Salachana tomb

The Salachana tomb in Assiut dates back to the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and belonged to Prince Hepdjefa III. who lived around the middle of the 12th Dynasty . It is one of the largest private tombs in the Middle Kingdom. The decoration of the grave is largely destroyed today. The grave was examined in 1922 by the British Egyptologist G. A. Wainwright , who found a hoard of around 600 votive steles in the grave , most of which date to the New Kingdom . These steles are dedicated to the Upuaut , who was usually depicted as a jackal and particularly venerated in Assiut. It is one of the largest, and perhaps even the largest, closed steles from ancient Egypt. There were also around 50 clay figures, most of which represent a jackal. A special feature are also steles made of clay . Steles made from this material are otherwise not known from Egypt. The steles usually represent the founder in front of Upuaut. The god is often depicted as a jackal on a standard. Often there are also various jackals that are worshiped by the founder. Usually only a single donor is shown, while families tend to be the exception.

The steles are now in the magazines of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and have only recently been processed and published by Terence DuQuesne .

literature

• Terence DuQuesne: Anubis, Upwawet, and other Deities, personal worship and official religion in Ancient Egypt , Cairo 2007 ISBN 977-437-231-X
• Terence DuQuesne: The Salakhana-Trove and other Objects from Asyut , 2010 ISBN 1-871266-26-2