Hemiunu in hieroglyphs: how to read the name and where to see them

U36 contributes the sound ḥm

U36 depicts a club used by fullers. In Hemiunu’s name, it is a biliteral phonogram that contributes the consonants ḥ and m. The same sign can also write the word ḥm, meaning “servant.” In royal address, ḥm can mean “majesty,” a separate use of the same sign. ([digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com](https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gardiner_signlist.pdf))

The dot below ḥ marks a consonant distinct from plain h. Hieroglyphic writing chiefly records consonants, so the vowels in the familiar form Hemiunu are supplied when readers pronounce the name. The transliteration preserves a distinction that English spelling does not show.

The sign’s shape helps identify it in a carved or drawn inscription. Look for the short club form, then compare its outline with U36. Small differences in angle or proportions can reflect the hand of the scribe or carver.

O28 and W24 write the name of Iunu

O28 depicts a column and has the phonetic value iwn. W24 depicts a bowl and has the phonetic value nw. Together, these signs write Iunu, the Egyptian name of Heliopolis. ([digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com](https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gardiner_signlist.pdf))

The sequence shows how a sign’s picture and its sound value are different things. O28 depicts a column, yet here it supplies iwn. W24 supplies nw, completing the spelling of Iunu.

Egyptologists use transliteration to represent Egyptian consonants. The familiar form Hemiunu adds vowels so modern readers can pronounce the name. The ancient spelling itself does not record those vowels.

Two other words show signs spelling sounds and words

In ḥm-kꜣ, “servant of the ka” or “ka-priest,” D31 writes ḥm and D28 writes kꜣ. D31 depicts arms holding a club, while D28 depicts raised arms. Their phonetic values provide the two parts of the compound. ([digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com](https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gardiner_signlist.pdf))

The word ḥtp, “offering,” can be written with R4, the loaf-on-a-mat sign. In this use, one sign represents the word rather than spelling it sound by sound. The sign also appears in other words and expressions with the reading ḥtp. ([digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com](https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gardiner_signlist.pdf))

The word ib, “heart,” is another example. F34 depicts a heart and can write ib. Egyptian texts also use the heart as the center of thought and feeling, which is why ib can be translated as “mind” in some contexts. ([digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com](https://digitalmapsoftheancientworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gardiner_signlist.pdf))

Draw a hieroglyph sign

Hemiunu served as Khufu’s vizier

An inscription on Hemiunu’s statue gives him the titles “vizier” and “king’s son of his body,” as well as “overseer of all royal works.” The royal-son title is part of the inscription. It does not by itself establish his precise biological relationship to Khufu. ([giza.fas.harvard.edu](https://giza.fas.harvard.edu/ancientpeople/1186/full/))

Hemiunu is linked with the construction of Khufu’s Great Pyramid because he held the royal-works title and served during Khufu’s reign. Those facts make involvement in the project plausible, but the surviving evidence does not say that he designed or directly supervised the pyramid. The Great Pyramid at Giza dates to Khufu’s reign. ([giza.fas.harvard.edu](https://giza.fas.harvard.edu/objects/54706/full/))

See Hemiunu’s person page

Mastaba G 4000 stands in Giza’s Western Cemetery

Hemiunu’s tomb is mastaba G 4000 in Giza’s Western Cemetery. A mastaba is a rectangular tomb building with a chapel where offerings were made. One or more shafts descend below the chapel to the burial chambers. The Arabic word mastaba means “bench,” describing the tomb’s bench-like form. ([giza.fas.harvard.edu](https://giza.fas.harvard.edu/ancientpeople/1186/full/))

The chapel and the burial shaft served different purposes. The chapel provided a place for offerings to the deceased, while the shaft led down to the burial. Hemiunu’s tomb is part of the wider cemetery landscape around Giza’s royal pyramid fields. ([giza.fas.harvard.edu](https://giza.fas.harvard.edu/faq/))

Explore Giza

The statue shows Hemiunu seated upright

The Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim holds the limestone seated statue, which was found in G 4000. The recorded dimensions are 155.5 × 61.5 × 104.7 cm. The Global Egyptian Museum describes the statue as slightly larger than life-size. ([giza.fas.harvard.edu](https://giza.fas.harvard.edu/objects/54706/full/))

Hemiunu sits on a block without a back support. His right hand is clenched and his left hand is open, with both resting on his thighs. The carving gives particular detail to the folds of flesh at the chest, the fingers and the toes. ([globalegyptianmuseum.org](https://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=10921&lan=E))

Questions

People in this article

• Hemiunu Builder of the Great Pyramid, c. 2589–2566 BC
• Khufu c. 2589–2566 BC

Where to see it

• Giza Pyramids site
• Great Pyramid of Khufu monument

More to read

• Amenhotep son of Hapu in hieroglyphs: how to read the name and where to see them Amenhotep son of Hapu in hieroglyphics: read the six signs in his name and find an inscribed statue at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
• Psamtik I in hieroglyphs: Wahibre, the king who took Egypt back from Assyria Psamtik I in hieroglyphics: his name psmṯk and his throne name Wahibre read sign by sign, and the Karnak stela where his daughter's adoption is recorded.
• Nectanebo II in hieroglyphs: Nakhthorheb, the last native king of Egypt Nectanebo II in hieroglyphics: Senedjemibre and Nakhthorheb read sign by sign, his statue at the Met and his empty sarcophagus in the British Museum.