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 GENERAL LAYOUT 

The mastaba/chapel of Meryteti consists of five chambers, a burial shaft and burial chamber. Chamber C2 was almost certainly a storeroom, whilst C5 was the serdab. Chambers C1, C3 and C4 are decorated, the walls of the remainder were left blank. All decorated walls, with the exception of the false door in C3 (which is incised), are in raised relief; the quality of which was not the highest and actually declines with progress through the chambers (C4 being the worst). The thicknesses of the entry passageway from Mereruka's chamber A13, those of C1 to C3, and C3 to C4, are also decorated.
The false door of C3 was, and still remains, painted to represent red granite. This is also true of the ceilings of the three decorated passageways. Small patches of colour indicate that perhaps some of the major figures were originally painted. Most of the paint has long since disappeared. This creates a marked contrast between the highly coloured chambers of his father and those of these chambers.

The internal height of the ceiling is currently just over 4 metres. The decoration of most walls has not survived to full height, the best being the south wall and west (false door) wall of C3, where the decoration reaches to almost 4 metres. There is no painted dado area, as found in the chambers of Mereruka and Watetkhethor, but the lower area (approximately 1 metre in height) was left blank.
The east walls of C1, C3 and C4 all slope backwards, the top being further east than the base. This is an indication that the east wall was in fact the outer wall of Kagemni's mastaba, but was possibly re-faced before decoration. The degree of slope varies from chamber to chamber, and even within a chamber. In C4, the east wall not only slopes, but the north wall is shorter than the south wall. The slopes of the three chamber east walls and the C4 distortion can be easily seen in the view opposite, taken from the entrance to C1.
Although the original limestone paving of the floor is preserved throughout this chapel, the restoration of the edges, in the late 1800's, makes it impossible to locate the pivot holes for the actual doors at floor level. However, the upper ones still exist in the ceilings of the doorways (view C3 to C4).
Internally, the mastaba also has a large unused area, approximately two-thirds of its available space, located west of the chambers. This would have been filled with rubble and sand, up to the height of the exterior walls. It is within this space that the shaft leading to the burial chamber is located, in its north-east corner. The burial chamber was left undecorated.

 ENTRANCE TO CHAMBER C1 

The entrance to the first chamber of Meryteti's chapel was made by creating an opening into the eastern end of the north wall of A13, Mereruka's (his father's) large pillared hall. The passageway was designed to take a door at the C1 end, and as such is widened at that end. It is 0.75m wide, 0.72m deep (along its length) and 2.00m high and widens to 1.04m width, a further 0.72m deep and 2.13m high. A hole was cut in the ceiling of the east side to take the door pivot. Due to the slope of the eastern wall, the bottom of the east side of the entrance is level with the bottom of the wall, whilst the top is 0.15m clear of it.
The ceilings of both areas were painted to resemble red granite; the colour has survived (view C1 entrance). Both side walls, at the A13 end, were identically decorated as mirror images in raised relief. No colour has survived, even assuming that any was originally applied. They show the figure of the deceased striding out of his chapel complex. He wears a curly shoulder-length wig, a beard, collar, sash and a projecting kilt. In his hands he holds his staff of office and a sceptre. In front of him, two vertical columns of text starting: "Inspector of priests and guards of the pyramid of Mery-Re (i.e. Pepy I)", followed by several other titles. Each column ends with his name of "Meryteti". Strangely, these occurrences of the name show no signs of having been changed.

 CHAMBER C1 

This chamber measures 2.37m north-south and 2.70m east-west. The maximum surviving height (3.48m) of its decoration is on the south wall. All the walls have been sculpted in raised relief.

The entry from from A13 is at the eastern end of the south wall, the entry to C2 is at the southern end of its west wall, the exit to C3 at the eastern end of the north wall.

The artistic content of the walls follows two separate routes: anticlockwise, with the east then north walls; clockwise, starting with the south wall then onto the west wall. The journeys culminate at the north-west corner, where two images of Meryteti stand back to back (see corner view).

  With the description of the three main chambers, sketches (as below) are provided in order to see the overall surviving content of the walls, their general content and connectivity with the adjoining chambers. The bottom area (approx. 1 metre) remained undecorated, unlike this area in the chapel areas of Mereruka and Watetkhethor.
Clicking on areas within the sketch views will provide a more detailed line drawing. In two cases greater detail can be obtained by clicking the green rectangle (when present).
The line drawings are also available at the start of the description of each individual wall, with the exception of the first one described, which can easily be obtained from the full wall plan.

It should also be pointed out that not all of the texts translations are included below, but that the "ACE" publication contains full translations and transliterations of all the hieroglyphic texts in the chapel.
 
 


The walls of chamber C1

The east wall :
This wall starts the anticlockwise journey of this chamber. This is the first wall, on the right, after entering Meryteti's chapel.
It is effectively subdivided into three themes. The upper area of the wall shows a palanquin with two occupants; the lower area consists of two sections, to the right (two-thirds) is represented a poultry farm, the left third is the presentation of various animals.

