Iniuia

Iniuia in hieroglyphics
Iniuia / Nia Jnjwj3

Relief from the tomb of Iniuia

Sarcophagus of Iniuia

Iniuia (also read Nia ) was a high ancient Egyptian official under King ( Pharaoh ) Tutankhamun at the end of the 18th dynasty. He held the office of senior asset manager. Among other things, he bore the titles of " King's scribe ", "Amun's cattle chief" and "Clerk of the treasury of the lord of the two countries".

Little is known of the life of the Iniua. His wife was called Iuy and was entitled "Mistress of the House" and "Singer of Amun". His father was named Inuy, his mother Wesy. Four children are known by name. His sons Ramose and Penanhori both bore the title of "scribe of the treasure house of the Temple of Aten". The mention of the Aton temple indicates that Iniua lived shortly after Akhenaten . His Un-Egyptian name may suggest that he was a foreigner.

Iniuia is best known for his tomb in Saqqara . It is south of the Unas pyramid next to the haremhab's tomb . It is relatively small and consists of a mud brick chapel, the walls of which were decorated with reliefs. The building is about 9.5 m long (west-east) and 8.5 m wide (north-south). The chapel consists of a courtyard with the entrance on the east. On the west side in the north there is a room that is decorated with wall paintings. In the middle of the west side there is a small chapel, the holy of holies of the tomb, over which a pyramid is built. Parts of his grave have been in various museums around the world since the 19th century: including his sarcophagus in the Louvre , which shows him in a festive robe, two columns with inscriptions in Berlin and various decorated blocks in Cairo . The grave could only be located and excavated again in 1993.

The room furnished with paintings is remarkable. Otherwise little is known about wall paintings in graves from Saqqara from this period. On the back wall of the chapel, they show Iniuia in front of Sokar on the right and in front of Osiris on the left. The longitudinal walls each show Iniuia and his family in front of Osiris, who is enthroned in a canopy.

In the holy of holies of the tomb there is a stele. It has two registers and shows Iniuia and his wife in front of the enthroned Osiris around the upper field. In the lower field the couple is shown seated with four children making offerings. On the stele Iniuia bears the title “scribe of the treasury of the lord of the two countries”. The stele was therefore made at the beginning of his career, before he became a "senior asset manager".

The reliefs in the other parts of the tomb show Iniuia with his wife or with supervision of work. One scene shows him in front of three ships unloading amphorae. Another scene shows him in front of scribes, while several depictions of cattle have survived. A large part of the reliefs has only been preserved in individual blocks, the former location of which can no longer be reconstructed.

literature

• Wolfgang Helck : On the administration of the Middle and New Kingdom (= Problems of Egyptology. Volume 3, ISSN  0169-9601 ). Brill, Leiden et al. 1958, pp. 375, 490.
• Hans D. Schneider: The Rediscovery of Iniuia. In: Egyptian Archeology. Volume 3, 1993, ISSN  0962-2837 , pp. 3-5.
• Hans D. Schneider: The Tomb of Iniuia in the New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara (= Papers on archeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities. Volume 10). Turnhout, Brepols 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-54149-5 .

Web links

• Tomb of Iniuia
• The sarcophagus of Iniuia

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Hans D. Schneider: The Tomb of Iniuia in the New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara. Brepols 2012, p. 118.
2. ^ Hans D. Schneider: The Tomb of Iniuia in the New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara. Brepols 2012, pp. 59-71.
3. ^ Hans D. Schneider: The Tomb of Iniuia in the New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara. Brepols 2012, pp. 84-86.