May (ancient Egyptian mayor)

Statue of May, Egyptian Museum Berlin

May was an ancient Egyptian mayor in Qaw el-Kebir under Thutmose III. (around 1479 BC to around 1425 BC) in the 18th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ). May was head of priests and mayor . He is known from his tomb in Qaw el-Kebir and from two statues. All that remained of his grave were the underground burial chambers, which had been heavily robbed. There was also a sarcophagus here , the remains of which were found. The sarcophagus is remarkable as it is decorated inside and out. There are only a few decorated sarcophagi from the 18th dynasty.

One of his two statues is now in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, the other in the Luxor Museum . The text on the Berlin statue tells of how he was awarded the honor gold by the king . On the statue there are also the names of Thutmose III. The statue in Luxor is unlabeled, but comes from Qaw el-Kebir and is tentatively assigned to May, especially since it also shows a man adorned with the gold of honor.

literature

• Guy Brunton : Qau and Badari (= British School of Archeology in Egypt and Egyptian Research Account 50, ZDB -ID 423806-0 ). Volume 3. British School of Egyptian Archeology and Others, London 1930, Plate XXXVII, XXXVIIA (the sarcophagus).
• Laila M. Azzam: Another statue of the mayor May, Luxor Museum J. 1. In: Khaled Abdalla Daoud (Ed.): Studies in honor of Ali Radwan (= Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte. (ASAE) Supplement 34). Volume 1. Conseil Suprême des Antiquités de l'Égypte, Cairo 2005, ISBN 977-305-826-3 , pp. 165–167.