Ameny Qemau was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. According to Egyptologists Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker, he was the 5th king of the Dynasty, reigning for two years over most of Egypt, except perhaps the eastern Nile Delta, from 1793 BC until 1791 BC.
Family
The Egyptologist Kim Ryholt notes that Ameny Qemau’s name is a filiation nomen, specifying its holder’s filiation. Indeed, Ameny Qemau could be read as “Ameny[‘s son] Qemau”. Ryholt concludes that the Ameny was Qemau’s predecessor, Sekhemkare Amenemhat V, and Qemau was his son. Egyptologist Darrell Baker shares this opinion but not Jürgen von Beckerath, who left Ameny Qemau’s position within the 13th Dynasty undetermined in his handbook of Egyptian pharaohs. The successor of Ameny Qemau, Qemau Siharnedjheritef, may have been his son as “Qemau Siharnedjheritef” may be read as “The son of Qemau, Horus protects his father”.
Attestations
Beyond his pyramid in Dahshur, Ameny Qemau is a poorly attested king: his name does not appear in the Turin canon, and the only contemporary attestations of him are fragments of four inscribed canopic jars found in the pyramid. An additional plaquette of unknown provenance bears his name but maybe a modern forgery. Ameny Qemau’s identity is therefore uncertain, and attempts have been made to identify him with better-attested kings of the period, in particular with Sehotepibre, who appears in the Turin canon after Amenemhat V. Ryholt, however, believes that Qemau’s name was lost in a wsf lacuna of the Turin canon located just before Amenemhat V. A wsf (literally “missing”) lacuna denotes a lacuna in the original document from which the canon was copied in Ramesside times.
Pyramid of Ameny Qemau
Ameny Qemau had a pyramid built for himself in the south of Dahshur. The pyramid was discovered in 1957 by Charles Musès and only investigated in 1968. It initially measured 50 square meters at its base and stood 35 meters high but is now completely ruined due to stone robbing. The substructures have also been extensively damaged. The king’s burial chamber was made of a single block of quartzite, similar to those found in the pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara and the Mazghuna pyramids. The block was hewn to receive the sarcophagus and canopic jars of the king, but only fragments of these and unidentified bones were found on site.
Additionally, the name of Ameny Qemau is believed to appear on an inscribed block found in a newly-discovered pyramid at Dahshur, whose existence was announced in April 2017. Many Egyptologists such as James P. Allen, Aidan Dodson and Thomas Schneider agree that the royal name on the block is that of Ameny Qemau. Dodson further speculated that, given the relatively poor quality of the inscription and the oddity for a pharaoh to be the owner of two pyramids, the newly-discovered one may have originally belonged to one of Qemau’s predecessors and that he may have usurped the structure by chiselling out the royal names on the block and superimposing his cartouches on it. Among the artefacts found in the burial chamber were a sarcophagus, canopic jars, and boxes of wrappings. Inscriptions on the boxes mention one of the daughters of Ameny Qemau, Hatshepsut, suggesting that the pyramid may have been usurped for his daughter and may explain why he has two pyramids.
