Ruaben is one of the comparatively few high officials from the Second Dynasty whose name is known; despite the fact that the dynasty survived for two centuries its history is very obscure.

The tomb at Saqqara (no. 2302) which is attributed to Ruaben is huge, with many chambers and halls; it is probably fair to assume that he would have been buried with great riches. His tomb is evidence that, despite the obscurity of the times, Egypt even at this very early period could produce funerary buildings of size and complexity. On the evidence of the sealings in the tomb Ruaben was a contemporary of King Nynetjer, the third king of the dynasty.