Source and licence
share: publicnoneSource: OCR (tools/batch_ocr.py, model coptic+eng) of Volume I-1/6.2. The Fourth Dynasty - Reign of Menkure.pdf; page files: L0/ocr/Volume_I-1/6.2._The_Fourth_Dynasty_-_Reign_of_Menkure/pages
Attribution: Breasted – Ancient Records of Egypt (1906), vol. I: The Fourth Dynasty – Reign of Menkure; public domain in Canada (death year verified: Breasted d.1935 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Breasted)); OCR text by the Kemetic project, Yousef Hanna 2026.
Licence: public domain in Canada (author died ≤ 1971, verified; LICENCES.md §7) — US position (recorded, does not gate the class; PD-CA 2026-09-26): PD-US (published ≤1930)
Jurisdiction note: this text is public domain under Canadian law (the project is published from Canada; LICENCES.md §7: author died in or before 1971). It may still be in copyright elsewhere — in countries with a life + 70 term, or where a later edition claims its own rights. The licence line above says what was verified. If you are outside Canada, check your own law before re-using it.
The text
71 lines · a line number is a link to itself| ref | L0 witness (OCR) |
|---|---|
| page 1 | |
| 1 | REIGN OF MENKURE |
| 2 | DEBHEN’S INSCRIPTION, RECOUNTING KING MENKURE’S |
| 3 | ERECTION OF A TOMB FOR HIM? |
| 4 | 210. The unfinished condition of this interesting inscrip- |
| 5 | tion renders it extremely fragmentary. But mutilated as it |
| 6 | is, it tells us plainly enough of the king’s visit to the Gizeh |
| 7 | cemetery to inspect the work on his family pyramids, and |
| 8 | of his detailing fifty men to build a tomb for Debhen. Later |
| 9 | the king orders his own people, who are bringing limestone |
| 10 | for a temple, to bring also the necessary false doors, etc., for |
| 11 | Debhen’s tomb from the quarry at Troja. |
| 12 | , The Royal Command |
| 13 | 211, --Ⲛⲉ saith: |
| 14 | As for this tomb, it was the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Men- |
| 15 | kure, [living forever], who caused that it be ['made?], when [his majesty] |
| 16 | was [upon] the road beside the pyramid, Hir¢ (Hr), 3in order to inspect |
| 17 | the work fon! the pyramid: ‘‘Divine-is-Menkure.” |
| 18 | — — — [rthere camel] the [naval] commander and the two high |
| 19 | priests of Memphis, and the [work]men,d standing upon it,® to inspect |
| 20 | aFrom his tomb (No. go on Lepsius’ plan) at Gizeh; published by Lepsius, |
| 21 | Denkmdler, 11, 37, b; Sethe, Urkunden, I, 18-21 (collated with Berlin drawing, |
| 22 | No. 284). The inscription was left unfinished by the sculptor. The artist had |
| 23 | drawn all the hieroglyphs in ink, but they were only partially cut, and the uncut |
| 24 | portions of the lines disappeared. |
| 25 | bThis line contained his titles, as the sole remaining sign shows. |
| 26 | cName of pyramid usually supposed to be that of Menkure. It is, however, |
| 27 | evidently one of the smaller three beside his own pyramid, the name of which here |
| 28 | follows. “Hir” will have belonged to one of his family. That the two pyramids |
| 29 | were close together is evident from the text. The king stands on the road by the |
| 30 | Hir-pyramid to inspect the other. This disposes of the idea that the former was |
| 31 | in Abu Roash (Petrie, History of Egypt, 1, 56). |
| 32 | dOnly the plural determinative of “men” is visible. |
| 33 | €The pyramid. |
| 34 | 94 |
| page 2 | |
| 35 | § 210] DEBHEN’S INSCRIPTION 95 |
| 36 | the work fon? [the pyramid, ‘‘ Divine-is-Menkure”]. — 50 men were |
| 37 | assigned to do the work on it2 every day, besides fexactinglof them, |
| 38 | sthat which the I—1 desired. His majesty commanded that [no man |
| 39 | should be taken®] for any forced labor, except to do the work on it,2 |
| 40 | to his satisfaction. |
| 41 | Building of the Tomb |
| 42 | 212. ®His majesty commanded to fclear! the place of rubbish? |
| 43 | — — —thistomb. His majesty commanded to'hackl — — — — — in |
| 44 | order to fclear? the rubbish! — — — — — . [His majesty commanded] |
| 45 | that the two treasurers of the god should come; [said his majesty to |
| 46 | them] — — 8————— given to them . men, whom his |
