The Tomb of Sataimau at Hagr Edfu: An overview - British Museum

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The Tomb of Sataimau at Hagr Edfu: An overview 

W. Vivian Davies 

British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 20 (2013): 47–80 

ISSN 2049-5021

The tomb of Sataimau at Hagr Edfu: An overview 

W. Vivian Davies 

Introduction 1 

Notable among the pharaonic monuments in the necropolis of Hagr Edfu (Fig. 1) is a 

group of three tombs located at the foot of the main hill of the site (Figs 2–3). They were 

uncovered by the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1941 (see Fakhry 1947, 47–48; Gabra 1977, 

208–11; Effland 1999, 25–26; Effland et al. 1999, 40–53) and have been the subject of recent 

detailed documentation by a British Museum expedition. Their location, close to the western 

enclosure wall of the Monastery of Pachomios, a modern monastery built on the site of 

ancient predecessors (the earliest of these possibly an Egyptian temple; see Sauneron 1958, 

278–79, n. 3; Effland 1999, 30), is shown on the expedition’s new map of the site (Fig. 4). 

One of the tombs belongs to a high official named Sataimau and is dated by inscription 

to the reign of King Amenhotep I. The two others were left undecorated by their original 

owners but bear a large number of secondary motifs and inscriptions (see Effland et al. 

1999, 42–45, 65–66, figs 1–3; Davies 2006, 134, 140, fig. 4, 146, pl. 4; Davies and O’Connell 

2009, 54, 64, fig. 8; Davies et al. 2011a, 37–38, 54, pl. viii, b; 2011b, 59, 68, pl. iii, b). These 

unfinished tombs, repurposed over time, became places of destination, operating already in 

Dynasty 18 as shrines or small temples dedicated to the worship of the local gods (see Davies 

2010, 130, 135, fig. 6; Davies and O’Connell 2011a, 105; O’Connell 2010, 5; Davies and 

O’Connell 2012, 55). The presence of supplicants is also recorded in motifs and inscriptions, 

dating probably from the Old Kingdom onwards, carved into the rock on the top of the 

main hill (see Davies 2006, 134, 148–49, pls vi–vii; Davies and O’Connell 2009, 56, 72, figs 

21–22; Davies and O’Connell 2011b, 6, 28–29, figs 32–34; Davies and O’Connell 2012, 55; 

82, figs 34–35; Davies et al. 2011b, 63, 72, pl. vii, a–b). The evidence suggests that during the 

pharaonic period Hagr Edfu not only served as an elite necropolis but was regarded as a holy 

mound (i3t), a ‘heilige Bezirk,’ sacred to the Edfu triad (Horus Behdety, Hathor and Isis) and 

integral to the wider ritual land- and waterscape centred on the temple of Horus Behdety in 

Edfu (Fig. 1); it may have been the site of the original Behdet, which appears later to have 

been centred to the south in the area of Nag‘ el-Hissaya (see Alliot 1954, 551, n. 2; Gabra 

1977, 221–22; Kurth 1994, 95–99 with n. 13; Egberts 1995, 15, n. 9; Egberts 1998, 799–801; 

Effland 1999, 27; Effland et al. 1999, 40, 43; Kurth 1999, 269; Effland and Graeff 2010; for 

recent investigation of the evolving waterscape, see Bunbury et al. 2009; Davies et al. 2011a, 

36, 44–46; 2011b, 63–65, 73, pl. viii). 

A ground-plan of the group is reproduced in Fig. 5. The tomb of Sataimau, HE Tomb 

1, is that on the left (the southernmost). In the middle, almost identical in size and plan and 

possibly contemporary with HE Tomb 1, is HE Tomb 2. On the right, much larger than the 

1 

This paper, an up-dated version of Davies 2009 (in French), will be included in a forthcoming volume 

containing reports on various aspects of the British Museum expedition’s work at Hagr Edfu. 

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others and more elaborate in plan (and with an open substructure), is HE Tomb 3, which 

probably dates originally to the Middle Kingdom, possibly to later Dynasty 12 (as suggested 

by the iconography of the tomb-owner’s statue, Davies 2008, 40, 46, pl. 2; 2010, 130, 134, fig. 

