The Twenty-first Dynasty was characterised by a split between the pharaoh in the north, and the Chief Priest of Amun at Karnak who came to take control of Thebes and the south. Herihor was among the first of these newly powerful Chief Priests, and was in authority during the early stages of the ‘restoration’ and caching of the royal mummies of the Valley of Kings and elsewhere. His tomb has never been found, although tantalising clues have appeared in the remote ‘western wadis’ of Thebes. Herihor and the other Chief Priests of the era were also in command of the armies and the judiciary, and they adopted some of the trappings of kingship, but were they really ‘kings’ of Thebes? And what would that mean for the kind of tomb Herihor might have had…?

1. HERIHOR
HIS TOMB, AND THE PRIESTS
WHO BECAME KINGS
Dr Chris Naunton
chrisnaunton.com/online-lectures/

2. HERIHOR

3. Herihor and Amun-Ra
Temple of Khonsu, Karnak

4. nb t3wy
(Hm-nTr tp n Imn)
nb xaw
(s3 Imn Hr-@r)
The Lord of the Two Lands
Chief Priest of Amun
Lord of Arisings
The Son of Amun, Herihor

5. Hm-nTr tp n Imn-Ra nsw nTrw
Imy-r mSa wr nw ^maw MHw @3w
@ry-@r
Chief Priest of Amun-Ra, king of gods
Commander-in-chief of the
armies of the south and the north
Herihor

7. Book of the Dead of Nodjmet. British Museum EA10541
© The Trustees of the British Museum

8. BACKGROUND

9. Late New Kingdom: 20th Dynasty
• Strikes
• Tomb robbery
• Marauding Libyans
• Worsening economy and security
Below: Turin Strike Papyrus. Below R: Medinet Habu

10. Chief Priest of Amun,
Amenhotep
(L with Ramesses IX,
Karnak)
Securely dated to yrs 9/10 of
Ramesses IX and yr 2 of
Ramesses X
Image via Wikimedia Commons

11. Regnal Year 17 or 18 of Ramesses XI
‘War’ or ‘transgression against the High Priest Amenhotep’
Attested by several sources:
P.Mayer A, P. BM EA 10383, P. BM EA 10052, the ‘Karnak Inscription’
P. BM EA 10383. © The Trustees of the British Museum

12. %3-nsw n KS
‘King’s son of Kush’ =
‘Viceroy of Kush’
(from TT 40, Tomb of Huy)
The viceroy of Nubia, Panehsy arrived
in Thebes to ‘restore order’
He became overseer of granaries in
order to feed his troops
 conflict w the HP Amenhotep who
appealed to the king for help
P. BM 10052 mentions Panehsy having
‘destroyed’ Hardai (=Cynopolis) – 17th
nome of Up Eg, Minya Province

13. Following the
‘transgression’
Panehsy was chased
out of Thebes –
unclear by whom…
Payankh (L) or
Herihor (R)
Payankh (L) from Mariette, A, Abydos: description des fouilles (Paris, 1880).
Via Wikimedia Commons

14. New Era: wHm mswt - ‘repeating of births’, ‘renaissance’(?)
Ramesses XI year 19 = wHm mswt year 1
– perhaps marked a return to normality after the intervention of
Panehsy
In yr 10 of wHm mswt, Piankh led an army to Nubia to meet
Panehsy
Unclear what the relations between Piankh, Panehsy and
Ramesses XI were at this time. Piankh an agent of the king, or an
opponent? Did he go to Nubia to negotiate with Panehsy?
Panehsy died in Nubia and was buried in a tomb at Aniba.

16. Valley of Kings
Kings
(21st Dyn,
Tanis)
Chief Priests
(Thebes)

17. Herihor – Piankh, or the other way
round?
For a long time it was believed that
Herihor was the inaugurator of the wHm
mswt and the general who drove
Panehsy out of Thebes
Until recently it was believed that Piankh
was a son of Herihor and therefore most
likely H’s successor

18. After Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
Piankh and descendants who
became Chief Priest in red

19. BUT Piankh was NOT Herihor’s son –
The son of H who appears in the portico of
the temple of Khonsu was in fact
Ankhefenmut

20. An oracle mentions Piankh in yr 7 wHm mswt,
and in yr 10 Piankh led an army to Nubia to meet
Panehsy (Late Ramesside Letters)
So, Piankh took over during Ramesses’ reign /
wHm mswt?
But if so then Herihor was ‘king’ during the reign
of Ramesses XI – as a kind of usurper?
There is a better explanation…

