The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians

by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

[2] Titles of Ameni repeated.

The Autobiography of Thetha

This inscription is cut in hieroglyphs upon a large rectangular slab of limestone now preserved in the British Museum (No. 100). It belongs to the period of the eleventh dynasty, when texts of the kind are very rare, and was made in the reign of Uahānkh, or Antef. It reads:

Thetha, the servant in truth of the Horus Uahānkh, the King of the South, the King of the North, the son of Rā, Antef, the doer of beneficent acts, living like Rā for ever, beloved by him from the bottom of his heart, holder of the chief place in the house of his lord, the great noble of his heart, who knoweth the matters of the heart of his lord, who attendeth him in all his goings, one in heart with His Majesty in very truth, the leader of the great men of the house of the king, the bearer of the royal seal in the seat of confidential affairs, keeping close the counsel of his lord more than the chiefs, who maketh to rejoice the Horus (i.e. the king) through what he wisheth, the favourite of his Lord, beloved by him as the mouth of the seal, the president of the place of confidential affairs, whom his lord loveth, the mouth of the seal, the chief after the king, the vassal, saith:

I was the beloved one of his Lord, I was he with whom he was well pleased all day and every day. I passed a long period of my life [that is] years, under the Majesty of my Lord, the Horus, Uahānkh, the King of the South and North, the son of the Sun, Antef. Behold, this country was subject unto him in the south as far as Thes, and in the north as far as Abtu of Then (Abydos of This). Behold, I was in the position of body servant of his, and was an actual chief under him. He magnified me, and he made my position to be one of great prominence, and he set me in the place beloved (?) for the affairs of his heart, in his palace. Because of the singleness [of my heart] he appointed me to be a bearer of the royal seal, and the deputy of the registrary (?). [I] selected the good things of all kinds of the offerings brought to the Majesty of my Lord, from the South and from the North land whensoever a taxing was made, and I made him to rejoice at the assessment which was made everywhere throughout the country. Now His Majesty had been afraid that the tribute, which was brought to His Majesty, my Lord, from the princes who were the overlords of the Red Country (Lower Egypt), would dwindle away in this country, and he had been afraid that the same would be the case in the other countries also. He committed to me these matters, for he knew that my administration was able. I rendered to him information about them, and because of my great knowledge of affairs never did anything escape that was not replaced. I was one who lived in the heart of his Lord, in very truth, and I was a great noble after his own heart. I was as cool water and fire in the house of my Lord. The shoulders of the great ones bent [before me]. I did not thrust myself in the train of the wicked, for which men are hated. I was a lover of what was good, and a hater of what was evil. My disposition was that of one beloved in the house of my Lord. I carried out every course of action in accordance with the urgency that was in the heart of my Lord. Moreover, in the matter of every affair which His Majesty caused me to follow out, if any official obstructed me in truth I overthrew his opposition. I neither resisted his order, nor hesitated, but I carried it out in very truth. In making any computation which he ordered, I made no mistake. I did not set one thing in the place of another. I did not increase the flame of his wrath in its strength. I did not filch property from an inheritance. Moreover, as concerning all that His Majesty commanded to set before him in respect of the royal household (or harim), I kept accounts of everything which His Majesty desired, and I gave them unto him, and I made satisfactory all their statements. Because of the greatness of my knowledge nothing ever escaped me.

I made a mekha boat for my town, and a sehi boat, so that I might attend in the train of my Lord, and I was one of the number of the great ones on every occasion when travel or journeying had to be performed, and I was held in great esteem, and entreated most honourably. I provided my own equipment from the possessions which His Majesty, the Horus Uahānkh, the King of the South, the King of the North, the son of the Sun, Antef, who liveth like Rā for ever, gave unto me because of the greatness of his love for me, until he departed in peace to his horizon (i.e. the tomb). And when his son, that is to say, the Horus Nekhtneb-Tepnefer, the King of the South, the King of the North, the son of Rā, Antef, the producer of beneficent acts, who liveth for ever like Rā, entered his house, I followed him as his body-companion into all his beautiful places that rejoiced [his] heart, and because of the greatness of my knowledge there was never anything wanting (?). He committed to me and gave into my hand every duty that had been mine in the time of his father, and I performed it effectively under His Majesty; no matter connected with any duty escaped me. I lived the [remainder] of my days on the earth near the King, and was the chief of his body-companions. I was great and strong under His Majesty, and I performed everything which he decreed. I was one who was pleasing to his Lord all day and every day.

The Autobiography of Aahmes (Amasis), the Naval Officer

This inscription is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of the tomb of Aahmes at Al-Kāb in Upper Egypt; this distinguished marine flourished in the reigns of the first kings of the eighteenth dynasty, about 1600 B.C. The text reads:

The captain of the transport men, Aahmes, the son of Abana, the truth-speaker, saith: O all men, I will declare unto you, and will inform you concerning the favours that were conferred upon me. Seven times was I given gold in the sight of the whole land, and likewise slaves, both male and female, and grants of land for estates to be held by me in perpetuity were also made to me. Thus the name of a man bold and brave in his deeds shall not be extinguished in this land for ever! He saith: