Niankh-Pepy-kem (

Ancient Egyptian 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 ...

: Niankh-Pepy the Black; {{fl., {{circa 2200 BC) was an important

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 who is known from his monumental and decorated

rock-cut tomb A rock-cut tomb is a burial chamber that is cut into an existing, naturally occurring rock formation, so a type of rock-cut architecture. They are usually cut into a cliff or sloping rock face, but may go downward in fairly flat ground. It was a ...

Meir Meir () is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer. Alfred J. Kolatch, ''T ...

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis, Egypt, Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, ...

. He lived around the end of the

6th Dynasty The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt. History The Sixth Dynasty is considered by many authorities as the last dynasty of the ...

. Niankh-Pepy-kem is known to have had several important titles. He was royal sealer, ''sole friend'', and ''count'' (

haty-a Ḥaty-a was an ancient Egyptian rank and title given to local princes, mayors, or governors. There is no standard translation for Ḥaty-a, and it is frequently left transliterated in scholarly literature. In strings of ranking titles ''Ḥa ...

), as well as

overseer of Upper Egypt The Overseer of Upper Egypt was an important Ancient Egyptian title during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The title appears first in the early Fifth Dynasty. The first title holder is the vizier Kay, who possibly lived during the reigns of ...

. Niankh-Pepy-kem had several names. He was also called Niankh-Meryre-kem, Hepi-kem (Hepi the black) and Sobekhotep. Niankh-Pepy-kem was born into an influential local family. His father was Pepyankh-heri-ib (Pepyankh, the middle), in whose tomb Niankh-Pepy-kem is also depicted. The addition of ''kem'' (the black) to his name was most likely to distinguish Niankh-Pepy-kem from his father, who was also called Niankh-Pepy, and from his brother, also called Niankh-Pepy, but with the second name Hepi-djeser (hepi, the red). Niankh-Pepy-kem is mainly known from his tomb (A1) at Meir. The monument consists of decorated chapels and shafts leading down to burial chambers. The decoration of the chapel is painted and at some places sunken reliefs are carved into the rocks. The depictions most often show Niankh-Pepy-kem, sometimes standing alone and sometimes in front of an offering table and offering bearers bring food to secure his eternal food supply. The tomb was first fully recorded and published by Aylward Blackman. Later an Australian team under

Naguib Kanawati Naguib Kanawati (born 1941) is an Egyptian Australian Egyptologist and Professor of Egyptology at Macquarie University in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Early life Kanawati was born in Alexandria, Egypt to a Melkite Greek Catholic Churc ...

recorded, photographed and published the tomb again in 2015.Kanawati, Evans, Lashien, Mourad, Senussi 2015

Bibliography

* Naguib Kanawati, Linda Evans, Miral Lashien, Anna-Latifa Mourad, Ashraf Senussi (2015): ''The cemetery of Meir Volume III: The tomb of Niankhpepy the Black.'' With contributions by S. Shafik, A. Suleiman, N. Victor (= ''Australian Centre for Egyptology: Reports.'' vol. 38). Aris & Phillips, Oxford, ISBN 978-0-85668-856-0. * Aylward M. Blackman, Michael R. Apted (1953): ''The rock tombs of Meir. Part V: the tomb-chapels A, No. 1 (that of Ni-'Ankh-Pepi the Black), A, No. 2 (that of Pepi'onkh with the „good name“ of Ḥeny the Black), A, No. 4 (that of Ḥepi the Black), D, No. 1 (that of Pepi), and E, Nos. 1–4 (those of Meniu, Nenki, Pepi'onkh and Tjetu)''. (= ''Archaeological Survey of Egypt.'' vol. 28). Egypt Exploration Society, London 1953, pp. 1–15, plates I–XIII, LI–LIII
online
.

References

Ancient Egyptian royal sealers Overseers of Upper Egypt 23rd-century BC Egyptian people People of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt People of the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian priests 23rd-century BC births 3rd-millennium BC deaths