When the Tomb Owner offers to Parents and Relatives in Theban Private Tombs.

1.Introduction:

The decorative program of funerary practices displayed inside the Theban private tombs is developed during the new kingdom such as others architectural elements of this period (Abdul-Qader , 1966)  . The theme of the offering scenes has remained stable within the tombs with some changes. Offerings to the dead are known from prehistoric times. The ancient Egyptian represented these offerings scenes in tombs in the form of food, drinks and clothes and others kinds.

Offerings to the dead are seen depicted several times in New kingdom, on the walls of every tomb. (Abdul-Qader , 1966)  According to the thought ancient Egyptian, the offerings to the dead were intended for the restoration of life (Donald , 2001), the dead becomes in a state of temporary sleeping after death, and in order to be able to restore his activity, the living must be offered all good and pure offerings which are proper for those who entered the divine world”.^[1]

These practices started since the Old Kingdom, a group of inscriptions called “Appeal to the Living” in the Old Kingdom private tombs showed this connection between living and dead, it mentioned also the provision of offerings by the ka-priests as well as other people. It began in the Fifth Dynasty and remained popular until the Late Period (Jing , 2018)

The living offered to the dead in the vicinity of their tombs to ensure protection of gods and blessed status in the afterlife for the deceased (Harrington , 2018) This connection between the living and dead was based largely on the principal of reciprocity, the living provided for the deceased in the tomb in exchange for the deceased to protect the living in his life or even stop his evil against them.

 During the new Kingdom, some offering scenes contradicted these inherited arrangement of traditions. A number of scenes appeared in Theban private tombs represent the owner of the tomb offers to other individuals, mostly relatives(Abdul-Qader , 1966). 

A collection of at least 44 scenes were mentioned in Porter and Moss represented the deceased offers to his relatives in his own tomb (Porter et al , 1971).  The parents or one of them shared receiving offering from the tomb owner in 24 times. The offering scenes to the parents are more than the sum of all other scenes^[2]. These offering scenes to parents are only a collection of a greater number of scenes that represented the parents inside the tombs of their sons in a position of honor and respect. In an earlier study of Whale (Whale , 1989)  it was proved that both parents of the tomb owner were represented in fifty-two tombs.

2. The scenes of offerings presented by the tomb owner:

The offerings scenes which represented the tomb owner offering to his parents and ancestors, were occurred in tombs TT 2(P.M No.4),TT 15(P.M No6.), TT 17(P.M No.3), TT 18(P.M No.4), TT 23(P.M No.33,34), TT 45(P.M No.6), TT 64(P.M No.7), TT 82(P.M No.4), TT 93(P.M No.16), TT 96(P.M No.22), TT 111(P.M No.3), TT 112(P.M No.5), TT 122(P.M No.5), TT 127(P.M No.16), TT 139(P.M No.3), TT 148(P.M No.2), TT 181(P.M No.7), TT 194(P.M No.5), TT 279(P.M No.8,13), TT 290(P.M No.2), TT 291(P.M No.4), TT 295(P.M No.4), TT 330(P.M No.2), TT 335(P.M No.10) and TT 345(P.M No.6). Other scenes which represented the tomb owner offering to brothers, relatives of holy titles, friends, co-workers and men of authority, were occurred in tombs  TT 22(P.M No.33, 34), TT 52(P.M No.6), TT82 twice (PM I, no. 3, 6), TT 85(P.M No.16, B, C), TT 96(P.M No.12), TT 122(P.M No.5). TT 148 (PM No.2), TT 183(P.M No.14), TT 194(P.M No.5), TT 194(P.M No.5), TT 290(P.M No.2), TT 330(P.M No.2), TT 335(P.M No.16) and TT 345(P.M No.6).^[3]

2.1. Table of scenes: Offering scenes from the tomb owner to his relatives.

2.1.1. Scenes from the 18th Dynasty

Table (1) Scenes from the 18th Dynasty

2.1.2. Scenes from the 19th Dynasty

Table (2)  Scenes from the 19^th Dynasty

2.1.3. Scenes from the 20th  and 21st  Dynasties

Table (3) Scenes from the 20^th  and 21^st  Dynasties

3. Samples of the study:

3.1. Doc. 1(PL.1): Scene from the tomb of Amenhotep TT 345 ^[4]:

The tomb owner Amenhotep offers to his parents Sntydjhout and Taghred .

3.2. Doc. 2(PL.2) : Scene From The Tomb of Amenemhat TT 82: The

The tomb owner Amenemhet offers to his parents and ancestors in two rows of couples.[13]

3.3. Doc.3: PL.3: Scene on stela from the tomb of Karo TT 330.

(Middle register)The Deceased Karo offers to his parents and relatives.

3.4. Doc.4(PL.4) a scene on plaster from the tomb of Karo TT330.

The Deceased Karo offers to his parents and sister.^[28]

3.5. Doc. 5 PL.5: Scene from the tomb of Thay TT ²³.

         The Tomb owner Thay offers to his parents and relatives^[35].

3.6. Doc. 6 PL.6: Scene from the tomb of Khabekhnet TT2.3.6

Khabekhnet and his wife Sahuty offering to the parents of Khabekhnet^[44].

4.1. Tomb Owner's Offerings as piety Towards Parents

   A number of 44 scenes represented the tomb owner offers to his relatives, 25 of which show the deceased offering to his parents and the other 19 scenes show him offerings to other relatives. The offering scenes to the parents are more than scenes for others^[47]. These scenes of parents while receiving offering from their son, are only a collection of a greater number of scenes that represented the parents inside the tombs of their sons in a position of honor and respect. In an earlier study of Whale (Whale , 1989)  it was proved that both parents of the tomb owner were represented in fifty-two tombs.

Certainly, this number of offering scenes to the parents by the tomb owner or others, due to the high filial piety during the New Kingdom period carries important meaning and goals. The parents of the tomb owner were the most important element of the extended family, therefore, talking care of them in old age and after death was more than others (Whale , 1989)

In PL.1, PL.5, PL.6, when the Tomb owner offers to his parents, as in most of the scenes under study, this could be included within the general frame of piety towards the parents which related to the role of the son and his responsibility for the funeral cult of his parents, whether it was a condition of inheritance or just moral motive as result of religious and social teachings. Through the table of scenes attached to the introduction, that analysis can be also applied to the scenes 1( TT.15),  9(TT.18), 14(TT.122), 19(TT.45), 20(TT.17), 21(TT.162), 24(TT.295), 28(TT.181), 29(TT.291), 31(TT.335), 36(TT.111), 39(TT.194), 42(TT.184), 44(TT.297). These scenes can be distinguished by the traditional appearance of the parent as seated couple while receiving offerings from their son, the owner of the tomb, whether he is alone with his wife. This is the same traditional appearance of the tomb owner and his wife when they receive the offerings of their children or others.

One of the important element of the mortuary cult of the parents is the offering rituals on the feasts and occasions which the ancient Egyptians believed were useful to the dead (Hartwig , 2004).  Offering to the parents translated the desire of the tomb owner to cause his parent's name to live by maintains their tomb and presenting the necessary sacrifice. This religious piety towards the parent connected with the role of the son as Horus towards his parents after death.

One of the important element of the mortuary cult of the parents is the offering rituals on the feasts and occasions which the ancient Egyptians believed were useful to the dead (Hartwig , 2004).  Offering to the parents translated the desire of the tomb owner to cause his parent's name to live by maintains their tomb and presenting the necessary sacrifice. This religious piety towards the parent connected with the role of the son as Horus towards his parents after death.

4.2. Tomb Owner's Offerings as cult of ancestors.

In some other cases, the tomb owner offers to his parents with other persons as the case of PL. 2, PL.3, PL.4.  These scenes can be classified to another classifications but it also bore the meanings of piety, whether towards the parents or towards others participating in the offerings. When the tomb owner offers to the parents among other relatives of brothers or ancestors, this connected to the ancestor cult (Davies & Gardiner , 1915) that developed in the New Kingdom and appeared strongly in Deir El-Madina. ^[48]This kind of cult was more active in homes by keeping ancestor busts or for blessing and protection. The stela on PL.3 is agood example for many others which were made by the living for their ancestor's cult and were kept sometimes inside the tomb^[49].

Ancestor's cult appeared in the walls of the tombs through the scenes of offerings to the ancestors as the case PL2, PL4, and the scenes on the list no. 4(TT.27)^[50], 10(TT112) ^[51], 23(TT295)^[52], 43(148)^[53] 34 (330).^[54] or keeping the mentioned stelae inside the tomb as the case of scenes, PL.3   The ancestors cult was established for the dead who still in memory, when the spirits of the dead ancestor were satisfied with offerings, they were benign. But when they were dissatisfied for any reason, they were able to create all kinds of chaos on Earth. Their dissatisfaction can manifest itself in a painful form, a sinister harbinger or a disease. In some cases, the cause of unexpected evil was, according to the sources, "the death of any man or woman." Other texts refer to the "eye of the dead" which can cause misfortune.(Teeter , 2011) 

Another Kind of ancestor's cult scenes under the topic of the study is the cult of Ax iqr in Re (on the scenes list no.30) the excellent / able spirit of Re. This scene is considered rare on the walls of tomb as it appeared only on TT 250 and TT 335, but it was repeated often on the stone stelae. (Bruyère , 1926) A category of transfigured spirits that was thought to have a special relationship to and communication with the gods, especially Re. The scene on the tomb wall 30 from TT 335 ^[55] is the best example of this cult.  The tomb owner Nekhtamun and his family offer to his brother Nefehotep the Ax iqr in Re. (Bruyère , 1926) Nekhetamun  presented  himself  to Neferhotep  in the text as "your brother "sn.k", In his study of this scene, Bruyere thinks that they are real brothers (Bruyère , 1926).  According to Demarée they were not real brothers and "sn" 'Brother' on the text means 'colleague', as often in texts from Deir el-Medina (Demarée , 1983).

Most of the Ax iqr in Re stelae were kept in the houses or the village shrines in Deir el Medina. The majority of them are modest round-topped stone monuments that show the akh seated, usually before a table of offerings. This branch of the ancestor cult was established for some character that was believed to rise a higher degree among the dead as a result of the god's approval. Those persons were worshiped after death for certain reasons, the most important of which is the perpetuation of their memory, pride in the family, and earning their protection for the living. The Ax iqr in Re stelae can be distinguished by the individual seated appearance and the title itself (Demarée , 1983).

4.3.  Tomb Owner's Offerings as appreciation for the Royal tutor and Royal nurses.

A third type of tomb owner's offerings scenes can be classified as thanksgiving for some favors. This classification occurred when the tomb owner offers to one of his parents or to his wife when they have one of two titles "royal tutor" or "royal nurse". On the scene 22(TT.64),^[56]the tomb owner Hekerneheh offers to his father the royal tutor Hekreshu alone without his wife (the tomb owner's mother) (Newberry , 1928). The scene on the list No. 18 from TT.93 showed kenamun offering to his mother Amenemhab, the royal nurse, also she is represented alone without her husband. (Hershey , 1990).These cases of scenes represented the tomb owner's pride of kinship relation to the royal family as he became a foster brother of the royal princes grace of his father or mother. These offerings could be seen as gratitude and appreciation from the tomb owner to his father or his mother who were the reason for his distinctive status as a foster brother of the royal princes, this status which certainly brought him many advantages in society.

 On scenes 11, 12, 13 (TT.85),^[57]Amenemhab (called Mahu)offers to his  wife Baki carrying Amenophis II. These Three scenes could be classified to the same previous category. On the three scenes Amenemhab offers to his wife Baki while suckling or carrying a royal prince. Baki who held the title "royal nurse" also was offered alone in TT.85, she was represented in a larger size than her husband and even larger than the traditional size of women (Roehrig, 1990). The privileged position of the royal nurse Baki supported her husband to become commander of the army, as is the case for some other nursing husbands (Virey , 1891). It seems that the offering scenes at the tomb TT.85 express gratitude and appreciation of Amenemhab for his wife, who was the reason for the distinguished position he obtained.

