What We Know About Kenamun

Sometime around 1.400 B.C., in the ancient city of Thebes, plans for a new tomb started to be designed. It was Kenamun, with his builders and artists, because as a nobleman, during the reign of the pharaoh Amenhotep II, to whom he was very close, Kenamun was granted a very large portion of what was considered a sacred mountain in Ancient Egypt.

This part of the mountain later became known as the Valley of the Nobles, where many nobles were buried, especially during the golden age of Ancient Egyptian history called the New Kingdom (circa 1550-1077 B.C.).

As we can imagine, after much planning, a group of workers, artists, architects, engineers and artisans, and most probably Kenamun himself, were here to have another look at the place to discuss the final ideas and arrangements so that work could finally begin.

Although we already know many things about this man who lived around 3.400 ago, under the layers of compacted sand at our feet and the thick layer of dust on the walls, there are still objects, images and writings that we haven’t discovered yet.

Underground, in an area still to be explored, chambers and corridors have even more unknown information that will tell us more about who really was Kenamun and what he was like.

We know that he held important responsibilities for the ruler of his time. We also know that he was married to a lady called Tadedetes and that he was a friend of the Pharaoh Amenofis II (also called Amenhotep II), the 7th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who reigned from approximately 1426 B.C to around 1400 B.C..

From the outstanding location and size of his tomb, and from its palace-like architecture and artistic quality in paintings, we already understand that he wasn’t like most other noblemen of his time.

We know the importance of Kenamun’s mother, called Amenemōpet (also translated as Amenemipet), who was part of the nobility of the court and was a royal foster nurse of the young Amenhotep II. In the 18th Dynasty, this meant that not only she was breastfeeding the Pharaoh, but she was also entrusted with his care and upbringing.

Thus the bond of the Pharaoh with Kenamun was of a foster brother, both growing up together and possibly having almost the same age. The pharaoh Amenhotep II and Kenamun’s mother, Amenemopet, are depicted in the tomb in a very unusual way: Amenemopet is breastfeeding Amenofis II as a child, but the child is already wearing the crown as a pharaoh, although he only become Pharaoh at the age of 18. This could possibly mean that Amenemopet was still alive when the adult Amenofis II reigned as pharaoh.

Besides having being granted the privileged location for a monumental scale tomb, what also leads us to believe that Kenamun continued to be regarded in high esteem by the later adult pharaoh and that he was someone of the pharaoh’s trusted inner social circle is seeing Kenamun's many high status titles. Similar to how Europe’s nobles in the Middle Ages could have each many titles that meant only high recognition and prestige, not a role in office.

Kenamun had eighty epithets, some which meant only how highly he was regarded by the Pharaoh, others actual roles and functions that he actually performed. Examples of these are: “Overseer of the Cattle of Amun”, “Chief Steward of the King” and “Chief Steward of Peru‐Nefer” a very important and strategic naval port center near Memphis during Amenofis II’s reign.

According to Toby Wilkinson, Kenamun was one of a quartet of best friends since childhood. These were: the future Pharaoh Amenofis II, when still a prince, then Kenamun, Amenemopet and Sennefer (the last two being brothers), who were all raised together in what was the harem palace at Gurob, a place home to the king’s wives, to noble women and to royal and noble children.

When Amenofis II became Pharaoh at 18 years of age, he promoted his closest childhood friends to high rank positions in his reign, strategic and powerful positions so that he would be surrounded by people he trusted.

Kenamun fought alongside the Pharaoh Amenofis II during the Syrian campaign and among other roles, was the Chief Steward of the King, which meant that he was the Pharaoh's righthand man, having privileged access to both the Pharaoh's private life as well as all government matters.

In Wilkinson’s words: “one of the plum jobs in the land, that of Chief Steward, with overall responsibility for the royal estate. It was an important position, supervising the landholdings and other assets that funded the court. On a day-to-day basis, Qenamun had specific responsibility for the royal family’s country residence. This seems to have fitted his character perfectly, since the administrative drudgery was more than usually interspersed with lavish entertainments: troupes of dancing girls, musicians, and the presentation of exotic gifts to the king at the New Year”.

The Pharaoh’s aim was not only to be surrounded by people he trusted, but also to use these trusted loyal people as his eyes and ears, detecting others which were not to be trusted.

Kenamun was one of them. Being entrusted to circulate among all the powerful people and those closest to the king, he could detect gossip, dangers and even plots against the ruler.

As we can see from the carefully planned vandalism done to his tomb, aimed specifically at destroying Kenamun’s image and name, with the intention of erasing him from history and preventing him from having an afterlife, Kenamun’s role to inform on people to the king made him many enemies.