Kagemni 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 ...

from the early part of the reign of King

Teti Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, sometimes also Tata, Atat, or Athath in outdated sources, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List bu ...

of the

Sixth Dynasty of Egypt 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 ...

. Kagemni's wife Nebtynubkhet Sesheshet was a King's Daughter and likely the daughter of

.Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004.

Biography

Kagemni held a great number of titles. He was an overseer of the two houses of gold and an overseer of the two treasuries. He also held several religious positions, including that of

High Priest of Re The High Priest of Ra or of Re was known in Egyptian as the ''wr-mꜢw'', which translates as Greatest of Seers. The main cult of Ra was in ancient Heliopolis, northeast of present-day Cairo. The high priests of Ra are not as well documented as ...

and Stolist of

Min Min or MIN may refer to: Places * Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China ** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian * Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China * Min River (Fujian) * Min River (Sichuan) * Mineola (Am ...

. Other duties were related to the royal palace: overseer of the two chambers of the king's adornment, director of the Mansions of the

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and

Red Crown Deshret ( egy, dšrt "Red One") was the formal name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and for the desert Red Land on either side of Kemet (Black Land), the fertile Nile river basin. When combined with the Hedjet (White Crown) of Upper Egypt, it for ...

s and keeper of the head ornaments. As

, Kagemni also held the positions of overseer of the scribes of the king's documents, overseer of all the works of the king, and overseer of the six great courts.Naguib Kanawati, Conspiracies in the Egyptian Palace: Unis to Pepy I, (Routledge, 2002). .

Tomb

Kagemni was buried in the largest

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

in the Teti cemetery in

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. ...

. The tomb is a large 32 m. x 32 m. square. The

was constructed of large blocks of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. Part of the

consists of a chapel with six rooms, a pillared hall, five magazines, two chambers containing boats, a ''

serdab A serdab ( fa, سرداب, d=Sardāb), literally meaning "cold water", which became a loanword in Arabic for 'cellar' is an ancient Egyptian tomb structure that served as a chamber for the Ka statue of a deceased individual. Used during the Old Kin ...

'' and a staircase which gives access to the roof. The chapel walls are decorated and so are the walls of the burial chamber, which was located at the bottom of a shaft. The burial chamber contained an inscribed stone

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

with a wooden coffin inside it. The tomb consists of a hall right after the entrance, followed by a pillared hall and then a suite of rooms to the north of the pillared hall. The entrance hall contains scenes of daily life, including a scene with dancers. The pillared hall shows scenes of Vizier Kagemni on a boat which is accompanied by a small papyrus skiff carrying three men. There are scenes of fishing and scenes of the wildlife including crocodiles, dragonflies and frogs. Other scenes in the pillared hall show cattle, including a man carrying a calf and a cow being milked. The rooms off the pillared hall show Kagemni in a carrying chair with attendants. This scene includes several of his titles. Other scenes in this room show birds including a scene where geese are being force fed. Another scene shows hyenas being force fed, in a manner very similar to that in the tomb of

Mereruka Mereruka served during the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt as one of Egypt's most powerful officials at a time when the influence of local state noblemen was increasing in wealth and power. Mereruka held numerous titles along with that of Vizier, which mad ...

.Lauer, Jean Phillipe. Saqqara: The Royal Cemetery of Memphis, Excavations and Discoveries since 1850. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1976.

References

{{authority control Viziers of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt High Priests of Re Overseer of the treasury