THE TOMB OF NAINKHKHNUM & KHNUMHOTEP

On the 12th of November 1964 Chief Inspector of Lower Egypt Mounir Basta descended a ladder into the darkness of a newly cleared shaft just south of the causeway of Unas in the Necropolis of Saqqara. Accompanied by the Chief workman holding a kerosene lamp they crawled on their hands and knees right into a small 5th Dynasty offering chamber. To their excitement the walls were inscribed but the light revealed something that Basta had never seen before in all of the Saqqara tombs.

There, carved on the space between two false doors, stood two men embracing each other, their names and identical titles carved above them: Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep "Manicurist of the King and the inspector of manicurists of the Palace."

Basta was impressed: " The scene is repeated on two other walls. .... The importance of the discovery of this tomb can be connected with this unique scene. The inscriptions of the tomb do not lead us to any solution, concerning the relationship between the two deceased. Were they two brothers? Were they the father and son? Or were they two officials in the king's palace who had enjoyed a cordial friendship in life and wished to keep it after death in the nether world. "

Other blocks from the tomb were soon discovered in the building material of the causeway of Unas itself. These were recovered and the mastaba and rock-cut tomb was reconstructed, restored and published by Ahmed Moussa and Hartwig Altenmuller of the Deutches Archaeologisches Institut 1977.

The scenes of the two men embracing soon provided fertile grounds for speculation. Altenmuller and Moussa put forth the suggestion that the two men were brothers possibly twins. It was John Baines though, who in his seminal study entitled "Egyptian Twins", creatively dealt with the questions raised by the "exaggerated affection" now publicly displayed by the two men by hypothesizing that their "twinship" necessitated the ancients viewing them as special liminal beings, dual anomalies in need of symbolic correction to be acceptable, therefore treating the "twins" as a single social person.

Alternatively I hope to show how the pairings of the two men are simple adaptations of the iconographic vocabulary for married couples in the Old Kingdom.

I am indebted to Nadine Cherpion for her work "Sentiment Conjugal et Figuration a' l'Ancien Empire." Cherpion gathered together representations defining how husband and wife were portrayed on the walls of tombs from of the 4th, 5th and 6th Dynasties. Comparing the representations of the pairing of the two manicurists with Cherpions methods in defining conjugal sentiment in the portrayals of husband and wife is a surer method in determining how the manicurists wished to portray their own relationship with each other. This is all the more important because of the total lack of any inscription indicating the two men's biological relationship to each other.

Just inside the entrance past the names and titles of the two manicurists is an example of the fowling and fish-spearing motif. On the right and western side of the doorway Niankhnum in the presence of his wife and children is shown fowling… his wife smells a lotus. Khnumhotep, on your left and eastern side of the door, also in the presence of his wife and children is shown spearing two fish. His wife smells a lotus.

Past this marsh hunting scene on the jams of the doorway opening into the tomb are scenes of the transport of the statues of the deceased. Here can be seen a double statue of the two men holding hands. This can be compared to another hand holding double statue of Nikaoukhnoum and wife now in Leipzig.

Just inside the doorway on the eastern wall of the entrance hall sit the two men in an interlocking and almost equal embrace greeting the offering bearers to their tomb. Here though as throughout the tomb, Niankhkhnum is positioned on the right and in front of his companion Khnumhotep, the latter depicted in a position usually taken by the female in scenes of different gender couples. And from an offering slab recovered from deeper in the tomb for the son of Niankhkhnum, Hamre and his wife Tjeset. This portrays them in typical conjugal fashion. Hamre and his wife sit in chairs receiving their son the offering bearer . Hamre in the front his wife in the back extending her arm behind her husband and grasping his shoulder.

Turning around and going into the tomb a representation of the two men holding hands and walking on a tour of inspection can be seen on the southern wall of this entrance hall. Niankhkhnum leads Khnumhotep by the hand into the inner spaces of their tomb. This is similiar to a scene of Husband and wife Mereruka and Wa'tetkhethor holding hands with Mereruka leading his wife Wa'tetkhethor into the tomb and into the conjugal bed.

At the entrance to the inner rock cut chamber the two men appear above the doorway on opposite sides with offering piled up between them.

Niankhkhnum to the right. Khnumhotep sits on the left smelling a lotus. Lotus smelling by the man is a rare occurrence in the 5th Dynasty. It became much more prevalent in later Dynasties. It is mostly women who are shown smelling lotus at this time in the Old Kingdom. It is worth noting that only the women and Khnumhotep are shown smelling lotus in this tomb.

We can now enter the doorway that was sealed up by Unas' workmen when he had the mastaba dismantled and built his causeway over the site. At the far southern end of the rock cut chamber is an elaborate banquet scene. Niankhkhnum is now on the eastern side and Khnumhotep on the western side. The banquet scene is not only noteworthy because of it fine details of musicians, dancers and singers but also because of details that were purposely covered over by the ancient craftsmen.

