DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55202#0147
THE SIXTEENTH DYNASTY 127
of the Sixteenth Dynasty when he wrote the name In-yotef just
after a group of rulers of the Twelfth Dynasty.3
Not a single event in the reign of Sekhem-Ref Wep-mafet can be
pointed to today and we must naturally conclude that it was very
brief indeed. Add to the almost total lack of documents of his life-
time the fact that he was buried by his own brother and we have
practical proof of the fact that he was on the throne for a very short
time. His pyramid survived for several centuries in antiquity as a
small, mud brick affair somewhere in front of the Diraf Abu’n
Naga, to the southwest of that of Nub-kheper-Ref In-yotef and
presumably of Sekhem-Ref Wah-khaTi Ref-hotpe as well (Pl. 46).
The inspection party whose trip through the necropolis is recorded
in the Abbott Papyrus had viewed the tomb of the first of these
kings and had passed on to the southwest when they came to this
one.4
Of the pyramid itself there is no trace today except of its capstone
in the British Museum. That is a little mutilated pyramidion-
lacking apex and base—made of limestone, with sides inclined at 60
degrees from the horizontal. It suggests the caps of the familiar
pyramid-topped tombs in the vignettes of the Book of the Dead
and, like them, it bears on each of its four faces a single vertical
column of inscription setting forth the name and pedigree of “The
Horus Wep-mafet, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Sekhem-Ref
Wep-mafet, Son of Ref In-yotef the Elder, begotten by ... . and
born of the Royal Mother and Great Royal Wife who has assumed
the Beautiful White Crown . . . .” For the historian it is a note-
worthy fact that this In-yotef the Elder was a legitimate heir to
the kingdom, born of royal parents—a king and his “Great Royal
Wife.” Newberry told me that this pyramidion, apparently, was
offered to Hay when he was in Karnak in 1823-33, and that Hay
has left a sketch of it. However, it was purchased by Sams, probably
from Athanasi, and from Sams acquired by the British Museum.
The date of its acquisition is unknown to me beyond the fact that
Sharpe published it as in the British Museum in 1837.
In 1849 Wilkinson saw the coffin of King In-yotef and that of the
brother, Sekhem-Ref Heru-hir-mafet In-yotef, which will be de-
’ Prisse, Monuments, Pl. I; Sethe, Urkunden, IV, p. 609.
4 Abbott Pap., Pl. II, 16-18; Breasted, AR, IV, par. 516; Peet, Tomb Robberies, p. 38; Win-
lock, J EA, 1924, p. 234, for fuller references to which should be added Wilkinson, MSS, V,
p. 213 for the pyramidion.
of the Sixteenth Dynasty when he wrote the name In-yotef just
after a group of rulers of the Twelfth Dynasty.3
Not a single event in the reign of Sekhem-Ref Wep-mafet can be
pointed to today and we must naturally conclude that it was very
brief indeed. Add to the almost total lack of documents of his life-
time the fact that he was buried by his own brother and we have
practical proof of the fact that he was on the throne for a very short
time. His pyramid survived for several centuries in antiquity as a
small, mud brick affair somewhere in front of the Diraf Abu’n
Naga, to the southwest of that of Nub-kheper-Ref In-yotef and
presumably of Sekhem-Ref Wah-khaTi Ref-hotpe as well (Pl. 46).
The inspection party whose trip through the necropolis is recorded
in the Abbott Papyrus had viewed the tomb of the first of these
kings and had passed on to the southwest when they came to this
one.4
Of the pyramid itself there is no trace today except of its capstone
in the British Museum. That is a little mutilated pyramidion-
lacking apex and base—made of limestone, with sides inclined at 60
degrees from the horizontal. It suggests the caps of the familiar
pyramid-topped tombs in the vignettes of the Book of the Dead
and, like them, it bears on each of its four faces a single vertical
column of inscription setting forth the name and pedigree of “The
Horus Wep-mafet, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Sekhem-Ref
Wep-mafet, Son of Ref In-yotef the Elder, begotten by ... . and
born of the Royal Mother and Great Royal Wife who has assumed
the Beautiful White Crown . . . .” For the historian it is a note-
worthy fact that this In-yotef the Elder was a legitimate heir to
the kingdom, born of royal parents—a king and his “Great Royal
Wife.” Newberry told me that this pyramidion, apparently, was
offered to Hay when he was in Karnak in 1823-33, and that Hay
has left a sketch of it. However, it was purchased by Sams, probably
from Athanasi, and from Sams acquired by the British Museum.
The date of its acquisition is unknown to me beyond the fact that
Sharpe published it as in the British Museum in 1837.
In 1849 Wilkinson saw the coffin of King In-yotef and that of the
brother, Sekhem-Ref Heru-hir-mafet In-yotef, which will be de-
’ Prisse, Monuments, Pl. I; Sethe, Urkunden, IV, p. 609.
4 Abbott Pap., Pl. II, 16-18; Breasted, AR, IV, par. 516; Peet, Tomb Robberies, p. 38; Win-
lock, J EA, 1924, p. 234, for fuller references to which should be added Wilkinson, MSS, V,
p. 213 for the pyramidion.