5; Davies and O’Connell 2009, 54, 64, fig. 9; Davies et al. 2011b, 59, 69, pl. iv, a). 2 The main 

focus of our epigraphic work has been HE Tomb 1. It is unique in being the only pharaonic 

tomb yet uncovered at the site which bears its original decoration. Moreover, it dates from a 

period, very early Dynasty 18, from which few securely dated tombs have survived anywhere 

in Egypt. The cleaning of the tomb-chapel is now finished, 3 and the recording of the 

decoration is also now complete. 4 In advance of detailed publication, I present here a brief 

overview, with selective illustration, which concentrates on some of the more interesting 

scenes. For previous accounts of the tomb, see Gabra 1977, 211–22; Whale 1989, 15–16, case 

5; Effland 1999, 26–27; Effland et al. 1999, 45–53; and, on the British Museum work (carried 

out with the kind permission of the Permanent Committee of the SCA/MSA and with the 

assistance of staff of the Edfu Inspectorate), see Davies 2006, 133–34; 2008, 39–40; 2009; 

2010, 129–30; Davies and O’Connell 2009, 53; 2011a, 104–105; 2011b, 4; Davies et al. 2011a, 

36–37; 2011b, 59; Davies and O’Connell 2012, 55. 

The tomb-chapel of Sataimau 

Plan 

The plan of the superstructure (Fig. 5, left) is typical for the region and the period. The rockcut 

chapel, entered through a single doorway from an open courtyard (Fig. 2; cf. Davies 2009, 

29–30, figs 5–6), also excavated from the rock (and yet to be fully revealed), comprises a long 

rectangular chamber, oriented east-west, with a smaller rectangular niche with a raised floor 

at the western end (total length of chapel, approx. 10 metres). The niche (Fig. 17) once bore 

in its rear wall a rock-cut statue, probably a seated dyad of the tomb-owner and his wife, long 

disappeared. The ceiling is now badly damaged and incomplete but would originally have been 

of vaulted form. The burial shaft is still to be located and may lie beneath the mound of sand 

and debris which covers most of the courtyard and extends to the modern monastery wall. A 

rectangular shaft uncovered in the south-west corner of Sataimau’s courtyard does not access 

2 

HE Tomb 3, though unfinished, is an impressive monument, the tomb surely of a very senior official, 

perhaps the governor of Edfu of the period. Worthy of particular note is its double doorway (Fig. 3), a rare 

elite feature with ritual meaning, the southern door for entering, the northern for exiting (cf. Arnold 2008, 

18, pl. 24c; Rosati 2010). These functions were respected in its adapted form, as later motifs on the south 

wall almost all face inwards, while those on the north wall face outwards. The recording of the secondary 

decoration in HE Tomb 3 has been organised by Susanne Woodhouse, with hieratic inscriptions studied by 

Robert Demarée. 

3 

The work of Lamia el-Hadidy, assisted throughout by Mohamed Badawy and, during various seasons, by 

Eric Miller and Iain Ralston. 

4 

The core epigraphic team in the Tomb of Sataimau comprised Vivian Davies, Marcel Marée, Ilona Regulski 

and Claire Thorne, who has also prepared drawings for publication. Additional assistance has been provided 

by Renée Friedman, Sabine Kubisch and Will Schenck. Photographic recording has been carried out by 

Yarko Kobylecki and James Rossiter and planning by Günter Heindl, Focke Jarecki and Alena Schmidt. 

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50 DAVIES BMSAES 20 

the substructure but ceases at a depth of about 1.5m (and may have had a symbolic function; 

cf. Dorman 2003, 31–32; Seyfried 2003, 61–63). The brick constructions in front of the tomb 

are not original. They were probably built during the Christian re-use of the tomb, activity 

evidenced also in modifications to the interiors of both HE Tombs 1 and 2 (see Gabra 1977, 

211; Davies 2006, 134; Davies and O’Connell 2009, 55–56, figs 19–20; O’Connell 2013). 

The tomb-owner 

The tomb-owner had two names. The first, his official name, was written with the composite 

hieroglyph , probably to be read either @wt-Hr-m-wi3 or @wt-Hr-m-xb3t, ‘Hathor is in 

the (sacred) barque’ (Gabra 1977, 212, n. 1; Morenz 1996, 177, n. 781; Effland et al. 1999, 

47, n. 15). The second, his family name, was , %A-tA-im3w, ‘son of Ta-imau,’ 5 

normally written without the final w. They are usually combined in the double-name formula, 

‘Hathoremkhebat called (Ddw n.f) Sataimau.’ The first name (and possibly also the second) 

suggests an affiliation with a cult of the goddess Hathor, which is further reflected in the 

tomb’s religious iconography (see further below). 

Sataimau was a scribe and priest attached to the temple of Edfu, who served under 

King Ahmose, the first king of Dynasty 18, achieving career advancement with successive 

appointments to two significant posts in the temple, as recorded in an autobiographical text 

inscribed within the chapel. He died during the reign of the next king, Amenhotep I, whose 

names and titulary are prominently located in large hieroglyphs on the chapel’s exterior façade 

and on the lintel of the interior niche. 

