Montu priestly families at Deir el-Bahari in the Third Intermediate Period

Abstract

The mostly intact Twenty-fifth Dynasty qrsw-coffin sets of Heresenes and the Montu priests Padiamunet (iii) and Nespaqashuty (vi) were discovered on the Upper Terrace at Deir el-Bahari by Émile Baraize in 1932–1933, but were never fully studied or published. The Twenty-second Dynasty intact cartonnage of the Hsyt n Xnw n imn Shaamunimes (Cairo TR 21.11.16.5) was purchased in Gurna in 1893, said to come from Sheikh Abd el-Gurna. Other coffin and cartonnage fragments belonging to the Montu priests and Hsyt n Xnw n imn were found in recent excavations on the upper terrace of the Hatshepsut temple. This paper outlines the development of a necropolis particularly favored by the Montu priests in the Hatshepsut temple and the area east of it. It describes the qrsw-coffin sets from the Baraize find and discusses the identity of several Hsyt n Xnw n imn, named Shaamunimes, from the Twenty-second to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.

Keywords

• Deir el-Bahari
• Baraize
• Montu priests
• Hsyt n Xnw n imn
• qrsw-coffin set
• cartonnage