The Digital Library Of Inscriptions and Calligraphies

Ceremonial dagger of Ahmose I

General Information

The inscription ends in very fine decorative motifs: on one side a lion pursues a calf in a rocky landscape, followed by a row of four grasshoppers and the head of an animal. The other side shows a floral design crowned with a jackal's head. This decoration in gold thread, like the hieroglyphs, is backed by a band of black enamel.

Number	JE 4666
Storing Place	Egyptian museum - Cairo - Egypt
Material	Gold and semiprecious stones
Type	Hunting or warfare equipment
Type of Script	Hieroglyphic
Discovery Place	Dra'a Abu El-Naga - Luxor - Egypt
Historical Period	The Eighteenth Dynasty – The New Kingdom

General Comments

Being a gift for his mother Ahhotep, this dagger was inscribed on the two faces of the gold blade with the name and epithets of King Ahmose the First. The total length is 28.5 cm.

Inscriptions on the Monument

The text

Transliteration

( If the Hieroglyphic,Demotic or Hieratic text is not appearing clear, install this file )

sA ra n Xt.f IaH ms(.w) di anx mi ra Dt

Translation

Son of Ra, from his body Ahmose given like Re forever.

Scientific Publishing

H. Stierlin, The Gold of the Pharaohs, (Paris, 1997), 112-113.

I. Shaw, The Oxford history of ancient Egypt, (Oxford , 2003),193.

L. Cottrell, The warrior Pharaohs, (Evans Bros, 1968), 67.