During
the reign of Teti
and Pepi
I in the early part of the Old
Kingdom's 6th
Dynasty, Mehu was "Chief Justic and
Vizier". He was married to Iku, who's titles
included "King's daughter of His Body". His two
other wives were Nebt and Nefertkawes. He was buried in a tomb
at Saqqara,
discovered by an Egyptian archaeologist named Zaki Saad,
within the Sector of the
Pyramid of Unas
north of the Unas causeway and east of the mastaba
of Princess Idut. The tomb was later excavated by Salam
Hussein in 1940.
This tomb, which features four rooms decorated with some of
the most colorful and exquisite reliefs in the whole Saqqara
necropolis, is almost precisely aligned east-west, with
the entrance facing east. It was only recently restored
by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization.
At the entrance to the tomb, Mehu is depicted on either
side of the doorway, A short passage leads from there into a
small room with scenes of hunting and fishing in the swamps.
On the southern
left hand wall we find depictions showing the trapping of
birds with nets, mending the nets and preparing food for the
birds. On the eastern wall are reliefs depicting birds in
their nests.
After this initial room, a short passage leads to a long,
straight corridor running west. On its entrance are four
registers showing scenes of baking, brewing and preparing
birds for a meal on the left, while a man carrying a calf is
on the right. Down the entire length of this corridor are
representations illustrating daily life, including harvesting,
fishing with nets, freight ships and sailing
boats and metalworking. Shortly into this passage, a doorway
on the north, or right side of the corridor communicates with
a large courtyard that includes two square pillars at its
western end. On each face of the pillars are depictions of
Mehu. Other walls of the courtyard are adorned with scenes of
offerings and gardening, and at the rear, western end of the
courtyard behind the pillars is a false
door dedicated to Mehu's son, Kahotep.
At the western end of the long corridor above the doorway
are scenes depicting people picking fruit. To either side
other men bring offerings to the tomb owner. Other beautifully
preserved scenes in some unusual colors depict offerings such
as a bull, an oryx and gazelles, as well as baskets full of
fruit. From here, a short passage leads into an
"offering" room where many more offerings are
depicted, as well as scenes of musicians, including four
harpists, dancers and clappers.
This
small room communicates with two additional rooms from its
northern and western walls. The doorway to the right (north)
leads into a long chapel for mehu's offerings. Here, on the
western wall is Mehu's beautifully preserved false
door. It has an unusual style of decoration in which the
limestone of the stela shows through dark red paint, which was
used to simulate granite, highlighting the hieroglyphic text
in yellow. This results in a wonderfully detailed piece of
craftsmanship. The false door features a stela in a niche
depicting the tomb owner eating from the offerings, and along
the whole bottom of the false door are images of the standing
tomb owner with his name.
Elsewhere in this chapel, the walls are painted with a rich
blue-gray background and from these spring colorful reliefs
depicting many more offerings, particularly birds, with
priests and offering lists. On the south wall of this room,
some of the offering bearers wear collars decorated with lotus
flowers. One carries a boat-shaped basket with fruit, while
others carry or lead gazelles, ibex and an oryx. This scene is
paralleled on the north wall by men bringing geese and storks
to Mehu. All of the offering bearers stride in the direction
of the false door. Mehu is shown before a table to receives
these offerings.

Above: Offering bearers with gazelles, an ibex, an oryx and various other items including fruit
Below: Offering bearers with geese and storks for Mehu
The second room leading off to the west of the small
"offering" room and south of Mehu's larger chapel is
a second, smaller chapel dedicated to Merireankh Meryre-ankh),
an official who held the title, "Supervisor of Prophets
for the Pyramid of Pepi I". Apparently, Mehu
usurped this tomb from its original owner, leaving only the
offering chapel of this official intact. It retains scenes of
offerings, offering bearers and a false
door stela.
References:
| Title |
Author |
Date |
Publisher |
Reference
Number |
| Art of Ancient
Egypt, The |
Robins, Gay |
1997 |
Harvard
University Press |
ISBN
0-674-00376-4 |
| Atlas of Ancient
Egypt |
Baines, John;
Malek, Jaromir |
1980 |
Les Livres De
France |
None Stated |
| Early Dynastic
Egypt |
Wilkinson, Toby
A. H. |
1999 |
Routledge |
ISBN
0-415-26011-6 |
| Illustrated
Guide to the Pyramids, The |
Hawass, Zahi;
Siliotti, Alberto |
2003 |
American
University in Cairo Press, The |
ISBN 977 424 825
2 |
| Treasures of the Pyramids,
The |
Hawass, Zahi |
2003 |
American University in Cairo
Press, The |
ISBN 977 424 798 1 |
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