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Egypt Exploration Society

The Owner of Tomb No. 282 in the Theban Necropolis Author(s): Labib Habachi Source: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 54 (Aug., 1968), pp. 107-113 Published by: Egypt Exploration Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3855913 . Accessed: 23/06/2011 05:40
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THE OWNER OF TOMB No. 282 IN

THE THEBAN NECROPOLIS


By LABIB HABACHI

ONE of the many profitable results of Professor Cerny s visits to the University of Philadelphia in recent years has been the realization of the scheme initiated by Mr. David O'Connor to publish the score of tombs cleared by ClarenceFisher at Dra' Abu el-Naga more than forty-five years ago. At the time only brief descriptions of their decorations were made' and a preliminary report of some of them published.2 The new work of recording, study, and publication was entrusted to Mr. Lanny Bell, a promising Egyptologist from Philadelphia,and he began his work early in I967 under the supervision of Professor Cerny who at that time was simultaneously engaged in recording for UNESCO, with the collaboration of the Centre of Documentation, hieratic graffiti in the area of the Theban Necropolis.
I By chance some time ago I became interested in Tomb no. 282, one of the tombs

partly cleared by Fisher,3 for the reason that the owner occupied an important post
in Nubia during the Ramesside Period. The interest of Professor Cerny in tombs of the Ramesside Period in the Theban Necropolis is demonstrated by his numerous

importantwritings on these tombs, and it is a pleasure for the present author to write, on the occasion of Cerny's seventieth birthday, about the owner of Tomb 282 who, as will emerge, apparentlywas quite different from the one proposed by Fisher. It has to be said at the beginning that the decorationof the tomb is neither clear nor important. The tomb is cut in a part of the cliffs where the rock is of very poor quality. Big breaks and irregularitiesin the walls were packed with stones and bricks, and the whole covered with a layer of mud, above which a coating of stucco was applied to receive the painted decorations.4Some parts of this surface have fallen down, and on the surviving parts the representationsand texts have now faded so much as hardly to be traced. During my visit to the United States in 1965-6, I was able to visit the University Museum, Philadelphia,and to examine the field-recordsmade by Greenlees at the time of the discovery of the tomb. I am grateful to David O'Connorfor enabling
I The cleared tombs are nos. 35, 156-60, 282-9 and 300-7. Short descriptions of their scenes appeared for

the first time in Porter and Moss, Top. Bibl. I, 2nd edition. 2 Only one article was published by Fisher, in which our tomb was spoken of more than the others, see Pennsylvania MuseumJournal 15 (1924), 35 ff. Only one tomb (no. 158) has subsequently been fully published, in K. Seele, The Tomb of Tjanefer at Thebes. 3 Fisher, op. cit. 35, says that the tomb was lying open; he cleared only the court and the burial chamber. 4 Ibid. 38.

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LABIB HABACHI

me to make this examination, and also for providing me later with a copy of these records. They proved useful for my studies, but not to the extent I had hoped, for they show clearly how even at the time of discovery the inscriptions were almost as illegible

as they are now. The tomb-chapel is cut in the usual form of the letter T; it is ^ *
P'yam' preceded by a court with walls built of sun-dried bricks, having d a huge gatewayor pylon at its entrance.I At both sides of the Hall :6 ,

.":. ...
", !',

: -.. .
32

1
FIG. I.

and at the far end of the Chapel are big niches which formerly held pair-statues representing, most probably, the owner of the tomb and his wife. Above the Chapel was a pyramid, and from the passage in the Chapel opens a corridorleading to the subterranean burial chamber in which were found two sarcophagi of red granite and traces of wooden coffins. A stela, the present location of which is unknown, stood in the centre of the south side of the court. It bore a representationof the owner offering to Osiris and a long inscription below.2 Here we reproduce (in fig. I) the plan of the tomb given in
Porter and Moss, Topographical Bibliography, I2, i, 356, and give

a short summary of the scenes numbered as on the plan:3


I. Text over the lost figures of the deceased and his wife; deceased in kiosk in the ceremony of

2. 3. 4. 5.

openingthe mouth. Deceasedand [wife] before [Osiris]. Deceased. Deceasedand wife adoringThoth. Deceasedpurified,then introducedby Anubis to the presenceof [Osiris]. with figure(?)inside, (f) a man(?)adoring.

