56 Rev. Edward Hincks on the Egyptian Stele or Tablet. 



Roman. I do not think that any other inference can be safely drawn from the 

 names of deities introduced. 



5, The mode of writing Pente-pamente, a common title of Osiris, which 

 occurs very frequently in A, furnishes more than one criterion. The use of a 

 nose (the old Egyptian name of which was Phente) for the former part of this 

 title was not introduced till the latter part of the eighteenth dynasty; and it is, 

 of course, a proof that the tablet on which it occurs is not of very great anti- 

 quity. In the most ancient tablets, but not in them exclusively, this is written 



/WV TTT 



PNT 



which is often reduced by abbreviation to the first character, a combination of 

 water jars ; either alone or with the small semicircle, which so commonly accom- 

 panies a single character when It stands for an entire word. The use of the 

 square for P in this word is, comparatively speaking, modern. 



6. The absence of a bird from the usual group representing Amente, whether 

 in this title or elsewhere, is a proof that the tablet is not more ancient than the 

 middle of the eighteenth dynasty. Anciently, the group without the bird, or 

 the single character to which it was frequently reduced, signified " the west ;" 

 and the bird restricted the signification to "the divine west," or "the west of 

 souls," that is, the Amente or Hades. About the middle of the eighteenth 

 dynasty the bird was omitted. I have observed that, during a short interval of 

 time previous to its omission, it had the usual sign of the plural number annexed 

 to it. Should the word Amente occur on any tablet In that particular form, I 

 should scarcely hesitate as to its being of the reign of Amenothph II., or one of 

 his immediate predecessors or successors. 



7. The omission of the connecting verb between A and B Is, I think, a 

 positive proof that the tablet is very ancient. We must not, however, conclude, 

 that the insertion of the verb is a proof of the contrary ; as it is found in tablets 

 of the earliest age. The fact seems to be, that so long as the initial characters 

 were grouped in ihQ primitive manner (see 1), they might be translated in two 

 ways ; either " an act of homage for bounty to A," in which case the verb and 

 pronoun were required before B; or "an act of homage ; A has given," in which 



