Beni Hasan: the Aamu Procession in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II

Overview

Beni Hasan is a Middle Kingdom cemetery of rock-cut tombs of the governors of the Oryx nome. Tomb No. 3 belongs to Khnumhotep II, 'Administrator of the Eastern Desert'. The north wall of its main chamber is painted in six rows showing produce and people being brought to him. Row 3 is a procession of foreigners.

The procession is introduced by the royal scribe Neferhotep, holding a document dated Year 6 of Senusret II that counts '37 Aamu of Shu' brought on account of mesdemet (black eye-paint/kohl). The leader is labelled hqꜣ ḫꜣst Ibshꜣ, 'ruler of the desert/foreign land, Abesha'. A line over the group reads 'arrival bringing kohl, which 37 Aamu bring to him.'

The tomb was known and copied long before photography; Newberry (1893) records that the Great Inscription was vandalised in 1888 or 1889 and that the colours had faded since the 1828 copies.

In its own words

The arrival, bringing eye-paint, which 37 Asiatics bring to him. ... Sheik of the highlands, Ibshe.J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt I (1906) §620 note d, p. 281 (citing Newberry, Beni Hasan I, pl. XXX); cf. Newberry (1893) p. 69: 'arrival bringing kohl which 37 Aamu bring to him'

What the evidence shows

Number: 37 Aamu, written twice (the scribe's document and the caption over the group) (Newberry 1893 p. 69).
Group label: 'Aamu of Shu' (ꜥꜣmw n Šw); Breasted renders 'Asiatics of the desert' (ARE I §620 n.).
Leader's title and name: hqꜣ ḫꜣst Ibshꜣ - Newberry 'hak-prince of the desert, Abesha'; Breasted 'Sheik of the highlands, Ibshe'.
Stated purpose: they come 'on account of mesdemet' (eye-paint, stibium or kohl) (Newberry p. 69).
Dated document: Year 6 of Usertsen (Senusret) II, carried by the royal scribe Neferhotep (Newberry p. 69, pl. XXXVIII).
Scene position: Tomb No. 3, north wall, row 3, pls. XXVIII, XXX, XXXI (Newberry 1893).

Open questions

Who were the Aamu of Shu? J. Kamrin (JAEI 1/3, 2009) treats the group in detail; Breasted (1906, §620 n.) called the leader's name 'a good Hebrew name' while rejecting the old link to Abraham as having 'nothing to do' with it. The captions give only a group label, a place-word (Šw) and a personal name; nothing in the tomb states their homeland beyond that.
The leader's title hqꜣ ḫꜣst is the same phrase later used for the Hyksos rulers ('rulers of foreign lands'). Whether that is just the ordinary Egyptian title for any foreign chief in the 12th Dynasty, or an early instance of the same group, is an inference either way; the tomb only shows the title in use by c. Year 6 of Senusret II.

Sources

P. E. Newberry, with G. W. Fraser, ed. F. Ll. Griffith, Beni Hasan, Part I (Archaeological Survey of Egypt 1; London: Kegan Paul for the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1893) (Tomb No. 3, frontispiece and pls. II, XXII-XXXVIII; the Aamu scene p. 69, pls. XXVIII, XXX, XXXI, XXXVIII) link excavation report
J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt I: The First to the Seventeenth Dynasties (Chicago, 1906), §620 and note d link translation
J. Kamrin, 'The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hassan,' Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections 1/3 (2009), DOI 10.2458/azu_jaei_v01i3_kamrin link study

Corrected from the earlier edition of this page

Old entry: 'discovered in 1902 during excavations ... by Egyptian archaeologists.' The tomb was described by Jomard in 1798, copied by Champollion, Rosellini and Hay in 1828 and Lepsius in 1842, and fully published by Newberry in 1893 (Beni Hasan I, Tomb No. 3).
Old entry: tombs of 'high officials of the 19th nome.' The owner is Khnumhotep II, whose own inscriptions refer to the Oryx nome; the scene is in Tomb No. 3 (Newberry 1893).
Old entry: 'necropolis south of Cairo' is vague to the point of misleading; Beni Hasan is in Middle Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile (Newberry notes Tehneh 14 miles north and Sheikh Said 15 miles south).
Old entry: 'carrying goods such as oils, resins.' The captions state the purpose as mesdemet (eye-paint/kohl) - no oils or resins are named.
Old entry: 'precisely mirror ... Genesis 37.' Nothing in the captions corresponds to Joseph, to Ishmaelites, or to the caravan's cargo in Gen 37:25.
Old entry: 'earliest known visual representation of Semitic peoples engaging in trade.' Not established by any source consulted here; removed.
Old entry: 'Script: N/A.' The scene has hieroglyphic captions, including a dated document.

2024–2026 check incomplete: not completed - the session's web-search quota ran out before a 2024-2026 search could be run for this entry