Step 7 of 11

Dr. Nedjemu

The right part of this stela is dedicated to Sehetepibreankh’s brother, Nedjemu (meaning the sweet one). He is depicted sitting on a chair in front of a table full of offerings similar to his brother’s. Nedjemu’s text is to be read from left to right, and the first two columns are identical to Sehetepibreankh’s. After the general offering formulae, the text becomes personal, listing the qualities and titles of this particular person:

[...] for the ka of the one whom the king truly knows, his beloved, one steady of foot-sole, calm of pace, loyal to the one who promoted him, pupil of Horus lord of the palace, one raised by the Lord of the Two Lands, one who predicts before it comes, who sees before it happens, greatest of the noblemen of the produce, chief physician, Nedjemu, true of voice, the one whom Sat-Hathor, true of voice, made, lord of reverence.

Nedjemu seems to have been a fairly high-ranking official too, and obviously wanted people to know he was close to the king. Unlike Sehetepibreankh, he also brags a little bit in the form of a standard list of personality traits: steady, calm and loyal to the king. His main title is wer sunu, chief physician.

Physicians played an important role in ancient Egypt, as they do today. Many medical and magical papyri have been preserved, which tell us more about their activities. Different titles in the medical sphere existed, and it is difficult to determine exactly how they differed. The wer sunu is often regarded as the most important medical title, and they were probably mostly concerned with performing surgeries and treating trauma wounds. See: Quirke, S., Titles and bureaux of Egypt, 1850-1700 BCE (London, 2004). Other medically associated titles include for example the ‘wab-priest of Sekhmet’ and the ‘conjuror of Serqet’. We will see in the next step that medical functions seemed to run in Nedjemu’s family.