Bulletin de la Société d'Égyptologie, Genève
The Bulletin de la Société d'Égyptologie, Genève (BSÉG) is a scientific publication dedicated to Ancient Egypt and all its aspects (archaeology, religion, history, language, culture, etc.) from Prehistoric Times to the Byzantine Era. The paper edition of the Bulletin is sent for free to members of the Société d'Égyptologie, Genève and is available for purchase on the website of the Société d'Égyptologie, Genève.
Derechef le nom de la situle et le « porteur de la décade d’Aménopé »
This article examines the designation ‘situla-ḫnt(y)’, as mentioned on the Hor situla (published in 1995) and on that of Amuntayynakht, held by the Gandur Foundation for Art. As participants in the Theban Decade Festivals, both figures are described as ‘bearers of the Decade of Amenope’.
Néferhotep, Kolanthès et Horoudja, enfants divinisés
The gods Neferhotep of Hu (7th nome HE), Kolanthes of Athribis (9th nome HE) and Horudja of El-Qalꜥa and Shenhur (5th nome HE), who suddenly appeared in documentation between the Third Intermediate Period and the Roman era, share many similarities that seem to stem from their common nature as children who were deified after their death.
First publication of a small kneeling theophorous statue featuring a statuette of Amun, currently in Edinburgh. Dating to the 4th century BCE (Dynasty 30-early Ptolemaic), this object bears multiple parallels to statues from the Karnak Cachette, and thus likely also originates from Thebes. The owner’s face and names are destroyed, suggesting the effigy was intentionally mutilated in antiquity. Nonetheless the remaining hieroglyphic text presents a unique prayer to Amun, featuring multiple interesting spellings and another attestation of the mysterious phrase “descending after his brother.”
Un Oracular Amuletic Decree provenant de la ville de Hout-sekhem (Pap. Hanovre 1976.60c)
Pap. Hanover 1976.60c must have been issued in the city of Hut-sekhem, as can be established by a new analysis of the names of the deities mentioned in it, and especially that of the god Neferhotep. It is one of the rare examples of the use of Oracular Amuletic Decrees outside Thebes.
A private geographical procession from the reign of Ramesses II
Two reliefs preserving fragments of geographical processions from the reign of Ramesses II are exceptional in that they are associated not with the king himself, but with Prince Khaemwaset and Queen Isetnofret. A comparison of their iconographic features and compositional layout strongly suggests that they once formed part of a single procession. This was probably inscribed on a monument of the prince at Saqqara in the vicinity of the Serapeum.
Copyright (c) 2025 François Ghiringhelli
« Ô, garde-toi du lac vénérable ! ». Aspect dangereux de la trajectoire vers l’au-delà et contexte rituel autour d’un énoncé récurrent dans les Textes des Pyramides
This article analyses a recurring warning to the deceased about a lake to be careful with in the Pyramid Texts. After contextualising various occurrences of this statement within the corpus, its implicit meaning and the ritual context in which it originated will be explored. To do so, it will be useful to step outside the pyramid to examine what the inscriptions and scenes in certain non-royal tombs reveal about the rite of crossing the lake, which in many respects seems to belong to the same conceptual horizon as the warning about the lake, but from a different perspective.
Rifaud rediscovered: Reconstructing the sacred landscape of Tell el-Moqdam (Leontopolis) based on his unpublished 1825 excavation manuscript
Jean-Jacques Rifaud (1786-1852) was the first to conduct excavations at Tell el-Moqdam (Leontopolis) in 1825. Despite his pioneering work, his research largely went unnoticed by the scholarly community, as only a few sentences in Tableau de l'Égypte and an illustration of the excavation site in Voyage en Égypte were published, with no further details. However, the archives of the Bibliothèque de Genève house an unpublished manuscript that provides a detailed account of Rifaud’s excavation at the tell. This manuscript offers new perspectives on the archaeological site and presents an opportunity to re-evaluate and reconstruct the sacred landscape of Tell el-Moqdam (Leontopolis) from a contemporary scholarly standpoint. Key-words: Jean-Jacques Rifaud (1786-1852), Tell el-Moqdam (Leontopolis), Tell el-Fares (Fayum), Statue Padimahes (Leiden AST 71), Sargophagus lid Padimahes (Penn Museum 16134).
