Sarenput I 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

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 ( ...

Senusret I Senusret I (Egyptian language, Middle Egyptian: wikt:z-n-wsrt, z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt, Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 ...

of the

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is a series of rulers reigning from 1991–1802 BC (190 years), at what is often considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI–XIV). The dynasty periodically expanded its terr ...

Career

Sarenput held several titles such as

nomarch A nomarch (, Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called Nome (Egypt), nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsible for a nome. Etymology The te ...

of the 1st '' nomos'' of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

(" Land of the Bow"), mayor of

Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; ; ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological site, archaeological digs on the island became a World Heritage Site in 1979, along with other examples of ...

, overseer of the priests of

Satet Satet, Satit or Satjet, Satjit in Ancient Egyptian ( or ', ."Pourer" or "Shooter"), Greek: Satis, also known by numerous related names, was an Upper Egyptian goddess who, along with Khnum and Anuket, formed part of the Elephantine Triad. A pro ...

, overseer of the foreign lands and many others. Like his distant predecessors Harkhuf and Heqaib, he also was the king's personal trading agent for the goods from

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

and had a role in one of Senusret I's military campaign in this country, when the king rewarded Sarenput as reported in the latter's autobiography from his tomb. The same king appointed Sarenput as nomarch, probably the first one for this ''nomos''.
Many of Sarenput's attestations came from the sanctuary of Heqaib at Elephantine, where he ordered a shrine for the deified Heqaib and also one for himself, provided by many stelae and a statue depicting him.

Tomb

Sarenput I was buried in a large

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 ...

Qubbet el-Hawa Qubbet el-Hawa or "Dome of the Wind" is a site on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Aswan, that serves as the resting place of ancient nobles and priests from the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old and Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Middle Kingdoms of anc ...

(No. 36) opposite

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city ha ...

, which was decorated in

sunk relief Shipwrecking is any event causing a ship to wreck, such as a ship collision, collision causing the ship to sink; the stranding of a ship on rocks, land or shoal; poor maintenance, resulting in a lack of seaworthiness; or the destruction of a sh ...

s at the outside, and lively painted in the interior. The tomb is composed of three rooms connected by hallways; the first two chambers are provided with colonnades while the innermost has a niche that once housed a statue of the owner. Unfortunately, the whole tomb suffered significant damage over time.
The outer reliefs often depicts Sarenput with some of his relatives and his dogs, while among the survived inner paintings there is a scene of the owner with the god

Khnum Khnum, also romanised Khnemu (; , ), was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He held the responsibility of regulating the annual inundation of the river, emanating from the ca ...

, which is significant because in this period, a similar scene in a private tomb was still rare. The aforementioned autobiography is written in two copies, one outside and one inside the tomb. There is a significant artistic contrast between the reliefs carved on the outer doorjambs (see picture in the infobox) and the ones on the façade of the tomb, the former being far finer and possibly made by some royal sculptor, while the latter being more crude and likely a local product.

Career

Tomb

See also

References

Further reading