6. Six scenes: (a) deceased worshipping [Osiris], (b) deceased and wife before two shrines, each containing two crouching deities, (c) wife worshipping an unknown deity, (d) wife, (e) shrine 7. Six scenes: (a) table of offerings, (b) destroyed, (c) deceased standing with staff in hand, (d) Horus followed by deceased and wife before an offering table, (e) deceased and wife

the the approaching tomb, (f) Thoth approaching tomb. 8. A list of offeringswhich must have had a figureof the deceasedopposite. 9. Tympanumand double-scenewith deceasedofferingto Osiris.4

Such are the scenes left in the tomb; none can be consideredto be of any importance, while no text can be followed with certainty. In many places the name is inscribed
simply as Nakhte, but in some cases this element is preceded by some unclear signs which form part of the full name. According to Fisher and Greenlees the owner was Hekanakhte who became viceroy of Kush under Ramesses II. The surviving titles attributed to him in the tomb are:
I. Royal scribe. 2. Fan-bearer on the rzghtof the king.
2 Ibid. 36. 3 For the description of the scenes see pp. 364 f. In preparing the descriptions of these scenes, now much more faded than when they were discovered, we were much helped by the field-notes of Greenlees, now in the University Museum.

I Ibid. 35.

THE OWNER OF TOMB No. 282


3. Overseerof the Southern Lands. 4. Head of bowmen,varied occasionally by head of the bowmenof Kush.I

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But was Hekanakhtethe head of the bowmen of Kush before he was promoted to the important post of Viceroy? It is recorded of hardly any viceroy that he held an inferior rank in the land of Kush before he assumed his functions as head of the whole district.2 Furthermore, viceroys usually retained one or more of the titles they held previously elsewhere; but none of the titles known to have been held by H.ekanakhte

N
.-I

a.
FIG. 2.

reveals that he had a military career like the owner of this tomb.3 It may also be noted that if the viceroy Hekanakhte had come originally from Thebes, he might be expected to have held one or more titles connecting him with the great capital or its main divinity; such was not the case.4 On the contrary the titles of the owner of our tomb fit well with those of a certain Anhernakhte who has left three rock-inscriptions on Siheil Island which clearly demonstrate his connexion with the land of Nubia. These inscriptions read:
I. Fan-bearer on the right of the king, head of bowmenand overseer of Southern Lands, Anhernakhte,justified (pl. XVII, 2 and fig. 2, a).5 2. Fan-bearer on the right of the king, head of bowmenand overseerof the lands of gold of Amun

in Nubia, Anhernakhte (fig. 2, b). 3. Fan-bearer on the right of the king and head of the bowmen of Kush, Anhernakhte,justified (fig. 2, c).6
and titles see Fisher, op. cit. 36. The Top. Bibl. gives only the name Nakhte (p. 364). I For the name 2 It seems that these viceroys were chosen by the king from among those who gained his confidence, cf. Drioton and Vandier, L'Egypte (4th ed.), 463. 3 For the titles held by HIekanakhte see Reisner, 'The Viceroys of Ethiopia' in yEA 6, 40 f. 4 Among viceroys who came originally from Thebes and who held titles connecting them with its main divinity, the following can be mentioned: Seni, Amenhotpe, Merimose, Setau, and Herihor, see ibid. 82 f. s mrc hrw is written mir nfr in the original. 6 For these texts see ibid. 74 (v), and Porter and Moss, Top. Bibl. v, 25 .

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LABIB HABACHI

Thus three of the titles of the owner of Tomb 282 are found also in the inscriptions of Anhernakhte on Siheil Island. The fourth title-Royal scribe-may have been granted late in his career. The title overseerof the lands of gold of Amin in Nubia at Siheil, but not in the tomb, may have been present among the texts now lost. During a visit which I made to the tomb, I was able to check the name of the owner in several places. In the scene where Anubis is shown introducing the owner of the tomb to Osiris (at 5 on the plan), the name undoubtedly begins with the sign J (in).' This reading and the identity of the titles would justify the attribution of the tomb to the Anhernakhte of the graffiti of Siheil.

