Harchuf

Harchuf in hieroglyphics
Harchuf / Herchuf (Har-chuf / Her-chuf) Ḥr.w-ḫwj = f / ḫwj = f-ḥr.w Horus is his protector
Variant with person determinative
Variant with person determinative
Representation of Harchuf in his tomb in Qubbet el-Hawa

Harchuf (also Harkhuf , Herchuf , Hirchuf ) (around 2300 BC) was an Egyptian official, expedition leader and explorer . Among other things, he carried the titles of “Foremost an Action” ( ḥ3.tj-ˁ - Hatia ), “Royal Sealer”, “Reading Priest”, “Head of Foreign Speakers” and, at the end of his career, “Head of Upper Egypt”. His father was the "only friend" and "reading priest" Iri.

Around 2300 BC He undertook a total of four expeditions to the first Nile cataract in the land of Jam (southern Nubia ). On the first expedition he explored the route to Jam together with his father, on the third expedition he traveled to the western Sudanese desert. In the second year of the reign of King Pepi II , on his fourth expedition, Harchuf brought a dwarf of the god dancers with him from the land of the "horizon dwellers".

An inscription on his tomb on the Qubbet el-Hawa near Elephantine ( Aswan ) reports in detail about his expeditions and his life.

family

A total of three family members are named in Harchuf's grave. On the one hand, there is his father, Iri, who had the titles of “only friend” and “reading priest”. Harchuf's wife was Tepemnefret, with a beautiful name Tepi. She carried the titles of a "acquaintance of the king" (ie lady-in-waiting ) and a "servant of Hathor ". The couple's only child was their son Djemi, with a beautiful name Mesteni or Mesni. This bore the titles of “only friend”, “reading priest” and “head of foreign speakers”, which his father also owned.

title

Hieroglyphics	transcription	translation	Remarks
	ḥ3tj-ˁ	Count / Gaufürst
	jmj-r3 Šmˁw	Chief of Upper Egypt
	ḫtmw-bjtj	Keeper of the seals of the King of Lower Egypt	Third highest court rank title
	smr wˁtj	Only friend	already worn by his father
	ẖrj-ḥbt	Reading priest	already worn by his father
	jmj-js	The one in the palace
	jrj-nḫn	Guardian of Hierakonpolis
	ḥrj-tp nḫ	Head of el-Kab
	jmj-r3 ˁ3w	Head of Foreign Speakers / Mercenaries
	ḥrj-sšt3 n wḏt-mdw nbt nt tp-rsj	Privy councilor of all orders of the south
	jmj-jb nb = f	Confidante of his master
	jrj ḥsst n nb = f	He does what is praised by his Lord
	rḏj nrw Ḥrw m ḫ3swt	Who spreads the horror of Horus in the foreign lands
	jnj ḫrt ḫ3swt nb (wt) n nb = f	Who brings to his master all the products of foreign countries
( )	jnj jnw ẖkrt-nsw (m ḫ3swt nb (wt))	Who brings the tributes of the royal jewelery (from all foreign countries)
	jmj-r3 ḫ3swt nbwt nt rst	Governor of all southerners

Harchuf's travels

First journey

The report on the first trip is extremely brief. Harchuf and his father Iri were commissioned by King Merenre to explore the way into the land of Jam. The trip lasted a total of seven months. Harchuf brought many goods from Yam to Egypt and was highly praised for it.

Second trip

On the second voyage, Harchuf was in sole command. In his report he names numerous place names: He traveled on the Elephantine Way and on his way to Jam came through the countries of Irtjet, Mecher and Tereres, which were probably part of a political unit called Irtjet. On the way back he came to the court of the rulers of Setju and Irtjet. The journey lasted a total of eight months and numerous goods were brought to Egypt. In his report, Harchuf claims the fame that no expedition leader before him would have accomplished similar feats.

