Organization of private cult

NOTES ON MTN

◉ Thanks to his biographical inscription, MTn is the first Egyptian whose individuality is not hidden from us and some of whose psychological characteristics can be traced. MTn who lived under Snefru and died either in his last years or in the very beginning of the reign of Khufu was a modest provincial administrator in the Delta, but thanks to his virtues he was favoured by the king and managed to become a rich landowner. His pride of a self made man may be a reason of composing his biographic inscription with royal decrees in his favor incorporated into it. On the other hand, it seems that Snefru highly rated the services of the administrators of the Delta that was a quickly developing region in his time, the tomb of MTn being the most evident sign of his appreciation. We know MTn’s contemporary PH(.j)-r-nfr who also served in the Delta and had a decorated tomb in the capital region, which makes it possible to regard local administrators of the Delta as an important social phenomenon of the reign of Snefru and to suppose that the traditional good reputation of Snefru was (at least partly) based on his respect for worthy people of lower position. The offering formula of MTn is another phenomenon of interest. On the one hand, it was a sign of king’s gratitude, but, on the other hand, MTn included a record of pr.t-xrw offerings delivered from his estates into it. Since his domain was in the Delta, this delivery was a fi ction created by him to show his importance and prosperity – another gesture of a self made man.

Les portraits des souverains lagides illustrent parfaitement le phénomène inouï de profusion des images royales à l’époque hellénistique. Confectionnés dans des matériaux divers et selon des techniques variées, les effigies de ces rois apparaissent en effet sur des supports multiples aux dimensions différentes. Parmi ces formes de portrait, le portrait en terre cuite, spécifique, retient l’attention. Moins connu que les images fabriquées dans des matériaux précieux, il nous per- met de nous interroger sur l’existence de représentations destinées, a priori, au plus grand nombre. Les effigies en terre cuite étaient-elles largement diffusées dans le royaume ? On pourra apporter des éléments de réponse en considérant le corpus rassemblé, l’iconographie adoptée pour représenter les reines et les rois, et les lieux de découverte de ces portraits d’argile en évoquant notamment le matériel coroplathique mis au jour sur des sites localisés dans le Delta et le Fayoum.