TD18-1

La gran estela de la esfingede Amenofis II

Texto jeroglífico: Urkunden IV, 1276 - 1283Traducción: AEL II, 39 - 43

1. (1) The living Horus: Strong Bull, Great in vigor;

2.Two Ladies: Rich in splendor, Arisen in Thebes;

3.Gold-Horus: Who conquers all lands by his might;

4.The King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Aakheprure; the Son of Re: Amenhotep, Divine Ruler of On.

5.The son of Amun who raised him for himself;

6.The offspring of Harakhti. Shinig seed of the god’s body;

7. (2) Whose being Neith fashioned.

8.Whom the most ancient god engendered, so that he would take the rule which he has taken.

9.Himself he [i.e. Amen-Re] crowned him king upon the throne of the living.

10.Gave him the Black Land as his retinue, the Red Land as his serfs;

11. (3) Bestowed on him a heritage forever, a kingship for all time.

12.He gave to him the throne of Geb, the mighty rulership of Atum,

13.The Two Lords’ portions, the Two Ladies’ shares, their years of life and dominion.

14.He placed his daughter [i.e. Maat] upon his breast,

15.He fastened the uraeus upon his head,

16.He crushed the Bowmen under his feet.

17. (4) The northerners bow to his might, all countries are under his fear.

18. He [i.e. the king] bound the heads of the Nine Bows, he holds the Two Lands in his hand;

19.The people are in dread of him,

20.All the gods have love for him.

21. (5) [Amun] himself made him rule what his eye encircles, what the disk of Re illuminates;

22.He has taken all of Egypt,

23.South and North are in his care.

24.The Red Land brings him its dues,

25.All countries have his protection;

26.His borders reach the rim of heaven,

27.The lands are in his hand in a single knot.

28.Risen as king upon the great throne,

29. (6) He has joined the Great Magicians [ i.e. the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt];

30.The double-crown clings to his head, Re’s atef-crown to his brow.

31.His face is adorned with southcrown and northcrown,

32.He wears the headband and the helmet;

33.The tall-plumed ibes-crown is on his head,

34. (7) The headcloth embraces his shoulders.

35.Gathered are the crowns of Atum,

36.Handed over to his image, as ordained by the maker of the gods, [Amun], the most ancient, who crowned him.

37.He commanded him to conquer all lands without fail,

38.The son of Re, Amenhotep, Divine Ruler of On,

39.Re’s heir, [Amun’s son],

40. (8) shining seed,

41.Divine flesh’s holy egg,

42.of noble mien.

43.Come from the womb he wore the crown,

44.Conquered the earth while yet in the egg;

45.Egypt is his,

46.no one rebels, in all that Amun’s eye lights up.

47. (9) The strength of Mont is in his limbs,

48.In power he equals the son of Nut;

49.He has joined the reed to the papyrus,

50.People north and south are under his feet.

51.His portion is that on which Re shines,

52.To him belongs what Ocean encircles;

53.There is no hindrance to his envoy, Throughout all countries of the Fenkhu [a syrian people].

54. (10) To the pillars of Horus [i.e. under the sky] he has no peer,

55.He is not hemmed in by other people;

56.The southerners come to him bowed down, the northerners on their bellies.

57.He has gathered them all into his fist,

58. (11) His mace has crashed upon their heads, as [Amen]-Re-Atum, Lord of Gods, has decreed,

59.He seized the lands in triumph once and for all.

60.Now then his majesty appeared as king [as corregent; see JEA 51 (1956), 107ss.] as a beautiful youth

61.who was well developed

62.and had completed eighteen years upon his thighs in strength.

63. (12) He was one who knew all the works of Mont;

64.he had no equal on the field of battle.

65.He was one who knew horses;

66.there was not his like in this numerous army.

67.Not one among them could draw his bow;

68.he could not be approached in running.

69. (13) Strong of arms, untiring

70.when he took the oar,

71.he rowed at the stern of his falcon-boat as the stroke-oar [cf. Westcar 5, 15] for two hundred men.

72.Pausing after they had rowed half a mile,

73. (14) they were weak, limp in body,

74.and breathless,

75.while his majesty was strong under his oar of twenty cubits in length.

76.He stopped and landed his falcon-boat

77.only after he had done three miles of rowing

78. (15) without interrupting his stroke.

79.Faces shone as they saw him do this.

80.He drew three hundred strong bows,

81.comparing the workmanship of the men who had crafted them, so as to tell the unskilled from the skilled.

82. (16) He also came to do the following which is brought to your attention.

83.Entering his northern garden,

84.he found erected for him four targets of Asiatic copper, of one palm in thickness,

85.with a distance of twenty cubits between one post and the next.

86. (17) Then his majesty appeared on the chariot like Mont in his might.

87.He drew his bow

88.while holding four arrows together in his fist.

89.Thus he rode northward shooting at them, like Mont in his panoply,

90.each arrow coming out at the back of its target

91.while he attacked the next post.

92. (18) It was a deed never yet done,

93.never yet heard reported:

94.shooting an arrow at a target of copper,

95.so that it came out of it and dropped to the ground

96.-(done) only by the King rich in glory, whom [Amun] made strong, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Aakheprure,

97.a fighter like Mont.

98. (19) Now when he was still a youth,

99.he loved his horses

100.and rejoiced in them.

101.He was stout-hearted in working them,

102.learning their natures,

103.skilled in training them,

104.understanding their ways.

105. (20) When it was heard in the palace by his father, the Horus, Strong-Bull Arisen-in-Thebes,

106.his majesty’s heart was glad to hear it.

107.Rejoicing at what was said of his eldest son

108.he said in his heart:

109.“He will make a ruler of the whole land whom no one can attack.

110. (21) He is eager to excel and rejoices in strength

111.while as yet a charming youth without wisdom.

112.Though not yet at the age to do the work of Mont,

113.he ignores the thirst of the body

114.and loves strength.

115.It is the god who inspires him to act, so as to become the protector of Egypt,

116. (22) the ruler of the land.”

117.His majesty said to those at his side:

118.“Let him be given the very best horses from my majesty’s stable

119.in Memphis

120.and tell him:

121.‘Look after them, master them, trot them, and manage them

122.if they resist you.’”

123. (23) Then the king’s son was told to look after some horses of the king’s stable.

124.He did what he was told,

125.and Reshef and Astarte [the warlike Syrian gods] rejoiced over him as he did all that his heart desired.

126. (24) He raised horses that were unequaled.

127.They did not tire when he held the reins;

128.they did not drip sweat in the gallop.

129.He would yoke (them) with the harness at Memphis

130. (25) and would stop at the resting place of Harmakhis.

131.He would spend time there leading them around

132.and observing the excellence of the resting-place of Kings Khufu and Khafra, the justified.

133.His heart desired to make their names live.

134. (26) But he kept it to himself until there would occur what his father Re had ordained for him.1

135.After this his majesty was made to appear as king;

136.the uraeus took its place on his brow;

137.the image of Re was established on its post.

138.The land, as before, was in peace under its lord, Aakheprure,

139. (27) who ruled the Two Lands, while all foreign countries were bound under his soles.

140.Then his majesty remembered the place

141.where he had enjoyed himself, in the vicinity of the pyramids and of Harmakhis.

142.One [ i.e. the King] ordered to make a resting-place there

143.and to place a stela of limestone in it,

144.its face engraved with the great name of Aakheprure, beloved of Harmakhis, given life forever.

1 I.e. when he would be king