The Hare nome, also called the Hermopolite nome ( Egyptian: ''Wenet'') was one of the 42 '' nomoi'' (administrative divisions) in ancient Egypt; more precisely, it was the 15th 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 ...

. Wolfram Grajetzki, ''The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt: history, archaeology and society''. London, Duckworth Egyptology, 2006, pp. 109-11 The Hare nome's main city was Khemenu (later Hermopolis Magna, and the modern el-Ashmunein) in

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, though Middle ...

. The local main deity was

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

, though the inscriptions on the

White Chapel The White Chapel of pharaoh Senusret I, also referred to as the Jubilee Chapel of Senusret I, was built during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. During the New Kingdom it was demolished and used as filler for the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak, ...

Senusret I Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the mos ...

links this nome with the cult of

Bes BES or Bes may refer to: * Bes, Egyptian deity * Bes (coin), Roman coin denomination * Bes (Marvel Comics), fictional character loosely based on the Egyptian deity Abbreviations * Bachelor of Environmental Studies, a degree * Banco Espírito ...

and

Unut Unut, alt. Wenut or Wenet, is a prehistoric Egyptian snake goddess. Originally, she had the form of a snake and was called "The swift one". She came from the fifteenth Upper Egyptian province, the Hare nome (called Wenet in Egyptian), an ...

History

The Hare nome was already recognized during the 4th Dynasty of the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

as shown by the triad statue of

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

Menkaure Menkaure (also Menkaura, Egyptian transliteration ''mn-k3w-Rˁ''), was an ancient Egyptian king ( pharaoh) of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom, who is well known under his Hellenized names Mykerinos ( gr, Μυκερῖνος) (by He ...

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

, and an anthropomorphized-deified depiction of the nome."King Menkaura, the goddess Hathor, and the deified Hare nome"
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston It is known that during the 6th Dynasty its

nomarch A nomarch ( grc, νομάρχης, egy, ḥrj tp ꜥꜣ Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsib ...

s were buried in the necropolis of

El-Sheikh Sa'id El Sheikh Sa'id is a small village in the Minya Governorate in Upper Egypt. Situated on the east bank of the Nile, it is named after a local Muslim saint buried in the area. Overview El Sheikh Sa'id comprises the rock-cut tombs of the nomarc ...

.
The nome kept its importance during the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spuriou ...

and the subsequent Middle Kingdom; its governors were also responsible of the

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

quarrying at

Hatnub Hatnub was the location of Egyptian alabaster quarries and an associated seasonally occupied workers' settlement in the Eastern Desert, about from el-Minya, southeast of el-Amarna. The pottery, hieroglyph inscriptions and hieratic graffiti at t ...

in the

Eastern Desert The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea an ...

, they owned exclusive offices such as "director of the double throne" and great one of the five", and also were high priests of Thot. Since the First Intermediate Period they moved slightly northward their official necropolis to Deir el-Bersha, where their remarkable though poorly preserved rock-cut tombs were excavated. During the Middle Kingdom the Hare nome was ruled by a rather branched dynasty of nomarchs usually named Ahanakht, Djehutynakht or Neheri. The last known among them, Djehutihotep, was also the owner of the most elaborate and preserved tomb of the Deir el-Bersha necropolis; he ruled until the early reign of

Senusret III Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the hellenised form, Sesostris III) was a pharaoh of 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 Dynasty of t ...

who is known to have put into action serious steps to minimize the power held by all nomarchs.
During the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...

the Hare nome assimilated the neighboring

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 ...

(16th of Upper Egypt).

Nomarchs of the Hare nome

Old Kingdom

This is a list of the known nomarchs, dating to the

. They were buried at

. *Serefka (5th Dynasty) *Werirni (5th Dynasty, son of Serefka) *Teti-ankh/Iymhotep (6th Dynasty, perhaps Pepy I) *Meru/Bebi (6th Dynasty, perhaps Pepy I) *Wiu/Iyu (6th Dynasty, perhaps Pepy I; son of Meru/Bebi) *Meru 6th Dynasty, perhaps Pepy II, son of Wiu/Iyu)

Middle Kingdom

The following is a genealogy of the nomarchs of the Hare nome during the late 11th and

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some ...

(the limit between the two dynasties passes approximately along the third generation). The nomarchs are underlined.Harco Willems, ''Chests of Life'', Ex Oriente Lux, Leiden, 1988, , p. 71 They were buried at Dayr al-Barsha.

History

Nomarchs of the Hare nome

Old Kingdom

Middle Kingdom

References

Further reading