Sennefer (Mayor of Thebes)

Sennefer and his wife

Sennefer was the mayor of Thebes in the 18th dynasty under King Amenophis II and thus held one of the most important offices of his time.

Sennefer is best known for his Theban tomb ( TT96 ), whose underground burial chamber is painted and well preserved. Burial chambers are usually undecorated, which raises the question of whether this was really a burial chamber. In fact, he appears to have had a second tomb in the Valley of the Kings , in which he may also have been buried. In grave KV42 there was a canopies with the name of Sennefer and others of his wife, the royal nurse Senetnay . At the grave, however, founding gifts of Queen Meritre Hatshepsut were found and it was obviously designed for her. Another possibility is therefore that he was reburied in this tomb after his original tomb was looted.

Sennefer is known from a number of other monuments, which above all show that he began his career in the Temple of Amun in Karnak , but also continued to hold important functions in the temple there as mayor of Thebes. For example, he was head of the barn of Amun or head of cattle of Amun . He was also the head of the priesthood of the wife of God Ahmose Nefertari .

Several of his wives are known by name: Merit, Senetneferer, who is also called Senemiah, and Senetnay. It is uncertain whether he was married to them at the same time or one after the other, maybe they are different names of a single woman.

Sennefer's father was the second priest of Hor-wer in Qus , Nu; his mother was a woman named Henutiry, Tiiry. Sennefer was the cousin of the vizier Amenemope .

Individual evidence

^ JJ Shirley: Crisis and Restructuring of the State: From the Second Intermediate Period to the Advent of the Ramesses. In: Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia (ed.): Ancient Egyptian Administration (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Department 1: The Near and Middle East. Volume 104). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-24952-3 , pp. 521-606, here p. 587.

literature

Wolfgang Helck : On the administration of the Middle and New Kingdom (= problems of Egyptology. Volume 3). Brill, Leiden 1958, pp. 423-424, 525-526.

Web links

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

personal data
SURNAME	Sennefer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Mayor of Thebes
DATE OF BIRTH	15th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	15th century BC Chr.

[1] JJ Shirley: Crisis and Restructuring of the State: From the Second Intermediate Period to the Advent of the Ramesses. In: Juan Carlos Moreno Garcia (ed.): Ancient Egyptian Administration (= Handbook of Oriental Studies . Department 1: The Near and Middle East. Volume 104). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-24952-3 , pp. 521-606, here p. 587.