Sataimau’s father was named , ‘Geru,’ 6 and had been in royal service before him. 

Bearing the title , ‘chief of the ruler,’ otherwise unattested, he may have been a military 

officer. Sataimau’s wife, ‘mistress of the house, Ahmose,’ , was similarly well-connected. 

Her father, named , ‘Se,’ had been an official (title uncertain) of a queen mother, almost 

certainly Queen Ahhotep, the mother of King Ahmose. 7 Sataimau’s mother, who had two 

names, one of them unclear but probably ‘Ahmose,’ the other , ‘Shere[t],’ also came from 

an elite background; her brother, named , ‘Djab,’ held the office of an administrative 

‘king’s son.’ Sataimau and Ahmose had a number of children, prominent among them ‘lectorpriest 

Amenmose,’ , shown in the tomb as the senior son. 

Decoration 

The tomb-chapel was hewn out of a stratum of soft sandstone which contained numerous 

faults and fissures. In the preparation of the walls for the artists, these imperfections were 

filled in with thick white plaster to create an even surface. A thin wash of plaster was then 

applied, which served as the ground for preliminary drafting, with preparatory squared grids 

in red used selectively. The final decoration was executed first in pure paint with certain 

scenes, in particular those depicting the primary figures, subsequently worked in sunk-relief, 

with raised relief used to model details within the sunk-relief figures, the relief was then 

5 

For the name Ta-imau, see Ranke 1935, 353, no. 16; Gabra 1977, 212, n. 2. 

6 

For the name, cf. Gasse and Rondot 2007, 198–99, 509 (SEH 329), 202, 515 (SHE 336). 

7 

Like the contemporary Theban official Hery (see Gálan and Menéndez 2011, 147–51, with n. 23, 160, fig. 8). 


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painted. Raised relief was used to render the outline of a major figure only once, on the 

facade. Work on the tomb was well advanced but not completely finished. The decoration is 

now much damaged and paint, where it survives, is mostly very faded. 

Façade and entrance (Fig. 6) 

Arranged in columns, the names and titulary of Amenhotep I decorate the jambs of the 

entrance, the king’s prenomen on the left (south) and nomen on the right. The lintel above the 

door is completely weathered. On the façade to the right of the door is a large, unfinished, 

figure of a cow, sun-disk between the horns, in raised relief. Almost certainly a representation 

of Hathor, this exterior figure is to be related to a corresponding cow-figure represented 

within the niche (see below). The one is shown as if entering the tomb, the other as if having 

emerged from the hill. Together they are probably to be understood as representing the 

tomb-owner’s cycle of death and rebirth (cf. Pinch 1993, 182–83). 

Also unfinished was the decoration of the reveals of the doorway, much re-used and now 

in poor condition. It comprises in each case the beginning of a scene representing a standing 

figure of the tomb-owner, located high up on the thickness facing outwards, his arms raised 

in adoration of the sun (Fig. 7; cf. Davies et al. 2011a, 36–37, 52, pls vi, a–b). The scene 

was no doubt intended, when finished, to include a figure of the wife of the tomb-owner 

following behind him and a hieroglyphic text comprising a solar hymn placed directly in front 

(cf. Assmann 1983, xiii; Dziobek 1992, 121; Kampp-Seyfried 1998, 252; Robins 2010, 136). 

These are among the earliest dated examples of this type of scene. 8 

First chamber 

East wall (Fig. 8) 

The wall bears a number of hunting and fishing scenes, with the two major scenes placed 

apotropaically on either side of the entrance (cf. Decker and Herb 1994, 1: 431, K2.131; 

Davies 2009, 31–32, figs 7–8). Both have suffered substantial loss owing to the niches sunk 

into the walls during the later re-use of the tomb but still contain very interesting explanatory 

texts, quite well preserved. The main scene to the south of the door shows the tombowner 

standing in a papyrus-boat harpooning two fish (a Tilapia and Lates; see Brewer and 

Friedman 1989, 74–79), accompanied by his wife and daughter, both named Ahmose, and a 

son named Amenhotep. A hieroglyphic inscription describes Sataimau as ‘… spearing fish, 

enjoying himself in his plantation of his funerary estate in the presence of … [his] fathers 

and his sons,’ a text which places the scene in the domain of the tomb-owner’s eternal afterlife 

accompanied by succeeding generations of his family (on the symbolism of such scenes in 

Theban tombs, see, for example, Louant 2000, 30–32; Hartwig 2004, 103–106). 