4.4.  The Living Tomb Owner Offers To The dead Relatives:

Through the study of the scenes which represents the owners of the tombs offer to relatives or generally other persons, and because of the absence of death signs in most the texts of tomb owners, we can reach an important analysis that the owner of the tomb in these scenes is a live in the realm of the living, not the dead.

The text of PL.2 "Making offerings which-the-King-gives to his fathers the revered ones who are in the Necropolis, feasting [them] with the ritual divine offerings for ancestors every day"(Davies & Gardiner , 1915). The owner of the tomb Amenemhat refers to his parents and ancestors by the word "fathers" after the offering formula,  the reference to the death of the receiver concluded in the phrase "who are in the necropolis"(Davies & Gardiner , 1915) in clear evidence that they are in the world of the dead and he is in the world of the living.

The second evidence which confirms that the tomb owner is alive when he offers to relatives that in all the scenes in which the tomb owner, is receiving offerings from others, he is facing the door of the tomb from which the visitors are supposed to enter. At the same time, his visitors turn their backs to the entrance because they are alive. But in the case 1 (PL.1) and the case 2 (PL.2),  when the tomb owner presents offerings to parents(PL.1),  his ancestors ( PL.2),to the vizier,^[58] and to the workers (Davies & Gardiner , 1915), in these cases he himself turns his back to the entrance. Symbolically, this means that he is alive and the receiver of offerings  belongs to the kingdom of the dead  (Davies & Gardiner , 1915).

One of the important proof that the tomb owner presents himself  alive when offers to relatives or generally other persons, that the receiver of offerings is called Osiris, or held the adjective "revered"  "ImAxy"  which indicates his death, while the tomb owner  did not identified as Osiris when he offers, this occurred also in some other tombs^[59]. When the owner of the tomb wears the costume of the sim-priest and performs the funeral rites to the deads he plays the role of the living Horus who performed the funeral rites before the dead Osiris (Shahawy , 2005). Whether his actual occupation was a priest on not, the living son serves as the main funerary priest of his parents, he is the responsible to sustain their funerary cult and provide the required offerings (Dean , 2015).

4.5. Tomb Owner Offers to Relative to Revive Their Names:

Reviving the name of the dead was an important aim from the offering presented by the owner of the tomb to his parents or ancestors. The verb sanx which means to make live; to perpetuate^[60],  is often used in the  texts of offerings to the relatives from the same family.

In Doc.5: from the tomb of  the  royal scribe Thay TT.23 ,  The Tomb owner , offers to his parents and the text reads : "sA.f sanx rn.f , sS nswt sat  n nb-tAwy, TAy"  His son (who) revive his name, the royal scribe of correspondence of the Lord of the Two Lands Thay.

In Doc.6:, the scene from the Tomb TT.2, represented Khabekhnet and his wife Sahuty while offering to Sennedjem and Eineferty, the parents of Khabekhnet. The  text of the scene reads "In wsir  sDm aS  m st mAat Hr imntt wAst (?) in sA.f  sanx rn.f xabxt xr (?)” To Osiris, Servant in the Place of Truth to the west of Thebes(?) by his son who make his name a live Khabekhnet(?)

The stela Doc. 3, in Turin Mus., No.50012 (Del Vesco & Poole , 2014), from the tomb of  Karo TT. 330.  The scene shows the tomb owner is offering to his parents and relatives. The text of offerings reads: "make the offering, pure, pure, to your ka by the hands of your son^[61] who makes your name a live,…." (Tosi & Roccati , 1972).

In Doc. 4, the scene on plaster from the tomb of  Karo TT.330, shows the tomb owner is offering to his parents and relatives. The text reads: "in sA.sn sanx rn.sn sDm-aS m st mAat Kar " by your son  who makes your name a live, the servant in the place of truth, karo.

