Djehuti

Name	Title	Origin	Tomb
Djehutj / Dhout +Hwtj	Overseer of the Treasury, Overseer of the Craftsmen	Hermopolis	TT11 (P&M I-1, 21; at Dra Abu el-Naga)
Parents
Father:
Mother: Dedju
Brother(s):

Sister(s)::

The tomb of Djehutj, TT11, is located in the area of Dra Abu el Naga , approximately half the way down the road from the temple of Hatshepsut to the Valley of Kings. The tomb was opened among others by the Marquis of Northampton, Spiegelberg, and Newberry in the winter season 1898-1899.

The tomb (see floor plan above) consists of a forecourt (= Hof), in which the "Northampton-Stela" (illustrated below) is to be seen at the position N, a hall (= Halle), with a break-through at their eastern side (to tomb TT12, owned by Hray, who lived during the times of Ahmose - Amenhotep I.), and a long corridor (= Gang), which finally ends in a chapel (= Kapelle).

In the forecourt of the tomb the so-called "Northampton-Stela" (s. fig. below) was cut into the rock on the right side of the forecourt, right from the entrance to hall. Also on the north wall of the forecourt, but left of the entrance are the remainders of another stela, which shows the deceased adoring Amun - but the upper part of the stela is destroyed.

Photo of the so-called "Northampton-Stela", in the tomb of the Overseer of the Treasury, Djehutj, TT11 (published in Marquis of Northampton, Spiegelberg, W., Newberry, P.E., 1908, Plate I). On the lower left side there are still traces of the destroyed figure of Djehutj to be seen.

The upper rounded part of the "Northampton-Stela" contains two cartouches, on the right the cartouche of Thutmosis III. ("Men-kheper-Ra", which is still readable) and on the left of it the destroyed cartouche of Hatshepsut. The text is to be read from left to right, therefore, the cartouche of Hatshepsut is placed before that of Thutmosis III..

Below the rounded top of the stela the text starts in the first row with a praise of Amun-Ra and continues with a list of titles and duties of Djehutj. Rows 2 to 16 of the autobiographical text always start with the name and a title of Djehutj followed by the name of a building or a piece of equipment he had been responsible for. Both horizontal parts are separated by a vertical line of text which always is to read as a link: "He says, I have been the head who gave the instructions; I have directed the workman so that they had worked in accordance with the order at..."

In the 4th row he reports about his activities at Djeser djeseru:

"jrj-pa.t, HAtj-a, Djehutj who directed the workmen to do their job he said:

"I have been the director who had given instructions. I directed the workmen so that they had worked in accordance with the order at "Djeser djeseru, the House of Million of Years". Its great doors had been made of copper, figures and ornaments were made of electron. The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maat-ka-Ra, has made this [as a monument for his father, Amun, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands. May he live forever like Ra]."

Among the numerous duties, for which Djehutj claims the responsibility he mentions the work on two obelisks in the temple of Amun (Karnak) - in his own words:

"I have been the highest commander, who had given the orders. I have led the craftsmen during their work on both large obelisks, which were 108 ells in length and which were covered completely with electron. They have given light to all Egypt."

However, the inscriptions does not identify the pair of obelisks, the eastern one or the western pair in the hall of Wadjit, he was talking about.

Since the discovery of the stela numerous attempts had been made to identify the pair of obelisk for which Djehutij had been responsible whereby the information of the text as well as the information about the obelisks given in Djeser djeseru and in the Red Chapel was used. Besides the mentioned length of 108 ells and the question which ell was meant here, also the question whether the length of 108 ells referred to a single one or to the combined length of two obelisks played a central role. During the construction of the Red Chapel an ell of 0.524 ms was used, during the construction of 8. Pylons one of 0.53 ms, i.e. the 108 ells mentioned by Djehutj corresponds to a length (heigth) of 56.7 or 57.24 ms.

Comparisons of measures of length (base surfaces, length of the pyramidions, etc.) from preserved obelisks, including the "incomplete obelisk" at Aswan, excluded with great certainty that this length has referred to a single obelisk. For example, all known bases of obelisks would be too small to carry an obelisk of 108 ells in length. Furthermore, there are certain doubts about whether the Egyptians were technical able at the times of Hatshepsut, to manufacture obelisks of that length.

Obviously, archaeological findings and descriptions concerning the length of the sides covered with electrum are more helpful. Lacau has examined the preserved fragments of the eastern obelisks of Hatshepsut and has found no traces of a covering of the shaft with a valuable material. Furthermore, the dedication text in the Hall of Obelisks in Djeser djeseru reports that the obelisk which was erected in the east of the temple of Karnak only had been decorated with electrum on its pyramidion. Thus, the assumption that the report of Djehutj referred to the 1st (eastern) pair of Hatshepsut can be hardly maintained.

Archaeological findings and epigraphs argue in favor for the fact that the text of Djehutj refers to both western obelisks which Hatshepsut had erected in the Wadjit hall between the 4th and 5th pylon. Lacau discovered that inside the p.t, tA, and wAs signs which frame the sides of the shaft very thin, deep grooves exists - obviously to fix an electrum foil over more than half of the length of the obelisk. Also the inscription on the base of the still standing (northern) obelisk of Hatshepsut reports:
"She made (this) as her monument for her father Amun, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, the foremost of the temple of Karnak, [namely] the making of two great obelisks from the hard granite of the southern region, their upper halves being of electrum from the best of all foreign countries ... ".

Furthermore, Djehutj lists extensively, which activities or constructions had been executed under his command in the area of Waset (Thebes) for Amun:
a shrine, a gate, doors at "Appearance of the Clarified", the renovation of the floor in Ipt-swt (Karnak temple), a shrine made of ebony with stairs, two doors at Karnak, jewelries, two obelisks, the gate "The Appearance of Amun in the Morning", several offering tables, boxes, containers, dresses and a shrine made of granite.

Finally, he was also responsible - based on the inscriptions - for the registration of the "tributes" from Punt at their arrival, and in fact, a half destroyed scene in the Hall of Punt at Djeser djeseru actually shows him "calculating" the amount of incense piled up in front of him.

Also in the forecourt, inside a niche which is located on the right side of the "Northampton-Stela" there is standing another statue of the deceased, this statue carries a donation text on its apron.

Inside the hall the deceased is shown on numerous relief together with his mother Dedju. It is possible, that he is shown on a door jamb together with his father who is walking in front of him, both adoring Amun-Ra but the identification of the figure is not proven.

While cleaning the debris in the open courtyard of the tomb the Spanish-Egyptian archaeological team working in TT11 found a 70 cm deep pit containing 42 clay vases and 42 flower bouquets.

These are most likely the remains of the funerary bouquets of Djehutj which were later thrown into this pit. A contemporary scene carved on the walls of the burial chamber shows participants at the funeral bringing in bouquets and vases of flowers. The photo below shows some example of the flowers found (photo by: Al-Ahram Weekly Online, 29 March - 4 April 2007, issue No. 838).

In Porter and Moss, Vol. I-1, numerous findings, among them a golden dish, today in the Louvre, and a splendor dagger, today in the museum at Darmstadt, are listed and assigned to the Djehutj presented here. These, and possibly the others objects mentioned in Porter and Moss, probably belong to the general Djehutj, who has served under Thutmosis III and taken the town of Joppe. The general Djehutj is not identical with the Djehutj presented here. General Djehutj was buried at Saqqara.

Funerary cone of the "Overseer of the treasury, overseer of all work, Djehutj, justified", diameter 8 cm, length 3.4 cm;
Source: Petrie Museum, London U37678