Wendjebauendjed

Wendjebauendjed
Mummy mask of Wendjebauendjed, Cairo Museum
Dynasty	21st Dynasty
Pharaoh	Psusennes I
Burial	Tanis, NRT III

Wendjebauendjed was an ancient Egyptian general, high dignitary and high priest during the reign of pharaohs Psusennes I of the 21st Dynasty. He is mainly known for his intact tomb found by Pierre Montet inside the royal necropolis of Tanis (NRT III).

Biography

Wn ḏbȝw n ḏd Wendjebauendjed in hieroglyphs

About his life nothing is known but his occupations: Wendjebauendjed held an impressive list of military, administrative and religious titles, such as Hereditary prince and count, Seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, God's father, General and Army leader, High steward (later High priest) of Khonsu, Priest of "Osiris lord of Mendes", Superintendent of the Prophets of all the gods and Superintendent of the Sole Friend.^[1]
The fact that Wendjebauendjed held such important offices granted him the great honor to be buried in the royal necropolis even though he was not a royal personage. According to one of his titles, it is possible that he was a native of Mendes (Djedet).^[1] His mummified remains shows that he was perhaps of Nubian descent and that he died around his fifties.^[2]

Discovery

Three gold and silver bowls from Wendjebauendjed's tomb

The name Wendjebauendjed was initially found by Pierre Montet and Georges Goyon in 1939 carved on some statuettes and ushabtis found inside the newly discovered burial chamber of Shoshenq II. A year later, Montet discovered the burial chamber of Psusennes I where he found a golden hilt belonged to Wendjebauendjed, placed on the king's sarcophagus.^[3]

After World War II, Montet and Goyon resumed the excavations and on 13 February 1946 they discovered a new, undisturbed burial chamber inside the same necropolis. A reused granite anthropoid sarcophagus, originally belonged to a Third priest of Amun called Amenhotep and datable to the 19th Dynasty, was found inside. The new owner was the same Wendjebauendjed named on the objects recovered from the near tombs before the war. For him the sarcophagus was covered by gold leaf, and inside it was a painted and gilded wooden coffin which in turn contained a silver coffin, both poorly preserved.^[3] Wendjebauendjed's face was covered by a golden mummy mask, and many other jewelry was found inside the sarcophagus such as pectorals, rings, bracelets and gold statuettes; particularly remarkable are three fine bowls made from gold and silver, and a lapis lazuli statuette of Amun in his ram form.^[4] Outside the sarcophagus were also found many ushabtis and Wendjebauendjed's four canopic jars. All the funerary equipment is now in Cairo Museum.^[5]

References

1. Kenneth Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC), 1996, Aris & Phillips Limited, Warminster, ISBN 0-85668-298-5, § 222.
2. Goyon, op. cit., pp. 167-168
3. Goyon, op. cit., p. 167.
4. Goyon, op. cit., pp. 168-170.
5. Goyon, op. cit., p. 170.

Bibliography

• Georges Goyon, La Découverte des trésors de Tanis, Éditions Perséa, 1987, ISBN 978-2-906427-01-3, pp. 166–170.
• Henri Stierlin, Christiane Ziegler: Tanis: Vergessene Schätze der Pharaonen. Hirmer, München 1987, ISBN 3-7774-4460-X, p. 80.