Ruiu was a Nubian official at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. He was chief of Teh-khet and was, therefore, a governor ruling a region in Lower Nubia for the Egyptian state. In the New Kingdom, Egyptian kings had conquered Lower Nubia. To secure control over the new region they appointed people of the local elite as governors. Teh-khet was a Nubian region that covered about Debeira and Serra. The local governors here formed a family, whilst the governor proper held the title chief of Teh-khet. [1]
Ruiu is mainly known from monuments of his children, and the only known monument commissioned by Ruiu himself is a stela that was bought onto Elephantine dedicated to his parents, his father Teti Djawia and his mother Ahhotep. [2] The monument today is located in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
Otherwise, Ruiu is mainly known from the inscriptions of his sons Djehutyhotep and Amenemhat. They also became chief of Teh-khet. In their inscriptions, they often mention that they were begotten of Ruiu. [3] Ruiu was the brother of a certain official called Senmose who had a decorated tomb chapel at Qubbet el-Hawa. [4] It is, therefore, possible to reconstruct a family of local, Nubian officials whose family members were in charge over three generations.
Amenemhat III was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the sixth king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. He was elevated to throne as co-regent by his father Senusret III, with whom he shared the throne as the active king for twenty years. During his reign, Egypt attained its cultural and economic zenith of the Middle Kingdom.
Nubians are an ethno-linguistic group of people who are indigenous to the region which is now present-day northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization. They speak Nubian languages, part of the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages.
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom lasted from approximately 2040 to 1782 BC, stretching from the reunification of Egypt under the reign of Mentuhotep II in the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Twelfth Dynasty. The kings of the Eleventh Dynasty ruled from Thebes and the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty ruled from el-Lisht.
The history of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The pharaonic period, the period in which Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, is dated from the 32nd century BC, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified, until the country fell under Macedonian rule in 332 BC.
The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was an early civilization centered in Kerma, Sudan. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC in ancient Nubia. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia", and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of a number of Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Sai and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt. Around 1500 BC, it was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. By the eleventh century BC, the more-Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt.
Khakaure Senusret III was a pharaoh of Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. He was a great pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty and is considered to be, perhaps, the most powerful Egyptian ruler of the dynasty. Consequently, he is regarded as one of the sources for the legend about Sesostris. His military campaigns gave rise to an era of peace and economic prosperity that reduced the power of regional rulers and led to a revival in craftwork, trade, and urban development. Senusret III was among the few Egyptian kings who were deified and honored with a cult during their own lifetime.
Amenemḥat or Amenemhēt, hellenized as Ammenémēs or as Ammanémēs, is an Ancient Egyptian name meaning "Amun is in front". Amenemhat was the name of a number of kings, princes and administration officials throughout ancient Egyptian history.
The National Museum of Sudan or Sudan National Museum, abbreviated SNM, is a two story building constructed in 1955 and established as a museum in 1971. The building and its surrounding gardens house the largest and most comprehensive Nubian archaeological collection in the world including objects from the Paleolithic through to the Islamic period originating from every site of importance in the Sudan.
Nubia is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, or more strictly, Al Dabbah. It was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations of ancient Africa, the Kerma culture, which lasted from around 2500 BC until its conquest by the New Kingdom of Egypt under Pharaoh Thutmose I around 1500 BC, whose heirs ruled most of Nubia for the next 400 years. Nubia was home to several empires, most prominently the Kingdom of Kush, which conquered Egypt in eighth-century BC during the reign of Piye and ruled the country as its 25th Dynasty.
The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt.
The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire and the Black Pharaohs, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Nubian invasion.
Tombos or Tumbus is an archaeological site and an island in northern Sudan. The village and the island are located at the third cataract of the Nile, not far from Kerma near the present Karmah.
Segerseni was an ancient Egyptian or Nubian chieftain of Nubia, likely reigning concurrently with the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th Dynasty during the early Middle Kingdom.
Iyibkhentre was an ancient Egyptian or Nubian ruler who most likely reigned at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th Dynasty.
Qakare Ini was an ancient Egyptian or Nubian ruler who most likely reigned at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th Dynasty over Lower Nubia. Although he is the best attested Nubian ruler of this time period, nothing is known of his activities.
The Wadi el-Hudi is a wadi in Southern Egypt, in the Eastern Desert. Here were ancient quarries for amethyst. The Wadi el-Hudi is important in archaeology for its high number of rock inscriptions and stelae, mainly dating to the Middle Kingdom, as amethyst was especially popular in this period. The Wadi el-Hudi ends in the Nile valley a few kilometers north of Aswan and is coming there from the South-East. The ancient amethyst quarries are about 20 kilometres south-east from Aswan.
Debeira is an archaeological site in Sudan situated on the eastern bank of the Nile some 20 kilometres north of Wadi Halfa.
Amenemhat was a Nubian official under Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III. He was chief of Teh-khet and was therefore a governor ruling a region in Lower Nubia for the Egyptian state. In the New Kingdom, Egyptian kings had conquered Lower Nubia. To secure control over the new region they appointed people of the local elite as governors. Teh-khet was a Nubian region that covered the area about Debeira and Serra. The local governors here formed a family, while the governor proper held the title chief of Teh-khet.
Djehutyhotep, also called Paitsy, was a Nubian official under Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III. He was chief of Teh-khet and was therefore a governor ruling a region in Lower Nubia of the Egyptian state. In the New Kingdom, Egyptian kings had conquered Lower Nubia. To secure control over the new region they appointed people of the local elite as governors. Teh-khet was a Nubian region that covered the area about Debeira and Serra. The local governors here formed a family, while the governor proper held the title chief of Teh-khet. Djehutyhotep's father Ruiu was also chief of Teh-khet. His mother was called Runia. His wife was called Tenetnub. His brother Amenemhat was also chief of Teh-khet and followed Djehutyhotep in office.
In archaeology, Fadrus refers to a cemetery excavated in Lower Nubia close to a place once called Hillet Fadrus or Qadrus. It was lying in the district of Debeira-East. The cemetery was excavated in the early 1960s by a team of archaeologists from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, hence the expedition was called The Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia. The excavations were part of an international rescue program as the building of the Aswan dam flooded this area shortly after. The area is composed of 690 tombs ranging from interments without grave goods to decorated tombs-chapels.