Hatshepsut’s
most devoted friend at the end of her reign was Senenmut her daughter Neferu-Ra’s teacher. He rose himself from the commoner’s level to be a high official in the ancient world. He was a true genius of the time that he lived in. Some of his knowledge is clearly illustrated in one of his two tombs, where there is the oldest astronomical chart in Egypt.Or click here to see a bigger view
While different archeologists were collecting different finds from the 18.dynasty (18.dynasty was between 1570 BC – 1293 BC) they not only came across object from Hatshepsut’s time period, but also another name, which was Senenmut. It was quickly known, that this Senenmut was not a part of the royal family (pharaohs family line), but seem to have come from a commoners family.
This idea was confirmed two times at one place.
In 1930 H.E Winlock opened a monument (also known as TT71) which lies on the hill called ‘Sheikh abd el-Qurna,’ when exactly this monument was discovered or by who, is unknown. It is presumed to have been discovered one hundred years before its opening.
At first glace it seems like a primitive house of some sort, wholes revealing windows and door. Closer inspections of the monument, showed a similarity to Hatshepsut’s Great temple at Deir el-Bahari, but in a much smaller scale. The monument was cut into the cliffs behind it, and a forecourt in front of it. Archeologists could see that the monument was not completed, when the ancient Egyptian worker had stopped working on the site.
While A. Lansing and W. Hayes were excavating in 1936 and researching this monument, they came across a completely intact tomb. It was not a big tomb, only one room, but completely filled with ancient artifacts. Two sarcophagus* were found, one male and one female, it was Senenmut’s parents.
For the first time in over 1400 years, their names would be uttered by the living once more, they were Ramose and Hatnefret.
Senenmut probably felt more affection for his mother than for his father this can be suspected because of the tombs content. First of, it would seem that there was no canopic chest* for his father, but his mothers canopic chest was there. They proceeded to open the sarcophagus of Ramose, Senenmut’s father, but to their surprise it contained the skeleton bones of him instead of a mummified body. The loose bandages around his bones, revealed an ink mark with an inscription “Neferu-Ra” the name of Hatshepsut’s daughter, hereby linking this tomb directly to the family of Hatshepsut. Hatnefret, the mother of Senenmut had a beautiful detailed sarcophagus, and her face was covered by a gold foil. Upon her bandages were found the cursive hieroglyphics inscription;
‘Good Goddess, Maat – Ka- Ra, loved by Amun, may she live forever.’
It would seem that everything in the tomb actually belonged to Senenmut’s mother, Hatnefret.
Not only did they come to find that this monument was built by Senenmut, but also that he had his parents buried beneath it, as a tribute to them.
Tomb TT353, could be called the lost tomb of Senenmut, for it was forgotten about. The tomb was forgotten because it was filled with debris and sand by earlier excavations, and its location had not been noted down. People have found the earlier excavation reports for unsatisfying, not giving any details or even dates for their discovery. No matter what, what is found there is remarkable and unique. A beautiful false-door* with hieroglyphic which fit the time period of Hatshepsut perfectly. Senenmut is shown on the false-door, his father Ramose have his arm around Senenmut, which is interesting considering their tomb content and all. The relief upon the false-door reveals a different relationship between Senenmut and his father, maybe his parents were divorced and had very different lives. But it opens up for the question, as to why such differences in their burial and in their mummifications?
Senenmut’s mother is placed on the other side, facing towards them with a lotus flower in her hand.
This is an important tomb, because not only is it from the time of Hatshepsut, but this is also the location of the oldest detailed astronomical chart ever found. It offers a unique insight, into how they viewed the dark heavens in those days. the decans can be seen in their forms at that time, There are 36 decans, and they are stars. In those days, they were seen as 36 weekly stars. There is also 12 big circles in one half of the images, which corresponds to the half of a day 12 hours. If we count the rooms inside each circle, we come to find that there are 24 rooms, corresponding to the total hours of one day. So this could also indicate that the 24 hours in the 12 circles, are 12 days. Much research has been made into this chart, and to this day, it is not completely deciphered.
Who was Senenmut?
Sen-en-mut, literary means ‘Brother of the mother.’Best known as Hatshepsut’s chief architect, but also know under the title Steward of the King's Daughter. He came from a modest family, but was able to rise himself to the highest place in ancient Egypt, being an official inside the royal courts.
His image is also to be found seventy times, in one of Hatshepsut’s temples. He illustrated clearly that he possessed the knowledge of many fields, such as astronomy and architecture. Another title of his was ‘Director of the Domain of Amun’ which connects him to the temple of Amun in Karnak.
Personal note:
[That it was Amun that he chose to service is probably a conscious choice. In his time period of around Hatshepsut’s time (1489 B.C) it was the astrological age of the Ram, known in ancient Egypt as Amun (there are three and maybe more forms of Ram’s). Even more interesting is the fact that the ancient Greeks translated Amun as Jupiter. In our modern time we know this ‘combination’ (or the observation of Jupiter) of planets, as the star of Bethlehem (also see Pisces), Jupiter was the planet that the three kings followed. This planet has always been a significant planet, going back to ancient days. We just need to look at the year 1489 B.C where Jupiter was in the sign of Aries, but in this case, being even more precise, because it was also the astrological age of Aries. Not only that, if I am not that mistaken then Jupiter is in conjunction with the Midheaven off course the events surrounding the Jupiter placement in 7 B.C are more significant than that. But then in 7 B.C it wasn’t the astrological age of Aries/the Ram, so they have two huge differences. Just something which I thought was interesting.]
Senenmut came to have many titles, and he must have had a special impact upon Hatshepsut. He might have thought Hatshepsut her trading capabilities, which she used on her trading expedition to Punt.
I don’t know if I believe that they were lovers, because I feel like there was a curtain hermit like behavior over them both. Hatshepsut in her meditations to Amun, and dedication to being a Pharaoh, and then Senenmut deep in trance with his pen, weather it was in calculations or as a teacher for Hatshepsut’s daughter. They must also have been of a modern age, since Hatshepsut had been married twice. Hatshepsut had probably had enough of being a ‘wife’.
Note:
Sarcophagus: Also known as the ‘coffin’ where they placed the mummified body in. The word ‘sarcophagus’ is Greek and actually means ‘flesh-eating’. Usually a sarcophagus/coffin is filled with texts, which is referred to as the ‘coffin texts’.
canopic chest: Also known as canopic jars, which are four vessels that were used for the organs of the deceased. also see The Secret of Anubis
False-door: a door in the tomb, which was to be used by the deceased's soul.
Resources (Just some books)
Hatshepsut by Amr Hussein
Chronicle of the Pharaohs by Peter A. Clayton
The Complete Valley of the Kings by Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson
Again I could not post everything there is to know about Senenmut, like Hatshepsut their lives could each fill many books, but I can give you some links for further reading.
- Website by Dr. Karl H. Leser (Iufaa)
- Also visit the Sen-en-mut project
Copyright © 2000 Karima Lachtane
All Rights Reserved
This entry was posted
on Sunday, August 02, 2009
at Sunday, August 02, 2009
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astrology,
astronomy,
decans,
Hatshepsut,
Neferu-Ra,
sarcophagus,
senenmut,
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