The equivalent scene to the north shows a hippopotamus-hunt (Fig. 9). Of the figure of 

the tomb-owner, only the front hand survives holding a rope once shown as attached to a 

harpoon now missing. Before him is a kneeling attendant. The quarry, a large hippopotamus, 

with head turned backwards, is depicted in the water beneath the front of the boat, held fast 

8 

Other early Dynasty 18 examples are to be found in the tombs of Djehuty, Hormeni and Ahmose at 

Hierakonpolis, the first two dated by inscription to the reign of Thutmose I (Friedman 2001, 108, 111). For 

one of the Djehuty scenes, see Davies 2012. 



by ropes and the butt of a harpoon. Cleaning of the scene has revealed a painted inscription 

in three columns reading: ‘(1) lector-priest, scribe, 9 Hathoremkhebat called Sataimau (2) 

overthrowing the enemies of Horus, slaying for him (3) the rebels, so that Horus Behdety 

might triumph against [his] foe.’ This is an important new text, the first to articulate clearly 

the symbolic meaning of this scene in the context of a private tomb: that it represents the 

triumph of order over chaos, with the deceased (adopting the traditional role of the king) 

slaying the forces of evil, the enemies of Horus, embodied by the hippopotamus (cf. Säve- 

Söderbergh 1953, 25ff.; Behrmann 1996, 125ff., 164–68; Louant 2000, 32–35; Müller 2008, 

485). It anticipates the theme of the ritual drama portraying the triumph of Horus known to 

have been enacted in the temple of Edfu during the Ptolemaic period though earlier in origin 

(cf. Fairman 1974, 33–35), and may reflect the existence of a contemporary ritual practice. 10 

North and south walls 

The chapel’s long walls each bear major offering-scenes associated with a so-called funerary 

banquet, together with subsidiary scenes depicting the production and storage of food and 

drink (primarily meat and wine on the north and grain on the south; cf. Davies 2010, 129, 

134, fig. 4). The south wall also bears at its eastern end a large stela, its text destroyed. Notably 

absent is the standard funerary matter (the ‘Butic burial,’ etc) that normally decorates one of 

the long walls of such tombs, as for example in the contemporary tomb of Reneny at Elkab 

(Tylor 1900, pls 9–13; cf. Seyfried 2003, 63, Table I). Prioritized here on both walls is the 

presentation of the generational cycle and of the family within its social and professional 

context. 

The focal scene is that on the north wall (Figs 10–11; cf. Davies 2009, 32–34, figs 9–10) 

showing the seated figures of tomb-owner and wife surrounded by their offspring (with pet 

dog), before a pile of offerings. Facing them is a large figure of their senior son, Amenmose, 

with hands raised, reciting an offering-formula, and behind him a series of registers showing 

retainers and guests at the feast, the most important among them being ‘his friend, king’s son 

[…], lector-priest [name lost].’ Figured centrally in the register below is a group of younger 

children or grandchildren (three girls and two boys), each in the charge of a nurse (cf. Davies 

2010, 129, 134, fig. 3). 

The inscription in front of the tomb-owner gives his two names and the names of his 

father and mother together with his titles: ‘lector-priest and scribe of Horus Behdety offeringpriest 

(Hnky) of Nebpehtyre.’ The latter title is an abbreviated version of the title ‘offeringpriest 

of the statue of millions (of years) of the person of king of Upper and Lower Egypt, 

Nebpehtyre,’ which is written in full in the horizontal line above (Fig. 12). According to the 

biographical inscription carved on the niche façade (see below, with Fig. 18), Sataimau was 

9 

Note the writing of sS as sSi (as occasionally also elsewhere in the tomb). 

10 

Perhaps involving the slaying of real hippopotami; see the recent discovery in Edfu of hippopotamus-bones 

in deposits of the Second Intermediate Period and New Kingdom (see Moeller 2010, 96, fig. 3; 2011, 113, 

fig. 3). In view of Egypt’s recent successful ‘war of liberation’ (in which members of Sataimau’s family, 

including his father, might well have been involved), the scene might have had a certain historical resonance, 

an example of ‘eine tradionelle königsideologische Form mit einem neuen spezifischen Sinn gefüllt …’ 

(Morenz 2005, 180, with reference to the late Second Intermediate Period stela of Emhab from Edfu). 


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53 

appointed to this special post by King Ahmose. 

An interesting subsidiary figure in the main scene, located immediately behind the senior 

son, is that of a military officer. Done entirely in paint and now incomplete, the figure is 

shown playing a cylindrical kemkem-drum and carrying on his back what appears to be a 

standard in the form of a stave surmounted by a Horus-head (Figs 13–14). He is identified 

as Tsw.f IaH-ms Dd(w) n.f *sm-Dn[d?], ‘his commander, Ahmose called Tjesem-djen[ed?]’ 

(the second name, if the restoration is correct, meaning ‘mad/raging dog,’ an appropriate 

nickname for a soldier; cf. Vernus 1986, 126, f, on ‘noms d’animaux’ as applied to humans; 

also Lopes 1998, 710). The scene of which he was part is otherwise lost but may, when 

complete, have shown a group of musicians (cf. for example, Manniche 1991, 54–56, fig. 

31), perhaps in this case a military band (for recent discussion of the cylinder-drum, see 

Klotz 2010, 231–33, with reference to the military context of the kemkem-drum featured 

in the stela of Emhab from Edfu). The officer’s association with the tomb-owner (‘his 

commander’) suggests the possibility that the latter’s duties had at some time during his 

career included a military role (perhaps following that of his father). 

Scenes of the family, now badly damaged, dominate the south wall (Figs 15–16; cf. Davies 

2006, 134, 145, pl. iii). On the right, the tomb-owner stands before his seated parents, making 

offerings ‘[for the ka of] my father and my mother.’ (cf. Seyfried 1995, 223–31). Interestingly, 

the mother is shown with light red skin distinguishing her from the other female figures in 

the tomb, which are coloured the conventional yellow, 11 possibly here signalling her elevated 

ancestral status (cf. Seyfried 1995, 229–31). 12 In the central offering-scene, two of the three 

surviving figures, both named Ahmose, are identified as ‘his brother.’ Other ‘brothers’ and 

‘sisters’ are figured among the seated and squatting guests, which also include ‘his nurse, 

Henut’ (cf. Davies 2006, 134, 139, fig. 3). On the left, at the bottom of the stela (Fig. 16), the 

tomb-owner and wife receive offerings from their children (seven sons and three daughters, 

some of them perhaps grandchildren), led again by the senior son, Amenmose. 

On a technical point, the central scenes of both walls were initially drafted with the aid of 

squared grids, remnants of which survive, most visibly on the south wall. From these it can 

be estimated that the major seated figures occupied fourteen squares from the bottom of the 

feet to the hairline, as is usual for the period (see Robins 2001, 60). 

Niche, façade (Fig. 17) 

The niche façade is decorated with three sets of inscription (all deliberately damaged, 

but still legible): one on the lintel, comprising two horizontal lines, and one each on the left 

and right jambs respectively, arranged in four columns (cf. Davies 2006, 133, 143–44, pls 

1–2; Davies 2009, 33–36, figs 11–12). The upper line on the lintel contains a winged sundisc 

in the centre and on either side the epithets of Horus Behdety. The lower contains a 

central ankh-sign flanked to right and left by the titulary and prenomen and nomen respectively 

11 

All except for the figure of a Nubian servant in a subsidiary scene on the north wall, which is coloured 

black. 

12 

In terms of skin-colour in the tomb, red is otherwise used not only for male figures but also for the gods 

(Horus on the south wall of the niche, Shu on the north; see below). 



of Amenhotep I together with dedications to Horus Behdety and Isis. The inscription on 

the right jamb, now incomplete, is an address to the living, ending with the tomb-owner’s 

genealogy: ‘(4) … Sataimau, engendered by the chief of the ruler, Geru, and born to the 

sister of the king’s son of the district of the south[erner]s (?), Djab, [mother’s name lost].’ The 

inscription on the left jamb is a biographical text (Fig. 18): 

‘(1) Favours from the king concerning the temple of Horus Behdety. (My) Lord gave 

to (me) a favour: his causing that I be appointed to be second lector-priest of Horus 

[Behde]ty. (2) (My) Lord repeated for me a favour: [he] enjoined to (me) his statue 13 

which is in its hall, which is in this temple, its income having been fixed, (it) being settled 

and enduring. 14 (3) Bread, 180 portions; beer, 6 jars; pure meat, flesh; haunch; back; 

spine; kidney fat; kheru-fields; 10(?) hectares; kayt-fields, 30 hectares—preserved as an 

eternal [ordin]ance 15 (4) and as a permanent record in a decree of king Nebpehtyre, 

justified, strong ruler who seized the two lands, in the house of his father, Horus 

Behdety, the great god.’ 

