The high priest of Min and Isis in Akhmim and chief architect Nakhtmin: a new perspective on his career and tomb
Résumé
Among the most important officials during the reign of Ay is a man named Nakhtmin, who was a high priest of Min and Isis in Akhmim and chief architect of the pharaoh. He is well-known thanks to a number of stelae and other artefacts mostly proceeding from his tomb as well as from an inscription located near Akhmim, at el-Salamuni.
The aim of this paper is to gather all the objects belonging to him, including a new unpublished relief, in order to reconstruct his career in Akhmim and his family, at the end of the 18th dynasty. Moreover, by studying the modern history of these objects, mostly excavated during the 19th century, and their alleged provenience and circumstances of discovery, we will try to suggest a new localisation for his long lost tomb, usually thought to be found in the Akhmim necropolis. We will also see that this very hypothesis leads to a reinterpretation of his building activity for the king Ay.