The (auto)biography of Khnumhotep II is incised on sunk relief below the coloured dado on the lower part of all four walls of the chapel. The (auto)biography begins on the east wall, north of the shrine and runs anti-clockwise, ending on the east wall, south of the shrine. On the south wall between lines 160 and 161 is a small false door carved in bas-relief False door with torus moulding and cavetto cornice. The inscription reads:

(79-86) ꜤḥꜤ.n smnḫ.n.j sj ꜤḥꜤ.s ḫprw m ḫt nbt srwḏ.n.j rn n jt.j smnḫ.n.j ḥwwt-kꜢw pr(w) jrjw šms.n.j twwt.j r ḥwt-nṯr smꜢꜤ.n.j n.sn pꜢt.sn t ḥnḳt ḳbḥw jrp snṯr wꜤbt sjp(.w) n ḥm-kꜢ.j ‘Then I advanced it, its wealth being brought about from all sorts of things. I caused the name of my father to flourish. I restored the tomb chapels and the houses thereof. I accompanied my statues to the temple. I presented to them their offerings: bread, beer, libation, wine, incense and meat, assigned to my ka-priest’.

(86-99) smnḫ.n.j sw m Ꜣḥwt mrt wḏ.n.j prt-ḫrw t ḥnḳt pꜢt kꜢw Ꜣpdw m ḥb nb n ẖrt-nṯr m tpj-rnpt wpt-rnpt rnpt ꜤꜢt rnpt nḏst Ꜥrḳ rnpt ḥb wr m rkḥ ꜤꜢ m rkḥ nḏs m 5 ḥrjw rnpt m šḏt- šꜤ m Ꜣbd 12 smdt 12 ḥb nb n tp tꜢ nfr tp ḏw jr grt ḥm-kꜢ rmṯ nbt ẖnn.tj.sn st n wnn.f n wnn sꜢ.f ḥr nst.f ‘I endowed him with fields and serfs. I commanded invocation offerings of bread, beer, cake, oxen and fowl, in every feast of the necropolis, at the beginning of the year, the opening of the year, the great-year feast, the little-year feast, the end of the year feast, the great feast, at the great burning feast, at the little burning feast, at the 5 epagomenal (=added) days of the year, at the scattering of the sand feast (?), at the 12 month feasts and the 12 half-month feasts, every feast upon the happy land and upon the necropolis. Now as for the ka-priest or any person who shall interfere with them he shall not remain and his son shall not remain upon his seat’.

Date

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, Reign of Amenemhat II (c. 1918-1884 BCE).

Location

Egypt, Beni Hassan, Upper Cemetery, Khnumhotep II (Tomb 3), Chapel, North wall, Lower section, Wall.

Medium

limestone.

Technique

Relief or Polychrome Paint.

Parent Context

Chapel, Autobiography

Data Credits

Compiled by Madeline Jenkins and the Beni Hassan Research Group with resources from the Macquarie University Ancient Cultures Research Centre, and the Australian Centre for Egyptology.

Project Funding

Supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project scheme: DP160102223 "Measuring meaning in Egyptian art: A new approach to an intractable problem" held by N. Kanawati (MQ), L. Evans (MQ), A. Woods (MQ) and J. Kamrin (Met), the Macquarie University Department of Ancient History, and the Macquarie University Faculty of Arts.

Original Citation

N. Kanawati & L. Evans, Beni Hassan: Volume I: The Tomb of Khnumhotep II (Australian Centre for Egyptology: Reports 36, Aris and Phillips, Oxford, 2014, ISBN: 978-0-85668-846-1), pls. 09a (photograph),

Rights

Recorded and published with permission from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. Photographs by Effy Alexakis as part of research on site. Copyright Macquarie University 2018. All rights reserved.

Cite this

Madeline Jenkins "(Auto)biography, lines 83-96, inscription from the tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan ." In The Beni Hassan Visual Dictionary: Khnumhotep II, edited by Alexandra Woods, Brian Ballsun-Stanton, and Nicolle Leary. Sydney: Macquarie University, 2018. https://benihassan.com/dictionary/Khnumhotep+II+Tomb+3/Autobiography+lines+83-96+inscription/