Metjen

Metjen in hieroglyphics
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	Seated statue of Metjen from his grave, ; Egyptian Museum Berlin

Metjen (also Methen or Meten ) was an ancient Egyptian , high official under King ( Pharaoh ) Snofru (around 2639-2604 BC) and lived at the transition from the 3rd to the 4th dynasty .

For Egyptology, Metjen is one of the most important and well-known high officials of the Old Kingdom . So far he is the first early Egyptian from whose mastaba a longer text comes. He is also the official with the highest-ranking and most numerous titles of his time.

Name and titles

Metjen's name means "The Leader". As a senior civil servant, Metjen held many titles, including:

"Rech-nesu"; Acquaintance of the king
"Wer-medj-schemau"; Great of the Ten of Upper Egypt
"Adj-mer-has-mehit"; Head of Hat-mehit
"Adj-mer-chepesch"; Head of KHOPESH (the last character reading as KHOPESH is uncertain).
"Heqa-hut-Huni-chepesch"; Head of the Huni Foundation in Gau Chepesch (reading by Chepesch is uncertain)
"Adj-mer-chasuu"; Administrator of Chasuu ; (6th Lower Egyptian Gau)

family

His father was the judge and scribe Inpu-em-anch , his mother's name was Neb-senet. Nothing is known about offspring.

Career

Detail from Metjen's grave inscription with the mention of a domain of the Huni

His completely preserved burial chapel, decorated with inscriptions and reliefs , was found by Carl Richard Lepsius in Abusir in 1842-45 and brought to Berlin in full . The inscriptions in the burial chapel name titles and donations to Metjen and form the oldest longer text in ancient Egyptian literature , even if, strictly speaking, it is more a series of titles.

Metjen's professional success was largely based on his father's inheritance. By decree he became overseer of the royal clerks and head of the food store, administrator, mayor and district prince of several places and districts. He himself founded the place "Scheret-Metjen" ( šr.t-Mṯn ), in Lower Egypt he founded twelve cities called "Schet-Metjen" ( š.t-Mṯn ). He had a large house built for himself and a vineyard, and he had trees planted in several places. At the same time he received large amounts of land from the king. Metjen was also responsible for the death cult of the king mother Nimaathapi and for the care of the necropolis of King Huni .

literature

Michel Baud : Famille royale et pouvoir sous l'Ancien Empire égyptien. Tome 2 (= Bibliothèque d'Étude. Volume 126/2). Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1999, ISBN 2-7247-0250-6 , p. 473 ( PDF; 16.7 MB ).
William Rainey Harper (Ed.): Ancient Records. 2. Series: James H. Breasted : Ancient Records of Egypt. Historical Documents from the Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest. Volume 1: The first to the seventeenth Dynasties. University of Chicago Press et al., Chicago IL et al. 1906, pp. 76-79 (Reprint. Histories and Mysteries of Man, London 1988, ISBN 1-85417-030-9 ).
Wolfgang Helck : Investigations on the thinite period (= Egyptological treatises 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4 , pp. 268-274.
Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom (= BAR International Series 866). 2 volumes. Archaeopress, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-8417-1069-5 .
Wolfgang Kosack : Berlin booklets on Egyptian literature 1 - 12 : Part I. 1 - 6 / Part II. 7 - 12 (2 volumes). Parallel texts in hieroglyphics with introductions and translation. Booklet 12: Metjen's burial chapel. Christoph Brunner, Basel 2015, ISBN 978-3-906206-11-0 .
Hermann A. Schlögl : Ancient Egypt. History and culture from the early days to Cleopatra. Beck, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-406-54988-8 , p. 86.
Toby AH Wilkinson : Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge, London / New York NY 2001, ISBN 0-415-26011-6 , p. 147.

Web links

Commons : Metjen - collection of images, videos and audio files

Carl Richard Lepsius: Reprints of the reliefs in Metjens grave, pyramids of Abusir , sheets 3 to 8: 3 (rear wall) * 4 * 5 * 6 * 7 * 8

Individual evidence

↑ Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Volume I. . P. 357, no. 1325
↑ Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Volume I. . P. 361, No. 1338.
^ Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Vol. II . 695 pp. 681-682, No. 2492
↑ Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Volume I. . P. 360, no. 1335.

personal data
SURNAME	Metjen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Methene; Metes; Mṯn
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	ancient Egyptian official of the 4th Dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH	27th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	27th century BC Chr.

[1] Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Volume I. . P. 357, no. 1325

[2] Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Volume I. . P. 361, No. 1338.

[3] Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Vol. II . 695 pp. 681-682, No. 2492

[4] Dilwyn Jones: An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, Volume I. . P. 360, no. 1335.