The ancient Egyptian official Meketre was

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

and high steward during the reign of

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw- ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh ...

Mentuhotep III Sankhkare Mentuhotep III (also Montuhotep III) of the Eleventh Dynasty was Pharaoh of Egypt during the Middle Kingdom. He was assigned a reign of 12 years in the Turin Canon. Reign Mentuhotep III succeeded his father Mentuhotep II to th ...

and perhaps

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynas ...

, during the Middle Kingdom.Meketre is first attested in a rock inscription in the Wadi Shatt el-Rigala, bearing the simple title ''sealer''. The inscription is dated to year 41 of king Mentuhotep II. On reliefs from the mortuary temple of the same king in

Deir el-Bahari Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri ( ar, الدير البحري, al-Dayr al-Baḥrī, the Monastery of the North) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part o ...

Meketre bears the title of chancellor and was evidently promoted in the meantime, succeeding Kheti. The same title was found on a statue in Meketre's tomb while on relief fragments in the tomb he held the main title of ''high steward''. The tomb (

TT280 Tomb TT280, located in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, part of the Theban Necropolis, is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian noble Meketre who was chancellor and chief steward during the reign of Mentuhotep II and Mentuhotep III, during the Eleventh ...

) is located in

Sheikh Abd el-Qurna The necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna ( ar, شيخ عبدالقرنة) is located on the West Bank at Thebes in Upper Egypt. It is part of the archaeological area of Deir el-Bahari, and named after the domed tomb of the local saint. This is the ...

, part of the

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 ...

, and lies next to a large, unfinished royal tomb which was originally attributed to king Mentuhotep III and, after new research, to Amenemhat I. Therefore, Meketre most likely died under the latter king. Meketre's tomb TT280 contained several wooden replicas, representing the daily activities and life in Ancient Egypt, together with figurines of ships and cattle were, miniature buildings and gardens. Selections of the replicas and other items from the tomb are on display at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.https://maps.metmuseum.org/galleries/fifth-ave/1/105

References

Bibliography

Dorothea Arnold Dorothea (also spelled Dorothée, Dorotea or other variants) is a female given name from Greek (Dōrothéa) meaning "God's Gift". It may refer to: People * Dorothea Binz (1920–1947), German concentration camp officer executed for war cri ...

: ''Amenemhet I and the Early Twelfth Dynasty at Thebes.'' In: ''Metropolitan Museum Journal.'' Vol. 26, 1991, , S. 5–48
online (PDF; 7,2 MB)
* H. E. Winlock: ''Models of Daily Life in Ancient Egypt. From the Tomb of Meket-Re at Thebes'' (= ''Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Egyptian Expedition.'' Vol. 18, {{ZDB, 86343-9). Published for the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1955. Ancient Egyptian treasurers Ancient Egyptian high stewards Officials of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian royal sealers