Mastaba Mereruki – Mastaba Kagemniego
Mastaba Mereruki
Mereruk's dignitary served as vizier, the supreme judge, overseers of the priests at the pyramid of Teti I., superior of the royal scribes and master of ceremonies Teti I. (VI dynasty; ok. 2340 r. p.n.e.). His mother belonged to the circle of relatives of Pharaoh. Mereruka married the daughter of his ruler named Seshseshat, with whom he had three children: a son named Meryteti and two daughters -Nebetpernesut and Ibneitnub. His wife and son were buried in the mastaba.
With another wife of an unknown name, Mastaba had five sons, the noble was discovered in 1893 r.
It is the largest monument of this type in the necropolis in Saqqara. A portal with reliefs on both sides showing Mereruka with symbols of power leads to the interior.
At his feet you can see the little silhouette of his wife. Inscriptions depicting the owner of the mastaba were placed on the architrave and along the portal. The tomb consists of 32 rooms, the rooms were given the shape of a dignitary's apartments. Six chambers were intended for his wife and son. The rooms are covered with bas-reliefs presenting the everyday life of rich Egyptians, supervising the work of the peasants growing the grain, breeding animals, fishing. Right at the entrance, Mereruka plays senet, a game resembling checkers.
The ritual slaughter of cattle is depicted on the northern wall of the first room.
Other reliefs show Mereruka hunting hippos by the Nile. Can be seen, how crocodiles attack hippos, and the cattle of the vizier cross the river in front of the lurking reptiles.
Mereruka's brother appears in some scenes – Ihy.
A long shaft leads to the burial chamber 14,5 m, where the vizier was buried in a limestone sarcophagus. Ancient robbers in search of valuables have destroyed the mummy. The six-column hall is a cult chapel with a statue of Mereruka standing in a niche above the alabaster altar.. The thieves gouged out his eyes, so that he could not recognize them and take revenge for robbing the grave. Hunting scenes on the Nile are carved here – Mereruka kills fish and crocodiles. The next ones show a funeral procession with a vizier's sarcophagus. The burial chambers for his wife are located in the western part of the mastaba.
Mastaba Kagemniego
Judge and priest and vizier of Pharaoh Teti I. (VI dynasty), Kagemni, perhaps he was the author of the moralizing Teachings of Kagemni, one of the greatest works of Egyptian literature. His Mastaba is adjacent to Mereruka's Mastaba. The interior holds a lot (though not as much as in Mereruka's) colorful reliefs from the everyday life of Egypt. The walls of the hall with three pillars just behind the vestibule are decorated with sculptural compositions depicting fishing and crocodile hunting. Dragonflies fly over papyrus thickets, below there are frogs and grasshoppers jumping.
Other reliefs show geese and hyenas. The next wall shows a cow caught on a rope, the little calf sucks. In one of the rooms, an acrobatic dance of young girls was presented. The room to the right of the room with three pillars is decorated with reliefs with greyhounds and monkeys, and also showing Kagemni, who in all his vizier's majesty, along with his servant, feeds the birds in the aviary: goose and duck. There is also a sacrificial table in this room.
Nearby mastaba Anchmahora, it was also known as the Doctor's Tomb, because it was decorated with reliefs depicting circumcision and the operation of the toe.