Step 6 of 11

Oh, all people!

The last part of Sehetepibreankh’s text contains a lovely formula generally referred to as an ‘appeal to the living’:

Oh, all people, all ka-priests, all scribes, all lector priests! May you all say: an offering which the king gives for the ka of the overseer of the storehouse Sehetepibreankh, true of voice, lord of reverence.

In this piece of text, Sehetepibreankh is asking the people who pass by his stela, which was probably set up along Osiris’ procession road, to make an invocation offering for him. In ancient Egyptian thought, depicting something, or speaking it, would already make it real through the power of magic. In this way, the people walking by his stela could contribute to his blessed afterlife. Abydos, and especially this procession road, was an important place and attracted pilgrims from all over Egypt. It would have been quite a busy area, especially during festivals: the perfect place to set up a stela. Formulas like the appeal to the living teach us that stelae were not just passive objects standing by the side of the road, but were actually meant for people to interact with, and as such were an important part of the landscape. See: Olabarria, L., ‘Coming to terms with stelae: a performative approach to memorial stelae and chapels of Abydos in the Middle Kingdom’, in Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur 49 (2019).

Because of the importance of being supplied with offerings and being remembered, this ‘appeal to the living’ formula is found often on ancient Egyptian monuments like stelae or tombs. They can be very elaborate, and can contain multiple types of requests. The request for the passers-by to speak an invocation offering seems to be among the most frequent, but others include requests not to harm their tomb, for specific priests to recite certain invocations, for people to remember the name of the deceased, or for specific offerings to be brought. See: Shubert, S., Those who (still) live on earth: a study of the ancient Egyptian appeal to the living texts (Toronto, 2007).

This example is quite concise. In his request, Sehetepibreankh addresses a few groups of people specifically. Of the most importance are the ka-priests, who were responsible for the proper execution of the funerary cult, and the lector priests, who would recite spells and incantations during funerals and other events. These two groups of people were thus of vital importance for a good life in the afterlife of the deceased. Reason enough to address them directly on your stela.