This text, one of the earliest ‘autobiographies’ of Dynasty 18, records that King Ahmose 

twice favoured the tomb-owner with professional advancement. The king first appointed 

him to be second lector-priest in the temple of Edfu. The title of ‘second lector-priest’ 

is informative, suggesting the existence of a relatively developed priestly hierarchy, with 

accompanying infrastructure, in the temple of the period (cf. Morenz 1996, 177–78). The 

king next appointed him to be the offering-priest of a statue of the king located in its own 

hall in the temple. This is the statue named in the north wall frieze-inscription as the ‘statue 

of millions (of years) 16 of the person of king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebpehtyre,’ of 

which the tomb owner is the henky (Hnky), the title conferred on a priest enjoined to such 

a statue-cult (cf. Helck 1961, 226–28; Gabra 1977, 215–17; Graefe 1981, ii, 52–53; Helck 

1986, 1266; Effland et al. 1999, 52). The hieroglyph which determines the word for statue 

(tw[t]) in column 2 shows a figure of the king wearing a short wig with uraeus at the front, 

seated on a throne holding a stave in his left hand and a cloth in his right. This is not the 

generic determinative of the word, Gardiner A53, which is present in the frieze-inscription 

example (Fig. 12) and may possibly point to the form of the actual statue. This statue was 

endowed in perpetuity with designated quantities of food and drink and with land to sustain 

the cult by authority of a royal decree recorded and preserved in the temple of Edfu, the 

essential content of which the tomb-text probably reproduces in main part. A similar, nearcontemporary 

set of endowments also attached to royal statues at Edfu is documented in 

the stela of Iuf (Cairo CG 34009; Urk. iv, 29–31; Helck 1961, 226, no. 1; Gabra 1977, 217; 

13 

Reading: mni. n.[f] n.(i) tw[t].f. For mni in this sense, cf. Urk. iv, 30, 15; 31, 10 (stela of Iuf from Edfu); and 

2109, 13; Helck 1961, 226; Derchain 1985, 9. 

14 

Reading the last group as r(w)[d], which is confirmed by the determinative. 

15 

Reading m wD (of which there are clear traces) at the bottom of column 3. 

16 

In full, hH m rnpwt; cf. Urk. iv, 1495, 4; Gabolde 1991, 167–68; Frood 2003, 70–71 (d), pl. 5, line 11; Bryan 

2006, 112; Delvaux 2010, 70. 


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Gabolde 1991, 170; Frood 2003, 70–71 (e); Barbotin 2008, 50, 230–31, doc. 24; Delvaux 

2010, 69ff.). 

This short text contains much interesting information, bearing not only on the tombowner’s 

career progression but also on the institutions, architecture and content of the 

very early Dynasty 18 temple of Edfu, the patronage of the king confirming the political 

importance of Edfu to the new Theban dynasty (cf. Vandersleyen 1995, 201–202, with n. 1; 

Morenz 1996, 178, 180–81; Barbotin 2008, 50), a state of affairs to which the stela of Iuf 

also bears witness. 

Niche, interior 

As already noted above, the niche once contained in its rear wall rock-cut figures, probably 

a seated pair representing the tomb-owner and his wife, of which only remnants of the seat 

survive. The side walls are also very badly damaged, especially the south wall, but they still 

bear substantial remains of the original scenes. 

South wall of niche 

There are two scenes on the south wall (Fig. 19). The one on the right, nearest to the 

statues, depicts an offering-list and, beneath, a series of male figures carrying out an openingof-the-mouth 

ritual (cf. Davies and O’Connell 2009, 53, 63, fig. 7; Davies et al. 2011b, 59, 68, 

pl. iii, a). The larger, main scene on the left (Fig. 20; cf. Davies 2009, 35–37, fig. 13; Davies 

et al. 2011a, 37, 53, pl. vii) shows the tomb-owner in an act of so-called ‘personal piety’ 

(cf. Baines 2009, 12), kneeling and offering to three Edfu deities, identified respectively as 

‘Horus Behdety, great god, lord of heaven,’ ‘Hathor who dwells in Behdet, mistress of this 

perfect mound,’ and ‘Heded(et), mistress of […],’ the latter a scorpion-goddess and local 

manifestation of Isis. 17 Horus was shown seated holding a wAs-sceptre, with the goddesses 

standing behind him. The figures, possibly to be understood as representing statues, are 

mostly lost but a section of Horus’s front foot coloured red (placed on a dais or pedestal), and 

parts of their headgear survive, a double crown for Horus, sun-disc and horns for Hathor, 

and a modius supporting an enormous scorpion for Heded(et). 18 Noteworthy is Hathor’s 

second epithet, nbt iAt tn nfr(t), ‘mistress of this perfect mound,’ since it identifies Hagr 

Edfu as a sacred mound (of creation), possibly Behdet itself, and Hathor as having a special 

proprietorial interest in the site (cf. Gabra 1977, 219–20, fig. 7, bottom, 221; Kurth 1994, 95, 

n. 13; Morenz 1996, 177–78, n. 784; Effland 1999, 27; on votive ‘Hathor-jars’ found at the 

site, see Davies and O’Connell 2012, 56, 85, fig. 39). The whole scene is contained within a 

frame comprising the hieroglyph for sky at the top supported by two tall wAs-sceptres at the 

sides, which demarcates the sacred space occupied by the gods. Sataimau’s figure is included 

within this space. 

