Padiamenope (also known by the hellenised form Petamenophis) 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 royal

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

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 t ...

and the early 26th Dynasty, 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 language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

(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

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

ist priest, as well as

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

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 origin, given the typically

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

tradition of that society. Ushabti Pediamenopet Munich

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 ...

statue of him, found at

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

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

Tomb

Padiamenope's tomb TT33, located at el-Assasif on the west bank of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

, 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, Egypt, Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Ancient Egypt, Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom of Egyp ...

, 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'', but revisited in simpler and more contemporary terms. The tomb was discovered in the 18th century and was initially kept open, but remained closed for the entire 20th century. During 2004–2005, a team led by Claude Traunecker of the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

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