Merit by Proxy: The Biographies of the Dwarf Djeho and His Patron Tjaiharpta
The Thirtieth Dynasty biography and figure caption on the sarcophagus of the dwarf Djeho (Cairo CG 29307) and a passage from the sarcophagus of the high official Tjaiharpta (CG 29306) are presented in annotated translation. Djeho's longer text appears unique in being concerned more with the other-worldly destiny of another person, Tjaiharpta, than with Djeho himself. The two similar hard-stone sarcophagi were buried in a single tomb near the Sarapieion road at Saqqara, together with at least seven other people. The presentation of one person's merits through another is probably connected with Djeho's role in dancing at the mortuary ceremonies of the Apis and Mnevis bulls. Among other questions, the find raises issues of royal and non-royal patronage, of the location of tombs, the placing of biographies on sarcophagi, the use of intermediaries before the gods, and the implications of Tjaiharpta's partial deference to Djeho in relation to general conceptions of the person.