Djau was a

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

during the

Sixth Dynasty The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt. Pharaohs Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho acc ...

. He was a member of an influential family from Abydos; his mother was the vizier

Nebet Nebet (“Lady”) was created vizier during the late Old Kingdom of Egypt by Pharaoh Pepi I of the Sixth Dynasty, her son-in-law. She is the first recorded female vizier in Ancient Egyptian history; the next one was in the 26th Dynasty.Naguib Kan ...

, his father was called Khui. His two sisters

Ankhesenpepi I Ankhesenpepi I (also Ankhenespepi I or Ankhenesmeryre I) was a queen consort during the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. Biography Ankhesenpepi was a daughter of the female vizier Nebet and her husband Khui, nomarch of Abydos. Ankhesenpepi's sister ...

and

Ankhesenpepi II Ankhesenpepi II or Ankhesenmeryre II was a queen consort during the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the wife of Kings Pepi I and Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, and the mother of Pepi II. She likely served as regent during the minority of her son. She wa ...

married Pharaoh

Pepi I Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of ...

. Djau was already in office when his nephew

Pepi II Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is ...

became pharaoh. He is mentioned in two royal decrees, one from Abydos, the other from

Coptos Qift ( arz, قفط ; cop, Ⲕⲉϥⲧ, link=no ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; grc, Κόπτος, link=no ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a small town in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated und ...

; one of them is dated to Year 11. It is unknown when he died, but when the tomb of Pepi II was decorated, he was no longer vizier. He was buried in Abydos, but the exact place of his tomb is not known.

Sources

*Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson, 2004, {{ISBN, 0-500-05128-3, p. 71-72 *Hans Goedicke: ''Königliche Dokumente aus dem Alten Reich.'' Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1967 ''(zu Djaw: S. 84-86)'' *Kurt Sethe (Hrsg.):
Urkunden des alten Reiches.
' (Urkunden des ägyptischen Altertums, Band 1) J. C. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1933 Viziers of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt