Hor Awibre

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Hor Awibre (also known as Hor I) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the early 13th Dynasty, in the late Middle Kingdom.

Contents

Reign

Hor Awibre had a short reign only partially preserved in the Turin King List, and may have had a coregency with Sekhemre Khutawy Khabaw, with both names on the architrave. He may have become king at an advanced age; his skeleton is thought to indicate a man in his forties. [3]

Reign length

Hor Awibre's reign length is partially lost to a lacuna of the Turin canon and is consequently unknown. According to the latest reading of the Turin canon by Ryholt, the surviving traces indicate the number of days as "[... and] 7 days". [2] In the previous authoritative reading of the canon by Alan Gardiner, which dates to the 1950s, this was read as "[...] 7 months". [4] This led scholars such as Miroslav Verner and Darrell Baker to believe that Hor Awibre's reign was ephemeral, while Ryholt's reading leaves a longer reign possible and indeed Ryholt credits Hor Awibre with 2 years of reign. [1] [2] In any case, Hor Awibre most likely reigned only for a short time, and not long enough to prepare a pyramid, which was still the common burial place for kings of the early 13th dynasty.

Succession

Hor Awibre was seemingly succeeded by his two sons(?) Sekhemrekhutawy Khabaw and Djedkheperew.[ speculation? ] However, the Turin King List has Sedjefakare as the next ruler.

Attestations

Hor Awibre remained unattested until the discovery in 1894 of his nearly intact tomb in Dashur by Jacques de Morgan, see below. [1]

Architecture

Tanis/Memphis, Architrave

At Tanis (Nile Delta region), in a secondary context, a granite architrave with the cartouches of Hor Awibre and Sekhemre Khutawy Khabaw was found. The architrave probably originated in Memphis and came to the Delta region during the Hyksos period. [1] Based on this evidence, the egyptologist Kim Ryholt proposed that Sekhemrekhutawy Khabaw was a son and coregent of Hor Awibre. [2] Present location of this architrave is unknown.

Plaque, Berlin 7670

A plaque has been found, of unknown provenance. [5]

Lisht, plaque

At Lisht, a plaque with his name was found at Amenemhat I's pyramid. There were found several faience plaques with 13th Dynasty kings' names. [6]

Jar Lid, LACMA M.80.203.226

Jar lid with the prenomen Awibre, LACMA. Jar Lid with Partial Name of the 13th Dynasty King Hor I LACMA M.80.203.226.jpg
Jar lid with the prenomen Awibre, LACMA.

A jar lid with partial name of the 13th Dynasty King Hor I, of unknown provenance. [7] [8]

Scarabs

The British Museum has several scarabs which may be attributed to Hor Awibre.

Non-contemporary attestation

The Turin King List entry 7:17 lists "The Dual King Awtibra ... 7 days". [9] [10] In this list, Hor Awibre is preceded by Renseneb (7:16) and succeeded by Sedjefakare (7:18).

Burial

Shaft Tomb

Shaft Tomb of Hor Awibre (no. 1) north of the Pyramid of Amenemhat III AmenemhatIII-Dahchour-plan-souterrains2.jpg
Shaft Tomb of Hor Awibre (no. 1) north of the Pyramid of Amenemhat III
Plan of the tomb of king Hor Awibre Pic 44 hor.JPG
Plan of the tomb of king Hor Awibre

At Dahshur, the shaft tomb of Hor Awibre is located inside the Pyramid Complex of Amenemhat III, reusing and expanding a shaft tomb originally made for a member of the royal court of Amenemhat III. Ten such shaft tombs were located north of the pyramid, where Hor Awibre occupies the first and Nubhotepti-Khered the second. His tomb was found nearly intact in 1894 by Jacques de Morgan working in collaboration with Georges Legrain and Gustave Jequier. [11] It was nothing more than a shaft built on the north-east corner of the pyramid of the 12th Dynasty pharaoh Amenemhat III. [12] The tomb was originally made for a member of Amenemhat's court and was later enlarged for Hor Awibre, with the addition of a stone burial chamber and antechamber. [1]

Next to the burial of Hor Awibre was found the totally undisturbed tomb of the 'king's daughter' Nubhetepti-khered. She was likely a daughter of Hor Awibre [13] or otherwise a daughter of Amenemhat III. [12]

Mummy

Funerary mask of Hor Awibre Funerary mask of Hor Awibre.png
Funerary mask of Hor Awibre

The mummy of the king had been ransacked for his jewellery and only Hor Awibre's skeleton was left in his coffin. [11] The king was determined to have been in his forties at the time of his death. He was found with his arms across his chest. [14]

Burial Equipment

Drawing by Jacques de Morgan of the sceptres and staves of Hor Awibre. Hor Awibre Scepters.png
Drawing by Jacques de Morgan of the sceptres and staves of Hor Awibre.

Burial goods include a canopic chest, [15] canopic jars, [16] gold-leaf, [17] and a ka-statuette. [18] [19] His burial goods show a special type of hieroglyphs known as "incomplete hieroglyphs", which developed in the reign of Amenemhat III onwards (i.e. burial equipment of Nefruptah), where parts of animal hieroglyphs have been ritually 'mutilated' removing their legs etc. [20]

Although the tomb had been pillaged in antiquity, it still contained a naos with a rare life-size wooden statue of the Ka of the king. This statue is one of the most frequently reproduced examples of Ancient Egyptian art and is now in the Egyptian Museum under the catalogue number CG259. [12] It is one of the best-preserved and most accomplished wooden statues to survive from antiquity, and illustrates an artistic genre that must once have been common in Egyptian art, but has rarely survived in such good condition.

The tomb also contained the partly gilded rotten rectangular wooden coffin of the king. [21] The king's wooden funerary mask, its eyes of stones set in bronze, [22] [11] had been stripped of its gold gilding but still held the king's skull. Hor Awibre's canopic box was also found complete with its canopic vessels.

Other artifacts from the tomb include an offering table, [23] small statues, alabaster and wooden vases, some jewellery, two alabaster stelae inscribed with blue painted hieroglyphs and a number of flails, sceptres and wooden staves which had all been disposed in a long wooden case. These had been intentionally broken in pieces. [11] The tomb also housed weapons such as a granite macehead [11] and a golden-leaf dagger and numerous items of pottery.

Theories

According to Ryholt and Darrell Baker, Hor Awibre was the fifteenth ruler of the 13th Dynasty. [1] [2] Alternatively, Detlef Franke and Jürgen von Beckerath see him as the fourteenth king of the dynasty. [24] [25] [26] [27] No evidence has been found that relates Hor Awibre to his predecessor on the throne, Renseneb, which led Ryholt and Baker to propose that he was an usurper.

Some Egyptologists speculate his reign was from c. 1777 BC until 1775 BC [2] or for a few months, c. 1760 BC or c. 1732 BC. [28]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I – Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, ISBN   978-1-905299-37-9, 2008, p. 112-113-114
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 K.S.B. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, excerpts available online.
  3. ↑ Z. Hashesh, A. Gabr and R. Walker: Bioarchaeological reassessment of Dahshur royal skeletal remains from the Late Middle Kingdom (c. 1850–1700 BCE), in: Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology. Band 5 (2026), p. 4 online.
  4. ↑ Alan Gardiner, editor. Royal Canon of Turin. Griffith Institute, 1959. (Reprint 1988. ISBN   0-900416-48-3)
  5. ↑ Berlin 7670
  6. ↑ Dieter Arnold: The Pyramid Complex of Amenemhat I at Lisht, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 2015, ISBN   9781588396044, p. 59, pl. 93
  7. ↑ Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, LACMA M.80.203.226
  8. ↑ "Jar Lid with Partial Name of the 13th Dynasty King Hor I | LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  9. ↑ Lundström, Peter. "Turin king list: Column 7". Pharaoh.se. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  10. ↑ Alan H. Gardiner: The Royal Canon of Turin, Oxford 1959, Vol. III, 6.14, Warminster 1987, ISBN   0-900416-48-3.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Jacques de Morgan: Fouilles a Dahchour, mars-juin, 1894, Vienna, 1895. Available online.
  12. 1 2 3 Verner, Miroslav. The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments. Grove Press. 2001 (1997). ISBN   0-8021-3935-3
  13. ↑ Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. ISBN   0-500-05128-3
  14. ↑ Edward F. Wente (1995) Who was who among the royal mummies. In The Orientalt Institute no. 144
  15. ↑ Cairo, Egyptian Museum JE 51266
  16. ↑ Cairo, Egyptian Museum CG 4019–4022
  17. ↑ Copenhagen, National Museum 4220
  18. ↑ Cairo, Egyptian Museum JE-/CG 1163
  19. ↑ Ryholt 1997:339–340 File 13/15
  20. ↑ Miniachi (2010) The Incomplete Hieroglyphs System at the end of the Middle Kingdom
  21. ↑ Cairo CG 28106
  22. ↑ Cairo CG 28107
  23. ↑ Cairo JE 30953
  24. ↑ Thomas Schneider: Ancient Egyptian Chronology – Edited by Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, And David a. Warburton, available online, see p. 176
  25. ↑ Detlef Franke: Zur Chronologie des Mittleren Reiches (12.-18. Dynastie) Teil 1 : Die 12. Dynastie, in Orientalia 57 (1988)
  26. ↑ Jürgen von Beckerath: Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der Zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten, Glückstadt, 1964
  27. ↑ Jürgen von Beckerath: Chronologie des pharaonischen Ägyptens, Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 46. Mainz am Rhein, 1997
  28. ↑ Thomas Schneider: Lexikon der Pharaonen
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