Pehernefer

Pehernefer (also spelled Peher-nefer ) was an ancient Egyptian civil servant who worked in the transition period from the 3rd dynasty to the 4th dynasty during the Old Kingdom . He served the kings ( pharaohs ) Huni (end of the 3rd dynasty) and Sneferu (beginning of the 4th dynasty).

identity

According to his grave inscriptions , Pehernefer was among other things " head of the treasury " (Egypt. Imi-ra-per-hedj ), "seal bearer of the treasure house" (Egypt. Heri-sedjaut-per-hedj ), "controller of the audience hall" (Egypt. Cherep -djech ), "Overseer of all the king's work" (Egypt. Imi-ra-kat-neb-inet-nesu ) and "Overseer of the royal vineyards" (Egypt. Imi-ra -schenut-neb-inet-nesu ) . He was also the " administrator of the royal palatinate 'Horus, the blessed star in the sky'" (Egypt. Adj-mer-Hor-seba-chentj-pet ), "Administrator of the Western Desert" (Egypt. Adj-mer semet-imentet ) and " Governor of Busiris " (Egypt. Hatia -djedu ). Unique for the 3rd / 4th Dynasty is Pehernefer's priestly title "Priest of Seth-von-Sethroë " (Egypt. Rech-Sutech-setjet ).

Nothing is known about his family. High-ranking colleagues of his time were Chabausokar , Achtiaa and Metjen . The surviving tomb inscriptions show that Egypt apparently experienced a new heyday under the kings Huni and Snofru and the administrative system flourished. High offices were held strictly and were only transferable by inheritance.

dig

Pehernefer's grave is considered lost. It was formerly in Saqqara North , but has been lost. Only the copies of the grave inscriptions that the French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero published in 1893 and that were examined and translated by the German Egyptologist Hermann Junker in 1939 have survived.

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. 449 ( PDF; 16.7 MB ).
• Hermann Junker: Prnfr . In: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde , 75th edition, Hinrichs, Leipzig 1939, pp. 63–84.
• Gaston Maspero: Études de mythologie et d'archéologie égyptienne , 2nd volume, Paris 1893 (full text) .
• Hratch Papazian: Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers. In: Juan Carlos Moreno García (ed.): Ancient Egyptian Administration . Brill, Leiden 2013, ISBN 9004250085 , pp. 73-74.
• Jean-Pierre Pätznick: The seal unrolling and cylinder seals of the city of Elephantine in the 3rd millennium BC Securing evidence of an archaeological artifact (= British archaeological reports. Bd. 1339). Archaeopress, Oxford 2005, ISBN 1841716855 , pp. 5 & 181.
• Toby AH Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt . Routledge, London 2002, ISBN 0203024389 , pp. 109, 110, 114, 119 and 121.