Unpublished False Door preserved in Marsa Matruh’s Museum

Abstract

This article concerns a discovered inscribed limestone false door at Dahshur, preserved and displayed in the Marsa Matruh Museum. The false door is dated to the Old Kingdom. The false door is described, the scenes are explained, and the texts are translated. The false door is dated according to its owner's name and offers a formula, architectural features, and decoration.

The functions of the Old Kingdom False doors are essential funerary equipment for the private tombs of the Egyptian elite. There are two major religious roles of false doors that have been defined: firstly, as connecting doors; and secondly, as the focus for the presentation of offerings for the deceased. False doors performed roles that were focused on the living when they offered prayers and sacrifices to the dead and their kin. The literary evidence makes it abundantly evident that the living and the dead created a bond based on the "do ut des" principle, a bond in which the false doors were pivotal.

The false door was believed to be a threshold in ancient Egypt, where spirits resided, and the world of deities separated from the world of mortals. Via the false door or by accepting offerings, the deity might communicate with the realm of the living. One of the most noticeable features of tomb complexes is frequently false entrances; these were typically positioned in the offering chamber, which is located on the chapel's western side.

False doors were usually made of limestone, although some members of the aristocracy with close ties to the king had pink granite ones instead. There were instances when a limestone false-door stela was painted a variegated pink color to mimic pink granite.