Iti pyramid

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Iti pyramid
Egyptian name
Hiero Ca1.svg
i t i i
Hiero Ca2.svg
G30 O24
Bau-Iti
B3w-Jtjj
The power of Iti
(with determinative for pyramid)
Data
place unknown
builder Iti
construction time 8th dynasty

The Iti pyramid is a previously undiscovered ancient Egyptian pyramid and the presumed tomb of King Iti , who ruled in the 8th dynasty . So far it is only known from a rock inscription from the Wadi Hammamat in the Arabian Desert (eastern desert), where several types of rock, above all greywacke and silt , were mined in Pharaonic times .

The name of the pyramid, Bau-Iti ("The Power of Iti"), could be a direct reference to the name of the Raneferef pyramid , Netjeri-bau-Ra-nefer-ef ("Divine is the power of Raneferef "), from the 5th dynasty represent.

The inscription in Wadi Hammamat

The partially destroyed inscription reports that in the first year of Iti's reign an expedition led by the two ship captains Ipi and Nikauptah had been sent here to procure building materials for the pyramid. The information on troop strength is damaged and possibly incorrectly written, which resulted in different readings: Wolfgang Schenkel reads 200 rowers, 400 (?) Pioneers (?) And 200 rtn . Christoffer Theis, on the other hand, reads 200 soldiers and 200 emissaries, a total of 200 men, on the basis of the drawings by Lepsius and Sethe, the last 200 being to be regarded as a prescription. In addition to Ipi and Nikauptah, the names of the two troop leaders Ihiemsaf and Irinachti are also mentioned. However, detailed information on the type and quantity of the mined rocks is missing.

Identification attempts

In the 1930s, Cecil Mallaby Firth suggested that the Lepsius XXIX pyramid in Saqqara could be the pyramid of Iti. Firth came to this assumption through the discovery of several pieces of rose granite and a destroyed sarcophagus lid, but could otherwise not provide any further evidence. Firth's assumption is now considered obsolete and the Lepsius-XXIX is now predominantly regarded as the tomb of King Menkauhor from the 5th dynasty.

literature

  • CR Lepsius : Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia. 2. Department: Monuments of the Old Kingdom. Volume 4. Nicolai, Berlin 1850, pl. 115f., ( Online version ).
  • Wolfgang Schenkel : Memphis - Herakleopolis - Thebes. The epigraphic evidence of the 7th – 11th centuries Dynasty of Egypt. (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen (ÄA). Vol. 12, ISSN  1614-6379 ). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1965, p. 26 ( online ).
  • Kurt Sethe : Documents of the Old Kingdom (= documents of ancient Egypt. Department 1). 1st volume, 2nd issue. 2nd, greatly improved and increased edition. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1933, p. 148, ( PDF; 10.6 MB ).
  • Christoffer Theis: The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. According to philological and archaeological sources. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture. Vol. 39, 2010, ISSN  0340-2215 , pp. 321-339 ( online ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theis: The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. P. 329.
  2. ↑ Theis: The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. P. 330. After reading by Schenkel: Memphis - Herakleopolis - Thebes. On p. 26 there was only one expedition leader, namely Ipi's son Nikauptah.
  3. ↑ Leg: Memphis - Herakleopolis - Thebes. P. 26.
  4. ↑ a b Theis: The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. P. 330.
  5. ↑ Theis: The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. P. 333.