Seshathetep (meaning "

Seshat Seshat ( egy, sš3t, under various spellings) was the ancient Egyptian goddess of writing, wisdom, and knowledge. She was seen as a scribe and record keeper; her name means "female scribe". She is credited with inventing writing. She also bec ...

is satisfied"), also called Heti, was an ancient Egyptian official at the beginning of the

Fifth Dynasty The Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty V) is often combined with Dynasties Third Dynasty of Egypt, III, Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, IV and Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, VI under the group title the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. The Fifth ...

. Seshathetep held many important titles, possibly including that of

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 ...

. With this latter title, he would have been the most important official at the royal court, second only to the king. He also bore the title of ''king's son of his body'', yet it is doubtful that Seshathetep was the real son of a king. Before becoming vizier, Seshathetep was ''overseer of all royal works''. Seshathetep is mainly known to us from his tomb at

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

. His tomb is a

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 ...

with a chapel on the south-east side. The chapel is fully decorated and relatively well preserved. Also depicted in the tomb are his wife Merites, one son who was also called Seshathetep and another son called Heti. The title of ''vizier'' is not recorded on the tomb walls but appears on a statue unearthed in the mastaba. This suggests that he was promoted to this high office after the decoration of the tomb was finished. However, the statue in question, which shows a couple, is damaged and the names of the people represented have been lost. Therefore, some scholars argue that the statue belongs to different people and that Seshathetep may not have been a vizier.

References

Literature

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seshathetep Viziers of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt