Khnumhotep III

Khnumhotep (sometimes Khnumhotep III) was an Ancient Egyptian vizier of the Twelfth Dynasty.

Khnumhotep was the son of the local governor Khnumhotep II, known from his tomb at Beni Hasan (tomb 3). Khnumhotep was promoted as young man, under Senusret II to the royal court and was sent on several missions, one of them to the Red Sea, another one to Byblos. He became "high steward" and finally "vizier". Khnumhotep is known from inscriptions in the tomb of his father, from a stela found at the Red Sea and mainly from his mastaba at Dahshur, next to the pyramid of Senusret III. The tomb was first excavated by Jacques de Morgan around 1894. He found several inscriptions. New excavations after 2000 found several further biographical inscriptions, including those mentioning the expedition to Byblos.

The mastaba was solid, without inner rooms. It was built of mud bricks covered with fine limestone. The outside was decorated with a palace façade and with the biographical inscription.

References

*D. Franke: "The Career of Khnumhotep III of Beni Hasan and the so-called Decline of the Normarchs", In: S. Quirke, "Middle Kingdom Studies", New Malden 1991, p. 51-67 ISBN 1-872561-02-0