17 

For Hededet, see Wessetzky 1993; Leitz 2002, 597–98; Bryan 2002. This Hagr Edfu image, albeit vestigial, is 

now the earliest securely dated representation of this deity. 

18 

For a figure of Isis with scorpion on head in a similar scene from the near-by site of Hierakonpolis, see 

Friedman 2001, 111, colour plate 37.3 (statue-niche, tomb of Hormeni, temp. Thutmose I). 



North wall of niche 

Sataimau’s privileged treatment and Hathor’s special funerary role are both confirmed 

by a unique scene on the north wall (Figs 21–22; cf. Effland et al. 1999, 53; Davies 2008, 

40, 43, fig. 2, 45, pl. 1; Davies 2009, 35–38, fig. 14; Davies et al. 2011a, 37, 54, pl. viii, a). It 

shows three registers of female offering-bearers (the topmost done in paint only, now very 

faded), among them the tomb-owner’s wife and daughters, identified in turn as ‘his wife,’ ‘his 

daughter,’ etc, offering to a dominant central image, that of a large cow (already mentioned 

above in connection with the cow-figure on the façade, Fig. 6) standing within, and emerging 

from, a shrine on a sacred barque, the cow supported centrally by the arms (the left arm 

now lost) of a smaller kneeling divine figure, his body coloured red. The barque rests on a 

narrow, rectangular support. The front of the cow and barque are lost in the crack in the wall 

(an estimate of the available space suggesting there was little or no room for other elements 

of decoration like a standing figure to have once been included here). The cow in this case 

represents a composite deity. She is Hathor in the barque, emerged from the perfect mound. 

She is also the sky-goddess, the celestial cow, here probably an aspect of Isis, raised up and 

supported by the god Shu (or a heh-god). This duality is confirmed by the text above the 

cow’s head (Fig. 23), which labels the figure as ‘[Isis?] beloved of Horus (and) Hathor […] 

head of the (holy) cows.’ The icon combines two modes of rebirth, terrestrial and solar, 

for the tomb-owner, his identity, I would suggest, embodied in the image, which functions 

on one level as a large hieroglyph writing his name, ‘Hathor is in the barque.’ 19 He is thus 

presented as being one with the deity, an audacious conceit, though clearly ‘authorised,’ as 

is the unusual offering-scene on the opposite wall, by the presence of the king’s names and 

titulary, prominently displayed, on the lintel of the niche. 20 

The depiction of the Hathor-cow in her barque in the Hathor-shrine of Hatshepsut 

at Deir el-Bahri (see Naville [1901], 5, pl. 104; Blumenthal 2001, 35–36, fig. 23) has been 

regarded as the earliest example of such an image (for example, Müller 2003, 61, 68, 116), 

while the representation of the celestial cow is otherwise first attested in Theban royal tombiconography 

of late Dynasty 18 (see Hornung 1982, 81–85, fig. 3; Effland et al. 1999, 53; 

Guihou 2010). The appearance of the two motifs, imaginatively combined, in a private tomb 

of early Dynasty 18 in Edfu indicates an earlier origin for both and a wider, less restricted 

sphere of use and deployment. 21 It is unlikely that they were first created for Sataimau. They 

19 

A two-dimensional precursor of the famous rebus-sculpture, British Museum EA 43, reading Mwt-m-wiA, 

‘Mut is in the barque’ (see Fischer 1972, 21–22; Quirke and Spencer 1992, 77–78, no. 56; Bryan 1992, 126, 

fig. 5.4; Müller 2003, 87; Morenz 2008, 187; Karlshausen 2009, 50–51). 

