Padiamenope (also known by the

hellenised Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...

form Petamenophis) was an ancient Egyptian royal

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promin ...

and chief lector priest between the late

25th Dynasty The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of th ...

and the early

26th Dynasty The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...

, known mainly for his immense tomb, one of the largest ever built in ancient Egypt.

Biography

Despite his immense tomb and the quantity of known artifacts attributable to him, nearly nothing is known of Padiamenope’s life. His titles provide only vague hints about his career, with none of these seemingly referring to any political charge. Notably, the name of the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

(or pharaohs) he must have served does not appear in any of his numerous inscriptions; it has been estimated that he should have lived between the late 25th and the 26th Dynasty. He was a "chief of the scribes of the king’s documents", but also held priestly positions such as chief ritualist priest, as well as

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partici ...

scribe both at Thebes and Abydos. From his titles and the text written on the walls of his tomb, it has been deduced that he must have had an exceptional knowledge of both royal and sacred texts.
The tomb inscriptions also mention his mother and many maternal family members, while members of the paternal side are absent altogether; it has therefore been suggested that he may have been of

Kushite The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what ...

origin, given the typically

matrilineal Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance o ...

tradition of that society. Ushabti Pediamenopet Munich

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

statue of him, found at

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construc ...

, is now at the

Cairo Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

. Another statue, on which he bears the title of "Scribe of the Temple of Abydos", is now in Syracuse.
Several

ushabti The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "'' ...

belonging to Padiamenope are known; all of these are broken, presumably for some magical reason.Caption of the ushabti, from

the Archeological Civic Museum (MCA) of Bologna The Archaeological Civic Museum of Bologna ( it, Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna) is located in the fifteenth-century Palazzo Galvani building at Via dell'Archiginnasio 2 postal code 40124 Bologna, once known as ''the Hospital of Death''. F ...

Tomb

Padiamenope’s tomb TT33, located at

el-Assasif El-Assasif ( ar, العساسيف) is a necropolis near Luxor on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt, Upper Egypt. It is located in the dry bay that leads up to Deir el-Bahari and south of the necropolis of Dra' Abu el-Naga'. El-Assasif contains burial ...

on the west bank of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

, is the largest non-royal tomb in the whole

Theban Necropolis The Theban Necropolis is a necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom. Mortuary temples * Deir el-Bahri * ...

, as well as one of the largest ever built in Egypt. It consists of 22 rooms, spread over four underground levels, whose walls offer over 2600m² of decorations, although not always well preserved. Notably, the wall inscriptions show a collection of ancient funerary texts such as the ''

Book of Gates The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world, corresponding to the journey of the sun through the underworld during the hours of the night ...

'', but revisited in simpler and more contemporary terms. The tomb was discovered in the

18th century The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave tradi ...

and was initially kept open, but remained closed for the entire

20th century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nucle ...

. During 2004–2005, a team led by Claude Traunecker of the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ...

undertook a systematic exploration of the tomb.

References

External links

Website of the "Mission épigraphique française dans la tombe TT 33"
(with news of the mission) {{DEFAULTSORT:Padiamenope Ancient Egyptian priests Ancient Egyptian scribes People of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt People of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt 7th-century BC clergy