Draft:Iniuia

Iniuia in hieroglyphs
Iniuia / Nia Jnjwj3

Relief from the tomb of Iniuia

Sarcophagus of Iniuia

Iniuia (also spelled Nia) was an ancient Egyptian official who served under Pharaoh Tutankhamun during the late 18th Dynasty. He held the position of overseer of the treasury, as well as other titles such as “royal scribe”, “overseer of the cattle of Amun” and “scribe of the treasury of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt”.

Not much is known about Iniuia’s personal life. His wife’s name was Iuy, who was a “lady of the house” and a “chantress of Amun”. His father was named Inuy and his mother was Wesy. He had four children whose names are recorded. His sons Ramose and Penanhori were both “scribes of the treasury of the temple of Aten”. The reference to the Aten temple implies that Iniuia lived shortly after the reign of Akhenaten. His non-Egyptian name may suggest that he was of foreign origin.

Iniuia is most famous for his tomb in Saqqara. It is located south of the pyramid of Unas, adjacent to the tomb of Horemheb. It is a relatively small structure, consisting of a mudbrick chapel with relief decorations. The chapel measures about 9.5 m in length (west-east) and 8.5 m in width (north-south). It comprises a courtyard with an eastern entrance. On the west side, there is a room in the north that has wall paintings. In the center of the west side, there is a small shrine, the innermost chamber of the tomb, surmounted by a pyramid. Parts of his tomb have been dispersed to various museums around the world since the 19th century: including his sarcophagus in the Louvre, which depicts him in a ritual garment, two inscribed columns in Berlin, and several decorated blocks in Cairo. The tomb was only relocated and excavated again in 1993.

The room with wall paintings is noteworthy. Wall paintings in tombs from this period in Saqqara are otherwise rare. On the rear wall of the chapel, they depict Iniuia before Sokar on the right and before Osiris on the left. The long walls each show Iniuia and his family before Osiris, who is seated in a pavilion.

There is a stele in the shrine where the burial was found. It has two registers and shows Iniuia and his wife before the enthroned Osiris in the upper register. In the lower register, the couple is shown seated, with four children bringing offerings. On the stele, Iniuia bears the title “scribe of the treasury of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt”. The stele was made at the beginning of his career before he became “overseer of the treasury”.

The reliefs in the other parts of the tomb show Iniuia with his wife or overseeing work. One scene shows him unloading amphorae in front of three boats. Another scene shows him before scribes, while several representations of cattle survive. The majority of the reliefs are only preserved in individual blocks, whose original location cannot be reconstructed.

Resources

• Wolfgang Helck: Zur Verwaltung des Mittleren und Neuen Reichs (= Probleme der Ägyptologie. Band 3, ISSN 0169-9601). Brill, Leiden u. a. 1958, S. 375, 490.
• Hans D. Schneider: The Rediscovery of Iniuia. In: Egyptian Archaeology. Band 3, 1993, ISSN 0962-2837, S. 3–5.
• Hans D. Schneider: The Tomb of Iniuia in the New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara (= Papers on archaeology of the Leiden Museum of Antiquities. Band 10). Turnhout, Brepols 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-54149-5.