Hi
Senatus,
I think the
inscription is a combination of two names; perhaps, one of the Rammesside kings and Amenhotep III or Amenhotep, son of Hapu.
Reading from left to right "User-Maat?-men - en - hotep - nb". User-maat-Ra is usually the beginning of a Rammesside king's name and "men-en-hotep" the end of a Amenhotep King's name. No one knows why but sometimes the ancient
Egyptian combined names and this scarab my be one of those. This is a
rare combination and I have not found a parallel in the books I checked.
For something vaguely similar, see: Hall, R. H.
Catalogue of
Egyptian Scarabs, Etc., in the British Museum, Volume I, Royal Scarabs,
London, 1913.: page 191, Number 1907. Yours has neither solar disk or feather. Hall writes "inscribed with the name of Amen-hetep (the son of Hapu?) or of Amen-hetep III, as "Ra-Amen-Hetep) confused with Amen-hotep III (the two are probably confused). XXVIth Dynasty"
I looked in some
other books and found nothing, they are
1. Downes, Dorothy. The Excavations at Esna 1905-1906, Warminster, Aris &
Phillips Ltd, 1974.
2.
Petrie, W.M.F.
Scarabs and Cylinders with Names, British School of Archaeology in
Egypt and
Egyptian Research Account 21st Year, 1915;
London, 1917.
3.
Petrie, W.M.F.
Historical Scarabs,
London, 1889.
4.
Petrie, W.M.F. Buttons and Design Scarabs, The British School of Archaeology in
Egypt,
London, 1925 (re-print by Aris &
Phillips Ltd., Warminster and Joel L.
Malter & Co.,
Inc., Encino, 1974)
I
hope this helps.
Russ
