Katebet

Mummy of Katebet at the British Museum

Katebet in hieroglyphs

Katebet was an Ancient Egyptian priestess at Karnak temple in Thebes, Egypt. She held the title "Chantress of Amun".

Katebet's coffin and mummy were found in Thebes. She died during the late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Dynasties of Egypt. Radiographic examination of her mummy revealed she was elderly at death. She had lost almost all of her teeth, and had arthritis in her spine.

In 1835, she was acquired at auction from Sotheby's by the British Museum, as part of the third collection assembled by the early Egyptologist and antiquarian Henry Salt.

The shape of the wig and the position of the arms crossed over the chest are unusual for women's coffins in Ancient Egypt. Thus, it is hypothesized that her coffin was originally designed for the burial of a man, and was repurposed for Katebet.

Coffin

Coffin of Katebet (right)

Katebet's coffin is an early example of the simple "yellow"-type coffin, a style that developed towards the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, replacing coffins with black-based designs. The coffin lid depicts her wearing ear-studs, a choker, broad collar, bracelets, and a pectoral-necklace. Below this is a central column of hieroglyphic text and three plain horizontal bands; the space between is filled with figures of funerary deities. On the foot of the coffin, her bare feet are depicted emerging from the hem of a white garment.

Her coffin was originally intended for a man, as the carved wig is a masculine style; it was later changed into a feminine wig with paint. This may be because Katebet took over the coffin from a man, possibly her husband, or a mistake made during the coffin's construction, as none of the texts shows signs of alteration.

Mask and burial goods

Katebet's head and chest are covered with a mummy mask made of cartonnage with wooden arms. The face of the mask is gilded. She is depicted wearing white clothing and items of jewellery. Her mask is unusual for including the crossed arms, as well as open hands with separate fingers. The fingers wear real rings made of semi-precious stones such as carnelian. Bracelets are painted on the wrists.

Several other objects were placed on her body. On her chest below the mask was a pectoral with a central scarab. Below this was another, smaller pectoral; an ushabti figure was positioned over her knees. Like, the coffin, these items were not originally made for her. The variety and placement of these burial goods led to the suggestion that the assemblage was made up of several pieces of different ages in the nineteenth century.

Mummy

Katebet's wrapped mummy is 5.5 ft (1.7 m) long. Her shroud is secured by several transverse bands of fabric, which were once coloured but have since faded to brown. She is positioned on her back with her arms extended and her hands flat over the pubic area. Her mummification may have been relatively simple, as her brain was not removed, and large quantities of what appears to be mud were applied to the corpse. Her organs seem to have been removed. Her sternum and some of her ribs have dislocated; she has a curved spine (scoliosis). A ring with a square bezel is present on her left ring finger.

References

Works cited

• Andrews, Carol (1997). Ancient Egyptian Jewelry (Paperback ed.). New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0-8109-2677-6.
• Bettum, Anders (2018). "Nesting (Part Two): Merging of Coffin Layers in New Kingdom Coffin Decoration". In Taylor, John H.; Vandenbeusch, Marie (eds.). Ancient Egyptian Coffins: Craft Traditions and Functionality. Leuven: Peeters. pp. 275–291. ISBN 978-90-429-3465-8.
• Budge, E.A. Wallis (1904). A Guide to the First and Second Egyptian Rooms: Predynastic antiquities, mummies, Mummy-cases, and other objects connected with the funeral rites of the ancient Egyptians (Second ed.). London: The British Museum.
• Cooney, Kathlyn M. (2018). "Coffin reuse in Dynasty 21: A case study of coffins in the British Museum". In Taylor, John H.; Vandenbeusch, Marie (eds.). Ancient Egyptian Coffins: Craft Traditions and Functionality. Leuven: Peeters. pp. 295–322. ISBN 978-90-429-3465-8.
• Cooney, Kathlyn M. (2023). "Golden Coffins, Golden Tombs: Innovation and the Display of Social Power". In Bryan, Betsy M.; Dorman, Peter F. (eds.). Mural Decoration in the Theban Necropolis. Chicago: University of Chicago. pp. 35–60. ISBN 978-1-61491-089-3.
• Dawson, Warren R.; Gray, P. H. K. (1968). Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum I: Mummies and Human Remains. London: The Trustees of the British Museum.
• Ikram, Salima; Dodson, Aidan (1998). The Mummy in Ancient Egypt: Equipping the dead for eternity. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05088-0.
• "EA6665:Human mummy; mummy-mask; cartonnage; pectoral; shabti; mummy-wrapping; finger-ring; bracelet; coffin". The British Museum. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
• Porter, Bertha; Moss, Rosalind L. B. (1964). Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings I: The Theban Necropolis Part 2: Royal Tombs and Smaller Cemeteries (PDF) (Second revised and augmented ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Taylor, John H., ed. (2010). Journey through the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-07239-8.
• Taylor, John H. (2014). "The Collection of Egyptian Mummies in the British Museum: Overview and Potential for Study". In Fletcher, Alexandra; Antoine, Daniel; Hill, JD (eds.). Regarding the Dead: Human Remains in the British Museum (PDF). London: The British Museum. ISBN 978 086159 197 8.
• van Walsem, René (2014). Sousa, Rogério (ed.). Body, Cosmos and Eternity: New Research Trends in the Iconography and Symbolism of Ancient Egyptian Coffins. Oxford: Archaeopress. pp. 1–28. ISBN 978 1 78491 003 7.

External links

• Media related to Katebet at Wikimedia Commons