Senebtisi

Senebtisi was a prominent ancient Egyptian woman who lived during the Middle Kingdom . It is best known for its largely intact grave complex in El-Lischt .

The person

Almost nothing can be said about her person. She had a double name Senebtisi Sathapy and the title mistress of the house . Outside of her grave, she has not yet been identified.

The grave

Her grave, which was a shaft with one chamber, was in 1907 at the pyramid of Amenemhet I in El-Lisht by Arthur C. Mace and Herbert E. Winlock of the Egypt expedition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art under the direction discovered by Albert M. Lythgoe and published in 1916. Senebtisi was buried in a set of three nested coffins, and the tomb was only partially robbed.

The coffins

The outer coffin was made of sycamore wood and was poorly preserved when it was found, and the excavators were only able to copy part of the inscriptions. This coffin corresponded to a common type of the late 12th dynasty with a circumferential horizontal line of text on the upper edge and four columns on the long sides and two columns on the short sides. The lid was curved and had a text band in the middle. The middle coffin was only decorated with a ribbon of text in gold foil on the lid. It was made of cedar and could even be salvaged. The inner coffin was shaped like a human (anthropoid) and was very poorly preserved. It could only be identified as a coffin, as there were latches that held the tub and lid together. Only the decoration of the chest area could be recovered from this coffin . It was once covered with a thin sheet of gold.

Medium coffin
Middle coffin when found

The jewelery

The Senebtisi mummy was richly decorated with jewelry. There were two collars , gold rosettes were found in her wig (on the mummy) and she wore a belt of a type that is known from representations as royal and probably identified Senebtisi as Osiris, king of the underworld.

Neck collar
Pearl
pendants
diadem
Arm and leg jewelry

Other grave goods

There were numerous model ceramics , a canopic box with the corresponding jugs and lids with a human head, an elongated chest with sceptres and weapons, and a chest for a wig .

Dating

In the extremely detailed and exemplary excavation publication , the burial was described as a typical court burial of the early 12th dynasty. Senebtisi was dated under Amenemhet I. One saw in her a member of the family of the vizier Sesostris , whose grave was supposed to be nearby. However, recent research has shown that her burial can probably be classified at the end of the 12th dynasty, although a detailed dating within the late Middle Kingdom is still pending and an approach to the 13th dynasty has also been proposed.

literature

Albert M. Lythgoe: The Egyptian Expedition. In: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Tape. 2, No. Oct. 10, 1907, pp. 163-169 ( JSTOR 3253176 ).
Arthur C. Mace, Herbert E. Winlock: The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht (= Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition. Volume 1). The Gillis Press, New York 1916 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Writing on the canopic box and middle coffin, see: Mace Winlock: The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht , p. 35, Fig. 18, pl. XIX
↑ Writing on the outer coffin, see: Mace Winlock: The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht , p. 25, Fig. 9
↑ Picture of a neck collar ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
↑ B. Williams: The Date of Senebtisi at Lisht and the Chronology of Major Groups and Deposits of the Middle Kingdom , in Serapis 3 (1975-1976), pp. 41-55; C. Lilyquist: A note on the Date of Senebtisi and other Middle Kingdom Groups , in Serapis 5 (1979), pp. 27-28
↑ Kim Ryholt : The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800-1550 BC (= The Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications. Vol. 20). The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern studies, Copenhagen 1997, ISBN 87-7289-421-0 , p. 226.

personal data
SURNAME	Senebtisi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Sathapy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	egyptian woman
DATE OF BIRTH	around 19th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	around 18th century BC Chr.

[1] Writing on the canopic box and middle coffin, see: Mace Winlock: The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht , p. 35, Fig. 18, pl. XIX

[2] Writing on the outer coffin, see: Mace Winlock: The Tomb of Senebtisi at Lisht , p. 25, Fig. 9

[3] Picture of a neck collar ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

[4] B. Williams: The Date of Senebtisi at Lisht and the Chronology of Major Groups and Deposits of the Middle Kingdom , in Serapis 3 (1975-1976), pp. 41-55; C. Lilyquist: A note on the Date of Senebtisi and other Middle Kingdom Groups , in Serapis 5 (1979), pp. 27-28

[5] Kim Ryholt : The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800-1550 BC (= The Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications. Vol. 20). The Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern studies, Copenhagen 1997, ISBN 87-7289-421-0 , p. 226.