Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum

On duty at the sun temple, Niankhkhnum or Khnumhotep may have watched over subordinate officials, such as the m-r pr Sna "overseer of the magazines" who in turn supervised crews of porters stocking and withdrawing material from the granaries and store-rooms

Manicurist at work, Dyn. 5 (reconstruction). He holds tablet for steadying client's hand by pressing it against his knee; trims nails with a flint knife. One is among reliefs in this tomb.[10]^:642

Care of the king's body and wardrobe in preparation for his public appearances required a large number of aides, apparently working in different ateliers each under its own leadership. In addition to the manicurists whom Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep supervised (discussed in the titulary section of this article), the palace had attendants under one or more men holding the title jrj nfr HAt "keeper of the headdress," responsible for the king's wigs and headcloths, jrw Snj " hairdressers,[11]^:189 who kept him shaven, and an m-r n jzwj Xkrwt nswt "overseer of the two chambers of king's adorners."[12]^:74 The post of Xkrt nswt "adorner of the king" was always held by women, who were legally, if not socially, equal to men in Egypt.[13]^:8 Neferhotep-Hathor is labeled with this status at the funeral procession of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep.[14]^{:Szene 12}

How, or how often, personnel in the hairdressers' shop, which from titulary evidence stands higher than the manicurists in 5th and 6th Dynasty prestige rankings, communicated with the latter remains unknown. No hairdressers are labeled at the funeral procession. Ptahshepses, the keeper of the headdress who became Nyussere's vizier,[12]^:73 and Ti, overseer of the pyramids and sun temples, are two officials whom Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep may have worked with. Both Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum are attested on a harvest scene in the splendid burial estate of Ptahshepses, where they may have been quarry supervisors, yet named as jr ant pr aA "palace manicurists," quite junior to titulary in their own tomb, which could mean Ptahshepses died while they were younger.[15]^:469 A door jamb, besides TAtj "vizier," displays the title HAt-a "one whose arm is in front," a pure honorific Allen distinguishes from the m-r and jrj titles specifying responsibility domains we've encountered up to now. The jrj nfr HAt "keeper of the headdress" epithet, recorded in many of the rooms, is spelled with the mouth sign (Gardiner D21), not the eye sign (D4), so that it shares the introductory word of jrj-pat "hereditary prince," another of Allen's honorifics.[11]^:178[16]^:34

Egyptian tombs feature lists of titles and epithets honoring the deceased or held during life, often giving titles for other persons who appear on a wall. For Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, the titulary may be condensed as follows:[14][note 1][note 2][note 3]

False doors of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep, inner hall. Khnumhotep's door on the right, with an offering table scene above the paired watchmen. Niankhkhnum's matching door, left, is damaged and not shown. Titles and names go above the embracing pair portrait, identical except for name itself. These correspond to numbers (2), (4), (6), (8) in this section. Areas marked "text" contain the Htp dj nswt formula and other benedictions; see section "Offering formulas in the tomb" in this article. Adapted from Moussa & Altenmüller.[8]^{:Plate 92}

Held by either or both men:

1. m-r jr ant pr aA "overseer of manicurists (literally, 'those who do fingernails') in the palace." pr aA means "the great house,"[16]^:34 the name for the center of power, at Memphis during the Old Kingdom. In the later story of Sinuhe, after 12th Dynasty rulers of the Middle Kingdom had fixed the political capital near the Fayum Oasis at Itjtawy, the palace was called the Xnw "interior."[14]^{:Szene 13}[19]^:59
2. sHD jr ant pr aA "inspector of manicurists in the palace"[14]^{:Szene 15}[11]^:1179
3. Hrj sStA "guardian of secrets" (As a verb, sStA is causative, so the term would refer to the process of making secrets. For more on this title, which originates from the Giza necropolis, see subsection on Hrj sStA below or consult the reference.)[12]^:75[14]^{:Szene 13}
4. rx nswt "king's acquaintance"[14]^{:Szenen 1.2, 1.3}
5. zXAw nswt "king's scribe"
6. mHnk nswt "confidant of the king"[14]^{:Szene 13, 15}
7. jr xt nswt "keeper of the king's things"[14]^{:Szene 23}
8. mrr nb.f "one who is beloved of his lord"[8]^{:Plates 90, 92}
9. Hm-nTr ra m Szp jb ra "sun priest in the (place where the sun-god) Ra's heart receives welcome," that is, in Nyuserre's solar temple at Abu Ghurab[11]^:808[14]^{:Szene 23}
10. wab mn swt nj-wsr-ra "purity attendant of the enduring places of Nyuserre" (a cleaner-priest in this king's pyramid complex at Abusir). A peculiar hieroglyphic grapheme in this title, a device of three seat signs (denoting plural noun) followed by a pyramid, is seen on a gold seal purportedly found in Turkey, a demonstration of official use of a pyramid establishment title for signing documents.[14]^{:Szene 23,}[20]
11. wab nswt "one who purifies the king." (a personal priest to the king)[14]^{:Szene 13}
12. nb jmAx nTr aA "lord of those who are honored before the great god" (an aspirational title signifying donations to the individual's mortuary estate from the king; see subsection on jmAx below)[14]^{:Szene 13}

The title Hrj sStA "keeper of the secrets" is attested for 13 individuals during the Old Kingdom, at least once elaborated to the form Hr sStA mdw-nTr "keeper of the secrets of the god's words," meaning the hieroglyphic language used on monuments.[12]^:75[16]^:44 In contrast with the hieratic script used for everyday record-keeping, already an elite activity, the content of hieroglyphic texts was closely controlled property of the state and permission from the king was probably required for inscriptions in one's tomb, as we see in a royal authorization for Rawer, an official under Neferirkare buried at Giza, to do so.

jmAx xr nTr aA "honored one near the great god" is a euphemism for "dead," appearing frequently in tombs and on slab stelae, even though it, like the word (and goddess) mAat, evokes a multifarious idealization of relationships between social and cosmological ranks.

Epithets beginning with jmAx are common throughout Egyptian history from the 4th Dynasty on,[21]^:194 tending toward greater specificity in later periods. An official or family member could possess several, both jmAx xr nTr aA "honored before the great god" (when dead)[14]^{:Szene 34} and jmAx xr nswt "honored before the king" (presumably in life).[14]^{:Szenen 13} It is important to realize that king and god themselves can be one and the same, especially upon death, as Amenemhat I would be in the early Middle Kingdom story of Sinuhe.[19]^:59 The goal of kingship, after maintaining social order (mAat) in Egypt, was to ascend and unite with the sun disk of Heliopolitan theology, maintained from Old Kingdom until the arrival of Christianity.[16]^:121[22]^:141Since jmAx can also be translated as "provided for," the connection an official's tomb holds with royal subsidy is made implicit; although officials built their tombs using mainly their own resources once the 4th Dynasty (and Khufu's largess at Giza) ended.[23]^:103[24]^:14

A two-pillared portico makes up the eastern half of the mastaba's façade. The front is inscribed with Niankhkhnum depicted on the left, Khnumhotep on the right. These two reliefs are virtually identical, only the names being different.

This space is fairly small. The west side is decorated with a funerary procession for Niankhkhnum and the east side shows a matching funerary procession for Khnumhotep.

Khnumhotep (left) and Niankhknum (right) enjoy taking game in the papyrus marshes that dot Egypt's landscape. See text for discussion; click image to enlarge and view tiny family members dispersed about the men. Osirisnet[25]

The uppermost south wall shows the two men seated before an offering table. Niankhkhnum is seated on the right, while Khnumhotep is seated on the left. The table with offerings stretches out between them. Below the offering scene the two men are depicted netting fowl and fishing. On the left, below this lintel, Khnumhotep stands on a papyrus boat, spearing fish in the water that floods the bases of papyrus stalks he drifts among. He is accompanied by his wife Khenut, sons and a daughter. On the right, Niankhkhnum is depicted in a similar manner, aiming his throw stick at the waterfowl although the active arm is now missing from this piece.

East wall in the first chamber.

At the entrance scenes of baking bread and brewing beer are depicted. Barley is carefully measured out and turned into bread. Other scenes include goat herding, ship building, harvesting scenes, sailing, netting of birds, etc. The east wall contains a legal text. Below this text several people are depicted thought to be the family of the two men. At the very bottom ships are shown. The men are shown standing before the main cabin of the ship.[10]

An undecorated space which serves to connect the vestibule and chambers on the north end of the mastaba with the abutting rock-cut sections of the tomb to their south. Modern security grates now obstruct much of the full sun that would have flooded this small, walled yard, yet little or no sun fell on the vestibule to the outer rock-cut hall described below, as its entrance faces north.[10]

With names, titles, and standing portraits of the two men, it is much smaller than the other vestibule and without pillars. The lintel's inside surface features another cattle count scene, and each tomb owner appears on one of the side walls with his wife, amid a flow of yet more offerings from the herds.[10]

Niankhkhnum (standing, left) and Khnumhotep (right, with his right arm on Niankhkhnum's shoulder), accompanied by their offspring (hieroglyphic notations msw.f). On west wall of outer hall, between double doors.[8]^{:148–150, Plate 73}

This outer hall, an antechamber to the final, inner hall, marks the tomb's first, rock-cut phase of construction, and is fully decorated. Before the mastaba was added, it would have been the first room a visitor entered after passing through the forecourt, which was relocated northeast to the far side of the mastaba where it is now. Here, people engage in agricultural occupations including the weighing of corn and grain, the ploughing of fields, and harvesting.

