Amenhotep (Huy)
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Amenhotep (Huy) was the '' high steward of Memphis'' under
Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( , ; "Amun is satisfied"), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great and Hellenization, Hellenized as Amenophis III, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty. According to d ...
in the Egyptian
18th Dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...
. With this title he was one of the highest officials at the royal court.


Family

Amenhotep, with the nickname Huy, was a member of an influential family. His father Heby was ''mayor of Memphis''. His brother
Ramose Ramose (Egyptian: '' rꜥ-ms(.w)'') was an ancient Egyptian name, meaning "Ra is born". Variants of the name include Ramesses (''Ramessu'') and Paramessu; these various spellings could be used to refer to the same person. Notable bearers of th ...
was vizier under Amenhotep III.Dodson, Aidan, Amarna Sunrise: Egypt from Golden age to Age of Heresy, The American University in Cairo Press, 2014, p 48, p50, p 184 n35, p198 n84. His son Ipy was ''high steward'' under
Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton ( ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eig ...
. Ipy likely succeeded his father sometime after the first
Heb-Sed festival The Sed festival (''ḥb-sd'', conventional pronunciation ; also known as Heb Sed or Feast of the Tail) was an ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh. The name is taken from the name of an Egyptian wolf god, o ...
of Amenhotep III. He appears in the tomb of his uncle Ramose at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III when he has taken over his father's duties.O'Connor, David and Cline, Eric H. Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign University of Michigan Press. 2001, pp 65, 203, 214; The family member's accomplishments are one of the rare cases where an influential family kept its high position under the latter king.


Biography

Amenhotep is known from a high number of monuments and artifacts. Another fine statue was found at Abydos. Already in the early 19th century (1821 or 22), his looted tomb was found in
Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...
. It contained a sarcophagus, a granite
canopic chest Canopic chests are cases used by ancient Egyptians to contain the internal organs removed during the process of mummification. Once canopic jars began to be used in the late Fourth Dynasty, the jars were placed within canopic chests. Although th ...
, model scribal boards and a
stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
with a long religious text. The scribal palettes are now in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
(Acc. No. 37.2.1), the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
(Inv. No. 833), in the
National Archaeological Museum (Florence) The National Archaeological Museum of Florence (Italian – Museo archeologico nazionale di Firenze) is an archaeological museum in Florence, Italy. It is located at 1 piazza Santissima Annunziata, in the Palazzo della Crocetta (a palace built ...
(Inv. No. 133)William C. Hayes: ''A Writing-Palette of the Chief Steward Amenhotpe and Some Notes on its Owner'' In: ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 24 (1938), p. 9-24 and in
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...
(72.663 a-i). The
cubit The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding Noah ...
rod (Inv. No. 132), the
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
stele (Inv. No. 2.), a grey
granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
pyramidion A pyramidion (plural: pyramidia) is the capstone of an Egyptian pyramid or the upper section of an obelisk. Speakers of the Ancient Egyptian language referred to pyramidia as ''benbenet'' and associated the pyramid as a whole with the sacred b ...
(Inv. No. 63) and 5
alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...
jars (Inv. Nos. between 83 and 110) are now all in the Museum in Florence. The
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden The (English language, English: National Museum of Antiquities) is the national archaeology, archaeological museum of the Netherlands, located in Leiden. It grew out of the collection of Leiden University and still closely co-operates with ...
in
Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...
has a red granite pyramidion (Inv. No. A.M. 6), a
quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock that 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 tecton ...
canopic chest Canopic chests are cases used by ancient Egyptians to contain the internal organs removed during the process of mummification. Once canopic jars began to be used in the late Fourth Dynasty, the jars were placed within canopic chests. Although th ...
(Inv. No. A.M.2) and a wooden leg of a stool. A stela belonging to Amenhotep was found at the
Monastery of Apa Jeremias A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may ...
where it had been used as a window sill. Two statues belonging to Amenhotep have been found. One now in the
Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...
, and the other in the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. In
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...
, there was found a statue reporting his building work for his king. The statue now in the Ashmolean museum records how Amenhotep donated land, serfs and animals. In return he would receive part of the daily royal offerings, which would be placed before his statue.B.J.J. Haring, Divine Households. Administrative and Economic Aspects of the New Kingdom Royal Memorial Temples in Western Thebes, (Egyptologische Uitgaven 12), Leiden 1997


Tomb

Amenhotep's now lost tomb had been discovered in 1821 or 1822 and items such as the scribal palettes, the cubit rods and the jars had been removed. The tomb was possibly excavated by Nizzoli and Anastasi. The tomb appears to have been a standard
New Kingdom New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
tomb and had two subterranean chambers: an antechamber and a burial chamber. The tomb was undecorated, but a stele depicting Amenhotep and his son Ipy was likely found in the tomb. The tomb also contained a very large sarcophagus with a large lid, but those are presumably still in the tomb. The sarcophagus contained the small pyramidion, the cubit rod, an alabaster palette and at least some of the jars. The tomb would have further consisted of a brick built chapel and this structure would have been topped by the granite pyramidion (now in Leiden). Another quartzite stele was likely situated in this chapel. The stele depicted Amenhotep and his wife Mey before the gods Osiris, Ptah, Isis and Hathor.


References

{{Commons category, Amenhotep (Huy) Officials of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt 14th-century BC people Ancient Egyptian high stewards