Baqet III was an ancient Egyptian official and '' Great Chief of the

Oryx nome The Oryx nome ( Egyptian: ''Ma-hedj'') was one of the 42 '' nomoi'' (administrative divisions; Egyptian: ''sepat'') in ancient Egypt. The oryx nome was the 16th nome of Upper Egypt, Wolfram Grajetzki, ''The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt: histo ...

'' (the 16th nome of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

) during the 11th Dynasty in the 21st century

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

. Apart from the position of governor of the entire nome, Baqet III also held the titles '' haty-a'', ''treasurer of the king of Lower Egypt'', ''confidential friend'', ''true royal acquaintance'', and ''mayor of

Nekheb El Kab (or better Elkab) is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal about south of Luxor (ancient Thebes). El Kab was called Nekheb in the Egyptian language ( , Late Coptic: ), a name that refers to ...

''. As a son of his predecessor

Ramushenti Ramushenti was an ancient Egyptian local governor of the Oryx nome in Middle Egypt. He is only known from his decorated tomb chapel (BH 27) at Beni Hasan. In the decoration of his tomb chapel appear several inscriptions providing the name and ti ...

, he administered the governorate in the city of Men'at Khufu. Realizing that the fate of the civil war was definitely in favor of the

Thebans Thebes (; ell, Θήβα, ''Thíva'' ; grc, Θῆβαι, ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. Archaeolo ...

led by

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw- ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh D ...

, Baqet cunningly broke the long neutrality of his territory and took the Theban side. After his death, his new loyalty allowed him to be succeeded by his probable son Khety and by his descendants until the time of

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynas ...

, when a family turnover took place in the governorship with the installation of

Khnumhotep I Khnumhotep I (''ẖnmw-ḥtp, "Khnum is pleased"'') was an ancient Egyptian '' Great Chief of the Oryx nome'' (the 16th nome of Upper Egypt) during the reign of Pharaoh Amenemhat I of the 12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom (early 20th century BCE). T ...

The tomb BH15

Baqet III was buried in the necropolis of his clan in Beni Hasan inside the tomb no. 15. The tomb is composed of a cult chapel and an inner burial chamber, and is well known for its remarkable paintings. The northern wall depicts Baqet and his wife in their daily life, the hunting of various animals including fantastic ones,Margaret Bunson, ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt''. Infobase Publishing, 2009, , p. 64. and various artisans whilst working.
The eastern wall shows a fortress garrisoned by Egyptians and besieged by a mixed army composed of Egyptians infantry,

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 bowmen and maybe Libyan slingers, likely representing a Theban offensive; on the same wall are also depicted an impressive number of

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

positions and techniques.
Finally, the south wall mainly shows Baqet's funeral, but also some people playing ''

senet Senet or senat ( egy, znt, translation=passing; cf. Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/ "passing, afternoon") is a board game from ancient Egypt. The earliest representation of senet is dated to E from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while similar boards and ...

''.

The tomb BH15

References

Further reading