The upper area, of which only the small lower part has survived, shows people holding hands, being transported in a palanquin (see line drawing), borne by twelve men (three pairs at the front and three at the rear) and accompanied by three guards (two at the front and one at the rear). With no identifying text, the identity of the two has been a point of conjecture. Nims considered these to be Meryteti and his wife, however, the one kneeling wears a kilt, so presumably he is male. This therefore leads to the conclusion that they could be Mereruka and a young Meryteti. This is further confirmed by the fact that on the north wall (next in anticlockwise direction) the palanquin only has one occupant, a youthful Meryteti. Prof. Kanawati also points out that this wall was probably the first to be decorated when his father started the extension, at which time Meryteti would have been quite young. Could this and the north wall represent Meryteti's journey to manhood, as seen at the far end of the north wall?

The lower right area shows various aspects of poultry farming. With the exception of the right-hand side of the bottom register, it is very well preserved.
In the upper area, a construction is represented on the right supported by columns with lotiform capitols. Under this kiosk, two servants throw the grain to the fowl, the inscription in front of them says: "throwing barley to the birds". Behind them there are two scribes provided with their instruments and two servants who advance with their arms crossed. In front of them is an enclosed area (see line drawing), this probably represents a farm yard. A the middle of this is a smaller rectangular area, this time representing a pond. The whole enclosure is packed with poultry, feeding from the corn scattered on the ground, or swimming in the pond.
Beneath the enclosure and construction are three more registers (see line drawing). The first (lowest) register is dedicated to the raising of the cranes. A sort of mash is prepared for the young which is cooked and with which they are crammed. To the right, a man carrying a sack on his shoulders throws grain to the adult birds. In the second and third registers, above, is found the same operation but this time it is geese. The exceptions might be the birds to the right of the top register, which appear to pigeons.

The lower left area has five superimposed registers. Each register shows two animals accompanied by either two or three men. These wear either short or projecting kilts; only one (located at the front of the next to bottom register) wears the kilt usually associated with a master drover. He is described and named as "the ka-servant, the overseer of the house, Merinen". All other animals are have a decorative scarf around their neck, with the exception of those in the next to the top register. The animals in the registers are, starting from the top: (1) a gazelle and a Nubian ibex, (2) two Scimitar-horned oryxes, (3 and 4)  two oxen, each labelled "young ox", (5) a "young addax" and a "young female gazelle". Only the oxen are lead by a rope, all the others are held by their horns and muzzle.

The north wall : (line drawing)
At the eastern end of this wall is the entrance to chamber C3 (see entrances from C1 to C4 (via C3)). For most of its length it has survived to nearly its full height, missing only the kheker frieze.
This wall continues the anticlockwise journey towards Meryteti's adult figure, which stands at its western end.
Effectively divided into two areas: the eastern upper two thirds being another scene of a palanquin, with the remainder being Meryteti and five registers in the lower area between C3 entry and the tomb owner.

The upper eastern area is taken up with Meryteti squatting in a palanquin carried by twelve pairs of men (see line drawing). These are preceded by an overseer, who holds his staff of office, a man carrying two containers and a dwarf. Meryteti is portrayed with the sidelock of youth. The inscription leaves no doubt as to who this is: "The hereditary prince, Meri, his eldest son of his body, his beloved, the sole companion, the inspector of priests of the pyramid of Pepy (I), Meryteti"; though there remains part of an earlier inscription which would indicate that it may have originally said: "King's eldest son of his body". Above the deceased is a canopy decorated by a double row of ornaments. Meryteti holds in his hands a cane and a fly swatter. His escort is composed of fourteen men walking with their arms crossed, supervised by a man holding a large stick and a large vessel in his raised left hand. The men of the top row are all identified as "servants of the ka" , priests whose task is to serve the spirit of the deceased.
Preceding this scene, but part of it, are four short superimposed registers, each with two porters, carrying a variety of items.

At the western end, with his back to his other image on the west wall, Meryteti is accompanied by the diminutive figure of his wife, Nebet, at his feet. They watch the provisions which are brought to him.
Meryteti, holding his long staff of office in one hand and a sceptre in the other, wears a shoulder-length wig and a projecting kilt. Around his neck he has a broad necklace, on his right wrist he wears a bracelet. He stands bare-footed. Above him are seven columns and two short lines of text. These begin: "Viewing the gifts which are brought for him from his estates and from his towns of the Delta and the South", these are followed with some of his titles then his name. The two horizontal lines and the end of the seventh column were probably the result of the second change of ownership, the restoration to Meryteti. The texts extend to the surviving upper limit of the wall, only the upper part of the latter four columns are missing.
His wife wears a tight fitting dress with shoulder straps. She has a short hair style, where normally a long one would have been expected. With one hand at her side, she holds a lotus flower to her nostrils. Her text identifies her as "His wife, his beloved, the honoured one, the royal acquaintance, the priestess of Hathor, lady of the shrine of the sycamore, Nebet" (see detailed view).

In front of them, the five lower registers are filled with offering bearers, bringing geese and the animals for the butcher's shop. The leading offering bearers of the bottom two rows (see line drawing) are identified as, at the bottom, "servant of the ka and scribe, Iqeri" and above as "servant of the ka, overseer of the house, Merinen".