A double doorway to the inner hall is on the west wall, with a broad pillar dividing the doors. Its surface depicts the two men, their children, drawn much smaller to reflect a lesser status, in tow behind each parent.[10] The respective wives do not appear in this scene. Niankhkhnum has three sons and three daughters, Khnumhotep five sons and one daughter, some of whom may be adopted or conceived by a second wife or mistress as they lack the shendyt kilts worn by the others. All the children except Niankhkhnum's youngest son, who still runs naked with his shaved head bearing the single sidelock of youth, are adults despite the scale they are drawn at.[26]^:38 Ptahshepses, a son of Khnumhotep, wore the youth sidelock in the marsh scene of the forecourt but not so here. Either inconsistency intrudes, or the art, completed over years, reflects some changes of status which transpire during the tomb's construction.

See text for discussion. Reeder.[5]^:194

Now on the reverse side of the dividing pillar, Niankhknum and Khnumhotep embrace again, and a third time on the opposite wall of this small chamber. They are without their children in this innermost sanctuary. Each man has a "false door," a carved, slot-like niche surrounded by inscriptions which was produced in the royal workshops and installed in the tomb. Niankhknum's is seriously damaged.[10] The false door provided an accessway for the deceased, as a spiritual being, to reach offerings left at the tomb by the living. These offerings were to be set on plinths in front of the false doors.[22]^:155-159[27]^{:19, 55} Behind the false doors is a small statue closet known as the serdab. A statue of each man would have been placed here, facing the chamber as if to watch visitors come and go, but invisible to the offering-bringers since the false doors are actually solid. It appears that tomb robbers removed the statues in antiquity; they are no longer extant.[28]^:31[10]^:644

The Banquet: Offering tables with Khnumhotep's (left) and Niankhkhnum's names, titles; two registers of musicians and dancers below.After Altenmüller (2008).[29]^:25

(top) Relief from tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Dyn. 5, with musicians and dancers.[30]^:p.25 (inset) Detail of stela of Nefret-iabet, Giza, reign of Khufu, Dyn. 4. Note the leopard skin dress Nefret-iabet wears, the red color with black rim band on jar, and the water issuing from it, painted details not normally preserved in ancient art.[31]^:243

The banquet scene (first image)[10]^:643 shows Niankhkhnum clean-shaven (left) and Khnumhotep (wearing a short beard) seated facing one another across comestibles spread between, each with his own breadboard table. Set off by a baseline, this is read separately from the two registers of entertainment below them.[32]^:148-149 A different upper register substitutes in the contemporary Saqqara tomb of Ti (next image), where no food is present with the owner, who is seated holding a scepter, his wife (drawn at half-scale) by his feet.

Four of the rows show people walking in single file. Familial relationships stay unclear in Egyptian tombs: Only the pictures of wives (Hmt.f "his wife"), daughters (zAt.f), and sons (zA.f) bore genealogical notations. Reeder identifies Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep themselves at the rear of Khabau-Khufu's line; he and the woman behind him are Niankhkhnum's parents. This woman and Khnumhotep are the only paraders who do not place their left hands upon their hearts, but use them to hold the hand or arm of the person in front of them, suggesting a degree of intimacy between them and the persons they grasp (Khabau-Khufu or Niankhkhnum, respectively).[5]^:197 More of the deceased's children plus some of foggier status appear, including Ankhredwi-nesut, police captain Khnumhezuf, palace manicurist Kasetef, and Hemre's wife Tjeset.[14]^{:Szene 12}[note 4] Sekhem, a scribe of the pr HD "white house," is both here and behind Niankhkhnum in the forecourt marsh scene, where he had a namesake on Khnumhotep's side, albeit with additional post of inspector of Hm-kA priests marked.

In Reeder's interpretation, absence of Khnumhotep's parents here matching absence of his wife at the banquet, is consistent with Khnumhotep predeceasing his afterlife roommate. Other officials in line and in the next register (where figures are smaller) include supervisors of weavers, manicurists, Hm-kA priests, and scribes.[14]^{:Szene 12}{{r|group=note|note10. Uncertain precise relationship connects Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep as well; Altenmüller considers them brothers, Baines that they were twins, and Reeder that they were same-sex conjugal or domestic partners evidenced by iconography normally used for husband and wife, or, with Khnumhotep, for women (sniffing the lotus blossom).