Schott: Mortuary chapel of the Mayor Paser at M.H.

SAOC 30. 

Wall Scenes from the Mortuary Chapel of the Mayor Paser at Medinet Habu. 

By Siegfried Schott. 

Translated By Elizabeth B. Hauser. 

Originally published in 1957

During the Oriental Institute's excavations at Medinet Habu, sandstone blocks carved with scenes for the mortuary cult of an official of the court of Ramses III were found in the Western Fortified Gate, where they had been reused as floor slabs in tombs which were built after the destruction of the gate. In the inscriptions on these blocks the official is called "mayor of the city," more exactly, "mayor of the Southern City," that is, Thebes, and he bears the name Paser, "the official," an old word designating a high office. These blocks were parts of built-up walls and thus cannot be assigned to any of the rock tombs of the Theban necropolis. The relief blocks found in the Western Fortified Gate include parts of at least three walls and of other architectural elements. Two of the partly preserved walls can be assigned to a chapel of the mayor Paser because his name occurs on them. Fragments of the frieze of a third wall of Paser belong possibly with the remains of a third group of scenes. All the registers of the partly preserved walls can be reconstructed sufficiently for an analysis of their themes.