In the scene of  on the tomb TT. 45, Davies supposed That Djehutyemheb (the second owner of 19^th Dynasty) reused the scene of  Djhwty (the first owner of 18^th Dynasty), and  added  some modifications. Djehutyemheb visibly wanted to make an act of piety towards his own parents by presenting the offerings to revive their names (Davies & Gardiner , 1915), The red text of the offering  shows that the offerings were presented" by his son who revive his name, "in sA.f  sanx rn.f  "

Through these previously mentioned documents, it seems that the phrase that mentioned, in various forms, the revival of the dead’s name, was addressed in particular to the parents more than other relatives. The tomb owner wants to revive the name of the parents in the wall of the tomb and other monuments.

4.6. Tomb owner as sem-priest and similarity with iwn mwt .f :

In a group of scenes the owner of the Tomb appears as sem priest wearing the leopard skin while offering to his parents or other relatives. This occurred in the some scenes in tombs TT.82 and TT.148 twice, TT. 330, TT.112, TT. 181, TT. 335  and TT.27. Many of those figures that represent the son as a priest performing funeral cult for his parents were removed by the followers of Akhenaten, and sometimes the figures of the seated parents were also influenced by this religious revolution (Dean , 2015). The repetition of the sem- priest dress in those scenes gives a specific meaning related to the role of Horus as the protector of his father's position.  The appearance of the son in his cultic role for protecting and inheriting his father’s position while offering to him  is very similar to the role of iwn mwt.f, who symbolized the eldest son of the royal family and who cared for the deceased king (Wilkinson , 1992). These scenes of iwn mwt.f was repeatedly represented on the walls of the royal and divine monuments during the new kingdom. Iwn mwt.f also appears as a priest wearing a leopard skin and interpreted as royal kA descended from one generation to the next and from father to son. The role of iwn mut.f was performed by some priests on behalf of the son responsible for the cult of the royal kAsymbolizing the eldest son and successor of the king (Bell , 1985) Steven R. W. Gregory  argued that iwn mwt.f  does not represent the actual son of the dead king, but rather an embodiment of an idea that represents the renewed, transitional and always youthful aspect of the of the gods who maintain the cosmic order, not only Osiris or his heir  Horus, but, in Thebes, all the progeny of  Amun Ra, which is represented in the transmission of the KA from father to son (Steven , 2015).  At the level of the private ideology, as in the case of the class of tomb owners under the study, when the son stands in front of his son, he is considered to be the kA that was transferred from his father (Karol , 2010) , and at this moment he tries to restore the youth and the position to his father in the other world (Hartwig , 2004). The kA of the individual was the kA of his ancestors, it is the life that was passed on through the ensuing generations.  Some argue that the kA is a genetic memory of the deceased and not an aspect of individual (Padgham , 2012). which is almost the same idea of iwn mwt.f .This similarity in role and appearance between the son while offering to his parents in sem-priest dress and the role of  iwn mwt.f  needs further study for more understanding.

4.7. The "Eldest son" who revive the name of the dead:

The tomb owners are supposed to receive the mortuary offerings cult from their relatives, but in scenes of their tombs (PLs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) they performed their normal role on the mortuary cult for their parents. The scenes in this case can be added to the scenes which represent the owner while performing his daily roles and activities, one of the important roles during his life to offers to the KA of his parents.  Ideally, the son, as Horus, who held the title "Eldest son" was the one who is responsible of the mortuary cult for his parents, perhaps motivated by the fact that inheritance was contingent on his performance of these activities (Hartwig , 2004) . The "Eldest son" of the deceased was one of the most important characters in the funeral pageant. His presence was very important as what confirmed that the deceased was an Osiris and his beloved son was Horus. It also guaranteed the son’s future role, who by observing the funerary rites for the deceased in turn assured his inheritance (Shahawy , 2005) .