| 47 | majesty judged, that he should go around the work Texacted? *° |
| 48 | in his — that there be brought stone from Troja (R>->w) to clothe with |
| 49 | limestone the temple there d together with two false doors, and a |
| 50 | front for this tomb, by the naval commander and the two high priests |
| 51 | of Ptah, together with the king’s master-builder, who came *2 |
| 52 | [that there] be [brought] for me a statue 'much greater thanllife 3 |
| 53 | every — every day. It is today - upon its highland, together with |
| 54 | the pure house. ⲓⲓ- together with two statues of the assistant, |
| 55 | of which one was --ⲻ [the other was] ⲻ- |
| 56 | 15s———— feast of Apis in the temple 6 [He did] this, in |
| 57 | [order] that I might be his revered one by his lord 7———— for my |
| 58 | [father] and my mother, for whom I have maintained 3 |
| 59 | green cosmetic, eye-paint — F—1— — 39%utside of the place. Then |
| 60 | [FI bellsought [from my lord!] ——T7 in the Northland, of the cattle |
| 61 | in this place -ⲓ There was issued 2°a command of the king to the |
| 62 | chief of [Tall works of the king to take] people to make it, a tomb of — |
| 63 | cubits in its length, 2*by so cubits? in fits width,! by — cubits [fin its |
| 64 | heightl] — — according to that which? this my father did, while he |
| 65 | was living. Then the king caused 2*— © |
| 66 | 2Debhen’s tomb. bRead ⲗ. |
| 67 | eVerb < yn, meaning “to build or clothe with limestone of Ayan (¢ yn).’ |
| 68 | dThe expedition to the quarry which brought stone for the temple, brought |
| 69 | also the false doors, etc., for Debhen’s tomb. The temple meant is probably the |
| 70 | pyramid-temple of Menkure. |
| 71 | ⲉⲦⲃⲉ remainder of the inscription was never executed. |
Provenance
- title
- Breasted – Ancient Records of Egypt (1906), vol. I: The Fourth Dynasty – Reign of Menkure
- dialect
- none
- source
- OCR (tools/batch_ocr.py, model coptic+eng) of Volume I-1/6.2. The Fourth Dynasty - Reign of Menkure.pdf; page files: L0/ocr/Volume_I-1/6.2._The_Fourth_Dynasty_-_Reign_of_Menkure/pages
- licence
- public domain in Canada (author died ≤ 1971, verified; LICENCES.md §7) — US position (recorded, does not gate the class; PD-CA 2026-09-26): PD-US (published ≤1930)
- share
- public
- attribution
- Breasted – Ancient Records of Egypt (1906), vol. I: The Fourth Dynasty – Reign of Menkure; public domain in Canada (death year verified: Breasted d.1935 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Breasted)); OCR text by the Kemetic project, Yousef Hanna 2026.
- file
- Ancient Egyptian/Breasted – Ancient Records of Egypt (1906), vol. I- The Fourth Dynasty – Reign of Menkure/6.2._The_Fourth_Dynasty_-_Reign_of_Menkure.ocr.L0.txt
L0 witness (OCR)
Cite as:
Breasted – Ancient Records of Egypt (1906), vol. I: The Fourth Dynasty – Reign of Menkure. OCR (tools/batch_ocr.py, model coptic+eng) of Volume I-1/6.2. The Fourth Dynasty - Reign of Menkure.pdf; page files: L0/ocr/Volume_I-1/6.2._The_Fourth_Dynasty_-_Reign_of_Menkure/pages. Layers as published by the Kemetic project (Yousef Hanna), 2026: Coptic · Cairene · Kemetic, /doc/ancient-egyptian/breasted-ancient-records-of-egypt-1906-vol.i-the-fourth-dynasty-reign-of-menkure/6.2.the-fourth-dynasty-reign-of-menkure.ocr/. Breasted – Ancient Records of Egypt (1906), vol. I: The Fourth Dynasty – Reign of Menkure; public domain in Canada (death year verified: Breasted d.1935 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Henry_Breasted)); OCR text by the Kemetic project, Yousef Hanna 2026.
What the layers are
The text as its witness or edition has it, original spelling; its dialect is a description and is never standardized.
For Egyptian texts: the transliteration with the editors' marks turned into the symbols ° * < > _ ^ (ruled 2026-09-10). For papyri: the edition's Leiden marks as the same symbols, and the editors' readings beside the scribe's as ‹scribe→editors› (ruled PAP-3).
Standardized Greco-Bohairic spelling and grammar, generated by code from the layer above under the rulings of the project.
The Kemetic alphabet, generated by code from L1.
Quoted translations where they exist, credited; otherwise model drafts, marked as drafts.