Dated four months and ten days after the beginning of The Chronicle of Prince Osorkon, the inscription of Hori was carved on a window architrave of the central hall of Thutmose Ill’s Akh-menu chapel, which served as the Karnak sanctuary during the Libyan era. Like the Karnak Priestly Annals inscribed in the same structure, the text of Hori concerns the priest’s right of entry into the sanctuary. Unlike the Annals, however, Hori’s graffito records not an induction but a petition for the restoration of privileges before the newly triumphant Osorkon. The circumstances perhaps reflect the competing factions among the Theban clergy, noted elsewhere in Osorkon’s chronicle and in the Karnak Oracular Text against Harsiese (no. 85). Hori’s claims by right of descent are significant, illustrating the beginnings of the “priestly caste system” of the Late Period.
For the text and translations, see Daressy 1913, 130-31; Kruchten 1989, 246, 257-63, and pls. 14 and 32 (labeled Louvre E 336); Kees 1953, 254-55; Daumas 1980, 283-84; Schott, 1950, 985, no. 144; and Breasted 1906-7, 4:374-75 §§752-54 (Graffito of Harsiese [siC]). See Kitchen 1986, 331 §292.
(1) hsb. t 11.(t) hr hm (n) ny-sw. t nb tl. wy Tkriwt mri-/mn si Is. t di ™nh d. t tp(y) smw sw 11 hrw n spr r Wls. t nht ir. t R™ hnw. t rl. w-pr. w ih. t pw n. t /mn-rnsf
(2) niw. tsf n slb-ss.(w) in hm-ntr tp(y) n /mn-R™ ny-sw. t ntr. w imy-rl ms™ wr hlw. ty Wsirkn ml™-hrw si ny-sw. t n nb tl. wy Tkriwt mri-/mn si is. t ™nh d. t m hbsf nfr (n) tp(y) smw iy
(3) in w™b ™q n pr /mn imy-lbdsf n ih-mnw hr si 3-nw Hri si mi-nn [™nhsf]-n-Hnsw mi™-hrw m-bih p(i) imy-ri Sm™w r dd ink w™b ™q n /p. t-s. wt ink si n
(4) hm. w-ntr ™i. w n /mn hr mw. tsi si n w™b mty n sbh. t Sm™w nty dr-hnt iw it.(w) n. w it. ws(i) n it-ntr mii ssti n Piw. ty-ti. wy ssp
(5) tlysi h d?-i m-ir isq n(y)-wi WIs. t ms-i m-hnwss bn ink h(?) iwn? dd. ins[f] ir. tw1 m
(6) wd. n-k nb iy in hm-ntr n /mn-R™ ny-sw. t ntr. w rwdw ss s™.(t) n nb tl. wy Nb-ntr. w(?) s? Hri ™h™.n-f w™b-f n s w™b sw™b-f
(7) n bd Srp. t2 ssp w?.t r? h-mnw t? ?h. t n. t p. t pr.(t) im r ™h?3 ™h. t n. t b? hry sfy. t4 hy. t n. t
(8) b?5 d? i p. t sni n-f ™?.wy? h.t n.(t) P? w.ty-t?.wy m?? sst? Hr sti pr-f hr rs(w. t) ib-f nhm ph. n-f Nw. t hry.{kw}t6 dg(?)-f imy-f
(1) Regnal year 11 under the Majesty of the King, Lord of the Two Lands, takelot (II), beloved of Amon, son of isis, given life. the first month of summer, day 11: the day of arriving at thebes the Victorious, the eye of re, the mistress of temples—it is the horizon of Him whose name is hidden,
(2) his city of recreation—by the First Prophet of Amon-Re, King of the Gods, great general and leader, osorkon, the justified, royal son of the lord of the two lands, takelot (II), beloved of Amon, son of isis, living forever, in his beautiful festival of the first month of summer. there
(3) came the waB-priest with right of entrance belonging to the estate of Amon, the priest on monthly service in the Akh-menu shrine for the third phyle, Hori, son of the similarly titled [Ankhef]enkhonsu, the justified, into the presence of the overseer of Upper egypt in order to say: “I am a waB-priest with right of entrance belonging to Karnak. I am the son of
(4) great prophets of Amon on my mother’s side, the son of a conscientious waB-priest of “the Gateway of Upper Egypt” (thebes) in previous times, while the father of my fathers was a God’s Father who beheld the mysteries of the Primeval One of the two Lands. Accept
(5) my certificate, so that I might cross over (into the temple sanctuary). Do not delay! I am of thebes; I was born within it. I am not an interloper.” then (he) said: “Let it be done1 in accordance with
(6) all that you have commanded.” then came the prophet of Amon-Re, King of the Gods, the great agent and letter scribe of the Lord of the two Lands, Nebnetcheru (?), son of Hori. then he purified him (waB-priest Hori) in the pure lake, and he made him pure
(7) with natron of the Wadi Natrun.2 One took the road to the Akh-menu sanctuary, the horizon of heaven. one went forth from it to the “Place of Battle,”3 the palace of the Ba-spirit whose dignity is exalted,4 the hall of (8) the Ram-spirit5 who traverses heaven. the doors of the horizon of the Primeval one of the two Lands were opened for him. one saw the mystery of the luminous Horus. He went forth in joy, with his heart exulting, since he had reached the distant6 heaven and seen the one who is in it.
NOTES
1. the passage is here taken as the response of Gsorkon, following the emendation of Daressy and Kees. Kruchten analyzed the passage as a final question by Hori: in irr. tw m wd. nsk nb “Is it in accordance with all that you (Gsorkon) have commanded that one has acted?”
2. A late spelling deriving from a hieratic error for the older Stp. t “Wadi Natrun”; see Erman and Grapow 1926-63, 4:528/34; Ritner 1986, 193-94.
3. A section of the Akh-menu chapel, perhaps the open “New Year’s court” or the inner cella. The name probably evokes the primordial site of the defeat of chaos; see Daumas 1980, 283-84.
4. The epithet puns on the name of the deity Harsaphes of Heracleopolis; see Erman and Grapow 1926-63, 4:457/1.
5. The term constitutes a pun on 6«-ram and B«-spirit.
6. Ignored in all commentaries, the otiose “k” seems a visual marker of the Old Perfective, anticipating Demotic practice.
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