Amunuser

Amunuser in hieroglyphics
18th dynasty	Amunuser (Amun user) Jmn wsr The strength / power of Amun

Amunuser , also Useramun , (* around 1515 BC; † around 1449 BC), officiated in the 18th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ) under Thutmose III. as well as Hatshepsut as a vizier and held the honorary title of city ​​governor. In his first grave ( TT61 ) in the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna necropolis , Amunuser appears with his abbreviated name User .

family

Amunuser's father was also a vizier and was named Ahmose, but was mostly mentioned by the nickname Aametju . His mother was a certain Ahhotep. To all appearances, had Useramen Related to the under I. Amenhotep and Thutmose I. reigning Turi, Viceroy of Kush .

Amunuser had twelve children with his wife Tjuju, who was only referred to as the landlady:

• Sons: Merimaat ( Second Prophet of Amun ), Samenchet (successor as scribe of Amun's treasure of God ), Amenemhet ( Wab priest ), Meri ( Wab priest ) and Userhat (untitled)
• Daughters: Baket ( Amun's chorus ), the other six daughters are not mentioned.

activities

Under Thutmose I, Amunuser held the office of scribe of the divine treasure in the temple of Amun and was appointed on 1st Achet I (August 13th) 1475 BC. In the fifth year of Thutmose III's reign. appointed vizier. Two texts by the royal papyrus Turin and an inscription from his second grave ( TT131 ) mention the fact that he was circumcised 30 years ago when he was appointed vizier . His birth therefore fell in the tenth year of Amenhotep I's reign.

When appointed vizier, Amunuser received the additional title Medu-jau and initially exercised the office with his father Ahmose. Since there is no evidence of any joint representations of Ahmose and Amunuser, he will have assumed the office alone a short time later. It is significant that he was not mentioned as the highest-ranking official in the construction of the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut , the point expedition , the Sedfest of Hatshepsut and their erection of the two obelisks in Karnak . This fact is so noticeable because lower-ranking officials were named at those solemn events. It is therefore surprising that Amunuser describes himself in his burial chamber as a man with royal rights that seem to go beyond the rank of Senenmut .

In contrast to Senenmut and the high priest Hapuseneb , who, as high officials in the final years of Hatshepsut's reign, no longer exercised their offices, Amunuser survived their death. He then took over the office of asset manager of the temple of Amun , which Senenmut had previously held and was combined with the office of vizier after the death of Hatshepsut. The last time Amunuser's name was on a stele was in the 28th year of Thutmose III's reign. occupied. Since his nephew Rechmire is named as a vizier six years later , Amunuser must have died shortly after the 28th year of reign.

Tombs

Amunuser had a two-part tomb complex ( TT61 and TT131), which was common for high officials at the time. The burial chamber of TT61 was painted with religious texts . There are also fragments of Amnunuser's book of the dead . An inscription by his closest colleague Amenemhet as Amunuser's head of the vizier and corn clerk of the temple of Amun shows that the large and splendid grave with painted walls and a coffin was in a higher mountain location.

The Egyptologist Wolfgang Helck therefore suspects that this name refers to the grave TT61, especially since Amunuser's later title Asset Manager of Amun was only mentioned in the lower grave TT131 and therefore TT131 probably represented the grave built later. Grave goods, such as the Book of the Dead, were found in TT61, in which Amunuser was presumably buried. In this context, it also remains unclear from which location Amunuser's mummy could have been abducted.

See also

• List of viziers of ancient Egypt

literature

• Erik Hornung : The burial chamber of Vezirs User. In: News from the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. Philological-historical class. Vol. 5, 1961, ISSN  0065-5287 , pp. 99-120.
• Eberhard Dziobek: The graves of Vezir User-Amun. Thebes No. 61 and 131 (= Archaeological Publications. Vol. 84). von Zabern, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-8053-1495-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erik Hornung: The burial chamber of Vezirs User. 1961, p. 99.
2. ↑ According to Thomas Schneider's dating for Thutmose II ; Erik Hornung: The burial chamber of Vezirs User. 1961, p. 116.
3. ↑ Irmtraut Munro : The Book of the Dead Papyrus des Vezires (Wsr-Jmn). In: Göttinger Miszellen (GM). Vol. 116, 1990, pp. 73-95.