The Tomb of Niankh-khnum and Khnum-hotep - 1
NOTE - All the material of this Album is © of Greg Reeder. His valuable and interesting work can be found at http://www.egyptology.com.
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In 1964 in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, Egyptian archaeologist Mounir Basta discovered a series of rock-cut passages into the escarpment facing the causeway to the pyramid of Unas. Crawling on his hands and knees through the passages Basta came upon an Old Kingdom offering chamber. He was impressed with its unique scenes of two men in an intimate embrace.
Archaeologists working on the restoration of the causeway discovered that some of the stone blocks that had been used to build the causeway had been appropriated in ancient times from a dismantled mastaba that had originally served as the entrance to the tomb. The archaeologists reconstructed the mastaba using the blocks found in the substructure of the causeway. It was revealed that this tomb had been built for two men to cohabit and that both shared identical titles under the Pharaoh Niuserre of the Fifth Dynasty: "Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of the King." |
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1. Entrance |
| 2. Overseeing The Funeral Procession |
| 3. Holding Hands While Walking |
| 4. Their Names Joined As One |
| 5. The Banquet |
| 6. The Embrace |
| 7. The Embrace Between The False Doors |
| 8. The Eternal Embrace |
New Research and News About The Tomb
In April 1997 Greg Reeder presented a paper before the annual meeting of The American Research Center In Egypt held that year in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The paper was entitled "The Tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep: New Perspectives." In it Reeder compared how husband and wife were portrayed in tombs of the 4th, 5th and 6th Dynasties to how Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were paired in their tomb. The iconographic evidence indicating that the two manicurists had a very intimate and special relationship with each other that compared most favorably with that of mixed gendered couples. Reeder's presentation was well received .
Greg Reeder was also invited to make another presentation at the annual Symposium of The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada on November 8, 1997. Reeder received an enthusiastic response to his presentation: "Same- Sex Desire, Conjugal Constructs and The Tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep."
Greg Reeder is continuing research on the Tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep and the topic of same-sex desire in ancient Egypt.
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