The importance of having an heir or "Eldest son" to  oversee the mortuary cult  after death appears in Padi-Sobek’s lament for himself in which he expresses his sadness that he does not have a son to help him survive after death and therefore he will be forgotten and not exist after death (Heragi , 2017). During the New Kingdom, the son who was designated for this role and held the title “eldest son.”. In cases where there were no sons, a brother, a daughter, or even the widowed wife would assume the role and title of “eldest son ” (Teeter , 2011) .

Besides the eldest son, priests from the local temple or special mortuary priests (hmw-k3 ) could be entrusted with the funeral, the burial, and the long-term continuation of the deceased’s mortuary cult (Hartwig , 2004) . This role of the eldest son was shortened and expressed on funerary monuments, especially the stelae, with the expression “who revives his name ” or "who perpetuates his name". The conclusion that Nelson Hurset reached in his study  (Nelson-Hurst , 2010) of the 174 known examples of the "sanx rn.f " formula "who revive his name", is that this role was originally granted to the eldest son since the Old Kingdom. Due to some political circumstances, the brother participated the son in this role and held this title during the first intermediate period. The brother excelled in obtaining this role specifically during the Thirteen Dynasty. The matter returned again as it was, and the responsibility of  reviving  the name of the parents became  the duty of the son in the second intermediate period (Nelson-Hurst , 2010)  and during the period of the New Kingdom (Teeter , 2010).

5. Conclusion:

Group of scenes represented the owner of the tomb practicing rituals and offering to his parents and other relatives in his own tomb. With a careful study of these scenes, and the accompanying texts, it becomes clear that the owner of the tomb is in the world of the living, not the dead.

For the tomb owner's offering to his parent, one can understand that the tomb owners want to express their love for their parents by representing them in the wall of the tomb, as the parents probably depicted the children in theirs. The parents were responsible for their children at their childhood and the children were responsible for parents in old age and for the mortuary cult after death (Lacovara , 2016) .  These scenes are part of many others which reflected piety of the sons towards the parents. These scenes are similar in purpose to the scenes that represent the owner of the tomb himself while receiving the offerings from his son. The offerings scenes of the tomb resulted from the rise of piety towards the parents in the new kingdom.

When the tomb owner offers to the parents among other relatives of brothers or ancestors, this connected to the ancestor cult (Davies & Gardiner , 1915) that developed in the New Kingdom especially on the community of Deir El-Medina. The cult of ancestors produced a large number of monuments such as busts, stone stelae, and scenes on the walls of tombs. Offering to the ancestor is considered to be one of the communication ways between the living and the dead, such as "Letters to the dead" and the "Apples to the living". The living invented these ways to communicate with the dead for several reasons, the most important of which to supply food for the kAw of ancestors, commemoration of their memories in the living community, revive their names and to guarantee the protection of dead or even the prevention their evil.

In two cases of the study, the tomb owner offered to one of his parents who held the titles "Royal Tutor" for father (scene 22,TT.164) and "Royal Nurse" for mother (scene 18 ,TT.93). These offering scenes represented the tomb owner's pride of kinship relation to the royal family as he became a foster brother of the royal princes by his father or his mother. The title of the "Royal Tutor" of the tomb owner's father in the first case supported the tomb owner to obtain the same title. These offerings scenes could be seen as gratitude and appreciation from the tomb owner to his father or his mother who were the reason of this relation.

Only on the tomb TT.85, in three scenes, the tomb owner offered to his wife who held the title "Royal nurse" It seems that the wife supported her husband to have the distinguished position as leader of the army. The tomb owner presented the offering to his wife in large size to express appreciation for her favors.

Ideally the son of the dead who held the title "Eldest son" was responsible for reviving the name of his parents after death. In some cases the brother or other relative of kinship held this title. This responsibility is expressed in the texts of the tomb by the expression "sanx rn .f/k" "revive his/your name".

The physical meaning of the son’s role which translate the term "revive the name" of his parents were represented in some actions such as completing or constructing the tomb if necessary, conducting the funeral and administering the mortuary cult especially the offerings for the kA in feasts (Baines , 2002) . The performing of these practices for the dead parents was a condition of obtaining their inheritance in addition to other worldly tasks such as caring for the family and young siblings.