LATE PERIOD, 25TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 747-656 B.C.

As the chief Lector-Priest, Petamenope was responsible for reading texts during funerary ceremonies, as well as for advising the king on the future. His tomb in the Assassif (no. 33), near Deir el-Bahari, is one of the largest and has been described in detail by Champollion. The surviving portion of this shabti is inscribed with four wraparound lines of hieroglyphs reading right to left, completely encircling the piece, reading, "Instructions of the Osiris, the Chief Lector Priest Petamenope, Justified. He says: O ye Shebty. If the Osiris, the Chief Lector Priest Petamenope , Justified, is called, (or) is counted, if the Osiris, the Chief Lector Priest Petamenope, Justified, is reckoned in order to do any work which is done there in the Necropolis, since... Behold, here he is, thus shall you say, [the Osiris, the Chief Lector Priest Petamenope, Justified] is counted...”

For the important official Petamenope, see C. Traunecker, “The ‘Funeral Palace’ of Padiamenope: Tomb, Place of Pilgrimage, and Library,” Chapter 10, pp. 205-234, of E. Pischikova, J. Budka and K. Griffin, eds., Thebes in the First Millennium BC, Newcastle.