Tjebu

Qau el- Kebir ( ancient Egyptian chu qa " high mountain " ) is the name of a village on the east bank of the Nile, which is located about 45 km south of Assiut. There lies the necropolis of Tjebu (Greek Antaepolis ), the ancient capital of the 10th Upper Egyptian nome: Wadjit. While in Qau el -Kebir graves were discovered from all periods of ancient Egyptian history, it is primarily known for the tombs of the local district princes of the Middle Kingdom.

History of Research

In the winter of 1905/1906 an Italian mission dug under Ernesto Schiaparelli in Qau el -Kebir; 1913/1914 a German mission (Hans Steckeweh, Georg Stein Dorff ); 1923/1924 a British under the leadership of WM Flinders Petrie. Many of the finds from Qau el -Kebir are now in the Turin Egyptian Museum.

The Gaufürstengräber of the Middle Kingdom

The four rock-cut tombs of Qau el -Kebir are the largest known private tombs of the Middle Kingdom (see also Assiut, Beni Hassan, Deir el- Bersha, Meir ). They consist of a valley temple, a causeway, a top temple and the actual grave chambers. The oldest grave is that of Ibu, the nomarch under Amenemhat II or already in the last years of the reign of Sesostris I. was. His successor was Wahka I., who was also under Amenemhat II nomarch. His successor Nachti was buried in the grave of Wahka II, II or Amenemhat under Sesostris III. served. On Wahka II followed Sobekhotep who owned the smallest of the four graves. Under Amenemhat III. listened to you, to create monumental tombs in Qau el -Kebir. The following nomarchs are only known by Siegel. The rock tombs obtained are today heavily damaged.

From the New Kingdom the grave of May, in which were the remains of his sarcophagus dates.

The Ptolemaic temple

A temple to the local god Nemti in Antaepolis, which was built under Ptolemy IV, was mined at the beginning of the 19th century for the construction of a palace. The remaining remains were washed away by a flood in 1821. From its original state of preservation still bear witness stitches from the Description de l' Égypte ( see figure).