Third trip

The third trip is described in the most detailed way: The starting point is the 8th Upper Egyptian Gau . From there, Harchuf moved over the oasis path to the southwest, where he met the ruler of Jam, who was leading a campaign against Libyans . This event clearly delayed the expedition's schedule, as Harchuf sent one of his men and a subordinate of the ruler of Jam to the Egyptian royal court to report on the delay. This was followed by a barter between Harchuf and the ruler of Jam and Harchuf reached the area of ​​southern Irtjet and northern Setju on the way home. He crossed the area with a caravan of 300 donkeys loaded with incense, ebony, hknw oil and other things. He met again the ruler of Irtjet and Setju, who in the meantime had also brought the country of Wawat under his control. Since Harchuf had a strong army with him, which included troops from Jam, there were no hostile clashes. Instead, the ruler Harchuf gave cattle and safe conduct through his kingdom. On the way to the residence, Harchuf the official Chuni met with several ships.

Fourth trip

The fourth trip took place after Merenre's death, in the early reign of his successor Pepi II. There is no direct report on this. Instead, Harchuf had a letter from the young king copied on his tomb facade. This letter is dated to the 2nd year of reign, 3rd month of the Achet season, day 15. It is a reply to a report that Harchuf had sent to the king. In it, Pepi expresses his great joy that Harchuf is bringing a “dwarf of the god dances” to the court, as the expedition leader Bawerdjed had already done during the reign of Djedkare on a trip to Punt . He urges Harchuf to hurry and instructs him to keep watch over the dwarf so that he does not fall into the water while traveling on the Nile.

The tomb of Harchuf

Harchuf is the owner of tomb Q34n on Qubbet el-Hawa.

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  The tomb of Harchuf and other tombs on the Qubbet el-Hawa

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  The grave around 1890

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  Floor plan and cross section of the tomb

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  Representation of the Djemi at the sacrifice in front of his father; Harchuf's tomb

literature

To the grave

• Elmar Edel : The rock tomb necropolis of Qubbet el Hawa near Aswan / 1. Architecture, representations, texts, archaeological findings and finds from the graves. Written from the estate and edited. from Karl-J. Seyfried and Gerd Vieler. Schönringh, Paderborn 2008, ISBN 978-3-506-76343-3 .
• Jacques de Morgan : Catalog des monuments et inscriptions de l'Égypte antique. Volume 1, Vienna 1894, pp. 163-173.
• Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. V. Upper Egypt. Sites (Deir Rîfa to Aswân, excluding Thebes and the Temples of Abydos, Dendera, Esna, Edfu, Kôm Ombo and Philae) e. Clarendon, Oxford 1937, p. 236 ( PDF; 15.5 MB ).
• Ernesto Schiaparelli : Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia: con inscrizioni storiche e geografiche. Reale Accademia Dei Lincei, Rome 1892 ( online version ).

To the inscriptions

• James Henry Breasted : Ancient records of Egypt. Historical documents from the earliest times to the Persian conquest. Volume I: The first to seventeenth dynasties. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1906, §§ 325–336, 350–354 ( PDF; 12.0 MB ).
• Elmar Edel: Inscriptions of the Old Kingdom VI. The travel reports of the Hrw-hwjf (Herchuf). In: Otto Firchow (Ed.): Egyptological studies. Festschrift for H. Grapow on his 70th birthday (= publications by the Institute for Orient Research. Volume 29). Berlin 1955, pp. 51-75.
• Adolf Erman : To the inscription of the Ḥr-ḫwf In: Journal for Egyptian language and antiquity . Volume 30, 1892, pp. 78-83 ( PDF; 11.4 MB ).
• Jacques Guiter: Lettre de Pépy II à Herkhouf. In: Egypte. Afrique et Orient. Volume 7, 1997 pp. 16-21.
• Nicole Kloth: The (auto) biographical inscriptions of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (= Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture Supplement 8). Buske, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-87548-310-3 , pp. 24-25.
• Miriam Lichtheim : Ancient Egyptian Literature. Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 1973 (new edition 2006), pp. 23-27, ( limited online version ).
• Kurt Sethe (ed.): Documents of the Egyptian antiquity. Volume 1. Documents of the old empire. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1933, pp. 120-131 ( PDF; 10.6 MB ).