Just behind Niankhkhnum was positioned a carving of his wife Khentikaus originally shown only slightly smaller than her husband. This would have been the only place in the tomb that a wife was portrayed almost equal in height to her husband and originally shown embracing her husband.

That which was removed by the designers of the tomb leaves only suggestive remnants of the fingers of the wife of Niankhkhnum who can still be seen grasping his shoulder while her other hand holds his arm. However for some reason it was decided to change the design of this banquet scene and her image was plastered over making the two companions the only honored guests at their banquet.

It is interesting that at the opposite end no room was planned for a wife to sit behind Khnumhotep as his back is up against the wall where he sits holding his lotus.

Underneath Khnumhotep a special musical scene is portrayed. A musical director is facing three singers and two harpists. He makes a very interesting comment that is carved in front of him.. He tells this group to "play the one about 'the two divine brothers' ". The epithet "senwi neterwi" is of course applied to Horus and Seth.

We do not have far to speculate about what kind of song might be sung to two intimate male friends at a banquet... a banquet that when shared by husband and wife could have erotic elements coded into the scene. A latter tradition that we have discussed about Horus and Seth from the "Chester Beatty Papyrus I" is famous for its bawdy descriptions of the attempted sexual penetration of Horus by Seth that took place - after a banquet. As Richard Parkinson reports the seduction of Horus is motivated by desire, for Set utters to Horus what Parkinson calls " The earliest recorded chat up line.. ' How lovely your backside is.' "

The oral tradition of these tales of Horus and Seth makes there inclusion in song not hard to accept especially a song entitled "The Two Divine Brothers" possibly a ribald song sung as part of the entertainment at this elaborate banquet.

The first extremely intimate portrait of the two companions appears at the entrance to their offering chapel just to the west of the Banquet scene. They stand, Niankhkhnum on the proper right in front of and supporting Khnumhotep's forearm while the latter embraces his companion with his arm placed behind his friends back grasping his shoulder. Khnumhotep embraces, Niankhkhnum supports. Their children surround them... but... the wives are not included.

This is paralleled in the tomb of Kai at Giza where the woman embraces her man and the children are depicted on either side of the couple, and also at the tomb of Uhemka at Giza where the wife places her hand on her husbands shoulder as Khnumhotep does and clasps her husbands forearm as Niankhkhnum does. As can be seen here from inside the offering chamber.

This chamber is divided into two parts as is the composition of the false doors. Khnumhotep's is to the north and Niankhkhnum on the south. Niankhkhnum's false door was almost completely destroyed by ancient grave robbers but enough of it remains to see its composition. Between the false doors the two manicurists are united in an intimate embrace. As usual Niankhnum on the proper right supporting the embracing Khnumhotep. Though face to face they are not as intimate as in the embrace at the entrance.

This entire composition could very well have been copied from the only slightly earlier tomb of Nefer and Kha-hay located in the same part of the cemetery by the causeway of Unas, where the composition and iconographic vocabulary of the false doors is almost identical to our tomb of the manicurists.

The parallels here are amazing. Kha-Hay stands on the proper right facing his wife Meret-Yetes. Their own false doors flank the scene. The entry in the publication of the tomb is worth noting. "The space between the false doors of Ka-Hay and Meret-Yetes depicts the couple in an affectionate face to face position. The wife passes her right arm behind her husband's back, the hand clasping his right shoulder." A fragment of a scene discovered in Giza Mastaba "C" by Abou Bakr shows a much more intimate face to face embrace that has parallels to the next scene.

Opposite the false doors and just on the reverse side of the entrance column where we saw the two men embracing surrounded by their children, is the most intimate embrace of all for the two men. Here they stand, Niankhkhnum still on the south and Khnumhotep on the north. This time they are more intimate than before and much more than husband and wife in the tomb of Kha-Hay. They are so close together here that not only are they face to face and nose to nose, but so close that the knots on their belts are touching linking their lower torsos. If this scene were composed of a male-female couple instead of the same-sex couple we have here, as for example this representation of Kaaper from Saqqara and his wife embracing, there would be little question concerning what it is we are seeing.

In closing: The two manicurists were no more "special liminal beings" who were "dual anomalies in need of symbolic correction" any more than male female couples. The iconographic treatment of this same-sex 5th Dynasty couple has the best and most direct parallels to the iconographic treatment of male-female couples of the 4th, 5th and 6th Dynasties who wished to express publicly their conjugal status.

I agree with Mounir Basta. I think Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were "friends" [read domestic partners] who wished to continue their relationship into the netherworld.

During the 4th, 5th and 6th Dynasties there was much experimentation in the ways that affection could be shown between husband and wife on the official monuments of the day. It was during this window of opportunity that two men, manicurists to the King, were able to construct their own monument - a monument that celebrates the everlasting love and devotion they held for each other.

The ideal family consisting of father, mother and children was central to society and official discourse. But sometimes we see glimpses of other sexualities existing in spite of official attitudes. The stories and poems I have shared with you today give some evidence that same-sex desire existed just behind the ideal facade constructed by the ancients.