Abstract

Chadwick formulated the hypothesis that the po-re-na were victims of human sacrifices, but this conjecture was rejected for some scholars. In this paper their possible functions are examined. It is proposed that the po-re-na were persons who carried gifts and assisted the priest at sacrifices. Possibly they wore a linen robe, maybe depicted by the ideogram *146, or a linen kilt, perhaps depicted by the ideogram *166+WE. Some po-re-na fastened their garments with a wool belt