About geography

• Galina Belova: Egyptian and Nubian Lands in the Old Kingdom. In: Eleonora Y. Kormyschewa (Ed.): Ancient Egypt and Kush. In memoriam Mikhail A. Korostovtsev. Nauka, Moscow 1993, 35-65.
• David M. Dixon: The Land of Yam. In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology. Volume 44, 1958, pp. 40-55 ( PDF; 18.5 MB ).
• Elmar Edel: The country names of Lower Nubia and the expansion of the C group according to the travel reports of the ḥrw- = ḫwjf. In: Orientalia. Volume 36, 1967, pp. 153-158.
• Gerhard Fecht : The reports from ḥrw-ḫwj.f about his trip to J3m. In: M. Görg, Edgar Pusch (Hrsg.): Festschrift Elmar Edel (= Egypt and Old Testament. Volume 1). Bamberg 1979, pp. 105-134.
• Hans Goedicke : Harkhuf's Travels. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 40 (1), pp. 1-20.
• Gerald E. Kadish: Old Kingdom Egyptian Activity in Nubia: Some Reconsiderations. In: Journal of Egyptian Archeology. Volume 52, 1966, pp. 23-33.
• David B. O'Connor : The Locations of Yam and Kush and Their Historical Implications. In: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. Volume 23, 1986, pp. 27-50.
• Babacar Sall: Herkouf et le pays de Yam. In: ANKH. Revue d'égyptologie et des civilizations africaines. Volume 4/5, 1996, pp. 56-71.
• Torgny Säve-Söderbergh : Egypt and Nubia: A Contribution to the History of Ancient Egyptian Foreign Policy. Upsala 1941. 17-30.
• Eberhard Stechow : Did the ancient Egyptians' knowledge of the earth extend to the jungles of the Congo? In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen. Volume 92, 1948, pp. 181-183.
• Jean Vercoutter : La navigation au sud de la première cataracte. In: Egypte. Afrique et Orient. Volume 1, 1996 pp. 13-17.
• Jean Yoyotte : Pour une localization du pays de Iam. In: Bulletin de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale. Volume 52, 1953, pp. 173-178 ( online version ).

Others

• Elke Blumenthal : The text genre Expedition Report in Egypt. In: Jan Assmann , Erika Feucht, Reinhard Grieshammer (eds.): Questions to ancient Egyptian literature. Commemorative letter E. Otto. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1977, pp. 85-118.
• Joseph Clayton: A Misidentified Animal from the Autobiography of Harkhuf. In: Göttinger Miscellen . Volume 237, 2013, pp. 9-14.
• Veronique Dasen: Dwarfs in Ancient Egypt and Greece. Clarendon, Oxford 1993, ISBN 0-19-814699-X , pp. 25-30.
• Eckhard Eichler: Investigations into the king letters of the old empire. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture. Volume 18, 1991, pp. 141-171.
• Gabriele Pieke: The dwarf in the flat of the Old Kingdom. Master's thesis, Munich 1994.

Web links

Commons : Harchuf  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• manetho.de - Egypt and the Qubbet el Hawa

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ Inscriptions by ḫwj = f-ḥr.w on his grave across from Elephantine. In: Kurt Sethe (Hrsg.): Documents of the old empire. (Documents from ancient Egypt, volume 1) Hinrichs, Leipzig 1933 , pp. 120-131.
2. ^ Hermann Ranke: The Egyptian personal names. Volume I: Directory of Names. Augustin, Glückstadt 1935, p. 250.
3. ↑ Ernesto Schiaparelli: Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia. Rome 1892, p. 10.
4. ↑ Ernesto Schiaparelli: Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia. Rome 1892, p. 9.
5. ↑ probably a short Nubian or a man from the Akka people from Sudan . A pygmy can be ruled out as the expeditions never went so far into the interior of Africa to reach such tribes. Gabriele Höber-Kamel: Abydos - Religious center of the resurrection. In: Kemet. Issue 2, Berlin 2000, pp. 4-9.
6. ↑ Ernesto Schiaparelli: Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia. Rom 1892, pp. 17, 18; there transliterated as "Ara".
7. ↑ Ernesto Schiaparelli: Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia. Rom 1892, pp. 11-12, 17; There transliterated as "Tepemnofrit" or "Tepa".
8. ↑ Ernesto Schiaparelli: Una tomba egiziana inedita della VIa dinastia. Rom 1892, pp. 10, 17; there transliterated as "Tjama" or "Mesitna" / "Mesina".
9. ↑ after Rainer Hannig: The language of the pharaohs. Volume 1. Large concise dictionary Egyptian - German (2800–950 BC). 3rd edition, von Zabern, Main 2001, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 .