Pesesh-kef di Osorkon - Nebkara

UPDATE (8/2006): A new attestation of Nebkara's name is

found on an object which has been recently, kindly shown me

in photo by the owner, Mr. David Hafer. It is a polished stone

implement shaped as a pesesh-kef knife (29,5cm tot. length),

with a vertical inscription (16cm) which runs: "The lord of the

gods of the Two Lands (Wa-s-r-k-n) has made as a monument

to his (fore)father, (Neb-Ka-Ra), true of voice". Both the

cartouches have a flat oval base with vertical strokes inside

(Nebkara's one is indeed halfway between a cartouche and a

serekh); the name of the dedicating king should be one of the

22-23 dynasty kings "Osorkon", although it is written with

the s instead of the Za sign.

I can't tell if this object/inscription is genuine (i.e. of Late Period) or instead a

forgery (eventually based on another piece's inscription). In any case we have a

further attestation of Nebkara's name, nearly two millennia after the supposed age

of Nebkara's reign. This king, little more than a name to us, seems to have been a

well known figure in antiquity, and in some instance it appears to have been

regarded as a mythical ancestor or nonetheless as a ruler worthy of honors and

praise by his distant successors (same case as for Menes?). I wonder about the

original reason for such a glory and fame. 1

NOTE: I have been informed of similar PsS-Kf with cartouche names of Middle

Kingdom pharaohs, Sesostri and Nebhepetra (Monthuhotep II). Thus the piece in

object might be a later copy of MK originals (this would explain the epigraphic

variations) and the names of Osorkon and Nebkara should be substituted with

Senusert and Nebhepetra

1 File name: NebKaRa.doc