ERM - Hatshepsut Obelisk Translation | The Wesley Swift Library at Christogenea

Report by E.R. Mast

THE OBELISK OF HATSHEPSUT

TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION ON THE BASE OF THE OBELISK OF HATSHEPSUT

SOUTH SIDE.....

The living Horus Useritkau (Mighty of doubles). Nebti Uatchit Renput (Flourishing of years). Golden Horus Neterit Khau. Nesu-bat Maat-Ka-Ra (Truth is the Ka of Ra). Daughter of Ra Hatshepsut-Khnemit Amen (Foremost of the holy ones, the counterpart of Amen), living for ever and ever, Daughter of Amen-Ra, darling of his heart, one and only, existing through him, glorious essence of Nebertcher (i.e. Lord of the Universe), her beauty was created by the Spirits of Anu (i.e. Ra, Shu and Tefnut), the Conquerors of the Two Lands (i.e. Egypt), like Ari-su (i.e. He who was self-made), [whom] he created to wear his crowns. creatress of [many] forms like Khepera, diademed with diadems like the God of the Two Horizons (i.e. HerAakhuti), the holy egg, the glorious offspring, the suckling of the two goddesses of great magical powers, the one raised up by Amen himself upon his throne in Southern Anu (i.e. Hermonthis, or Armant), the one chosen by him to shepherd Egypt, to hold in check the Pat and the Rekhit (two classes of the Egyptian people), the Horus woman who avengeth her father, the eldest daughter of Kamutef (i.e. the self-begotten and self-produced god), the woman begotten by Ra to make for him a glorious posterity upon earth to protect the Hememit (a class of people?), his living image, King of the South and the North, Maat-Ka-Ra, the woman who is the tcham (i.e. either refined shining copper or 'white' gold) of kings. She made [them] as her monument to her father, Amen, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands (i.e. Thebes), President of the Apts (i.e. Karnak). She made for him two great obelisks of the lasting (or solid) granite of the region of the South (i.e. the granite quarries at Aswan). The upper part[s] of [them] are of tcham of the best of all the mountains, and they can be seen [from afar both upstream and downstream?]. The Two Lands (Egypt) are bathed in light when Athen (i.e. the solar Disk) rolleth up between them as he riseth up on the horizon of heaven. I have done this because of [my] loving heart for Father Amen. I went in at his advance on the first day [of the festival?]. I acquired knowledge from his skilled spirits. I hesitated not on any occasion when he commanded.

WEST SIDE........

My Majesty understandeth his divine power, and behold I worked under his direction; he was my leader. I was unable to think out a plan for work without his prompting; he was the giver of the inscriptions (i.e. specifications). I was unable to sleep because of his temple (Mr. Budge says to compare the Psalm 82:4-5 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.) I never turned aside from any order which he gave. My heart was like Sia (i.e. the god of knowledge, or wisdom personified) in respect of my father [Amen]. I entered into the plans of his heart (or mind), in no way did I neglect (i.e. set behind me) the city of Nebertcher (i.e. the Lord of the Universe), but set it before my face. I know that the Apts (i.e. Karnak) are the Horizon (i.e. the abode of the gods) upon the earth, the holy stepped building of the first day (i.e. primeval time), the Eye of Nebertcher, the seat of his heart, the support of his beauties, the bond of those who follow him.

The king (i.e. the queen herself) saith: I have set [these obelisks] before the henmemet (i.e. the people) who shall come into being two hen periods (i.e. 120 years) hence, whose minds shall enquire about this monument which I have made for my father, who shall speak with awe-struck (?) voices and shall seek to gaze into what is to come later. I took my seat in the Great House (i.e. palace), I remembered him that created me. My heart urged me to make for him two obelisks with tcham coverings, the pyramidions (i.e. pointed tops) of which should pierce the sky in the August colonnade between the two great pylons [in the temple of Amen] of the King, the mighty Bull, the King of the South and the North, A-Kheper-ka-Ra, the Horus, whose voice [speaks] truth. Behold, my heart (or mind) took possession (or overcame) me, leading me to utter words.

O ye men of understanding.

NORTH SIDE.......

who shall look upon my monument after years (i.e. future days), who shall discuss together what I have done, take good heed that ye say not 'I know not, I know not [why] these were made, and [why] a mountain was made throughout in gold, as if it (i.e. gold) was one of the commonest things that exist'(?). I swear that as Ra loveth me, and as my Father Amen hath shown me favor, and as the child of my nostrils (i.e. breath) is with life and serenity; and as I bear the White Crown, and am crowned with the Red Crown, and have joined together [in amity] for the Two Hawk-gods their divisions of the world [Set was god of Lower Egypt and Horus of Upper Egypt] (or Egypt), and have governed this land like the son of Isis (i.e. Horus), and am mighty like the son of Nut (i.e. Osiris, son of Geb and Nut); and as Ra sitteth in the Sektet Boat in the evening and appeareth joyfully in the Atet Boat in the morning, and joineth his two mothers (Isis and Nephtys?) in the Boat of the god [Ra]; and as heaven is established firmly, and as what he (i.e. Ra) hath made is stable (or immovable), I shall have my being for ever and ever like an An-sek-f star (i.e. one of the circumpolar stars that never set), I shall sink to rest in [the land of] life like Atem (i.e. the setting sun) so these two great obelisks which my Majesty hath worked with tcham for my father Amen, in order that my name may abide and flourish shall stand in this temple for ever and for ever. Each obelisk is made from a single block (i.e. is a monolith) of granite in the quarry, without cleavage, without division. My Majesty demanded work thereon from the first day of the second month of the season Pert of the 15th year [of my reign], until the last day of the fourth month of the season Shemut, of the 16th year [of my reign], making seven months since [my] demand in the mountain (i.e. quarry).

EAST SIDE.......

I made [them] for him in rectitude of heart, for [he is] thinking of every God. I longed to make them for him, plated (?) with tcham metal; Lo! I laid their part (or, half) upon their bodies (she placed the obelisks in their upright positions?). I kept in mind [what] the people would say.... that my mouth was true because of what came forth from it, for I never went back on anything that I had once said. Now hearken ye to me. I gave to them (i.e. the obelisks) the best refined tcham, which I measured by the heket (bushel?) as if it had been ordinary grain in sacks. My Majesty allotted to them a larger quantity of tcham than had ever been seen by the whole of the Two Lands (i.e. Egypt). This the fool as well as the wise man knoweth well. Let not the man who shall hear these things say that what I have said is false, but rather let him say, 'It is even as she hath [said] it (or, it is exactly so)--true before her father.' The God knew it [was] in me, and Amen, Lord of the thrones of the Two Lands (Egypt), caused me to be Governor of Kamt (i.e. the Black Land, or Egypt proper) and Teshert (i.e. the Red Land or deserts on each side of the Nile) as a reward for it. None rebelleth against me in all the lands (i.e. the world), the dwellers in the mountains and deserts are my subjects. He hath fixed the boundary of my kingdom as far as the limits of the sky, the circuit of Aten (i.e. the Sun) serveth me, he hath bestowed it upon me, living through him, I present it to him. I am his daughter in very truth, the glorifier of him....what he arranged (for demanded), the vessel of my body is with my father, life, stability, and serenity upon the throne of Horus of all living beings, like Ra for ever.