Meir, Egypt

Meir
Meir

Location in Egypt

Coordinates: 27°27′N 30°45′E / 27.450°N 30.750°E / 27.450; 30.750
Country  Egypt
Governorate Asyut
Time zone EST (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) +3 (UTC)

Meir is a village in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile, in the Asyut Governorate, some 7 kilometers southwest of el-Qusiya (Cusae). The modern village is situated at coordinates 27°27′00″N 30°45′00″E / 27.45000°N 30.75000°E / 27.45000; 30.75000, while the necropolis is located at 27°25′00″N 30°43′00″E / 27.41667°N 30.71667°E / 27.41667; 30.71667.

Overview

Meir was the functioning cemetery for Cusae, located in Egypt, approximately thirty to forty miles north of the city of Asyut. Meir functioned as an Old Kingdom-Middle Kingdom (6th-12th Dynasty) cemetery for the nomarchs of the fourteenth Nome of Upper Egypt. Below the hillside of the rock-cut tombs lies a cemetery that is specifically for the more common folk. The rock-cut tombs only functioned for nomarchs of the city of Cusae. Cusae was believed to be a cult center for the Egyptian deity Hathor. Proof of Hathor worshiping was found on inscriptions on the walls of the rock-cut tombs, which included numerous mentioning of the ‘Priestesses’ of Hathor’ as well as numerous depictions of cows. Aylward Blackman was the primary excavator of the site and as a result he published six volumes of work pertaining to his findings. The tombs are laid out North to South along a hillside and Blackman labeled the chapel-tombs A-E. Meir is known to have one of the richest sources of Middle Kingdom tombs.[1] It is also known for the tombs having extremely detailed reliefs illustrating daily life scenes. Examples of well excavated tombs of this site include the tombs of Ukh-Hotep and Pepyankh the Middle.

Early excavations

Before any archaeologists could excavate Meir, many of the tombs were pillaged for timber. Later in time, fragments and incomplete tombs were burned in giant bonfires after being deemed ‘worthless and in the way.’[1] In 1890 Émile Gaston Chassinat sparked interest for the archaeologist community by paying a visit to the Meir site. A short time later, a number of archaeologists such as Georges Émile Jules Daressy (1900), Alessandro Barsanti, Georges Legrain (1900), Jean Clédat (1901-1902), and Sha’ban (1903), spent a decent amount of time excavating the Meir site. The reports from these excavations strictly focus on the great tombs, but even still are poorly published with limited detail. Finally, between the years 1912-1950 Aylward Blackman spent time excavating Meir and eventually released six volumes describing the various rock-cut tombs at the site. Unfortunately, Blackman focused on the more elaborate and complete tombs, leaving the less extravagant to stay unexcavated and unpublished. This is where Ahmed Bey Kamal took over the gauntlet of excavating the site, during the years 1910-1914, in an effort to excavate the less prestigious (incomplete) tombs.

Tombs

Meir tombs, group A

The tombs at Meir date back to the 6th-12th Dynasty, and they were an important burial place for the rulers of the fourteenth Nome. When it was excavated by Aylward Blackman, it was given the letters A-E in order to signify the various rock-cut tombs. The tombs were cut out into a hillside and laid out from North to South. This site holds approximately seventy five tombs with interior decoration and countless others that have been pillaged or damaged through the years.[1] Below the main rock-cut tomb site is a cemetery dedicated to the members of the city who were not nomarchs. Not much excavation was accomplished on this particular ‘commoner’ cemetery, there is essential no information regarding that site in any of the volumes of work done by any of the main excavators of Meir.

Ukh-hotep

Ukh-hotep son of Senbi’s (B.2) tomb is the most excavated and also the most well-known tomb at Meir due to the intricate reliefs found inside of it. Blackman wrote “The Rock Tombs of Meir Vol. 2: The Tomb Chapel of Senbi’s son Ukh-Hotp” (1915) in order to present his findings in the tomb. The tomb is estimated to be from the time of Senusret I. It is known, through examination of the tomb, that his father was Senbi (B1.), his wife was Thut-hotp, and their son was named Senbi (B3). Titles held by Ukh-hotp included ‘Nomarch,’ ‘Superintendent of the Priestesses of Hathor,’ ‘Superintendent of the Priests,’ ‘Priest,’ and many more. Inside of the tomb, along the West and South walls are many inscriptions dedicated to Osiris and Horus. The tomb of Ukh-hotep is separated from his father Senbi’s tomb only by a thin partition-wall. The tomb stands from floor to ceiling at 2 m 70 cm with a small undecorated doorway leading into the tomb.[2] Within the tomb are walls of beautiful reliefs depicting various events and displays of everyday life in the city of Cusae. Examples of images found inside of the time include boat-building, papyrus harvesting, war, Ukh-Hotep sitting with his wife, offerings, etc. The reliefs are beautiful, detailed, and “[they have an] unintentional roughness [that] seems rather to add to the spirit of vigor and strenuous activity with which the sculptor has imbued many of his representations of the toiling…”[3] Though these reliefs are all beautiful and extremely detailed, there are some that were very apparently left unfinished in large portions.

Pepyankh the Middle

The tomb of Pepyankh the Middle (D2.), known sometimes as Heny the Middle, dates back to the time of Pepi II. Blackman published his findings on Pepyankh the Middle’s tomb in 1924 in a book called, “The Rock Tombs of Meir Vol. IV: The Tomb-Chapel of Pepi’onkh the Middle son of Sebkhotpe and Pekhernefert.” and in 2012 Naguib Kanawati published a follow up book on the tomb of Pepyankh the middle called, “The Cemetery of Meir: Vol. 1 The tomb of Pepyankh the Middle.” Upon excavation of the tombs, it was discovered that Pepyankh the middle was the son of Sebkhotpe (Hepi) and Pepkhernefert (Bebi) and that his wife was Hewetiaah. Together Pepyankh the middle and Hewetiaah had six sons and three daughters. From the tomb, it was also noted that titles held by Pepyankh the middle included: ‘Confidant of the King in his Every Place,’ ‘Overseer of Upper Egypt in Reality,’ ‘Hereditary Prince,’ ‘Superintendent of the Priests of Hathor’ and many more.[4] The undisturbed tomb – the largest found at the cemetery of Meir – was discovered by Ahmed Bey Kamal’s workmen in March 1913. Similar to the other tombs at Meir, the tomb of Pepyankh the middle had beautiful examples of daily life reliefs. There are countless descriptions of the various reliefs, one passage says “All the walls of room C are covered with painted reliefs, the brilliance of which was greatly enhanced by the dark slate-grey to indigo background…[but] as is usually the case with the productions of the sixth-dynasty provincial craftsmen, the technique of these reliefs is somewhat crude.”[5]

Religion

In all of the decorated tombs in Meir it is evident that the goddess Hathor was an important element in the lives of the people of Cusae. In Volumes I-VI of Blackman’s books, it is evident that just about all of the nomarchs, as well as their various family members, held positions relating to Hathor. Many of the nomarchs held the title, ‘Overseer of prophets of Hathor’ or ‘Priest of Hathor’ and a lot of the important women had the title, ‘Priestess of Hathor.’ In addition to the titles, there are also depictions of ceremonies relating to Hathor in the reliefs on the walls. One example of this can be found in the tomb of Senbi’s son Ukh-hotp. In a relief found in his tomb there is a ceremonial picture of two bulls fighting to the death, and it is believed that this is related to winning the honor of being with the goddess cow, Hathor.[6]

Tombs A-E[7]

Inside of the tomb of Senbi (B1)

References

Bibliography

Blackman, A.M.; Apted, M.R. (1914). The rock tombs of Meir: Part I: The tomb of Pepyankh the middle. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 
Blackman, A.M. (1915a). The rock tombs of Meir: Part II: The tomb-chapel of Senbi's son Ukh-Hotp: (B, no. 2). London: Egypt Exploration Society. 
Blackman, A.M. (1915b). The rock tombs of Meir: Part. III: The tomb-chapel of Ukh-Hotp son of Ukh-Hotp and Mersi: (B, no. 4). London: Egypt Exploration Society. 
Blackman, A.M. (1924). The rock tombs of Meir: Part IV: The tomb-chapel of Pepi'onkh the middle son of Sebkhotpe and Pekhernefert (D, no. 2). London: Egypt Exploration Society. 
Blackman, A.M.; Apted, M.R. (1953a). The rock tombs of Meir: Part V. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 
Blackman, A.M.; Apted, M.R. (1953b). The rock tombs of Meir: Part VI. London: Egypt Exploration Society. 
Kanawati, N.; Evans, L. (2012). The cemetery of Meir I: The tomb of Pepyankh the Middle. Oxford: Aris and Phillips. 
Kanawati, N.; Evans, L. (2014). The cemetery of Meir II: The tomb of Pepyankh the Black. Oxford: Aris and Phillips. 
Porter, B.; Moss, R. The Digital Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs, and Paintings, volume 4. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
Willems, Harco (1988). Chests of Life: A study of the typology and conceptual development of Middle Kingdom standard class coffins. Leiden: Ex Oriente Lux. 

Further reading

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Coordinates: 27°27′00″N 30°45′00″E / 27.45000°N 30.75000°E / 27.45000; 30.75000

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