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DOCUMENTS RELATING TO ANTEFOQER
1) - The north Licht mastaba, N°400, with statue
(See tomb plan)
Discovered by Gauthier and Jéquier at the south-easterly corner of the pyramid of Amenemhat I, the mastaba measures 19 x 13m. It is surrounded by a surface of raw bricks, which continued eastward, in order to form a courtyard in front of the entry of the tomb. Only the lower part of the courtyard walls survive today. The walls of the courtyard are 1.5m thick, and at its extremity is the cult building whose facade measures 9.20m in length. The tomb is entered by a doorway, of 1.0m width, into the south end of a transverse hallway, at each extremity of which opens up a room of cult worship. Some traces of decor have been recovered, notably of inscriptions mentioning the name of "Antefoqer, son of Senet", thus establishing, in an irrefutable manner, that a lady named Senet was the vizier's mother. Three of his titles are preserved: "Mayor of the pyramid city", "Vizier" and "Inspector of the great Courts".
The bottom part of a seated statue is inscribed with a classic offering formula ('hotep di nesu'), addressed to Anubis, and also bearing the vizier's name. It is therefore almost certain that he had been buried here.
The privileged position of this monument shows that Antefoqer was already a very powerful character at the end of the reign of Amenemhat. It could be because of their common Theban origins, that he chose to connect his post-mortem future to this sovereign rather than to his second master, Sesostris, and it wouldn't take anything to construct it in south Licht, close to the pyramid of this one. The work on the pyramid of Sesostris only began in the year 10 of his reign, also a more prosaic reason could be a material impossibility.
2) - The stela of the (legal) registrar, Ameny of Mersa/Wadi Gauasis
Since Abdel Monem Sayed discovered this site by the Red Sea, in 1976, numerous and important discoveries have been made about the maritime capabilities of ancient Egypt. Traces go back, for the oldest ones, to the 12 Dynasty, and three among them are contemporary with the time of Sesostris I, one of which was recovered 450m to the west of the 12th Dynasty harbour. This mentions two famous characters of that time, the vizier Antefoqer and (legal) registrar, Ameny. This consisted of an anchor on which was raised an oblong stela (the curved top has disappeared) framed by two irregular blocks.
Inscription text: "His Majesty ordered the noble governor [...] director of the city [...] vizier [...] director of the six great courts, Antefoqer, to construct this fleet coming from the arsenals of Coptos, and to go to the mining region of Punt (= Bia-Punt) , to reach (it) without obstruction and (from it) to return without obstruction, to provide to all their work, with the intention of effectiveness to any test [...] Now the registrar Ameny, son of Montuhotep, was on the coast of the Great Blue, occupied with constructing these boats together with a large court of the Thinite nome of the 'Head of the South' which was with him".
It seems, therefore, that the boats had been constructed in Coptos under the orders of Antefoqer, then dispatched in separate pieces to the side of the Red Sea, where they were reassembled under the direction of Ameny, who had a troop of about 3750 men. The goal of the expedition, using the Red sea, was the country of Punt. The presence of the great ones of the Thinite nome could be explained by the experience acquired by the boatyards of This.
The place of Bia-Punt is interesting, because Rosanna Pirelli (quoted by Favry) saw that Punt and Bia-Punt are the specific names of places which are reached by boat by leaving from Mersa/Wadi Gauasis. She proposes to see in Punt a vast territory (possibly extended on both sides of the Red Sea) in which Bia-Punt, translated as meaning "the mining region of Punt", would be a specific and limited area, probably rich in gold.
3) - Stela N°8 of Uni, from Wadi el-Hudi - a place of amethyst mines of the eastern desert
The monument is in grey granite, and measures 0.76m high and 0.40m wide. It includes nine lines of text whose reading is very difficult. It dates from year 20 of an unnamed king, but which can only be Sesostris I. It declares the following: "(I) the deputy of the person responsible of the things sealed, Un(i): [...] it is the person responsible for the city, the vizier and prince, the person responsible of the six great courts, Antefoqer, living, prosperous and in good health, who sent me to carry away the amethyst.".
4) - Two inscriptions from el-Girgaui
• The first inscription (RILN 73) (see text reproduction)
This the oldest mention of Antefoqer. It is engraved on a stone stela of 0.48m high and 0.70m wide, in the name of Reniqer, scribe of the vizier. It includes a main text of eleven lines with, on the left, a standing character accompanied by a secondary inscription. The main text tells of an important military expedition directed by the vizier in person, and which had a goal to ascertain the efficient control of the Lower Nubia.
Probably on order of the sovereign, the expedition was especially violent, since Antefoqer declares that he slaughtered the population, burnt the houses and destroyed the harvests: ".... It is then that I navigated upstream (probably from the second cataract) victoriously, while slaughtering the Nubians on its bank, and returned downstream again whilst pulling out their cereals and whilst cutting bundles of sticks from their trees, with the intention of setting alight their houses, as one does to those who rebel against the king.".
Obviously, Antefoqer pursued chief Nubian rebel, found him and killed him, confirming that he was the commander-in-chief of this expedition. The atrocities were committed at the time of the return trip, which could be because the local population refused to help him in his quest, or because they rose up in his absence.
The stela is not dated, but it certainly makes reference to the great expedition launched by Amenemhat I, in year 29 of his reign.
Anecdotally, this stele, discovered in 1963 by Zaba, had been deliberately destroyed by the inhabitants of the surrounding area ...
• The second inscription (RILN 10A), from the same site, specifies that the chancellor of the king of Lower Egypt, Sehetepra, and the person responsible for the boats "were sent on a mission during twenty years of comings and goings towards Wawat, by the (director) of the city, the vizier, the one of the curtain, Antefoqer". These twenty years spread from year 29 of Amenemhat to year 18 of Sesostris, dates during which this sovereign sent a great expedition to occupy, this time, Upper Nubia.
5) - Two texts of bewitchment from the Cairo museum
These make reference to Antefoqer, son of Antefoqer and Satsasobek, and therefore the vizier's son, which further complicates the readings of tomb TT60 tomb, because the exact meaning of these texts remains poorly understood. It can be wondered what connection there may be between the disgrace of the son and father. There is no indication that the latter had been side-tracked at the end of his life, even though it can be imagined, without much effort, that so much power for so long probably did not attract many friends.
6) - Copies of three letters found at Naga el-Deir and quoted in papyrus Reisner II
These represents orders sent by Antefoqer to the Stewards of the Palace in the Thinite Nome, about construction work (which could be of boats). Two of the orders, dated on successive days, are concerned with the transport or preparation for transport of various supplies, with the obtaining of crews for boats and of a slave-girl.
7) - And of course tomb TT60
This has just been described in the previous pages.
Source of all the above: |
OBSOMER Claude : Sésostris Ier. Étude chronologique et historique du règne, Connaissance de l'Égypte
ancienne, Bruxelles, 1995
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