The Professions and Hierarchy of Nekhebu

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the titles and professions of an Old Kingdom official particularly a sixth dynasty royal Architect who performed the tasks of his career under the sovereign Pepi I.Mr(i)-PtH-anx-mry-Ra was the full of that official who was also called Nekhebu, his tomb is located in Giza near king cheop’s great pyramid, his father was possibly khnementi the owner of tomb G 2374 but the name of his mother was still unknown.The paper provides a general overview of Nekhebu’s practical life through a detailed analysis of the different and various titles and epithets he held during his long resplendent career, as well as the diverse professions he occupied in the civil Egyptian Administration of the Old Kingdom.Nekhebu was one of the most important civil officials in the sixth dynasty as a whole and particularly in the reign of the monarch Pepi I who executed many projects and expeditions for him.The Author depends in that paper on many scattered sources for Nekhebu’s biography, this is due to the great destruction of his stone built mastaba which led to the cracking of the walls of his mastaba to several too heavy blocks found in a disordered heap of debris.The two main sources for Nekhebu’s biography were found by Reisner in the tomb complex of snDm-ib’s family of the fifth and sixth dynasties at Giza, one of these two main sources is located in the Cairo museum while the other one is located in Boston museum, both texts record many projects that Nekhebu executed to the king, as according to their inscriptions he was responsible for directing four missions for the king Pepi I.The first mission was directing the erection of the ka-mansions of Pepi in Lower Egypt and directing the Administration at the north in “city of Lakes”, in “Akhbit of Horus” and the pyramid of Men-nefer-pepy (the pyramid of king Pepi I), the second mission was in Lower Egypt where he dug a canal between Akhbit and the residence, the third mission was in Upper Egypt as Nekhebu dug a canal in Ḳus while the fourth mission which is recorded in the Cairo text presented his responsibility in directing the works of a pyramid monument in Heliopolis.After every mission Nekhebu executed for the king, he stated the praises and rewards offered to him as a gift from the king in appreciation of his efforts to achieve the mission successfully.In addition to these two main sources there are some blocks from his mastaba preserved now in Boston museum which the author depends on them in the paper.These sources record many different titles for Nekhebu which helped to suggest an accurate topic concerning his promotion and Hierarchy during the reign of Pepi I.The paper examines all the titles and epithets held by Nekhebu from his various inscriptions, the reading of each title and the different opinions suggested by scholars concerning each title’s reading, its transliteration and the translation as well as the functions and natures of each title and the different points of view suggested by scholars regarding each title whether it was an honorific title or an official one indicates an actual profession.The paper concludes two distinct types of titles which indicate two different career tracks that Nekhebu passed by during his long career.And finally, the paper suggests a proposed Hierarchy for Nekhebu according to these titles.