This limestone stela – now part of the Egyptian collection at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden – once stood among countless others at Abydos, Egypt’s most sacred site dedicated to Osiris, god of the afterlife. Wealthy Egyptians often built chapels and erected stelae there to ensure they could join in the eternal rituals honoring Osiris.

On this stela we see a man named Khu , carved in high relief together with his family. Based on its style and orthographic features, it was most likely created during the reign of Senusret I (1920–1875 BCE) in the early 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom.

The name Khu or xw is a fairly common ancient Egyptian name that means “(he) who is protected” or “the protected one”. It comes from the verb xwi “to protect”, fully written as .

What we have here is a passive participle used as a noun. A passive participle is a verb form that describes someone or something as the one to whom the action is done. Verbs ending in a “weak” consonant (like xwi), sometimes show additional endings in their participial forms – such as w or y. When it comes to masculine nouns, those endings are usually omitted in writing, but they often show up in feminine counterparts before the feminine ending t, such as in the name xwyt “(she) who is protected”.

Text Breakdown

The top register consists of three horizontal lines of hieroglyphs which are to be read from right to left. We’ll flip the orientation below to make it easier to read.

The inscription is a classic offering formula – a sort of spiritual guarantee for endless bread, beer, meat, and all good things in the afterlife. We can recognize it by the starting element Htp di nswt.

Htp di nswt is a fossilized expression whose grammar is not entirely clear. It most likely consists of a noun (Htp) followed by a relative clause with sDm=f (di nswt), literally meaning “an offering, the one which the king gives”. The element nswt (king) is written first because of the honorific transposition.

The beginning of the offering formula introduces the agents of the gift – first the king and then the god Osiris followed by one of his common epithets (lord of Djedu).

Htp di nswt an offering which the king gives

wsir Osiris (also written as )

nb lord (visually arranged to fit the space between the two signs for Osiris, but belongs to the phrase ‘lord of Djedu’)

Ddw Djedu (a town in the Delta, modern village called Abusir el-Bana)

Next is the list of offerings, which follows the phrase prt-xrw – invocation (or voice) offering. On this stela we have the most basic offerings – bread, beer, oxen and fowl.

di=f may he (Osiris) give ( is the suffix pronoun=f‘he, him, his’)

This is a sDm=f verb form used as a subjunctive, specifically, expressing a wish.

prt-xrw a voice offering (lit. coming forth of the voice)

t Hnqt kAw Apdw bread, beer, oxen and fowl

This part of the inscription gives us important information about the offering’s beneficiary – his title(s) and his name.

n to (preposition)

imAx(w) revered one

imy-r w overseer of the district (title)

xw Khu (name)

More information about Khu follows – his mother’s name and the phrases that identify him as a revered individual who earned his right to enjoy the afterlife.

ir.n born of (lit. whom … made)

This construction is a past relative form (also called relative clause with sDm.n=f). It takes the gender and number of the noun it refers to; in this case, it’s Khu – masculine singular.

snt Senet (name)

mAa-xrw true of voice

nb imAx possessor of reverence

Khu’s family members are listed in the last row of this text. They are also depicted in the same order (from right to left) in the bottom register, after Khu.

Hmt=f his wife

mrt=f his beloved

This is a relative form (or a relative clause with sDm=f). Lit. “(the one) whom he loves”

snt Senet (name)

sn=f his brother

mnTw-wsr Montju-user (name)

mwt=f his mother (although the loaf t should follow the vulture mwt as a phonetic complement, it is arranged to fit the available space in front)

snt Senet (name)

Full Translation

hieroglyphs:

transliteration:

Htp di nswt wsir nb Ddw di=f prt-xrw t Hnqt kAw Apdw n imAx(w)
imy-r w xw ir.n snt maA xrw nb imAx
Hmt=f mrt=f snt sn=f mnTw-wsr mwt=f snt

translation:

“An offering which the kings gives (and) Osiris, lord of Djedu: may he (Osiris) give a voice offering of bread, beer, oxen and fowl to the revered overseer of the district, Khu, born of Senet, true of voice, possessor of reverence; his beloved wife Senet, his brother Montju-user, his mother Senet.”

bibliography:

• Allen, James P. (2014). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 3rd Edition. Cambridge University Press.
• Franke, D. (2003). The Middle Kingdom Offering Formulas—A Challenge. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 89(1), 39-57.
• Ward, William A. (1982). Index of Egyptian Administrative and Religious Titles of the Middle Kingdom. American University in Beirut, p. 41.

abydos middle kingdom offering formula rijskmuseum van oudheden stela