Tenth International Congress of Egyptologists Abstracts of Papers

XICE – Abstract of Papers
The Ramesside tomb of the chief steward Nebnefer and his son at Saqqara
Said Gohary
The tomb-chapel, No. S217, discovered at Saqqara in 1988 by Sayed Tawfik, appears
to have been shared by at least two members of one family, the Royal Steward and
Overseer of the Treasury of Ptah, Nebnefer, and his son, the Fortress Commander,
Huynefer. The tomb-chapel is in a very ruined state, but inscriptions and reliefs at the
entrance name and depict Nebnefer, whereas elsewhere in the tomb, loose blocks and
reliefs in the cult-chapel at the western end of the tomb show Huynefer. The tomb
follows the general pattern of similar New Kingdom tombs in this part of the Saqqara
necropolis, to the south of the Unas Causeway. It consists of an entrance pylon and
three open courts leading to the cult-chapel at the western end of the tomb. The
second and third courts had a colonnade around the four sides with square pillars and
round columns. The cult-chapel may have been in three parts, with the main chapel in
the centre, flanked by two side chambers, although this is now difficult to determine
precisely. Apart from the first entrance pylon, which was of limestone blocks with
rubble fill, the second and third pylons were of mud-brick faced with limestone
blocks. Behind the rear wall of the tomb is a stone pyramid, of which about two-thirds
survive. Many of the blocks and columns from the tomb have disappeared, possibly
reused by the monks of the nearby Coptic monastery of St. Jeremiah. The tomb is
unpublished.
This paper will describe the standing walls of the tomb from front to back (east to
west), including pylons, doorjambs, open courts, and the cult-chapel with the central
funerary stela. As well as the blocks in situ, other blocks were found in the vicinity
covered with reliefs and inscriptions, which recount the activities of the tomb owner,
or contain hymns to various gods, in particular the sun god, Re. An attempt will be
made to match up the scenes on these blocks, and suggest a theoretical reconstruction
of the tomb, based on material from other New Kingdom tombs at Saqqara. This tomb
is of special interest, as it contains several titles of the owner and members of his
family. The replacement of some personal names with others, and the reuse of several
of the blocks, raise a number of questions, as these actions cannot be coincidence. The
discovery of the New Kingdom necropolis at Saqqara also shows that Memphis
maintained its religious and administrative importance for a long period, alongside the
southern and northern capitals. Finally, the author will examine the possible factors
which influenced the size of a tomb; whether it was royal favour, the tomb owner’s
official position, the length of time he was in office, or the status of his family.
A neglected group of miniature vessels in Twenty-sixth Dynasty burials of Lower
Egypt
Silke Grallert
The starting point of my research has been the anthropoid sarcophagi of the Twentysixth
Dynasty made of greywacke and their supposed influence on the appearance and
shape of the marble anthropoid sarcophagi from Phoenicia. 89 These monumental
89 S. GRALLERT, ‘Die ägyptischen anthropoiden Sarkophage aus den Nekropolen von Sidon’, in: S.
FREDE, Die phönizischen anthropoiden Sarkophage, Teil 2: Tradition – Rezeption – Wandel
(Forschungen zur phönizisch-punischen und zyprischen Plastik I.2 (Mainz, 2002), 191-215; Ead.,
102