Psusennes I (Ancient Egyptian: pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-njwt; Greek Ψουσέννης) was the third pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty who ruled from Tanis between 1047 and 1001 BC. Among the most extraordinary findings about Psusennes was his relocation from the metropolis of Pi-Ramesse to Tanis. Pi-Ramesse was the fabled riverside capital built by Rameses II. Its location had puzzled archaeologists for years until Montet discovered its ruins in Tanis. His tomb is the only pharaonic tomb ever found completely unscathed by any tomb-robbing!

Montet with Psusennes I at various stages of the excavation. Photos from

This Golden Amulet with its mysterious “Two Mistresses (Ladies) is another riddle from the Wonder of Egypt. However, the story of its discovery is also fascinating, which we can read in this brilliant reportage by Marie Grillot with heartfelt thanks.

This golden amulet of the “Two Mistresses” was sewn to the shroud of Psusennes I

via égyptophile

The death of Ramses XI, marking the end of the “ramesside” era, plunges the Kingdom of the Two Lands into an unstable political succession. At the beginning of the “Third Intermediate Period”, two “entities” govern it: in the South, in Thebes, the High Priests of Amun, while in the Delta, in Tanis, the “Tanite” kings settle. This line is founded by Smendès, who will reign for a quarter of a century and will briefly be succeeded by Amenemnisout. Then, the “Maât” seems to be back… “The arrival of Psusennes I at the head of Egypt, around 1039, marked the triumph of the strategy of Pinedjem I who, relying on the temple of Amun of Thebes, had succeeded in giving his son the crown of the North. His family now held the whole country…” (Damien Agut, Juan Carlos Moreno-Garcia, “The Egypt of the Pharaohs – from Narmer to Diocletian”).

During this 47-year reign, Psusennes I innovated by having a tomb “prepared for himself and his relatives within the very enclosure of the temple of Amun” (“Pharaonic Egypt”)…

When he died, around 989 BC, his mummy was placed there in a silver sarcophagus in his image, which itself was placed in an anthropomorphic black granite sarcophagus, all resting in an imposing pink granite tank … It will remain there for more than 2900 years…

In March 1939, Pierre Montet and his team detected the existence of a room, unexplored, in the tomb of Sheshonq… The constraints inherent in the Second World War will involve a long wait before prospecting… It will not be opened until February 16 1940. “Ah, here he is, at last, this pharaoh whose presence so many clues announced to Tanis! His name is there with his titulature and protocol, all intact. Psusennes means ‘The star which rises from the city’, and his banner name recalls that he is ‘Valiant bull by the gift of Amon, the opulent who appears in Thebes'” recounts Georges Goyon in “The Discovery of the Treasures of Tanis”.

He rested in “a deep room of pink Aswan granite”, surrounded by an exceptionally rich funerary treasure.

This tiny gold amulet, part of a series of ten, was sewn to the royal shroud. 3.6 cm high and 4 cm wide, it is certainly not one of the most sumptuous pieces… but its “symbolism” is strong.

It is a wide necklace of the “usekh” type, equipped with a counterweight. The central motif represents the two tutelary goddesses of the Double Country: “The vulture-cobra group treated as a single being,” analyses Pierre Montet.

The vulture represents the goddess Nekhbet, originating from the city of Upper Egypt, which, in antiquity, bore her name and, today, is called El Kab. “Mistress of the sky, protective goddess of Upper Egypt and of the Pharaoh”; this divinity is very present in the iconography.

As for the cobra, it is associated with Wadjet, the tutelary goddess of Lower Egypt, originating from a district of Buto. “Originally, she is essentially a deity of the fertility of the soil and the waters and her name puts her in close relation with greenery and regeneration. However, her particular form and role as protector of the Delta, of the monarchy of the North, quickly caused its assimilation to the uraeus,” specifies Isabelle Franco in her “Dictionary of Egyptian Mythology”.

Thus, the cobra and the vulture symbolise the sovereign’s power over the Two Lands. Images of the unification of the kingdom: “Their heads were often placed side by side on the front of headdresses worn by kings on state occasions and on the headdresses of their statues and other depictions”.

Through this small amulet, called the “Two Mistresses”, by sharing the wings of one and the same bird, “the two deities extend their protection over the sovereign and the royalty,” specifies Christiane Ziegler in “Pharaohs”.

In “The Gold of the Pharaohs – 2500 years of goldsmithing in ancient Egypt” focuses more particularly on the technique of “chiselling” used by the goldsmith who made it: “Cut in a thin sheet of n gold, this amulet features a cobra and a vulture with wings spread in an arc. The raptor’s plumage and the details of the reptile’s body are chiselled with infinite delicacy on this jewel, which does not exceed 4 centimetres wide. Chasing consists of tracing a hollow decoration, no doubt indicated beforehand, using a chisel struck by any mass. The presence of the marks of blows can recognise this technique”.

This “Two Mistresses” amulet was recorded in the Cairo Museum Entry Journal JE 85815.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Pierre Montet, Tanis – Twelve years of excavations in a forgotten capital of the Egyptian Delta, 1942

Montet Pierre, The royal necropolis of Tanis according to recent discoveries. In: Minutes of the sessions of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, 89th year, N. 4, 1945. pp. 504-517

Montet, Pierre, 1 Construction and the tomb of Psousennes in Tanis (1951) https://archive.org/stream/Montet1951/Montet%2C%20Pierre%20-%201%20Les%20constructions%20et%20le%20tombeau%20de%20Psousennes%20à%20Tanis%20%281951%29%20LR_djvu.txt

Pierre Montet, The Enigmas of Tanis, In Syria. Volume 29 issue 3-4, 1952. pp. 361-362 https://www.persee.fr/doc/syria_0039-7946_1952_num_29_3_4794_t1_0361_0000_2

Georges Goyon, The discovery of the treasures of Tanis, Pygmalion, 1987

Tanis the gold of the pharaohs, catalogue of the exhibition Paris, National Galleries of the Grand Palais, March 26 – July 20, 1987

Henri Stierlin, Christiane Ziegler, Tanis Treasures of the Pharaohs, Seuil, 1987

Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, Ancient Egypt and its gods, 2007

Isabelle Franco, Dictionary of Egyptian Mythology, 2013

Pharaons – Catalog of the exhibition presented at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris, from October 15, 2004 to April 10, 2005

The Gold of the Pharaohs – 2500 years of goldsmithing in ancient Egypt, Catalog of the 2018 summer exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, Christiane Ziegler

Damien Agut, Juan Carlos Moreno-Garcia, The Egypt of the Pharaohs – from Narmer, 3150 BC. AD to Diocletian, 284 AD. AD, Belin, 2016

Pierre Tallet, Frédéric Payraudeau, Chloé Ragazzolli, Claire Somaglino, Pharaonic Egypt, history, society, culture, Armand Colin, 2019

Posted May 17 by Marie Grillot
Labels: amulet Lower Egypt Bouto cobra two mistresses Two Lands Double Country El Kab expo Ramses II 2023 Goyon Upper Egypt la Villette Montet Nekhbet NRT III Wadjet Psousennes I Tanis vulture