The south wall : (line drawing)
This wall, which has at its eastern end the entrance from chamber A13, has nearly survived to its full height at the east end, only missing the kheker frieze. The action, and that of the following west wall, processes in a clockwise direction. At the west end Meryteti faces the entrance of the chapel, with his eldest son at his feet, in front of them are ten registers of offering bearers.

Meryteti, holding his long staff of office in one hand and a sceptre in the other, wears a short wig, large necklace an amulet suspended around his neck; he also wears a projecting kilt. Above him the seven columns (the tops of which are missing) and two horizontal lines of text declare "[…] which are brought for him from his estate and from his towns.", following which is a list of some of his titles and his name. As on the north wall the last column and horizontal lines are the changes.
His son, who stands at his feet at a much smaller scale, wears a shoulder-length wig and holds in one hand a goose and holds a lotus to his nose with the other. His identifying inscriptions (a horizontal line and a vertical one) have been altered. The upper horizontal line, almost totally destroyed, originally read: "His eldest son, the honoured one before his father.", The vertical line now reads: "The senior lector priest, Ihyemsaef." (see detailed view).

Of the five long upper registers (the bottom five being shorter due the presence of the entry into the chamber), the top three contain 16 offering bearers, the next two have 15 in each. The right-hand end of the upper register and part of the one below is missing. Of the shorter lower five registers, the top three contain 6 offering bearers, the bottom two have 5 each. The food and drink which is brought towards the deceased consist of the usual cuts of meat, loaves of bread, vegetables and flowers, and a variety of vessels. There is a large proportion of fish and live geese, especially in the lower five registers. Only in the small surviving right-hand end of the second register from the top, can a live animal (a calf) be seen. In spite of the large number of fish shown in the registers, there is no fishing scene in Meryteti's chapel, unlike those seen in his father and mother's chapels.
Only one piece of text exists in the registers, this is the name of the first porter of the second register from the bottom; his name is "Webenu" (see detailed view).

The west wall : (line drawing)
This wall contains the entrance passageway to chamber C2, located towards the southern (left-hand) end. See below for details of the passage and the chamber.
The upper third of the decorated area of this wall is lost, though what remains would indicate that this upper portion was an independent scene. From the content of the upper area of the facing east wall and that of its adjoining north wall, it is possible that it may have contained a representation of (a young) Meryteti in a palanquin. The overall design of the surviving portion is that of the owner viewing a desert hunt and receiving the presentation of the captured animals. These scenes are divided into two regions: those to the left of the entrance to C2 plus those immediately above it, and those on the northern half of the wall; a gap having been inserted to separate the two groups.

At the right-hand (north) side of the wall stands Meryteti. He is dressed in a similar fashion to his representations on the other two walls, but this time he leans on his staff, which his son holds with his right hand and rests his left hand at its top. The major differences in his appearance are that he now has a tightly curled wig on which he wears a head-band with a long streamer and he has sandals on his feet. He wears a bracelet on his left wrist.
This time meryteti is accompanied by presumably his son Ihy, although he is not identified as his son, just as the "lector priest" (view detail). Ihy holds his father's staff with his right hand, his left hand he holds to his right shoulder. He wears a short wig, projecting kilt and a broad necklace.
Above Meryteti are, once more, seven columns and two horizontal lines of text, which provide a list of 21 of his titles followed by his name. The two horizontal lines and the end of the seventh column are once again probably the result of the second change of ownership.

Behind him are seven registers containing a total of fifteen men, none of whom carry any form of object. Several hold either one or both arms across their chest. These are presumably the escort of Meryteti. Only two are identified: "The scribe, Ikhi" and "The palace guard, Webenu"; could he be the same person identified on the south wall?

In front of him, on the right-hand side of the wall, are seven superimposed scenes. With the exception of one register, they all represent servants bringing antelopes and different species of gazelles. The third register from the top, different to the others, shows four men, the first of whom presents an account of the hunt to Meryteti, he is "The scribe, wab-priest of the 200 of the palace, Ihy". In the three bottom registers the animals are identified (downwards) as: "a young Nubian ibex", "a young female gazelle" and "a young Nubian ibex".

Above the entrance to chamber C2 are five registers of bas-reliefs.
In the first register a man holds a greyhound on a leash, he calls and gestures to another hound which seizes the head of an antelope by its curved horns. Three other antelopes stand side by side; a dog springs onto the back of an antelope with straight horns. Two gazelles, an ibex and two hedgehogs are represented above.
In the second register a hunter has lassoed an antelope with straight horns, while another with curved horns is pulled onto the ground and bitten by nine dogs.
In the third register a fox eats an antelope and a lion devours an ox. Meanwhile, three gazelles and two foxes walk peacefully.
In the fourth register is represented the hunting of antelopes. A dog springs onto one of them, while a man throws some sticks at another.
In the fifth register a hunter is surrounded by gazelles, he has some small ones which he carries in cages suspended on a yoke across his shoulders.
To the left of the entrance to C2, are two superimposed registers each containing a individual animal.

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