Nebwawy

Nebwawy (or Nebuāui[1]) was an ancient Egyptian High Priest of Osiris at Abydos during the 18th Dynasty.

Nebwawy High Priest of Osiris
Nebwawy's stela from Abydos, now at the British Museum (EA 1199)[1]
Dynasty	18th Dynasty
Pharaoh	Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep II

Biography

Nebwawy[1] in hieroglyphs

Nebwawy's life is known thanks to some stelae from Abydos: the earliest narrates his career under the first nine years of Thutmose III, while the latest is datable to Amenhotep II's coregency.

Early in his career—likely under the late reign of Hatshepsut—he was a priest in charge to the cult of the deified pharaoh Ahmose I, and he also led some military missions, in one of which he overcame some rebels who opposed to Hatshepsut. After the death of the female-pharaoh, Nebwawy managed to keep his prominent status: in many occasions he acted as a counselor of the pharaoh, and under Thutmose III he finally became High Priest of Osiris, a title which he held until his death occurred some times during the coregency of Amenhotep II.[1][2]

As aforementioned, Nebwawy is attested on at least three stelae; the oldest is now in the British Museum (EA 1199),[3] while the other two were both found at Kom el-Sultan near Abydos and are now at the Cairo Museum (CG 34017 / JE 6135, and CG 34018 / JE 2014).

References

1. Harry Reginald Hall, Hieroglyphic texts from Egyptian stelae in the British Museum, part VI (1922), p. 11; pl. XLVII.
2. Margaret Bunson, Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Infobase Publishing, 2009, ISBN 1438109970, p. 202.
3. "stela". British Museum. Retrieved 2018-03-22.

Further reading

• James Henry Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, volume II: the Eighteenth Dynasty, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1907, §§ 177-186.
• Elizabeth Frood, "Ritual functions and priestly narrative: the stelae of the High Priest of Osiris, Nebwawy", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 89 (2003), pp. 59–81.