Le messager royal egyptien Pirikhnawa

Alain Zivie

In 1996 the French Archaeological Mission of the Bubasteion (MAFB), under the direction of the author, discovered at Saqqara a rather unusual tomb (Bubasteion I.16), compared to others of the period located on the same site. It is partly rock-cut, partly built.

The excavation is still under process in the lower levels, but at this time (mid-2006), the beautiful chapel has been almost completely excavated and its reliefs and inscriptions have been cleared, preserved and documented.

The tomb belongs to a prominent official of the time of Ramesses II who had been at a certain moment of his career, wpwty nsw, i.e. royal messenger (ambassador). The usual name of this man is Netjerouymes (Ntrwyms), but he is also frequently called in the inscriptions P3rhnw(3), Parekhnou(a), which is the Egyptian form of the name Pirikhnawa (or Parakhnawa) mentionned several times in the Hittite sources of Boghazkoy.

The discovery of this tomb is of more interest as its owner appears having been also the first of the three Egyptian royal messengers mentioned in the peace treaty of year 21 of Ramesses II.

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To reference this article we suggest
Zivie, A., 'Le messager royal egyptien Pirikhnawa', BMSAES 6 (2006), 68-78, http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/bmsaes/issue6/zivie.html