R. A. Orekhov

Ob odnoi neobychnoi nadpisi, zainteresovavshei O. D. Berleva (po materialam arkhiva T. N. Savel'evoi) [One unusual inscription that interested O. D. Berlev (based on the archive of T. N. Savelieva)]

The fact that the epistolary legacy of T. N. Savelieva (CES RAS archive) contains several dozens of O. D. Berlev’s (1923–2000) letters, which are important for the history of Russian Oriental studies in general and Egyptology in particular, deserves the closest attention. The author of this paper focuses on one of these letters, in which O. D. Berlev asks Tatiana Nikolaevna to provide him with additional information about an inscription on the northern side of Menkaure’s pyramid. This inscription contained date of the king’s burial. But what caused O. D. Berlev’s interest in it? Unfortunately, this poorly preserved epigraphic source was not published immediately after its discovery in 1968. Having studied historiography and a number of photographic materials, the author of this paper comes to a conclusion that the scholar’s interest in the inscription primarily originated from the fact that it had been mentioned in the work of Diodorus Siculus (Diod. Sic. I, 64.9). In the last years of his life, the scholar understood that the information of ancient classical authors about Egypt deserved the closest attention, and the episode with the inscription in Menkaure’s pyramid only confirmed this assumption.

Keywords:
archive of T. N. Savelyeva, O. D. Berlev’s letters, date of Menkaure’s burial, pyramid of Menkaure.

Original language — Russian.

DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2023-00005.

Referring: R. A. Orekhov One unusual inscription that interested O. D. Berlev (based on the archive of T. N. Savelieva) [in Russian] // Egypt and neighbouring countries 2 (2023): 20–31. DOI: 10.24412/2686-9276-2023-00005.

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