Stela of Sakherty, Overseer of the Treasury

I gave water to the thirsty and clothes to the naked, and I never did harm to anyone. That is how Sakherty, an overseer of the treasury early in the 12th Dynasty, sums up his life in the lines carved across the top of this stone. Egyptian officials had been describing themselves in very similar words for centuries, and he also calls himself a man who did what people loved and what pleased the gods. Below, the stone shows the people who would keep his memory. In the top band two couples sit facing each other across a single offering table, mirror images on chairs with lion's feet, each wife with an arm around her husband's shoulder. Underneath, relatives walk in procession with birds and lotus flowers, and in the bottom band six women and a man bring baskets, boxes and jars. The figures in the top band stand out in raised relief, the rest are cut into the stone, and traces of red, green, yellow and blue paint survive. Among the goods set out for the dead are two mirrors, each tucked into a basket.