Resumen de Harkhuf’s Autobiographical Inscriptions: a Study in Old Kingdom Monumental Rhetoric
Harkhuf ’s facade, inscribed with diverse types of texts, is a unitary composition. The complex layout on the facade contributes to the rhetoric of the inscriptions. The facade inscribes royal agency in a southern place far away from the Memphite center. Patterns of motion, out of the Valley and back to the Residence, are emphasized spatially on the facade. Along with an episodic narrative mode in the event autobiography, the king’s speech in the royal letter sets Harkhuf and his monument as examples for posterity. As other facades subsequently inscribed at Qubbet el-Hawa (Pepiankh-Heqaib I and Sabni son of Mekhu) demonstrate, the example was emulated indeed.Part II. The inscribed facade: 4. Verbal rhetoric: the facade as a unitary inscription; 5. Inscriptional layout on the facade; 6. The inscription as an event; 7. Harkhuf ’s reception and emulation in inscribed facades at Qubbet al-Hawa
