HKB
full study of the text with discussion and glossary, has been followed here; while the interpretation of Maspero has also been kept in view in the rendering of obscure passages.
Unhappily the opening of this tale is lost, and I have therefore restored it by a recital of the circumstances which are referred to in what remains. Nothing has been introduced which is not necessarily involved or stated in the existing text. The limit of this restoration is marked by ]; the papyrus beginning with the words, "It is you who are not dealing rightly with me."
The construction is complicated by the mixture of times and persons; and we must remember that it was written in the Ptolemaic period concerning an age long past. It stood to the author much as Tennyson's "Harold" stands to us, referring to an historical age, without too strict a tie to facts and details. Five different acts, as we may call them, succeed one another. In the first act--which is entirely lost, and here only outlined--the circumstances which led Setna of the XIXth Dynasty to search for the magic book must have been related. In the second act Ahura recites the long history of herself and family, to deter Setna from his purpose. This act is a complete tale by itself, and belongs to a time some generations before Setna; it is here supposed to belong to the time of Amenhotep III., in the details of costume adopted for illustration. The third act is Setna's struggle as a rival magician to Na-nefer-ka-ptah, from which he finally comes off victorious by his brother's use of a talisman, and so secures possession of the coveted magic book. The fourth act--which I have here only summarised--shows how Na-nefer-ka-ptah resorts to a bewitchment of Setna by a sprite, by subjection to whom he loses his magic power. The fifth act shows Setna as subjected to Na-nefer-ka-ptah, and ordered by him to bring the bodies of his wife and child to Memphis into his tomb.
While, therefore, the sentimental climax of the tale--the restoration of the unity of the family in one tomb--belongs to persons of the XVIIIth Dynasty, the action of the tale is entirely of the XIXth Dynasty, for what happened in the XVIIIth Dynasty (second act) is all related in the XIXth. And the actual composition of it belongs to Ptolemaic times, not only on the evidence of the manuscript, but also of the language; this being certified by the importance of Isis and Horus at Koptos, which is essentially a late worship there.
Turning now to the details, we may note that the statement that Setna Kha-em-uast was a son of User-maat-ra (or Ramessu II.) occurs in the fourth act which is here only summarised. Among the sons of Ramessu historically known, the Prince Kha-em-uast (or "Glory-in-Thebes") was the most important; he appears to have been the eldest son, exercising the highest offices during his father's life. That the succession fell on the thirteenth son, Mer-en-ptah, was doubtless due to the elder sons having died during the preternaturally long reign of Ramessu.
The other main personage here is Na-nefer-ka-ptah (or "Excellent is the ka of Ptah"), who is said to be the son of a King Mer-neb-ptah. No such name is known among historical kings; and it is probably a popular corruption or abbreviation. It was pronounced Minibptah, the r being dropped in early times. It would seem most like Mine-ptah or Mer-en-ptah, the son and successor of Ramessu II.; but as the date of Mer-neb-ptah is supposed to be some generations before that, such a supposition would involve a great confusion on the scribes' part. Another possibility is that it represents Amenhotep III., Neb-maat-ra-mer-ptah, pronounced as Nimu-rimiptah, which might be shortened to Neb-mer-ptah or Mer-neb-ptah. Such a time would well suit the tale, and that reign has been adopted here in fixing the style of the dress of Ahura and her family.