Step 8 of 11

The rest of the family

The rest of Sehetepibreankh’s family is depicted in the middle part of the stela. Their texts are significantly shorter than those describing Sehetepibreankh and Nedjemu, but they all still received their own offering formula. The far left column is dedicated to Sat-Hathor (Daughter of Hathor), their mother:

An offering which the king gives of a thousand of bread and beer and oxen and fowl for the ka of the mistress of the house Sat-Hathor, true of voice, whom Sat-Khnum-hotep made.

She is shown seated right beneath her column of text. Sitting next to her, her arms around him, is her husband, Nefertem-em-sa-ef (Nefertem is his protection):

[...] the overseer of the wab-priests of Sekhmet, Nefertem-em-sa-ef, whom Abyt made.

The person to the right of the table is Nedjemu-seneb (Nedjemu is healthy), another one of Sat-Hathor and Nefertem-em-sa-ef’s sons. He may be named after his brother Nedjemu (or another family member with that name). He has the same title as his father:

[...] the overseer of the wab-priests of Sekhmet, Nedjemu-seneb, whom Sat-Hathor made.

As we can see, Nedjemu-seneb and his father were both overseers of the wab-priests of the goddess Sekhmet, another medical title. It is unclear what exactly the title entailed, but it may be associated with treatment of infectious diseases, because of the mention of the goddess Sekhmet. Sekhmet was responsible for plagues by releasing her disease-demons upon the earth. Previously it was thought that these priests were not proper medical professionals like the wer sunu, but we now think that they were a more specialized type of doctor. See: Känel, F. von, Les prêtres-ouâb de Sekhmet et les conjurateurs de Serket (Paris, 1984).

The inner right column is dedicated to Sehetepibreankh again. After all, he is the most important person on this stela:

The one whom the king truly knows, overseer of the horn, feather, scale, and hoof, overseer of the storehouse Sehetepibreankh, lord of reverence.

This short text mentions a new title: overseer of the horn, feather, scale, and hoof. This is obviously a list of different types of animals, so aside from his other functions, Sehetepibreankh may have been overseer of the (royal) menagerie.