MacaristER—On a Funereal Cone. 27 
The inscription on this second cone is in vertical columns, separated 
by raised lines, while that in the cone of User-ha is in transverse lines. 
There are six such columns; but unfortunately the face of the cone 
has been so much worn that only two of these, the fourth and fifth, 
are in fair preservation; while in the others only a few individual 
characters, here and there, are at all distinguishable. In the first 
column, the first pair of characters are quite obliterated, and the third 
group is very much effaced, but seems to read ‘‘ma-tef hotep,” 
followed by ‘‘an.”’ The first is probably part of the name of the An, 
or scribe. 
The second line begins with five illegible characters, followed by 
““S.” Then come three more defaced signs, followed by ‘‘ mer-t.” 
This line is uninteiligible. The third column is little more distinct, 
and has had its first character broken, but I think it to be ‘as,” 
followed by ‘‘ar. suten heq * * * nes pe-hat’’: ‘‘ Osiris, King, 
ruling—belonging to the treasure-house.”’ ; 
The fourth column is perfectly distinct, except as to its last 
character, and reads ‘“‘Neb ta-ta Taharga mayeru ra mes (set?)”: 
“Lord of both lands, Tirhaka the blessed (or justified), born of the 
Sun.” If the last character, which is very much blurred, be the 
syllable ‘‘set,” it may mean ‘“‘nourisher,” but I am very doubtful of it. 
The fifth column is only partly legible, and reads ‘‘ mayeru ar ta 
neb per tes-het *”’: ‘‘The justified son of the Lord of the house, 
binding in the place of *.” The last column begins with the word 
= per-t-*,”’ 2.¢. “corn.” 
The cone seems thus a record of a scribe in the days of Tirhakah, 
who was son of the overseer of the granaries. The king’s name 
settles its date, and adds much to its interest ; for such cones are most 
common at the beginning of the New Empire, especially during the 
18th Dynasty. They become much fewer towards the 20th Dynasty, 
and are rarely to be met with after the accession of the Saites. This 
cone, dating as it does from the last reign of the 25th Dynasty, 
is thus interesting on account of the comparative rarity of similar 
monuments. 
Tirhakah the MTP sy of 2 Kings xix. 9, is the Teapywy of 
Strabo (xv. 1, 6), aes that geographer describes as the greatest 
conqueror of "the Ancient World. He is called in the Bible King 
of U9; and from the monuments found of his reign at El Berkel 
we can identify that district as, at least, a part of his Ethiopian 
territory. That he was King of Eeypt as ‘well, and regarded by the 
inhabitants of the Thebaid as a lawful king, not an usurper, is shown 
by his name not having been effaced from his monuments, by the 
title, “‘ Neb Ta Ta, mayxeru ra mes,” given on this cone, as well as 
by the contemporary testimony of the Assyrian Record, that he was 
besought by the Egyptians to resume the government after his defeat 
by Assurbanipal. 3 
3G. Smith, Assyria from the Earliest Times, p. 140. 