20 

Cf. the unusual scenes in Silsilah chapel no. 21 of the official Menkh, temp. Tuthmose I (Caminos and 

James 1963, 70–71, pl. 54, left and right upper register; Spieser 2000, 240–41 and 333, no. 173), with human 

figures, probably the chapel-owner, offering directly to the gods Haroeris and Sobek (here shown standing 

on the base-line), who in turn give life to the king represented by his name, which is positioned directly 

above the scenes; also Kucharek 2010, 148–56, on the decoration of the later chapel of Senenmut (Silsilah 

no. 16) with its unique temple-like content, an example of ‘Die Verquickung von Elementen privater und 

königlicher Kultsphären … nur im Rahmen ausserordentlicher königlicher Gunst möglich.’ 

21 

Indicative of a developing momentum in the elite appropriation of royal/divine iconographic forms 

anticipated in the earlier Edfu stela of Emhab (see Baines 1986, 50–53; Morenz 2005, 177–80; Kubisch 

2008, 238–39; Klotz 2010, 214–17). 


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were surely adapted by the tomb-owner and his designers from current temple-models, 

elements perhaps in a now-lost decorative programme of Amenhotep I in the temple of 

Edfu (like that attested at near-by Elkab; see Werbrouck 1940–54, especially pl. 44A; Schmitz 

1978, 5, 121–23; Pinch 1993, 175) or in a temple or Hathor-shrine at Hagr Edfu (yet to be 

located; see Sauneron 1958, 278–79, n. 3; Effland 1999, 30; Gabra 1977, 221–22; Gabra 1984, 

7; Egberts 1998, 799–800, with n. 49), the station, it might be surmised, for a processional 

cult-statue of ‘Hathor is in the barque’ resembling in form the image depicted in the nichescene 

and celebrated in the official name of the tomb-owner. 22 

Conclusion 

The tomb-chapel of Sataimau at Hagr Edfu (HE Tomb 1) is rich in data on a range of 

interrelated subjects of both regional and more general import: on political and personal 

patronage, career advancement and temple institutions; on expressions of local identity and 

social status; on religious iconography and the private elite assumption of royal prerogatives; 

on tomb and site as parts of a wider sacred landscape; on the nature of later re-use. To what 

extent the tomb’s decorative programme, with its seemingly unusual elements, is representative 

of the prevailing repertoire, it is impossible to say, as it presently stands alone. There can 

be little doubt, however, that contemporary monuments, still to be uncovered, are located 

elsewhere in Hagr Edfu, probably in the vicinity of HE Tombs 1–3. The area immediately to 

the south of the group along the same terrace (Fig. 4), of which nothing is currently known, 

has obvious potential and could be a productive focus for future work on this enormously 

promising site. 

Frontispiece: Hagr Edfu from the north, with the modern monastery at the foot of the main hill (Photo: 

W. V. Davies). 

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Fig. 1: Satellite image of the Edfu region (DigitalGlobe). 


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Fig. 2: View of Hagr Edfu Tombs 1 and 2 (Photo: W. V. Davies). 

Fig. 3: View of Hagr Edfu Tomb 3 (Photo: W. V. Davies). 



Fig. 4: Map of Hagr Edfu (F. Jarecki and A. Schmidt). 


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Fig. 5: Ground-plan of HE Tombs 1–3 (G. Heindl). 



Fig. 6: Façade of HE Tomb 1 (Photo: W. V. Davies). 


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Fig. 7: HE Tomb 1, doorway, northern reveal (Photo: W. V. Davies). 



Fig. 8: HE Tomb 1, interior, east wall (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 


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Fig. 9: HE Tomb 1, east wall, left, detail of hunting scene. 



Fig. 10: HE Tomb 1, north wall, left (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 


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Fig. 11: HE Tomb 1, north wall, right (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 

Fig. 12: HE Tomb 1, north wall, section of frieze-inscription. 



Fig. 13: HE Tomb 1, north wall, detail (Photo: W. V. Davies). 


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Fig. 14: HE Tomb 1, north wall, figure of drummer. 



Fig. 15: HE Tomb 1, south wall, right (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 

Fig. 16: HE Tomb 1, south wall, left (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 


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Fig. 17: HE Tomb 1, niche (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 



Fig. 18: HE Tomb 1, niche-façade, left jamb, inscription. 


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Fig. 19: HE Tomb 1, niche interior, south wall (Photo: J. Rossiter). 



Fig. 20: HE Tomb 1, niche interior, south wall, left (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 


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Fig. 21: HE Tomb 1, niche interior, north wall (Photo: J. Rossiter). 



Fig. 22: HE Tomb 1, niche interior, north wall, centre (Photo: Y. Kobylecki). 

Fig. 23: HE Tomb 1, niche interior, north wall, inscription as recorded on transparent acetate 

(Photo: W. V. Davies).

The Tomb of Sataimau at Hagr Edfu: An overview - British Museum

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