Nebit was an
ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
ian official during the reign of king
Senusret III
Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth ...
. He held the position of
vizier
A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...
. Thus, he was the most important official at the royal court. Nebit is only known from his large
mastaba
A mastaba ( , or ), also mastabah or mastabat) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks or limestone. These edifices marked the burial sites ...
, which was excavated next to the pyramid of the king at
Dahshur
DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur''; ' ) is an ancient Egyptian pyramid complex and necropolis and shares the name of the nearby village of Manshiyyat Dahshur () in markaz Badrashin, Giza Governorate, Giza ...
. The mastaba was built of mud bricks and then covered with stones. Already in ancient times the high quality stone was looted and used for other building projects or just for burning lime. However, one wall of the mastaba facade had already collapsed and had been covered by sand before looters dismantled the rest of the building. The preserved facade bears the name and title of Nebit, but also the name of the king. Within the remains of the mastaba were found by
Jacques de Morgan
Jean-Jacques de Morgan (3 June 1857 – 14 June 1924) was a French mining engineer, geologist, and archaeologist. He was the director of antiquities in Egypt during the 19th century, and excavated in Memphis and Dahshur, providing many dra ...
the bust of a statue made of
granodiorite
Granodiorite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar.
The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gra ...
. The fragment is not inscribed but most likely depicts Nebit.
[Adela Oppenheim: ''Upper part of a Male Statue, possible the Vizier Nebit'', in: A. Oppenheim, d. Arnold, D. Arnold, Kei Yamamoto (editors): ''Ancient Egypt Transformed, The Middle Kingdom'', ]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 ...
, New York 2015 , 127-128, no. 62
The underground burial chamber of Nebit had already been robbed when it was discovered. However, next to the burial chamber of Nebit, there was a chamber for a woman called Satwerut, perhaps the wife of Nebit. Her chamber was found intact and still contained the coffins of the lady, her
Canopic jar
Canopic jars are funerary vessels that were used by the Ancient Egypt, ancient Egyptians to house embalmed organs that were removed during the mummification process. They also served to store and preserve the viscera of their soul for the afterl ...
s and jewellery.
References
Literature
*Dieter Arnold: ''Egyptian Archaeology'' 9 (1996), pp. 23–25
*Dieter Arnold: ''Antike Welt'' 6 (2002), pp. 623–624
*Wolfram Grajetzki: ''Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom'', Bristol Classical Press, London 2009 pp. 33-34 {{ISBN, 978-0-7156-3745-6
External links
The Private Tombs North of the Senwosret III Pyramid Complex, Dahshur
Senusret III
Viziers of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt