Sobekemhat was an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

under the king

Senusret III Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Egypt. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity, and was the fifth king of the Twelfth ...

in the

Twelfth Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is a series of rulers reigning from 1991–1802 BC (190 years), at what is often considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI–XIV). The dynasty periodically expanded its terr ...

. Sobekemhat is only known from his

mastaba A mastaba ( , or ), also mastabah or mastabat) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks or limestone. These edifices marked the burial sites ...

excavated in 1894 next to the

pyramid of Senusret III The pyramid of Senusret III (''Lepsius list of pyramids, Lepsius XLVII'') is an ancient Egyptian Egyptian pyramids, pyramid located at Dahshur and built for pharaoh Senusret III of the 12th Dynasty (19th century BCE). The pyramid is the northernm ...

Dahshur DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur''; ' ) is an ancient Egyptian pyramid complex and necropolis and shares the name of the nearby village of Manshiyyat Dahshur () in markaz Badrashin, Giza Governorate, Giza ...

. The mastaba was decorated on the outside with reliefs. These were only found in small fragments, but the fragments record the name and the titles of Sobekemhat. On an offering table he bears the title of the treasurer. The mastaba is in a chain of three mastabas, north of the king's pyramid. It is closest to the pyramid. The next mastaba belongs to the vizier ( Nebit) and the third to another high official, perhaps again a vizier. Therefore, it can be argued that Sobekemhat's tomb was the earliest of the three. For a long time it was thought that Sobekemhat was vizier, but the relief fragments with the vizier's title come from the mastaba of Nebit nearby.Adela Oppenheim: ''Identifying artists in the time of Senusret III. The mastaba of the vizir Nebit (North Mastaba 18) at Dahshur'', in M. Barta, F. Coppens, and J. Krejčŕ (editors), ''Abusir und Saqqara in the Year 2005'', Prague 2006, 123, note 28

References

Literature

* Wolfram Grajetzki: ''Court Officials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom'', London 2009 p. 31-33 {{ISBN, 978-0-7156-3745-6 Ancient Egyptian treasurers Senusret III Dahshur