FIG. 3.

On the basis of its plan and type of decoration, the tomb has been dated to the Ramesside Period.2 Happily, a fourth inscription on Siheil Island in which Anhernakhte'sname occurs, permits us to establish more closely the period in which he lived. The inscription is made up of three horizontal lines completed by one vertical line on the (spectator's) left and another on the right (pl. XVII, 3 and fig. 3): a figureof Amiin wearing the crown with double plume and with the ws-sceptre in hand carved beside the last line seems to belong to the graffito.The text reads:
The head of the stable, Amenemope,son of the judge, the prophet of Amuin,Amenhotpe (2) of-thehe great-stable-of-Ramesses-Miamuin-of-the-Residence, is on a missionfor the Pharaoh, l.p.h. (3) to Kush, togetherwith the head of the bowmenof Kush, Anhernakhte,justified. (4) Born of the chantress Henutmeter.(5) Born of the chantressof Amufin, Tanedjmet.3 of Amufin,

Here we find Anhernakhte, bearing his main title, reported as accompanying the head of one of the stables of Ramesses II, Amenemope, the son of the prophet of
In Greenlees's notes the name here is copied as if beginning with 1, but as he found that many of the titles held by the owner were usually held by viceroys, his mind was directed to Hekanakhte. 2 So in Top. Bibl., but Fisher, op. cit. 36, fixes its date to the reign of Ramesses II without giving any
reason. 3 See Top. Bibl. V,
25I.

De Morgan, Cat. de mon. et inscr. I, gives the first four lines under no. 63 (p. 88)

and the fifth line with an inscription mentioning the first jubilee of Ramesses II celebrated by a governor of Elephantine. The line does not belong with this latter text; the two texts even overlap, which shows that they were carved on different occasions.

THE OWNER OF TOMB No. 282

III

Amun, Amenhotpe, and the chantressof Amun, Henutmeter. Both parentsareknown to us from Theban Tomb 158, the owner of which was Tjanefer, their son, who was a third prophet of Amiin, and also from Tomb 148, the owner of which was Amenemope, their grandson and a prophet of Amun. Both tombs lie in Dra' Abu el-Naga not far from our tomb.' The Amenemope of Siheil must therefore be the brother of Tjanefer and the uncle of the other Amenemope. In both tombs I58 and 148 our Amenemope is described as god'sfather and overseerof the cattle of the altar of Amun.2 These titles differ greatly from those in the Siheil graffitobut the identity of the parents and of their titles makes it extremely probable that he is the same Amenemope. If this is correct, then it is possible that Amenemope was charged with the work in the Temple of Amiin after having been released from his duties as head of one of the stables of Ramesses II. Tjanefer was born in the last years of Ramesses II and ended his life in the reign of Ramesses III.3 Amenemope, who seems to have been an elder brother,4must have assumed office, along with Anhernakhte, towards the end of the reign of Ramesses II, and continued during that of his successors. II In the ruins of the Temple of Horus of Micam at 'Aniba have been found many stelae of high officials of Nubia who lived during the Ramesside Period. The upper part of one of these, made of sandstone and measuring 27 cm. high and 29 cm. broad, carries two registers: in the upper is shown the sacred bark of Horus of Micam, the stern of which is in the form of a falcon crowned with the sun-disk; in front is the standard with a ram's head and the text, the standardof Amun,5 and behind comes a table laden with offerings. In the surviving part of the lower register is the upper part of a figure of a man accompanied by an inscription made up of vertical lines of text of which the first is in front of the man. Only the following words remain: made for the head of bowmen.. . .6 The name of the owner probably followed here, and of it there survive the upper parts of the sign A with which the name Anhernakhtebegins. If this is a correct reading then it is probable that our Anhernakhte dedicated a stela in honour of Horus of Micam in the course of one of his visits to the district. seems to have been a man of some imWhether this is true or not, Anihernakhte portance. His title head of the bowmenof Kush identifies him as the military chief of the district, while his other titles, listed above, were ones usually held by viceroys and rarely by lesser officials.7 In the Siheil graffitoof Amenemope and Anhernakhte,the mothers of both men are Her title indicates that named, Anhernakhte'sbeing the chantress Amun, Tanedjmet. of she was attached to the cult of Amfin, and therefore came originally from Thebes. Anhernakhte'sfather is not mentioned in the graffito,but in Tomb 282 (in 6(f)) there are traces of his name and titles: son of thejudge and head of the bowmen, (Min)-nakhte.
Seele, op. cit. 5 f. Amenhotpe in this text is taken by Lefebvre, Histoire des grands pretres, 252, as 'high priest of Amin'; the stroke being taken by him and others as tpy. Seele retains this opinion, op. cit. 5. 4 Ibid. 8. 2 Ibid. 8. 3 Ibid. 7. 5 p i?t n 'Imn. 6 Steindorff, Aniba, II, 26 (51) and pl. 12 (49). 7 For these titles held by viceroys see Reisner, op. cit. 77 f.; for the title overseerof the lands of gold of Amun, ibid. 79 f.

