THE BILINGUAL DECREES OF PHILAE. 83 
FESTIVALS COMMEMORATING THE VICTORY—continued. 

HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT. DEMOTIC TEXT. 
15d . 
ome: | mrt!) n_- n-st hr I) os a ae 
His Majesty], a Lover of the King, about who [is of the friends of the king(?) about the 
meee, | n{y|w,s pi- : 2(?)s? [s?] [32 ]s(?) 
[the commander of horse, Aristo]nios, the [son] of | commander of horse], [Aristoni]g(!)os son of 
rge r2h 
[][rw]s|[d];zygw(?)[s] _ [hr?] mh(?)t | _rynygs 
Aristonikos, [about?]' the capture(?) Aristonikos 
n(??) [sb]’w nw  btnw 
of the (most) wicked (one)? of the rebel(s), 
Iga 
h‘ (bd) III smw hrw [XXIV] Oe ioe eee te Ee, 
and the rith month (Epiphi), day, [24] before [the king, and the 24th day of the 11th 
15f 
| — [r]dt(?) ym(y)[n]ws* nty eo Rs. ae — sb} 
(when) caused’ [this Strateglumenos, who (is) month,® there was captured the] enemy,’ 
16a 
’‘m|wt] ’m(yw)—’d | [tp n hm-f pr-—— n—m-f mh(t?)-f [n—m-—f?] ‘nh. 
among the Friends, [the First ones of His Majesty? | (of) theking onit, he took(?) [him ?} alive. 
a ] hm-f m—wt(!) mf 
that enemy of?]? His Majesty tobecaptured on it® 
"Reading thus, I must admit difficulties of the group explained as mlit-n, “‘to seize, to capture.” (Only at 
is certain; against mlt=Coptic amahte, “to seize,’ speaks the absence of the determinative.) The sign mh is low 
(like az). But » (for classical m) is very questionable; we must prefer to see the broads or sb’ in that horizontal line 
above, because there is no trace of a high s below. It seems that this preposition n, m has been omitted by mis- 
take, since intentional omission would be unusual and strange. I find, however, no other explanation. M zt 
for the correct m 2d, ‘“‘saying, thus,” is much less plausible. 
* The adjective receives superlative sense by the following genitive, as often in Egyptian and in other lan- 
guages (above all the Semitic). In our text we may have, however, merely an archaistic phrase taken from ancient 
literature with little or no understanding, which might mean also “the wickedness of the rebels.” 
® The small w looks also like a small nw=n. Cp. 4e. Hardly a proper name. 
*This most probable restoration can not consider the apparent tail of a sign hanging down behind. This 
looks like the tail of mh, so that we should have the verb mht, amahte, of the preceding note in normal orthog- 
raphy, ‘‘(when) seized N. N.”’ The only explanation of such a strange doublet with the verb “‘be captured”’ 
following below would be a grave stylistic negligence resulting from a hasty correction of the text. As we have 
similar confusion in the parallel demotic passage, we could explain that stylistic blunder as a later attempt to 
minimize somewhat the personal merit of the general Aristonios after he had lost favor with the king. Such 
an explanation would be more plausible than a simple stylistic improvement producing the doublet (substitut- 
ing archaic }m for modern mh, mht). However, we better abstain from building too much on a small stroke, 
knowing how much we have to expect blunders of the engraver. A space shows that a preposition has been 
effaced and that the following name is not the subject of the verb “‘to report.” 
5 The large space warns against connecting the group, “‘His Majesty,” directly with “‘first friends,’ tempt- 
ing as this seems after 4/. 
® The “‘on it’’ points back to a preceding, supplied relative, so that we obtain, more freely translated, “the 
day on which N. N. caused to be captured,” etc. (Less probable, as object of the verb.) 
7 Preserved either —gs(/), or —w(?)s preceded by ¢ or g (or parts of a round n?). 
8 In demotic this restoration requires very little space. 
* Or wicked, impious, against the king. 
” Only the /-circle and the vertical dash for the ‘nh-ideogram seem fairly certain. The group before the 
vertical line of the palimpsestic text seems to contain an —f in ligature, which makes us think of a verb followed by 
the suffix —f as subject or object, but this does not admit any certain reading. 
