Horemhotep II1, god's father, beloved of the god, sm-priest, servant of Ptah, High Priest of Letopolis, sDm, nDm stj, wr bAw, nb pHtj, .... scribe of Horus of each first phyle of the temple of Wn-xmt, scribe of Ptah of each third phyle, prophet of Sekhmet of Sekhabous, servant of the gods of the domain of Sekhmet of Sekhabous, servant of the gods of the domain of Nefertem, prophet of Nefertem2, son of Ankh-hapi3 by Nefertiti4, married Herankh5, died in or before 2176 without known descendants7.
[1] PP III 5357. Gr: Harimouthes. The name was originally read as "Imhotep", see e.g. P. Kaplony, MIO 11 (1966) 137, 142 n. 4, however all recent discussions agree on the reading "Horemhotep". On Wildung's proposal to identify Horemhotep II with Horemhotep I, see discussion under Ankh-hapi. Ý
[2] Stele BM 380. See PP IX 5357, J. Quaegebeur & A. Rammant-Peeters, GM 148 (1995) 71, 81. It is possible that he succeeded his father as High Priest of Letopolis during the latter's lifetime. Ý
[3] Stele BM 380. Ý
[4] Stele BM 380. Ý
[5] Stele BM 380. Ý
[6] Date of death of his uncle Anemhor II, who is not described as deceased on stele BM 380. Since Anemhor II is also named as HPM, Horemhotep's death may precede his uncle's retirement. It is also possible, for similar reasons, that he predeceased his father Ankh-hapi. Ý
[7] J. Quaegebeur & A. Rammant-Peeters, GM 148 (1995) 71, 84f., suggest that Horemhotep was ancestral to the later High Priests of Letopolis of the second and early first centuries, a group whose genealogy is quite well known. The principal argument for this is that the priesthood of Arsinoe II appears to pass from Horemakhet HPM, Horemhotep's maternal cousin, to Ahmes HPL on the death of the former. Quaegebeur and Rammant-Peeters suggest that this is somehow a result of Ahmes' descent from Horemhotep's mother Nefertiti.
In additional to the chronological objections discusssed under Heriu I, I see two objections to this proposal.
1) It is possible that Horemhotep predeceased his father Ankh-hapi. In similar cirumstances, a near-contemporary retired HPM (Anemhor II) replaced his son Djedhor HPM not by a grandson but by a younger son Horemakhet HPM, even though it is perfectly likely that Djedhor, who was 43 at his death, had sons of adult age. Thereafter, the office is more likely to have run through the descendants of the younger son rather than the older one.
2) The suggestion that Ahmes inherited the office from Horemakhet as being somehow the next of kin ignores the fact that Horemakhet had sons of his own, including Nesisti who succeeded him as HPM, while Ahmes was at best a second cousin. Indeed, Nesisti remained associated with the cult of Arsinoe II as scribe. It is much more likely that Ahmes succeeded to the post, which commanded considerable revenues, because he was a more senior and more powerful hierophant than Nesisti. Any genealogical considerations were surely secondary.
For an alternate suggestion on the possible connection between the third century and second century HPLs, see discussion under Heriu I. Ý
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20 March 2002: Created page
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