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LABIB HABACHI

The reading of the name and titles is confirmed by a loose fragment found by Greenlees in the tomb which is inscribed-[ovseerer] of the [Southern]Lands, Minnakhte.I Of this man an important inscription exists on the road between Philae and Aswan (fig. 4). There he is shown kneeling before Ramesses II who is seated on a throne under a sun-disk and identified by the inscription in front: Lord of the Two Lands Minnakhteis shown kneelRamessu-miamun. Usimarer-Setpenrer, lord of ceremonies (2)

FIG. 4.

his ing, holding the fan in his left hand and raising right hand towardshis sovereign in adoration. Two vertical lines of text, one before and one behind him, describe him as t fan-bearer the he on to king, (2) the king'smessenger everyforeign land, and head the bowmen Kush, Minnakhte.A copy of this inscriptionwas made by Petrie, who of of read the name as Dukhem,2 d a facsimile was made by Lepsius, who rendered the name correctly; this was exactly copied by De Morgan.3 In his enumeration of the heads of the bowmen of Kush Reisner gave a translation of this inscription reading the name as Min, though he refers to De Morgan's publication where the correct reading is given.4 Among the heads of bowmen given by Reisner is one named Pennesuttaui. He must have lived during the long reign of Ramesses II,s for his name is to be found on the strange monument of Amenemone in the Naples Museum, which bears the prenomen of that king, and, below it, the following text: heado the bowmen Kush, Pennesuttaui, of brotherof his father.6 The same man was buried in Theban Tomb I56 where he has the titles head of bowmen and overseerof the SouthernLands.7On the left thickness of the entranceto the shrine of this tomb, Pennesuttaui is shown with his daughter Bektwerner and his son Nakhtmin. Here the son has the title head of the stable of his the which indicates that he had a military career. Was he promoted later to the Majesty,8
In both cases the name of the actual owner cannot be read before that of Minnakhte. Perhaps the latter was his father-in-law, and not his father. 2 A Season in Egypt, pI. vi (146), where the copy is signed by Griffith who helped Petrie on this expedition. There the first and third titles are not correctly rendered. 3 Denkmaler, iii, 175 i; in ibid. Text, iv, 122, Lepsius made corrections to the facsimile. For De Morgan's copy from Lepsius see Cat. de mon. et inscr. I, 14 (65). 4 Op. cit. 76 (ix), where he gives a correct translation of the text. 5 Ibid. 74 (vi). 6 Thesaurus,953. For the tree of the family see Kees, Priestertum, 121 f. 7 Top. Bibl. 8 Ibid. 266. 1iz, 265 f.

THE OWNER OF TOMB No. 282

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post of his father? If this were the case, he would be the father of our Anhernakhte, and it would appear that three generations of the family succeeded each other as military chief of the land of Kush. In the tomb Anhernakhte'swife is shown in many places accompanyinghim. It is most probable that she was buried with him, since two sarcophagiwere found in the burial chamber. In the inscriptions her title is clearly chantressof Amun, but nowhere is her name clear. Greenlees seems to have seen the signs kr at the beginning of the name. These cannot now be distinguished, but there are traces of j -signs in some places; perhaps her name began with Anher like that of her husband.

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