Imhotep (Head of Field)

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Imhotep in hieroglyphics
ii m Htp
t p

Imhotep
(Ii em hotep)
Jj m ḥtp Who
comes in peace

Imhotep was an ancient Egyptian civil servant who served under Sesostris I and Amenemhet II ( 12th Dynasty , Middle Kingdom ). So far he is only known from his mastaba in el-Lisht .

The mastaba

Wooden statues of Sesostris I from the tomb of Imhotep

Imhotep is best known for his mastaba east of the Sesostris I pyramid . The building was 6.5 x 13 m in size and poorly preserved. He was inside a tomb area that was surrounded by two walls. The outer brick wall was 27.67 x 30.45 m, an inner stone wall was 13.65 x 20.2 m. Imhotep's grave shaft (No. 5117) was located a little north of the mastaba. The shaft was about 15 m deep and ended in a passage, which in turn led to the burial chamber . Another, smaller chamber was let into the floor of the burial chamber, which was decorated on all sides with pyramid texts. The sarcophagus of Imhotep also stood here, but it is undecorated.

Imhotep's grave complex is best known for the discovery of two statues . In a hiding place in the wall of the burial precinct and covered by two wooden beams, a wooden shrine was found that contained a wooden imiut ( bellows of Anubis ). Next to it were two wooden statues showing a king, one with the white and one with the red crown.

title

Imhotep carried a number of important titles, including member of the elite, foremost in action, royal sealer , sem priest , chief reading priest and head of all works . Its main office, however, was that of a field superintendent .

Official title and function title Priestly title Rank title
  • Field Head
  • Head of all royal labor
  • True head of distribution
  • Supreme reading priest
  • Sem priest
  • Dressing priest of Horus
  • Dressing priest of the Min
  • [Writer] of the word of God
  • Writer of the books of God
  • Head of all apron

literature

  • Dieter Arnold : Middle Kingdom Tomb Architecture at Lisht (= Publications of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Egyptian Expedition. Vol. 28). Metropolitan Museum of Art et al., New York NY et al. 2008, ISBN 978-1-58839-194-0 , pp. 33-38, plates 47-61.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ one of the statues on flickr.com
  2. ↑ In older literature he sometimes appears as the high priest of Re, but this is due to a misreading of a title
personal data
SURNAME Imhotep
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Egyptian official
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 20th century BC BC or 19th century BC Chr.