Kanefer

See also article Kanefer (High Priest of Ptah).

Kanefer ("His Ka is beautiful") is the name of an Ancient Egyptian prince. He lived during the 4th or early 5th dynasty of the Old Kingdom period.

Identity

According to Rainer Stadelmann and Michael Haase, Kanefer may have been a son of King Sneferu. Their assumption is based on the architectural features of Kanefer's tomb, which were rather typical for the beginning of the 4th dynasty. Other Egyptologists, such as Wolfgang Helck and Peter Der Manuelian, doubt this dating and believe that Kanefer lived at the end of the 4th dynasty, or at the very beginning of the 5th dynasty. They point out, that Kanefer's tomb lies unusually far away from Snefru's Red Pyramid, even outsite of Snefru's family necropolis.

Next to nothing is known about his family, the name of his wife is lost due damages on his tomb stela, but two of her titles, "female member of the elite" and "priestess of Hathor", is preserved. She bore several children to Kanefer - Kawab, Kanefer II and Meresankh.

Career

Kanefer held the position of a vizier. He also was "son of the king", "member of the elite", "army general", "overseer of the commissions" and "leader of the royal archers".

Tomb

Kanefer was interred in mastaba DAM 15 at Dahshur. In his tomb, heavily broken fragments of a doorslab stela were found.