Newberry, Percy E. : Beni Hasan (Band 2) (London, 1893)

18

BBNI HASAN.

Menat-
Kiiufu.

Oryx nome ";1 and the thriving condition of
the country is clearly stated in the Bio-
graphical Inscription in Tomb No. 2, where
it is asserted that there was not to be found
" a hungry man in it.:' 2 An annual tax of
three thousand bulls, collected from the
draught stock of the herdsmen of the
nome,3 also points to the prosperous condi-
tion of the district at that early period.

A number of cities are mentioned in the in-
scriptions, but perhaps the most interesting

is that one which was named

Menat-Khufu,

mg-city of Jihufu." So far as can be
gathered from the inscriptions, this was not
the capital of the whole nome, but only of
the eastern portion (Tut-Heru). The name
" Nursing-city of Khufu," would imply that
it was founded at a very early period, for
this Khufu is the celebrated second king
of the IVth Egyptian Dynasty and the
builder of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. An
estate of the same kind, called after Khufu's

vl ®

-a A I

of Khufu."

m__a

" the nurs-

predecessor, P J ^ \J

<=> *s7 <= i

Menat

Seneferu, " the Nursing-city of Seneferu," is
mentioned in a very ancient tomb near
Seneferu's pyramid at Medum, not far from
"Wasta in Middle Egypt.4

The name of Menat-Khufu occurs in the
Historical Inscription in Tomb No. 14,
where Khnemhotep L is mentioned as
having been raised to the /la-princedom of
the city.6 To this title his son Nekht
succeeded,8 and Khnemhotep II. afterwards
inherited the princedom in the nineteenth

1 Vide Beni Hasan, Part I., PI. viii., linos 14-15, and
p. 26.

2 i.e., line 20, and p. 27. 1 L.c, line 16, and p. 26.
* The paintings and inscriptions of this tomb have been

published by Professor Petrie in his volume on Medum,
PI. xix., and cf. p. 39.

5 Vide Beni Hasan, Part I., PI. xliv., line 7.

6 L.c, PI. xxv., lines 54-57, and p. 60.

year of Amenemhat II.7 "We then read of
him making the city " rich, so that stores
of all things accumulated in it."

The only other reference to the city of
Menat-Khufu is in a graffito cut upon
a rock in the Wady Hammamat, the great
desert road which leads from Coptos to the
Red Sea. It takes us back a little earlier
than the account of Khnemhotep I., being
dated by the cartouche of the fourth
Mentuhotep of the Xlth Dynasty. It is of
considerable interest, and we may be excused
for reproducing it from Lepsius' copy (see
Fig. 5).

mi
1 ?

| ^ Y t±a

i r ^ <=> J*
<y± <5> /$ X

—t-. 11' *=»

o^. AY'"

"l

FlQ. 5. inscription op Se-ankh.

" The Captain of the host in the desert, steward of
the house in Egypt, superintendent of the .... on
the river, Se-ankh says :—R

" I am captain of the host in this whole land

7 Part L, PI. xxv., lines 78-79, and p. 61.

8 The text is published in Lepsius' Denkmlilcr, Abth.
ii., Bl. 149, g. The following transliteration of it may
be useful to our readers:—Mer mesha. her set, mer per
her Kemt, mer mesnu (?) her dtru, Se-ankh zed: du dr-nd
mer mesha en ta pen er zer-ef her set ten, aper em khau (?)
nebu (?) em ta heqt renp neb udz en qemau : dr-nd dnt-es
em uzu qat-es era nut ent mu aper . ... em khretu\_-d\
er zer-es khent er Tha&u mehti er Menat-Khufu per
k\ua\ er TJaz-ur set-n[d] aptu set-n[d] kehesu per-n[d] er
set ten em se en renpet xo khretu lxx em mesu en uSi ;
dr-n[_d~\ metet neb en Neb-taui-Ra, ankh zet.