Sesenebnef was an
ancient Egyptian ''chief
lector priest
A lector priest was a priest in ancient Egypt who recited spells and hymns during temple rituals and official ceremonies. Such priests also sold their services to laymen, reciting texts during private apotropaic rituals or at funerals.Ritner, Robe ...
'' of the
Thirteenth Dynasty
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...
, around 1750 BC. He is mainly known from his tomb at
Lisht
Lisht or el-Lisht ( ar, اللشت, translit=Al-Lišt) is an Egyptian village located south of Cairo. It is the site of Middle Kingdom royal and elite burials, including two pyramids built by Amenemhat I and Senusret I. The two main pyramids were ...
, which was excavated around 1900. The tomb was found looted but still contained the remains of two wooden coffins, one placed inside the other. The remains of the coffins were found in a poor state of preservation. Therefore, the inscriptions on the coffin were copied and the coffins were left on the site. These texts belong to the longest
religious text
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...
s of the late
Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt.
[J. P. Allen: ''Coffin Texts from Lisht'', In: ''The World of the Coffin Texts, Proceedings of the Symposium, held on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Adriaan de Buck, Leiden, December 17–19, 1992'', Leiden 1996, p. 15] Many spells on the coffins are only known from the
Book of the Dead
The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...
which dates several hundred years later.
References
Literature
*MM.J.-E. Gautier, G. Jéquier: ''Mémoire sur les Fouilles de Licht'' (Cairo, 1902), p. 74-77, plates XVI-XXV
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People of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Ancient Egyptian priests