Hedvig Győry: Mélanges offerts a Edith Varga „Le lotus qui sort de terre” (Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts Supplément 1. Budapest, 2001)
HANS GOEDICKE: Anthropological Problems - Gynecological Questions
Don't you agree that Hatshepsut, as the likely author, must have had quite a phantasy! It is not surprising that after these happenings Khnum is called in. He is specified as "Khnum the potter, lord of Her-wer, formost ofpr-si" This is the earliest attestation of Khnum as potter! 18 It is also not the Khnum of Elephantine, the one whom we have met earlier as a sustainer of mankind in his role of controlling the source(s) of the Nile. Her-wer is in Middle Egypt in the vicinity of Hermopolis and is a place mentioned in Hatshepsut's Speos Artemidos inscription as the scene of her building activity. 14 Pr-si "house of protection" is attested in connection with Khnum in the mortuary temple of Sahure' and was explained there by Sethe as denoting the "nursery". 20 Unfortunately, we don't know what instructions Amun gave him, but his answer is preserved: "I shall shape myself your daughter Kamuria for life-prosperity-health for offerings, for food, for reputation, for belovedness and for all good things. Her form shall exceed that of the gods in her great honor of king!'' There is some ambiguity here as far as Khnum's role is concerned: keeping his role in the "nursery" in mind, Khnum's statement is not necessarily concerned with creation, but rather with shaping the child whose creation was certainly not his responsibility. He promises to do his job for all good things he expects to receive - a kind of early reference to tuition payments. Khnum goes immediately to work and in the company of Heqat, whom we have met at Rudjedet's delivery as midwife, we find him at the potter's wheel with two identical figurines on it. One is presumably the person, the other its ka, though no specification is provided. This notion of a double nature evolved in the Fifth Dynasty impressively demonstrated by a group statuette of Nywoser-re'. 21 It is a reflection of the two-nature doctrine promulgated at this time, which distinguishes between the physical and metaphysical nature of a king." Khnum accompanies his potting with the words, "/ shall myself shape you in these limbs for the god residing at Karnak." All these preparations having been made, it was obviously time, to inform the young lady of her prospects. It is the role of Thoth to announce to her, ls A. Badawi, Der Göll Chnum, Berlin 1937, pp. 52ff. Adm. 2, 4 bemoans n kd.n hnmw mc shrw, "Khnum cannot build due to the conditions. " '* Sethe, Urk IV 387, 10 = A. H. Gardiner, Davies Copy of the great Speos Artcmidos Inscription, JEA 32 (1946), p. 47. •'" K. Sethe in: L. Borchardt, Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahu-re //, Leipzig 1913, pp. 94, 132. ! ' D. Wildling, Ni-useer-Re. Sonnenkönig - Sonnengott, SAS 1, München 1984. " Sec H. Goedicke, Die Stellung des Königs im Alten Reich, ÄA 2, Wiesbaden 1960, pp. 87-93.
