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The mastaba tomb of Mehu at Saqqara Geoffrey Lenox-Smith visits a recently-opened mastaba tomb at Saqqara. ABOVE: Vizier Mehu shown in the chapel of his newly-opened tomb at Saqqara. BELOW: A diagram showing Mehu’s tomb in relation to the Step Pyramid enclosure and the Pyramid of Unas. Mehu was vizier of Egypt in the early Sixth Dynasty (around 2,300 BC), probably serving King Teti and King Pepy I, as well as the ephemeral Userkara. His tomb at Saqqara is one of the best preserved of this period, retaining much of the colour of the decorations inside. It was discovered in 1940 by Zaki Saad and was opened to the public in September 2018. The tomb is located to the south of the Step Pyramid enclosure, close to King Unas’ causeway. It abuts the tomb of Princess Idut, a daughter of King Unas (see right), so Mehu must have had good royal connections, either by birth or by marriage. With the tomb standing in the Unas area, it seems likely that it was started during the reign of Unas, before Mehu had risen to the rank of vizier. The topography of the area means that Mehu’s tomb was built lower than its adjacent tombs; because of this, the stonerobbers of later periods were unable to find it. So much of the tomb has survived intact, including the roof which has therefore protected the coloured scenes within the tomb. The survival of the surrounding stone walls is another factor leading to the survival of the tomb. 26 ANCIENT EGYPT April/May 2019
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Mehu’s tomb has five decorated areas, a large courtyard, and a serdab. Its design has echoes of the earlier mastaba of Ti at Saqqara with its narrow corridors and pillared courtyard. Subsequently, the tombs of Mehu and Ti influenced the slightly later tombs built around the Teti pyramid – those belonging to Mereruka, Kagemni and Ankhmahor (see Geoffrey’s tour of that tomb in AE102). The entrance to Mehu’s tomb (above) faces east, so the rising sun would light up the figures of the deceased carved on each side of the doorway. An inscription above the entrance states that Mehu’s tomb was granted to him by one Shepsipuptah, possibly an earlier name for the future Pepy I (above, left). ABOVE LEFT A life-sized copper statue of Pepy I in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo: RBP ABOVE RIGHT The entrance to the Tomb of Mehu. BELOW A Google Earth view of Saqqara showing Mehu’s tomb relative to the pyramids of Unas and Djoser and the Old Kingdom tombs of Ti, Mereruka, Kagemni and Ankhmahor. ANCIENT EGYPT April/May 2019 27

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The mastaba tomb of Mehu at Saqqara

Geoffrey Lenox-Smith visits a recently-opened mastaba tomb at Saqqara.

ABOVE: Vizier Mehu shown in the chapel of his newly-opened tomb at Saqqara. BELOW: A diagram showing Mehu’s tomb in relation to the Step Pyramid enclosure and the Pyramid of Unas.

Mehu was vizier of Egypt in the early Sixth Dynasty (around 2,300 BC), probably serving King Teti and King Pepy I, as well as the ephemeral Userkara. His tomb at Saqqara is one of the best preserved of this period, retaining much of the colour of the decorations inside. It was discovered in 1940 by Zaki Saad and was opened to the public in September 2018.

The tomb is located to the south of the Step Pyramid enclosure, close to King Unas’ causeway. It abuts the tomb of Princess Idut, a daughter of King Unas (see right), so Mehu must have had good royal connections, either by birth or by marriage. With the tomb standing in the Unas area, it seems likely that it was started during the reign of Unas, before Mehu had risen to the rank of vizier. The topography of the area means that Mehu’s tomb was built lower than its adjacent tombs; because of this, the stonerobbers of later periods were unable to find it. So much of the tomb has survived intact, including the roof which has therefore protected the coloured scenes within the tomb.

The survival of the surrounding stone walls is another factor leading to the survival of the tomb.

26

ANCIENT EGYPT April/May 2019

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