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Mastaba of Ptahhotep and Akhethotep

Monument at Saqqara · also called Tomb of Ptahhotep, Mastaba of Ptahhotep, Mastaba of Akhethotep, Ptahhotep tomb Saqqara

Ptahhotep's chapel keeps some of the best-preserved colour of any Old Kingdom relief, with crisp painted hieroglyphs and a long offering list you can read item by item. The tomb dates to the late Fifth Dynasty, around 2400 BC.

The double mastaba west of the Step Pyramid belongs to the official Akhethotep and his son Ptahhotep, who served under Djedkare Isesi and probably Unas. The father's part was left less finished, and its reliefs are mostly uncoloured. The son's chapel is the one to see.

On one wall Ptahhotep sits at his table before a grid of foods and drinks, each written in hieroglyphs with its quantity. Other walls show offering bearers for his estates, a desert hunt, boatmen jousting, children at play and Ptahhotep at his toilet with musicians. The name, "Ptah is content", ran in the family. The Instruction of Ptahhotep, a famous book of advice, is attributed to a vizier of Djedkare Isesi, probably an ancestor of this man.

What to see and read

Offering list

A grid of bread, beer and cuts of meat in hieroglyphs: good practice for food signs.

Estate bearers

Lines of men and women carrying produce, each estate named in a caption.

Daily life scenes

Desert hunt, boat jousting and children's games, with short captions.

Signs to look for

  1. Stool Q3p The stool, p, starts Ptah in the name Ptahhotep.
  2. Twisted flax wick V28ḥ The twisted wick, h, ends Ptah and starts hotep.
  3. Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Bread on a mat writes hotep, content, in Ptahhotep, and opens the offering formula.
  4. Tall loaf of bread X2 Tall loaves stand on the offering table and as signs in the offering list.
  5. Backbone and spinal cord F39jmꜣḫ The backbone writes imakhu, "honoured", in Ptahhotep's titles.

Reading the hieroglyphs here

  • The paint is fragile. Keep bags clear of the walls in the narrow doorways.
  • The coloured signs suit the live camera in Hiero Lens; try it on the offering list.

Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.

Questions

Did Ptahhotep from this tomb write the Instruction of Ptahhotep?

Probably not. The Instruction is attributed to a vizier of Djedkare Isesi. The owner of this chapel belongs to a later generation of the same family.

Why is the tomb of Ptahhotep famous?

Few Old Kingdom chapels keep their paint this well, and its hieroglyphs are among the finest of the age.

Also at Saqqara

Monument

Step Pyramid of Djoser

The writing at the Step Pyramid is sparse but early. Here the king's own name, the Horus Netjerikhet, is carved inside a serekh on reliefs of his jubilee race, around 2650 BC; the name Djoser comes from much later visitors.

Monument

Serapeum of Saqqara

In the Serapeum the writing to find is on a few of its giant stone sarcophagi: columns of hieroglyphs and royal cartouches, among them the name of Amasis of the 26th Dynasty. The galleries were the burial place of the Apis bulls, living images of Ptah of Memphis.

Monument

Pyramid of Unas

The Pyramid of Unas holds the oldest Pyramid Texts, carved around 2350 BC: columns of hieroglyphs filled with blue paint that cover the king's burial rooms from floor to ceiling.

Monument

Pyramid of Teti

Inside the Pyramid of Teti, first king of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2345 BC), the walls carry Pyramid Texts in columns of hieroglyphs under a gabled ceiling of stars. It is the second royal set of these spells, after Unas.

Monument

Mastaba of Ti

In the Mastaba of Ti every scene has its hieroglyph captions: you can read what the farmers, boat builders and herdsmen are doing, and sometimes what they say. The reliefs, from around 2400 BC, are some of the finest of the Old Kingdom.

Monument

Mastaba of Mereruka

The Mastaba of Mereruka is packed with captioned scenes and long titles carved in hieroglyphs, in more than thirty rooms. Mereruka was vizier of King Teti around 2340 BC, and this is the largest tomb of any Old Kingdom official at Saqqara.

Monument

Tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara

The reliefs in Horemheb's Saqqara tomb show him as army commander under Tutankhamun, around 1320 BC, with captions spelling out his military titles. On some figures a royal cobra was added to his brow after he became king.

Museum

Imhotep Museum

The Imhotep Museum, at the entrance to Saqqara, is named after the man whose name is carved on a statue base of King Djoser, the one inscription from his lifetime known to name him. Its well-lit cases hold inscribed finds from the site, a good place to learn the signs before the worn tomb walls.

Where it is

Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.