The Twenty-Fifth Dynasty Theban Mortuary Temple of the Vizier Nebneteru, Reused by Khonsuirdis and Others

Abstract

The Third Intermediate Period temple tomb, or mortuary temple, of Nebneteru, most often referred to as the tomb of Khonsuirdis, was described by Petrie as ‘one of the most prominent landmarks of the western side of Thebes’, yet remains little discussed in the scholarly literature. It was excavated by Petrie in the 1890s and more fully by an Italian team in the 1970s, but never fully published. The scattered references to archaeological and textual evidence for the monument and those interred within it are surveyed in this article, including new evidence from the University of Arizona Egyptian Expedition’s excavations at the adjoining site of the Tausret Memorial Temple. In light of recently updated understandings of Third Intermediate Period material culture, an argument is made for a revised early Twenty-Fifth Dynasty dating of the monument. The mortuary temple of Nebneteru, though little known, offers a rare and interesting glimpse into the funerary belief and practice of the Egyptian high élite in the early Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.