21. Piankh came before Herihor…
Although this means that the Piankh family sequence was
temporarily broken - all the Chief Priests following these
two were related to Piankh but not to Herihor - there are
other good reasons to think that Piankh came first…

22. After Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
Piankh and descendants who
became Chief Priest in red

23. Piankh came before Herihor…
Titles of Piankh do not fit well with his successors whereas
H’s do
H and Pinudjem were both builders in Thebes and
Pinudjem succeeded Herihor directly in decorating the
Khonsu temple at Karnak.
Every one of the Chief Priests of Dyn 21 are mentioned on
shrouds, bandages etc of royal mummies but not Piankh
Piankh never claimed any royal attributes whereas Herihor
did, as did Pinudjem I and Menkheperre

24. nb t3wy
(Hm-nTr tp n Imn)
nb xaw
(s3 Imn Hr-@r)
The Lord of the Two Lands
Chief Priest of Amun
Lord of Arisings
The Son of Amun, Herihor

25. CHIEF PRIESTS OF AMUN

26. Khakheperre Pinudjem I Meryamun
S. of Piankh
Mummy discovered in TT 320
L: Coffin of Pinudjem I
Image from Smith, The Royal Mummies

27. Pinudjem I
3 sons who became Chief Priest
…at the point he himself became ‘king’?

28. After Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
Piankh and descendants who
became Chief Priest in red

29. Masahrta (right), son of Pinudjem I
Reign of Smendes I
Djedkhonsuiuefakh, son of Pinudjem I
Reign of Smendes I

30. Menkheperre
S. of Pinudjem I
L: Menkheperre, ‘Banishment stela’,
Louvre E7822. © Musée du Louvre /
Maurice et Pierre Chuzeville

31. Nesubanebdjed / Smendes II, son of Menkheperre
Pinudjem II (right), son of Menkheperre
Pasebkhaenniut / Psusennes II, son of Pinudjem II

32. After Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
Piankh and descendants who
became Chief Priest in red

33. WHAT MAKES A ‘KING’?
Titulary
King (of Upper and Lower Egypt)
Son of Ra
Lord of the Two Lands
Lord of Arisings
Etc…

34. WHAT MAKES A ‘KING’?
Titulary
King (of Upper and Lower Egypt)
Son of Ra
Lord of the Two Lands
Lord of Arisings
Etc…

35. King of Upper & Lower Egypt, other kings, other rulers…
‘Victory’ or ‘Triumphal’ Stela of Piye. Cairo, JE 48862
After Grimal, La Stèle Triomphale de Pi(‘ankh)y

36. WHAT MAKES A ‘KING’?
Trappings of kingship, regalia, iconongraphy
Position and role vis-à-vis the gods
Temple building / decoration
Pinudjem I
Herihor
Menkheperre

37. WHAT MAKES A ‘KING’?
Control of government
- Temple, armies
- Nubia, granaries, treasury, judiciary (vizier)
Titles of Piankh:

38. WHAT MAKES A ‘KING’?
Control of government
- Temple, armies
- Nubia, granaries, treasury, judiciary (vizier)
Titles of Piankh:

39. WHAT MAKES A ‘KING’?
Regnal dates
Theban datelines never refer to the Tanite(?) king they
relate to…
Dates are generally presumed to relate to Tanite kings
but may in fact relate to Theban ‘kings’…

40. TOMB(S)

41. If Herihor and co were ‘kings’…
A tomb to ‘make Tutankhamun look like Woolworths’?

42. TOMB(S)

43. TOMB(S)

44. TOMB(S)

45. TOMB(S)

46. Oct 1916: Howard Carter on holiday in
Luxor
A discovery is made in a ‘lonely and
unfrequented region’ - a tomb found by
a group of locals – subsequently driven
away by a second group.
Carter was asked by the notables of the
village to intervene.
Image: public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons

47. Gathering the few workmen who had
managed to avoid conscription as part of
the war effort, he set off in late
afternoon, the majority of the climb up
into the mountains taking place by
moonlight.
Image: public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons

48. “It was midnight when we arrived on the scene, and the guide
pointed out to me the end of a rope, which dangled sheer
down the face of a cliff. Listening, we could hear the robbers
actually at work, so I first severed their rope, thereby cutting
off their means of escape, and then, making secure a good
stout rope of my own, I lowered myself down the cliff. Shinning
down a rope at midnight, into a nestful of industrious tomb-
robbers, is a pastime which at least does not lack excitement.”
Carter H. and Mace A. 1923. The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen vol. I.

49. From Carter, H, ‘A Tomb
Prepared for Queen
Hatshepsuit’ JEA 4 (1917)

50. Section drawing of the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut
From Carter, H, ‘A Tomb Prepared for Queen Hatshepsuit’ JEA 4 (1917)

51. Plan of the tomb of Queen
Hatshepsut
From Carter, H, ‘A Tomb
Prepared for Queen
Hatshepsuit’ JEA 4 (1917)

52. Sarcophagus of Queen
Hatshepsut
©Hans Ollermann
Via Flickr.com

53. Could there be more tombs?
 Carter Survey 1916-17

54. Carter’s sketch map of the Western Wadis. ©Griffith Institute, University of Oxford
From Litherland, P, The Western Wadis of the Theban Necropolis

55. Royal Tombs, Tanis

56. Wadi Bariya
A – Wadi Sikket
Taqet Zaid
B
C
D
E
G
F – Wadi el-Gharby

57. Wadi Bariya
A – Wadi Sikket
Taqet Zaid
B
C
D - Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud
E
G
F – Wadi el-Gharby
Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud
Wadi el-Gharby

58. Numerous tombs concentrated in the least accessible or
visible spots, the clefts and crevices of the cliffs.
Ancient pathways, groups of stone huts, graffiti
Worked material, including heaps of chipped fragments
of both the local stone and stone of finer quality,
including granite, basalt, crystalline sandstone and
alabaster.

59. Wadi A - Wadi Sikket Taqet Zaid (‘the ‘Valley of the Window of Zaid’)
Carter: “At its head, hidden in the cliffs, are four tombs: two are pit-
tombs, one a sort of corridor-tomb [the ‘Baraize tomb’], and one a
cliff-tomb in the face of the rock.” [i.e. the tomb of princess
Hatshepsut]
Further pit-tombs close to the entrance of the wadi
Graffiti close to the tomb of Hatshepsut include several relating to the
scribe of the necropolis, Butehamun.
One, dated year 12 Smendes I, also names B’s son, Ankhefenamun.
They spent two consecutive days “in the mountains to see them”.

60. Wadi A – location of tombs and graffiti
23: pit tomb
22: Hatshepsut
21: ‘Baraize tomb’
20: pit tomb
From Litherland, P, The Western Wadis of the Theban Necropolis

61. Wadi C
Pit tombs and one substantial cliff tomb
in a fissure in the cliff below a water
course
Graffito: a cartouche of Neferure –
daughter of Hatshepsut - found by Carter
on a large block of fallen limestone.
Cliff-tomb may have belonged to
Neferure?
Graffiti of the scribes Djehutymose, his
son, Butehamun and several of B’s sons
Image from Litherland, P, The
Western Wadis of the Theban
Necropolis,

62. Carter’s sketch of
the Wadi C cliff
tomb (Neferure?)
© Griffith
Institute,
University of
Oxford
From Litherland, P,
The Western
Wadis of the
Theban Necropolis

63. Wadi D - Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud (‘Valley of the Ape
Cemetery’)
Large numbers of tombs found containing the remains
of baboons by Lortet and Gaillard in the early 20th cen
Further graffiti of late-20th / early 21st Dyns, including
mention of Butehamun.
Location of the ‘Tomb of Three Foreign Wives of
Thutmose III’

64. View looking
towards and
back from the
crevice where
tomb Wady D1 is
located
From: Lilyquist,
C, The Tomb of
Three Foreign
Wives of
Tuthmosis III

65. The ‘Tomb of Three Foreign Wives
of Thutmose III’
Found by inhabitants of Gurna end
July 1916
Noticed that water from a violent
rainstorm was pouring down the
rock face then disappearing at the
bottom – into the hidden tomb
From: Lilyquist, C, The Tomb of
Three Foreign Wives of Tuthmosis III

66. Plan of the tomb of
Three Foreign Wives
of Thutmose III
From Litherland, P,
The Western Wadis of
the Theban Necropolis

67. From:
Lilyquist, C,
The Tomb of
Three
Foreign
Wives of
Tuthmosis III

68. Plan (L) and section (above) of
the tomb of Three Foreign Wives
of Thutmose III
From: Lilyquist, C, The Tomb of
Three Foreign Wives of
Tuthmosis III

69. Objects taken by the villagers but eventually gathered up
at the Metropolitan Museum, NY via Carter and
Carnarvon
Inscribed for:
Menhet, Menwi and Merti
Wives of Thutmose III
All with foreign names, perhaps daughters of Syrian
chieftains

70. Queenly headdress with
rosettes. Gold, carnelian,
turquoise, glass
From the Tomb of the
Three Foreign Wives of
Thutmose III
Image: Public Domain via
www.metmuseum.org

71. Broad Collar
From the Tomb of the
Three Foreign Wives
of Thutmose III
Image:
Public Domain via
metmuseum.org

72. Cuff bracelet decorated with cats. Gold, carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise, glass
Jars from the Tomb of the Three Foreign Wives of Thutmose III
Image: Public Domain via metmuseum.org

73. Mirror with Handle in the
Form of a Hathor Emblem
From the Tomb of the
Three Foreign Wives of
Thutmose III
Image: Public Domain via
www.metmuseum.org

74. Libation Vessel of
Manuwai, silver
From the Tomb of the
Three Foreign Wives
of Thutmose III
Image:
Public Domain via
metmuseum.org

75. Wadi Bariya
A – Wadi Sikket
Taqet Zaid
B
C
D - Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud
E
G
F – Wadi el-Gharby
Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud
Wadi el-Gharby

76. Wadi el-Gharby (‘the wadi of the south’)
Carter: “At the beginning of this canyon, among great fallen blocks
of limestone, are heaps of débris, stone chippings from some ancient
excavation. On the right, as you enter, is a small lateral valley
containing stone huts of workmen, pottery and various graffiti. Above
the cascade are more heaps of ancient origin and upon the larger
limestone fragments fallen from the cliffs are numerous hieratic
inscriptions such as also occur at the bases of the cliffs themselves.
Further pit-tombs close to the entrance of the wadi”

77. Wadi el-Gharbi. Photo: Daily Mail via www.archaeology.wiki

78. Wadi el-Gharby (‘the wadi of the south’)
Carter: “The graffiti and heaps of rubbish indicate the presence of
tombs in the vicinity, as the natives have recognized; but the extensive
excavations made by them have apparently been without result.
As the Wadi el-Gharby is far away and difficult to protect against
depredations I am making more extensive soundings here in the hope
of revealing lost tombs. I have already found a piece of crystalline
sandstone from a sarcophagus – the projection for the levers used in
transportation.”

79. Graffiti:
Frequently inscribed by Djehutymose, his
son Butehamun and others active at the end
of the 20th Dyn, early 21st and responsible
for the ‘restorations’ of royal burials
‘Royal’ name mentioned more than any
other: Herihor, particularly in the Wadi el-
Gharbi
‘Tomb sign’ is also common (right with sign highlighted in red;
from Litherland, P, The Western Wadis of the Theban Necropolis)

80. Butehamun – ‘Scribe of the Tomb’
‘Opener of the gates in the necropolis / underworld’
‘Overseer of works in the house of eternity’
Involved in the restoration of the mummy of
Ramesses III
Securely dated to years 6 – 13 of Smendes I
Senior official within the Deir el-Medina community
L: Coffin of Butehamun(?), Museo Egizio, Turin

81. Royal Tombs, Tanis
House of
Butehamun,
Medinet Habu
Deir el-Medina
community
moved here
following the
unrest in
Thebes at the
end of the 20th
Dyn

82. P. BM 10375: Letter from Butehamun to Piankh
“We have noted everything about which our master
has written to us, [namely]: “Go and perform for me a
task on which you have never before embarked and
search for it until I come to you” – so says our lord; …
“Uncover a tomb among the tombs of the ancestors
and preserve its seal until I return” – so said our lord.
We are carrying out orders. We shall leave it
[undisturbed] for you and let you find it ready…”
Quoted in Reeves & Wilkinson, The Complete Valley
of Kings, 204-5. Image © The Trustees of the British
Museum

83. John Romer:
Argued for many years that the tomb of Herihor may lie in
the Wadi el-Gharbi
Quotes the evidence revealed by Carter: chippings from rock
cutting (“like those from the work in the royal tombs still
covering much of the great place”), the sarcophagus boss,
graffiti mentioning Butehamun and Herihor, ‘tomb signs’
Also the total absence of any funerary material belonging to
Herihor (or Piankh etc)…

84. So what? We shouldn’t expect everything to survive…
BUT
A great deal of funerary material from the New Kingdom
– Twenty-first Dynasties has survived

85. THE CACHES
TT 320
‘The Royal Cache’.
Disc. 1870s(?) by the Abd er-Rassoul brothers.
KV 35
Orig. the tomb of Amenhotep II in the Valley of Kings.
Disc. 1898 by Victor Loret.

86. New Kingdom Pharaohs
Mummies disc. In TT 320
Mummies disc in KV 35

87. After Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
Chief Priests / their families
represented in TT 320 (‘The
Royal Cache’)

88. Coffin lids of Pinudjem II
Image from Daressy, Cercueils
des cachettes royales

89. Mummy of Masahrta (21st Dyn)
Image from Smith, The Royal Mummies

90. Mummy of Pinudjem II (21st Dyn)
Image from Smith, The Royal Mummies

91. Chief Priest of Amun Amenhotep
– buried in Dra Abu el-Naga tomb KV 93 11/12
L from Rummel in EA 42 (2013). R from Rummel in Kubisch and Rummel (eds.),
The Ramesside Period in Egypt (Berlin, 2018)

92. @chrisnaunton / chrisnaunton.com
EGYPT’S
SILVER
PHARAOHS
Dr Chris Naunton

93. Twenty-first Dynasty kings in Tanis

94. After Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
Chief Priests not represented
in TT 320 (‘The Royal Cache’)
in green

95. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc

96. Wadi D Graffito, found near the tomb of the three
foreign wives:
“The royal scribe of the tomb, Djehutymose,
His son, the scribe of the tomb, Butehamun,
When he came to inspect in year six [Smendes I]
III, Shomu, 11, along with the chief workman Nebnefer,
(And) Amenpanefer…”
Key word here is ‘inspect’ (sip)
Activity of Butehamun and co relates to inspections,
restorations, and reclamations, not to tomb building or
interments…

97. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc

98. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc

99. New Kingdom Research Foundation
Research in the Western Wadis
2013 –
Found that the ‘chippings’ are in fact
natural
Pathways connect with the high
desert only w difficulty, and reservoirs
or wells proved to be excavations for
quartzite or gypsum.

100. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc

101. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc

102. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc

103. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF LATE RAMESSIDE CHIEF PRIESTS?
Graffiti and ‘tomb signs’
Worked material incl. the sarcophagus boss
Chippings
Workmen’s huts, pathways etc
(Traces of) funerary equipment may in fact
have been found…

104. Armband of
turquoise and gold
inscribed with the
name of Herihor
Came onto the art
market in the
1980s, now in the
Römer-Pelizaeus
Museum in
Hildesheim,
Germany
Image courtesy
Margret Pirzer

105. From Damarany & Cahail, ‘The
sarcophagus of the High Priest of
Amun, Menkheperre, from the
Coptic monastery of Apa Moses
at Abydos’ MDAIK 72 (2016)
Fragment of the
sarcophagus of the
High Priest of Amun,
Menkheperre, disc.
2009-11, Monastery
of Apa Moses, Abydos

106. New Kingdom Research Foundation
Research in the Western Wadis
2013 –
Has identified new tombs / funerary
material but all relating to 18th dynasty
royals: family burials of two wives and a
son of Amenhotep III (father of
Akhenaten), his sister Ti’aa and at least
thirteen court women.
Tombs are in the Wadi Bariya, not in
Wadi el-Gharbi…

107. Wadi Bariya
A – Wadi Sikket
Taqet Zaid
B
C
D - Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud
E
G
F – Wadi el-Gharby
Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud
Wadi el-Gharby

108. THE WESTERN WADIS –
CEMETERY OF 18TH DYNASTY QUEENS?
Right turning tombs
(clockwise from top left)
TT 358, Deir el-Bahri. Tomb of Meryetamun,
sister and wife of Amenhotep I
Wady A, tomb of Hatshepsut
Wady D, tomb of foreign wives of Thutmose III
Wady C, tomb of Neferure(?)
Image from: Lilyquist, C, The Tomb of Three
Foreign Wives of Tuthmosis III

109. THE SEARCH CONTINUES…
THANK YOU!
chrisnaunton.com/online-lectures/