Nefer

Nefer in hieroglyphics
	;
	Replacement Head of the Nefer; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, inv. No. 06.1886

Nefer was a high official in the ancient Egyptian 4th Dynasty . He was, among other things, treasurer (Imi-ra-per-hedj) of the Pharaoh and royal scribe. He was married to Wenanches (name originally erroneously read as Meresanch ).

title

transcription	translation
jm3ḫ (w) ḫr nb = f (rˁ nb)	The one cared for with his Lord (every day)
jmj-rˁ pr-ˁḥ3	Head of the weapons magazine
jmj-rˁ pr-ḥḏ	Treasury chief
jmj-rˁ prwj-ḥḏ	Head of the two treasure houses
jmj-rˁ ẖkrt-nswt nb	Head of all royal jewelry
jmj-rˁ sšw ˁ nswt	Head of the record writer
jmj-rˁ sšw ˁprw	Clerk chief of the ship's crew
jmj-rˁ sšw ẖrj-ˁ nswt	Head of the scribe of the royal files
jmj-rˁ st ḏf (3)	Head of the food department
[irr?] mrr nb = f	[He does] what his master loves
wr mḏw Šmˁw	Great of the ten of Upper Egypt
mrj nb = f	Loved by his Lord
rḫ nsw	Acquaintance of the king
ḥrj-sšt3 nswt m swt nbt	Privy councilor of the king in all places
ḥq3 ḥwt	Landlord
ḫrp ˁpr (w) nfr (w)	Head of the active (sailors) division
s3b nḫt ḫrw	Supervisor of the judiciary
sš pr-ˁ3	Acquaintance of the king

His grave

Excavation photo of the mastaba of Nefer; in the background the Khafre and Mykerinos pyramids

His one- shaft mastaba G 2110 in the west cemetery of the Giza necropolis was excavated by George Andrew Reisner in 1905 . A follow-up examination took place in 1932. The burial chapel, made of tura limestone and equipped with fine reliefs, was added to the limestone-clad core building. It is one of the few funerary chapels in the western necropolis that has been completed. The mastaba was discovered in 1857 by Auguste Mariette . The Viceroy of Egypt gave one of the reliefs to Prince Napoleon . The relief is now in the Louvre (B 51). Other relief parts were later looted and can be seen today in Rome , Copenhagen , Boston and Birmingham . One of the best preserved reliefs is owned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (MFA 07.100). It shows Nefer with four scribes who are named. Its aquiline nose is striking, as is the case with the very well-preserved replacement head that was found in shaft A in 1905.

The replacement head and burial chapel with artistic reliefs make dating a little difficult. Peter Jánosi suspects that the burial chapel was added later.

literature

Peter Der Manuelian : Mastabas of Nucleus Cemetery G 2100. Volume 1: Major Mastabas G 2100-2220. (= Giza Mastabas. Volume 8). Department of Art of the Ancient World, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2009, ISBN 978-0-87846-754-9 , Chapter 6, pp. 151-208 ( PDF; 288 MB ).
Peter Jánosi : Giza in the 4th dynasty. The building history and occupancy of a necropolis in the Old Kingdom. Volume 1: The mastabas of the core cemeteries and the rock graves (= Austrian Academy of Sciences. Memoranda of the entire academy. Volume 30 = Investigations by the Cairo branch of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. Volume 24). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-7001-3244-1 , pp. 123–124, ( PDF; 9.5 MB ).

Peter Jánosi: The tombs of the pyramid era (= Zabern's illustrated books on archeology ). von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-3622-5 , pp. 55 and 59.

John P. O'Neill (Ed.): Egyptian Art In The Age of The Pyramids. Exhibition catalog, Metropolitan Museum of Art / Abrams, New York 1999, p. 285 f. (Figure and description) ( online ).

Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. III. Memphis. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1974, pp. 72-74 ( PDF; 30.5 MB ).

George Andrew Reisner : A History of the Giza Necropolis. Volume 1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1942, pp. 422-429 ( PDF; 249.8 MB ).

Web links

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

Individual evidence

↑ after Rainer Hannig: The language of the pharaohs. Volume 1. Large concise dictionary Egyptian - German (2800–950 BC). 3rd edition, von Zabern, Main 2001, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 .

personal data
SURNAME	Nefer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	ancient Egyptian official
DATE OF BIRTH	26th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	26th century BC Chr.

[1] ter Rainer Hannig: The language of the pharaohs. Volume 1. Large concise dictionary Egyptian - German (2800–950 BC). 3rd edition, von Zabern, Main 2001, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 .