the title of “singer of Amun”, held by high-ranking women, who accompanied rites for the deity in the temple with music and song. The scenes, which cover most of the papyrus surface, start with the representation of the deceased in front of the snake deity Nehebkaw, guardian of the entrance to the Underworld, and a member of the court od Osiris. A series of scenes follows, which evoke in abbreviated form various important spells of the Book of the Dead: the heart scarab bearing its particular magic formula (spell 30), or the four rudders of the sky (spell 148). At the end of the papyrus is a peculiar representation. A cow emerges from a mountain, that is Hator as Mistress of the Necropolis and patron goddess of the afterlife. She is followed by a deity emerging from the same mountain – which in thus a representation of the West – carrying the rising sun in her arms. The sun emanates beneficial rays on the ba of the deceased woman.

Cat. 1769 TPOP
Cyperus papyrus, ink
16.5 x 173 cm
1076–944 BCE
Third Intermediate Period
Twenty-first Dynasty
Thebes
Drovetti collection, 1824
Sala 08 Cornice
  • Il Museo Egizio di Torino: guida alla lettura di una civiltà, Novara 1988, pp. 186-187
    Tipo=Opere biblioteca SottoTipo=Monografia o Opere Autore= Titolo=Il Museo Egizio di Torino: guida alla lettura di una civiltà Sottotiolo= In= Collana= Opera= Luogo=Novara Anno=1988 Menzionato=pp. 186-187 Illustrazione=
  • Niwinski, Andrzej, Studies on the illustrated Theban funerary papyri of the 11th and 10th centuries B.C. (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 86), Freiburg Schweiz 1989, p. 365
    Tipo=Opere biblioteca SottoTipo=Generale Autore=Niwinski, Andrzej Titolo=Studies on the illustrated Theban funerary papyri of the 11th and 10th centuries B.C. Sottotiolo= In= Collana=Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis Opera=86 Luogo=Freiburg Schweiz Anno=1989 Menzionato=p. 365 Illustrazione=
Museo Egizio