volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

Statue of Sekhem-suatch-taui-Ra. 363
of the body reminded me of the young natives whom
I had seen in the country between the Second and the
Fourth Cataracts. On the back of the throne two hons,
back to back, were cut in outhne, and the signs •ma-' ¥•
" fluid of life " ; I had never before seen such decora-
tions on a throne. The mystery was cleared up as
soon as I made out the titles and cartouche of the
king, which read, "Beautiful god, lord of the
Two Lands f Sekhem-[se]-uatch-taui-Ra V' it K37
f O Y [P] f ^Z^ 1
for then I saw that the statue was
made for a king of the Xlllth or XlVth dynasty, and not
for Rameses II, a king of the XlXth dynasty. I wrote
to Maspero, and asked him if he intended to allow this
very valuable historical monument to leave the country
and he replied, " Had I known that the statue was so
ancient, I should have sent and had it brought to Cairo
immediately. Several soi-disant Egyptologists have seen
it, and read the cartouche as the prenomen of Rameses II,
but as you have discovered the true reading and have
identified the king, take it for your Museum."^
Maspero also helped me in another important matter,
for he allowed me to take objects from certain tombs
at a valuation when I had defrayed the cost of the clearing
of them. There was a little incompletely excavated
site in Western Thebes, from which Mariette had obtained
several monuments of the Xlth djmasty, and the
natives pressed me to clear it out. I did so, and was
well repaid, for from it I acquired : (i) The famous
stele of Antef,^ an ofiicial who lived under three kings
of the Xlth dynasty, about 2600 B.C. ; (2) the sepulchral
stele of Sebek-Aa' : (3) the stele of Thetha^ who
flourished in the reign of Uahankh, about 2600 B.C.
The last-named stele is of very great importance, for it
has settled the order of succession of three kings of the
Xlth dynasty. We dug out the stele in the year 1902,
p. 80.
^ It is now No. 276. See Guide to the Egyptian Galleries {Sculpture),
^ See ibid., p. 30. ^ See ibid., p. 33.
* See ibid., p. 30.