Henqu I.

Henqu in hieroglyphics
Henqu Hnqw
Cheteti H̱ttj

Henqu I , with a beautiful name Cheteti , was an ancient Egyptian official. He probably lived during the early 6th Dynasty towards the end of the Teti reign . At this time he held numerous religious and political offices, the most important of which were that of a Gaufürsten of the 12th Upper Egyptian Gau and a ruler of Upper Egypt . Henqu I. is the owner of the rock grave N39 in Deir el-Gebrawi .

Offices and titles

In total, the following thirteen titles have been preserved in Henqu's grave:

Transliteration	transcription	translation	Remarks
Imi-ra-Schemau	Jmj-rˁ-Šmˁ.w	Chief of Upper Egypt
Hati-a	Ḥ3tj-ˁ	Count
Heri-seschta	Ḥrj-sšt3	Privy councilor
Heri-tep-aa	Ḥrj-tp-ˁ3	Great Head (= Gaufürst)
Heri-tep-aa	Ḥrj-tp-ˁ3 O. Ä. 12	Prince of the 12th Upper Egyptian Gau
Cheret-iat-neb (et)	Ḫrt-j3t-nb (t)	Head of all offices
Cheret-schendjet-nebet	Ḫrt-šnḏt-nbt	Head of all aprons
Cheri-habet	H̱rj-ḥ3bt	Reading priest
Cheri-habet-heri-tep	H̱rj-ḥ3bt-ḥrj-tp	Supreme reading priest
Sesch-medjat-netjer	Sš-mḏ3t-nṯr	Writer of the Book of God
Sem	Sm	Sem priest
Semer-wati / Semher-wati	Smr-wˁtj correct: Smḥr-w ˁ.tj	Only friend
Semsu-senut	Smsw-snwt	Elder of the Serpent Stone Sanctuary

family

Several members of the Henqu's family are pictured in his grave. He was married to a woman named Bendjet and had at least five sons: Impy, Henqu, Hemre, Cheteti and Schefau. Henqu and Hemre seem to be the Gau princes Henqu II (N 67) and Hemre I (N 72), who were also buried in Deir el-Gebrawi . Furthermore, two grandsons (sons of Impy) named Isi and Cheteti are shown. Other people cannot be clearly assigned. Two women named Bendjet and Hemi could be daughters, and a man named Tji could be a brother; The classification of three men named Iuri, Nedjemi and Khnum [hotep] is completely unclear.

Henqus I's tomb in Deir el-Gebrawi

architecture

Floor plan of the tomb

The tomb of Henqu I is the easternmost of the larger, decorated tombs on the Northern Cliff of Deir el-Gebrawi. The entrance is on the south side. The facade is almost completely eroded, only a remnant has been preserved near the entrance. The tomb consists of a single room and a serdab on the north wall. The main room measures 8.00 m in north-south and 4.30 m in east-west direction, the northern chamber 1.00 m × 1.70 m. The main room has three grave shafts and eight grave niches on the west, north and east walls. The walls of the room are very carefully carved out of the rock, smoothed and coated with a thin layer of plaster .

decoration

Composition of the wall decoration

All pictorial representations and inscriptions in Henqus I's grave are exclusively painted. The decoration has not been completed in some places; the preliminary drawings and grid lines can still be seen in some places.

West wall

The central motif of the west wall is the dining table scene. The grave owner is shown sitting with his wife on a chair with cattle legs and without a backrest. Both wear collars, bracelets and long wigs. Henqu wears a simple, short apron and holds a folded cloth in his right hand while he leads the left to the dining table. There are two vessels between the Henqu and the sacrificial table. To the right of the sacrificial table, offerings in the form of drinking vessels, pieces of meat, loaves of bread and fruits are shown in the upper area. The lower area shows the two sons Henqu and Cheteti, each carrying a beef thigh.

There is an inscription above Henqu and his wife with the names and titles of the two people. Another inscription is in front of Henqu's face and lists offerings: "A thousand bread, beer, ox, poultry, alabaster and clothing." Above the dining table and the offerings is a list of offerings divided into three registers.

The left third of the west wall shows the standing grave lord. He wears a porch apron, holds a staff in his left hand and a scepter in his right. His titles are listed in front of and above him. In front of him there was also a depiction of his son Schefau, which today is almost completely destroyed except for the inscription. The area behind Henqu shows three rows of gift bringers. In the top row, two men, one with a lotus flower and the other with two birds. The middle row shows two women with vessels on their heads, the lower one finally three more men, the rearmost one carrying a bird, the one in front, however, does not seem to be carrying anything. The seven people are partially identified by name, one or two of whom could be brothers of Henqu.

The right third of the west wall is occupied by a false door carved into the rock and painted red . To the right of this are oil vessels and wooden chests.

North face

The decoration of the north wall can be divided into four sections. On the far left, the grave owner is shown spearing fish. The impaled fish and the marshland have not survived. Henqu stands on a papyrus boat and holds the spear almost level. In front of him stands a man who appears to be carrying a spear, possibly Henqu's eldest son. Behind Henqu and between his legs are two other sons.

To the right of this scene, above the opening to the serdab, a man is shown helping a cow give birth to its calf. To the right of the serdab is the depiction of the seated grave owner, holding a staff in his left hand and a frond in the right. Henqu inspects animals that are shown to him. These animals are presented in three registers in the fourth section of the picture, with two animals of the same species being led by one man. The upper register shows two cattle, the middle two oryx and the lower two gazelles . One of the oryx is tied to a stone in the ground.

East wall

The standing grave owner can be seen on the far left of the east wall. He wears a leopard skin and holds a staff in his left hand and a scepter in his right. Henqu is entertained by female dancers, of whom only six have survived. Remnants of paint show, however, that other women were originally shown. The women are spread over three registers: the upper and the lower each show two women dancing together, wearing only a loincloth, their breasts are uncovered. They wear collars and one person can also see foot rings. The middle register shows two women in long robes clapping to the beat.

The following wall section is provided with a false door, but otherwise does not contain any decoration or inscriptions. To the right of this is another representation of the grave owner. He is leaning on his staff here and has one leg bent. One hand grasps the end of the staff, the other grips both the staff and the scepter. This representation is quite rare and only occurs in the 6th Dynasty . This is followed by three registers with offerers. The upper register shows three men bringing beef thighs, in the middle three men turning geese's necks, the lower register again shows three men carrying beef thighs. The upper and middle men are identified by inscriptions as Henqus sons, in the lower register no inscriptions have been preserved.

literature

• Norman de Garis Davies : The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrâwi. Part II: Tombs of Zau and Tombs of the Northern Group (= Archaeological Survey of Egypt. Twelfth Memoir ). London 1902 ( PDF; 5.1 MB ).
• Naguib Kanawati : Deir el-Gebrawi. Volume I: The Northern Cliff (= The Australian Center for Egyptology, Reports. Vol. 23). Oxford 2005.
• Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical bibliography of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic texts, reliefs, and paintings. Vol. IV: Lower and Middle Egypt. Oxford 1934, p. 242 ( PDF; 14.3 MB ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, p. 23.
2. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 21-22.
3. ^ Joachim Friedrich Quack: On the sound value of Gardiner Sign List U 23. In: Lingua Aegyptia. No. 11, 2003, pp. 113-116.
4. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 22-23.
5. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 24-26.
6. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, p. 26.
7. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, p. 27.
8. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 27-29.
9. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 29-30.
10. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 30-31.
11. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, p. 31.
12. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, pp. 31-32.
13. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, p. 32.
14. ↑ Kanawati: Deir el-Gebrawi. Vol. I, p. 33.