Letter from Butehamun in Horemkenesi’s Tomb

A record of a famine in Horemkenesi’s Tomb

Discovered in 1904

A record of a famine during Horemkenesi’s lifetime- the deposition of a witness in the trials of Theban tomb-robbers in the reign of Ramesses XI, mentioning the “year of the hyenas, when men were hungry.”

Papyrus BM EA 10052

letter-from-butehamun-in-horemkenesis-tomb

Letter from Butehamun in Horemkenesi’s Tomb

Letter written by Horemkenesi’s colleague, the scribe Butehamun, to the general Payankh. It is written in hieratic script on papyrus, and concerns the carrying out of various commissions. The letter contains a reference to Payankh’s ordering the opening of a tomb in the Theban necropolis, probably for the purpose of appropriating its contents.

Late Twentieth Dynasty, c.1080-1070 BC. H. 44.5 cm. EA 10375.

John H. Taylor. Unwrapping a Mummy- The Life, Death and Embalming of Horemkenesi. First University of Texas Press edition, 1996. p. 25, 38.