Huni
| Huni | |||||
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| Hu, Houni, Hoeni[1] | |||||
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| Granite head of Huni | |||||
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |||||
| Reign | 2637 - 2613 BC, 3rd Dynasty | ||||
| Predecessor | Khaba | ||||
| Successor | Sneferu | ||||
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| Consort(s) | Djefatnebti Meresankh I |
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| Children | Hetepheres I Sneferu |
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| Father | possibly Khaba | ||||
| Died | 2613 BC | ||||
| Monuments | Step pyramid(?), Island fort at Elephantine, Meidum Pyramid (Partially) | ||||
Huni was the last Pharaoh of Egypt of the Third dynasty. He was the successor to Khaba.
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[edit] Family
Huni was the father of Hetepheres I, the wife of Sneferu who was the first king of the Fourth Dynasty. Huni was succeeded by Sneferu according to the Papyrus Prisse ("The Instructions by Kagemni"), but it is not known if Sneferu was a son of Huni.[3]
[edit] Reign
Huni is mentioned amongst the names of high officials from the court of Djoser, and if this was indeed the same man as this pharaoh, it is possible that Huni came to the throne at a very venerable age. He is credited with a 24-year reign in the Turin King List.
Huni established a fortress on the island of Elephantine, securing the southern border of Egypt at the First Cataract.
Huni's vizier was a man named Kagemi.[4][5]
Huni is sometimes credited with building a great stepped pyramid at Meidum which was to be larger than that of Djoser. It was supposedly left unfinished at the time of his death, thus his successor Sneferu, it is said, completed it near the beginning of his reign. If this view arises from the desire amongst historians to have a significant monument attributed to Huni, there is no evidence that the Meidum pyramid was his burial place. The name of Sneferu, however, has been found at Meidum, and many of Sneferu's children, particularly princes Nefermaat and Rahotep, have been buried in mastabas at the Meidum necropolis. Thus it seems more likely that it was Sneferu who had the pyramid built and, later on during his reign, transformed it from the stepped pyramid into a true pyramid by having its sides smoothed. The pyramid has since collapsed, leaving only its core.
Another pyramid exists which was very likely built by Huni, but this is a small ceremonial pyramid. The ruins of this pyramid have been found at Elephantine. This pyramid was not a tomb, nor did it have a surrounding necropolis or temple complex. Its real function and religious significance remain unknown. However, many similar small, ceremonial, pyramids have been found, built by Old Kingdom pharaohs throughout Egypt.
The Horus name of the king is not known with any confidence. However, in the late 1960s, the Louvre bought a relief showing a king Horus Qahedjet. For stylistical reasons the relief belongs to the Third Dynasty and it seems possible that it belongs to Huni, whose Horus-name it provides.[6]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Huni accessed November 18, 2006
- ^ Clayton, Peter A. (1994) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: the reign-by-reign record of the rulers and dynasties of ancient Egypt p42. Thames and Hudson, New York, ISBN 0500050740
- ^ Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt
- ^ Huni
- ^ Huni
- ^ T. Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt, London/New York 1999, p. 104-105 ISBN 0-415-18633-1
