Hemiunu

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Hemiunu in hieroglyphics
Hm iwn

Hemiunu
(Hem Iunu)
Ḥm Jwnw
servant of the (God) of Iunu (= Heliopolis )
Statue of Hemiunu in the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum Hildesheim

Hemiunu (also Hemiun ) was a prince of the ancient Egyptian 4th dynasty . During the reign of Pharaoh Cheops he held the office of vizier and was thus the highest official after the king. Hemiunu also bore the title of “head of all construction work of the king” and was therefore most likely responsible for the construction of the Great Pyramid .

family

The exact ancestry of Hemiunus is not entirely clear. His father is Prince Nefermaat, who was buried in Meidum . His father, in turn, is not clearly identified. It is either Pharaoh Sneferu or his predecessor Huni . Hemiunu would therefore be a nephew or a cousin of Cheops. Nothing is known about women and children.

His grave

Hemiunu owns the Mastaba G 4000 on the western burial ground of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. It is the only mastaba from this period to contain two burial chambers, one of which may have been intended for a woman Hemiunus. A larger than life limestone statue of Hemiunu was found in the northern serdab of the grave complex, which is now in the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim . It also attests to his outstanding position, because no other private statues are known from the reign of Cheops.

“It was a sight to see the big statue sitting in the big serdab built from the finest, large limestone blocks through the hole made by Roman robbers! An impressive surprise! Unfortunately, the robbers of the statue had smashed in the skull and chiseled out the eyes, which were probably made of valuable material; However, all the bits were found and you can find the whole head, with the exception of the eyes. "

- ( Wilhelm Pelizaeus to Otto Rubensohn 1912)

literature

  • Michel Baud : Famille royale et pouvoir sous l'Ancien Empire égyptien. Tome 2 (= Bibliothèque d'Étude. Volume 126/2). Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1999, ISBN 2-7247-0250-6 , pp. 516-517 ( PDF; 16.7 MB ).
  • Aidan Dodson , Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo 2004, ISBN 977-424-878-3 , pp. 52-61.
  • Wolfgang Helck : Hemiunu. In: Wolfgang Helck, Eberhard Otto (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume 2: Harvest Festival - Hordjedef. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-447-01901-8 , Sp. 1117.
  • Peter Jánosi : Giza in the 4th dynasty. The building history and occupancy of a necropolis in the Old Kingdom. Volume 1: The mastabas of the core cemeteries and the rock graves (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Memoranda of the entire academy. Volume 30 = Investigations by the Cairo branch of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Volume 24). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3244-1 , p. 125 ( PDF; 9.5 MB ).
  • Hermann Junker : Gîza. Volume 1: The mastabas of the fourth dynasty on the Westfriedhof (= Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class. Memoranda. Vol. 69, 1). Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna / Leipzig 1929, pp. 132–162 ( PDF; 26.1 MB ).
  • Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. Volume 3: Memphis. Part 1: Abû Rawâsh to Abûṣîr. 2nd edition, revised and augmented by Jaromír Málek . Griffith Institute et al., Oxford 1974, pp. 122-123 ( PDF 30.5 MB ).
  • Bettina Schmitz : "... a real prince, with a strong will and full of dignity ...". The story of an Egyptian prince. Hem-iunu in Giza and Hildesheim. Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-8067-8740-5 .
  • Rainer Vollkommer (Hrsg.): Artists lexicon of antiquity . Volume 1: A-K. Saur, Munich / Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-598-11413-3 , p. 292.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jánosi, Giza in the 4th Dynasty, p. 125
  2. ↑ Helck, LÄ II, 1117
  3. ↑ http://www.giza-projekt.org/Einleitung/Museum_RPM.html
personal data
SURNAME Hemiunu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hemiun
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient egyptian prince
DATE OF BIRTH 27th century BC BC or 26th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 27th century BC BC or 26th century BC Chr.