The Ceiling Inscriptions of the Transverse Hall of TT 84 in their Spatial-Material Context, Part I: The Bands Inscribed in Two Stages

The present paper represents the first part of a detailed, multidimensional analysis of the six long ceiling bands of the transverse hall of Theban tomb no. 84 (TT 84), a tomb originally built for Iamunedjeh, first royal herald under the reign of Thutmose III. It offers a new edition of the inscriptions in the west and east bands of the south wing as well as in the east band of the north wing and reveals epigraphic and compositional evidence that speaks for a double-stage execution of these ceiling bands. The study examines the clues that shed light on the strong intertextual relations between these inscriptions and the ceiling texts of several other early and mid-18th-Dynasty Theban tombs—TT 82, TT 18, TT 99, and TT 96A in particular. This case study—together with its forthcoming second part—highlights the importance of complementing philological investigations with the analysis of the spatial-material and socio-cultural contexts when studying ancient Egyptian texts.