Copyright (c) 2025 Cecilia Benavente Vicente https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The health problems of the draughtsman Nebre involving the intervention of deities are well-known in Egyptological literature. Several stelae set up by him bear witness of his gratitude for the benevolence shown by deities in curing sicknesses within his family. The texts of two ostraca – one of which unknown so far – present more insight into the mental difficulties of this prominent member of the Deir el-Medina community and the remarkable proposed medical prescription.
Copyright (c) 2024 Rob Demarée https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
La dégradation des stocks céréaliers et la lutte contre les ravageurs du grain
Food safety is a critical concern for all preindustrial societies. Every stage in the production and processing of cereals can be affected by degradation caused by various types of animals, broadly referred to as “pests”. Egyptian texts occasionally mention them in an agrarian context, primarily rodents and insects, which can be found both in the fields and near dwellings. Entomological studies conducted on archaeological sites have revealed high rates of grain infestation. To mitigate the intrusion of pests and, consequently, the rate of affected grain, several solutions have been implemented, including the selection of grain types, the type of storage device, and the breeding of predators.
Walther Fol (1832-1890) was one of the most important patrons of the Geneva museums in the 19th century. He made a trip to Egypt in 1864-1865 and went up the Nile to Aswan, with the Lorraine painter Hector Leroux (1829-1900) and a librarian named Louis Steiner (1820-1869). This article offers a presentation and analysis of the journal held by Fol during his Egyptian journey, as well as a quick presentation of the pharaonic objects offered by him to the City of Geneva. An appendix retraces the biography of Louis Steiner, one of his travelling companions.
Copyright (c) 2023 Jean-Luc Chappaz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
D’étranges sphères en calcaire à Saqqârah
A collection of limestone spheres, dating back to the Old Kingdom, was recently uncovered in the necropolis of Pepy Ist, at Saqqara. Ranging from 0.46 to 0.49 meters in diameter and weighing between 95 and 110 kilograms, these spheres exhibit imperfect spherical shapes, indicating manual carving with lithic tools. Despite their lack of perfect symmetry and absence of wear, it appears unlikely that they were employed as rolling or percussion tools. Several functions can be attributed to these objects, but, due to the lack of parallel, any interpretation remains speculative.The fact that the spheres were buried within the masonry suggests that they held little value and were likely discarded due to being unfinished and not worth the effort to complete.
Copyright (c) 2023 Emmanuel Laroze https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Trouver de l’argent et de l’or pour Masaharta
This paper presents a hieroglyphic transcription and annotated translation of a hieratic text inscribed on an ostracon recently found in the Valley of the Kings by an Egyptian mission (O. VoK 2022.13). The text consists of a prayer to Amun-Ra in which the Scribe of the Tomb, probably a grandson of Butehamun (i), asks the god to help him locate silver and gold that he can bring to the High Priest of Amun Masaharta, thus attesting to the official plundering of the Valley of the Kings during the early 21st Dynasty. The text is dated to Year 24, adding six years to the attested period of Masaharta’s pontificate.
Copyright (c) 2023 Stéphane Polis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Publication of a Late Period naophorous statue of Tjanefer, dedicated to a goddess called “the Gold”, most likely Nebet-Hetepet. Comparison to similar objects suggest it derives from Heliopolis during Dynasty 30. The brief hieroglyphic inscriptions present original variations of religious formulae and maxims attested on other monuments.
Copyright (c) 2023 David Klotz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Une stèle de donation de Nectanébo Ier provenant de Pharbaïtos (Caire 30/8/64/2)
Publication of the Stela Cairo 30/8/64/2 erected by Nectanebo I in honour of the divine couple of Pharbaitos, Hormerty and Hathor. The relief of the round-topped stela shows the king offering the sign of the field to Hormerty, followed by Hathor. It is the only post-Saitic example of a donation stela whether from Pharbaitos, or for being dedicated to its principal god, Hormerty.
Copyright (c) 2023 Khaled El-Enany https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Shabtis of the Egyptian collection on display at the Stibbert Museum, Florence
The Stibbert Museum hosts a small collection of Pharaonic artefacts bought at the antiquarian market in the second half of the 19th century, in particular a series of six inscribed shabtis dating back to the Late Period. They belonged to priests and important officers of the royal court.
