Wahtye in hieroglyphs
wAHtX3

Wꜣḥ.tj

Wahtye (fl. 25th-century BC) was a high-ranking priest and official who served under King Neferirkare Kakai during the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Based on his skull, he was probably 35-years-old when he died.

Tomb

In November 2018, it was announced that Wahtye's tomb had been found at the Saqqara necropolis. Inside the tomb were reliefs of Wahtye (he stole the tomb of his brother), his wife Weret Ptah, his 4 children and his mother Merit Meen. The tomb is 10 metres (33 ft) long from north to south and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide from east to west and was built circa 2415–2405 BC.[1][2][3] Wahtye and his family were buried there but not all of them were in wooden sarcophagi. The tomb has an inscription about Wahtye: "Wahtye, Purified priest to the King, Overseer of the Divine Estate, overseer of the Sacred Boat, Revered with the great God, Wahtye".[4] When inspecting the structure of Wahtye's bones, the archeologists found that they were distended, indicating that Wahtye had a disease. One hypothesis by Amira Shahin, professor of rheumatology at Cairo University, is that he had malaria.[4][5]

Wahtye's tomb contains 4 shafts. The first shaft was empty and incomplete. The second, third and fourth shafts were filled with the remains of Wahtye and his family. The tombs were separated by gender, the deepest one contained Wahtye's remains which were found in a wooden sarcophagus, another contained the remains of Wahtye's mother Merit Meen who was probably 55-years-old, his wife Weret Ptah who was most likely around her thirties and his young daughter who was probably 6-years-old when she died and the other one contained Wahtye's 3 sons with two of them most likely under 20 and 18.

Life

The names of members of Wahtye's family inscribed in his tomb included those of his mother Meretmin, his wife Weretptah, his sons Seshemnefer, Kaiemakhnetjer, and Sebaib, and his daughter Seket.[6]

Documentary

On 28 October 2020, Netflix premiered a two-hour documentary about the discovery of Wahtye's tomb called Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Williams, A. R. (December 17, 2018). "Untouched 4,400-year-old tomb discovered at Saqqara, Egypt". National Geographic. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Egypt tomb: Saqqara 'one of a kind' discovery revealed". BBC News. December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  3. ↑ Daragahi, Borzou (December 17, 2018). "Untouched 'one-of-a-kind' ancient tomb belonging to 'divine inspector' uncovered in Egypt". The Independent. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb | Netflix Official Site". www.netflix.com. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  5. ↑ Hoare, Callum (2020-10-27). "Egypt bombshell: 4,500-year-old Saqqara mummy bone analysis 'could change ancient history'". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  6. ↑ "A report on the excavation of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the sacred animal necropolis at the Bubasteion in Saqqara". Pražské egyptologické studie (23): 83–91. 2019. ISSN 1214-3189.
  7. ↑ "'Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb' on Netflix Delivers Real-Life Mummies for Halloween". Decider. 2020-10-28. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  8. ↑ "Video: Netflix to release new documentary 'Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb' on October 28". Egypt Independent. 2020-10-15. Retrieved 2020-10-28.

Media related to Saqqara at Wikimedia Commons


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