General Djehuty’s Gold Cup, 1455 BCE

 

As a reward for his exploits in Palestine around 1455 BCE, Tuthmosis III presented General Djehuty with this gold cup, which is now in the Louvre. According to an Egyptian folk tale, Djehuty had captured the town of Joppa (modern Jaffa) by concealing his soldiers inside earthenware jars. The Arabian Nights tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” was no doubt based on the same story.

The text engraved around the rim of the bowl from right to left is worded as follows- “Granted by royal favor of Menkheperre (Tuthmosis III), King of Upper and Lower Egypt, to his excellency the noble, father of the god, beloved of the god, man of confidence of the king in all foreign lands and on the islands amid the sea, he who fills the stores with lapis lazuli, silver and gold, the general, the favorite of the perfect god, he who was created by the Lord of the Two Lands, the royal scribe Djehuty, acquitted.”

Vercoutter, Jean, The Search For Ancient Egypt. New York- Abrams, 1992.

Malek, Jaromir, Egypt 4000 Years of Art. London- Phaidon Press, Ltd., 2003.

The Louvre

General Djehuty’s Gold Cup

By Mbzt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64962081

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