Ruiu was a

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

n official at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty. He was ''chief of Teh-khet'' and was, therefore, a governor ruling a region in

Lower Nubia Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...

for the Egyptian state. In the

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, Egyptian kings had conquered Lower Nubia. To secure control over the new region they appointed people of the local elite as governors. Teh-khet was a Nubian region that covered about

Debeira Debeira is an archaeological site in Sudan situated on the eastern bank of the Nile some 20 kilometres north of Wadi Halfa. Early period Excavations brought to light a necropolis of the C-Group culture.Jean Vercoutter, New Egyptian Inscriptions, K ...

and Serra. The local governors here formed a family, whilst the governor proper held the title ''chief of Teh-khet''. Ruiu is mainly known from monuments of his children, and the only known monument commissioned by Ruiu himself is a stela that was bought onto

Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...

dedicated to his parents, his father Teti Djawia and his mother Ahhotep. The monument today is located in the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Otherwise, Ruiu is mainly known from the inscriptions of his sons Djehutyhotep and Amenemhat. They also became ''chief of Teh-khet''. In their inscriptions, they often mention that they were ''begotten of Ruiu''. Ruiu was the brother of a certain official called Senmose who had a decorated tomb chapel at

Qubbet el-Hawa Qubbet el-Hawa or "Dome of the Wind" is a site on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Aswan, that serves as the resting place of ancient nobles and priests from the Old and Middle Kingdoms of ancient Egypt. The necropolis in use from the F ...

.Säve-Söderbergh: ''New Kingdom Pharaonic Sites, The Finds and the Sites'', pp. 191 It is, therefore, possible to reconstruct a family of local, Nubian officials whose family members were in charge over three generations.

References

History of Nubia Officials of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt