Tomb of Sennefer (TT96)
Ceiling of the Main Chamber

The following article was extracted from: "La Tombe des Vignes à Thebes", Rec. trav.( Recueil De Travaux Relating to the Philology and Egyptian and Assyrian Archaeology, to act as bulletin for the French mission of Cairo. Published under the direction of G Maspero.) Philippe Virey. Vol. XX, 1898; pp.217-219. English translation of the French provided by J. J. Hirst Three legends are drawn on the ceiling: one, to the west of pillars G and H; the second, along wall E F, to the extreme west of the room: the third goes from the middle of wall E E' to the middle of wall F F'. Legend 1. "An offering which the king gives to Osiris, eternal sovereign; to Anubis, who is to the burial, who holds (?) the gods 2. They that give everything which appears, on his (sic) table during every day, for the ka of the noble mayor, divine father (?), beloved of God, who is in the heart 3 of the good god." Legend 2. "An offering which the king gives to Amon-Ra, Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, to Mut-Sekhet, the Lady of Isheru, the Lady of the sky, regent of the Two Lands; to Anubis, [that is to him] the beginning of the divine abode 4; to the great god, lord in Abydos. They that give the solid and liquid offerings, beef, poultry, and all good and pure things which gives a god life: [they that allow to] go out and come in to the Necropolis, to contemplate Rà 5, to breathe the delicious breath of the North." Legend 3. "An offering which the king gives to Osiris, king of the living, sovereign lord of eternity; great in Dadu; great in Abydos; Lord of the forever, author of the eternity, prince of the gods 6 (?). That he gives the solid and liquid offerings, beef, poultry, and all good and pure things, everything that appears on his table during every day, for the ka of the noble mayor, stable in first position 7, great in affection, filled with perfect desire by the Lord of the Two Lands, pleasant to the beautiful gods, mayor of the Southern City (i.e. Thebes), Sennefer, justified by Osiris, the great god, the lord of eternity. That he [Osiris] revives 8 the body in the Necropolis; [that he gives the ability to] go and come by the door of the passage (Rostau), to the ka (i.e. soul) of the noble mayor whose favour is enduring in the royal household, who greatly fills the heart [of the king] in the Southern City, overseer of the gardens of Amun, Sennefer, justified." P. Virey note: "I exaggerated a little the proportions of the details of the decoration to make them them show up more distinctly, and I have thus been forced to decrease the number: this surface is not therefore entirely a facsimile. But I believe that the general aspect is non the less conserved, the relative distribution of all the ornamental motifs having been observed. Two of the legends could not entirely be held on this drawing; one does have the complete text." NOTES: 1. The and the are intertwined; maybe this duplicate use indicates the dual state of the heart in the transformations of existence; we will come back later on this question, while studying the partition F F'. 2. Anulus, in its sense of horizon, limit and shut in the other world; this is how it would hold the gods in its power. I am not of this explanation; in any case, it is not a question here of the goddess Sekhet; the shape has only been chosen to face of the second legend (see figure 5 the disposition of the legends). 3. See note 1. 4. Which means in the horizon, that seems to be the limit between our world and the other world, abode of the gods. 5. Literally: " the contemplation of Rà ". 6. Or "of the land of the gods", (?). 7. Literally: "stable of supremacy, great of love ". 8. Literally: to "grow" like a plant.