Copyright (c) 2023 Simone Petacchi, Simone Musso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
La création de sens supplémentaire grâce à la poésie visuelle et la mise en page
This article presents the first detailed analysis of a scene in the second hypostyle hall of the temple of Seti I in Abydos. It contains an offering list showing a great number of characteristics that result from the mechanisms of “visual poetry” and “layout”, which were used by its creators in order to supply the scene with additional meaning. The different phenomena with an origin in the ancient Egyptian visual and communicative culture are analysed on two levels, regarding intratextual relations as well as relations between the textual and the figurative parts of the composition.
Copyright (c) 2022 Frederik Rogner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Une nouvelle nécropole de bovidés à Saqqarah
In 2016, the Franco-Swiss mission at Saqqara uncovered the enclosure surrounding Queen Ankhnespepy II’s pyramid. In the southwestern corner of the monument, more than ten thousand bovine bones were discovered. The discovery of two mummies and a naos made it possible to understand that the set comes from a necropolis plundered in Antiquity and not yet located. The mummies were revealed to only be composed of bones, showing that they were sacralized animals, possibly related to the Apis bull.
Copyright (c) 2022 Alain Charron, Mathieu Luret, Xavier Hénaff https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Un oracle d’Hathor à Dendara. À propos de l’égyptien de la deuxième phase dans les temples gréco-romains
An exceptional text known by two versions in the Dendara Temple (Dendara III 53, 5-54, 9; XIII 21, 5-23, 1) is argued to rely on a Hathor’s oracle signified via her sacred bark on the occasion of a feast procession. She is committed to protecting her town and insuring the prosperity of Egypt. The oracle, which shows strong Late Egyptian features, perhaps due to its having been originally stated during the Third Intermediate Period, raises the complex issue of the linguistic heterogeneity in Greco-roman temples: to what extent Second Phase Egyptian texts happen to take place next to First Phase Egyptian original texts (« égyptien de tradition reproductif ») and First Phase Egyptian mimetic texts (« égyptien de tradition productif ») and to what extent do they involve tinkering and making up?
Copyright (c) 2021 Pascal Vernus https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
À propos des toponymes « Djêmé » d’Égypte pharaonique
The study, in a chronological order, of the different spellings used for toponyms traditionally translated by "Djeme", makes it possible to propose a coherent explanatory pattern for the use of these spellings before the Ptolemaic period. This overview testifies to the remarkable circulation of theological systems and their continual adaptation to local syntheses.
Copyright (c) 2021 Philippe Collombert https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
La désignation du maître de Siwa à la Basse Époque et sa signification
The various opinions expressed on the manner in which the contemporary Siwa chiefs of the 26th and 30th dynasties are designated have led to a re-examination of this question and to a clarification of the scope of the solution adopted.
Copyright (c) 2021 Olivier Perdu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
« Pour qui me prenez-vous ? » Autoprésentation féminine à la période libyenne
Known only from administrative sources since the Middle Kingdom, the lexeme ḥbs.yt indicates a relationship of dependency between a woman and a man. It is found on several funerary objects belonging to women from the Third Intermediate Period. Since their marital status is not indicated on their monuments, it is necessary to better define the meaning of this term in order to understand the reasons for its usage in expressing female identity from the Libyan period.
Copyright (c) 2021 Annik Wüthrich https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Deux vases canopes du Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève (inv. A 2018-70 – A 2018-71)
Publication of two canopic-jars housed in the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève (inv. A 2018-70 and A 2018-71), which were donated to the museum in 2018. One of them is inscribed with Paheter’s name, the other one is uninscribed.
Copyright (c) 2021 Katia Novoa https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Quelques remarques sur un porteur de palanche figuré dans le mastaba de Néfer et Kahai
How the representation of a yoke-bearer in a mastaba leads to questioning the perception we have of Egyptian artistic conventions.
Copyright (c) 2021 Simon Delvaux https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Jean-Jacques Rifaud (1786-1852) is known for its pionnering discoveries and for a few publications fairly clumsy. He also left some important archives, of which a few thousand new pages have recently been added to the inventory of the Bibliothèque de Genève. In addition to Egypt, these documents also concern V enice, Belgium, Holland and Switzerland. After a brief presentation of the Egyptian archives, this article focuses on his descriptions of Geneva, highlighting the author's bipolar personality, his pretensions, and the lack of originality of his observations.
Copyright (c) 2021 Jean-Luc Chappaz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Copyright (c) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0