Hiero Lens

Timeline › 18th Dynasty

Senenmut c. 1473–1458 BC

Hatshepsut's steward and architect

Hatshepsut's chief steward and tutor to her daughter Neferure, credited with her temple at Deir el-Bahari. Statues show him holding the little princess wrapped in his cloak, and he hid small pictures of himself behind the temple's doors.

Only kings and queens wrote their names in a cartouche, so Senenmut's name is written without one.

Name: Senenmut

sn-n-mwt: “Brother of the mother”

Sign by sign

  1. Arrowhead T22sn Brother.
  2. Ripple of water N35n The sound n; also means 'of, to'.
  3. Ripple of water N35n The sound n; also means 'of, to'.
  4. Vulture G14mwt Mother; the goddess Mut.
  5. Bread loaf X1t The sound t; also the feminine ending.

Names of gods (Ra, Amun, Ptah) are written first out of respect, even when they are read later. Dates are approximate; we follow Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000).