The Polychrome Hieroglyph Research Project

Université Libre de Bruxelles - Faculté de Philosophie et Sciences sociales

This page displays details of the selected Monument. Click on the Monument number to list all individual signs ("occurrences") recorded from that object or structure.

Mon. 40


Monument : Menna TT.69
Period : Dynasty XVIII
Reign(s) : Thutmose IV
High Date : 1400
Low Date : 1390
Monument type : Private Tomb
Localisation or provenance : Sheikh Abd el-Gurna
References : PM I, 1, 134-139; Photos Nunn.

Menna was “Scribe of the fields of the Lord of the Two Lands”. This tomb is justifiably famous for its remarkable wall paintings depicting life in the fields, on the Nile, hunting in the marshes etc. Unfortunately, some of the polychrome hieroglyphs have not survived so well. Blue and green are sometimes difficult to differentiate and yellow has on occasion almost faded to white. However, there is one prestigious inscription on a yellow background that has conserved both colour and detail to a remarkable degree. This is a picture of Osiris-Wennefer in a booth with an accompanying caption (PM I, 1, 135, 3).