Scarab Inscribed with the Name and Titles of a Priest named Re

The three signs in the upper right corner specify that this scarab is inscribed for a ‘first prophet’, a title referring to a high-ranking priestly official. The most prominent element is the cartouche on the right, encompassing hieroglyphs that form the name Menkheperre, the throne name of Thutmose III (Dynasty 18, ca. 1479-1425 B.C.). They complete the priest’s title, indicating that the scarab belongs to a high priest of a temple dedicated to (the cult of) pharaoh Thutmose III.

The word for praised is written in the upper left corner, followed by the name of Amun, specifying that the priest is also ‘praised of Amun’.

The lower left part of the composition shows a grouping of signs rarely encountered on scarabs but known, for instance, from inscriptions on sculptures, tomb walls and funerary cones, where it refers to the Henket-ankh, the Egyptian name of one of Thutmose’s mortuary temples. The Heneket-ankh (literally ‘offering-life’) of Thutmose III is located at el-Qurna on the Theban West bank.

At the bottom, four hieroglyphs form the name of the priest in question, namely Re. Under the coregency of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II and/or during the early reign of Amenhotep II, a priest bearing the title ‘first prophet of Amun and Menkheperre in the Heneket-ankh’ with the name Re is known. He was buried in the Theban necropolis (TT72). This is the only scarab known to date for this particular individual.




Vanessa Boschloos (Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Research Fellow) and Niv Allon (Associate Curator, Department of Egyptian Art), 2018.

Hm nTr tpy n mn-xpr-ra Hs.y n jmn m Hnk.t-anx ra

The first prophet of Menkheperre, praised of Amun, in the Heneket-ankh, Re.

Formerly in the collection of the Reverend Chauncey Murch (died 1907). Collected between 1883 and 1906 while Murch was a missionary in Egypt. Collection purchased by the Museum from the Murch family with funds provided by Helen Miller Gould, 1910.