Monument and microcosm: The 12th Dynasty tomb chapel of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan

Study of the decoration of the elite Egyptian tomb of the Old and Middle Kingdom has often focused on examination of individual scenes, taken out of their architectural contexts, and seen as illustrations of the daily life of the ancient Egyptians. This approach is very valuable, and has provided scholars with enormous amounts of useful information. Analysis of large numbers of tombs as groups have also been carried out, and general conclusions about the functions of such monuments have been reached. In order to evaluate the validity of these conclusions, and suggest alternatives, this dissertation focuses on the decoration of a single elite tomb chapel, the 12th Dynasty tomb chapel of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan. Each individual scene within this chapel has been explored in depth, its accompanying texts translated, and its multiple levels of meaning outlined. The scenes have then been looked at in the context of its surrounding scenes, and in the context of the tomb chapel as a whole. Careful and systematic analysis of the decoration of this tomb chapel reveals that this monument, and perhaps other monuments of the same period, was designed as a microcosm, ensuring that the rites performed within it would be effective within the larger cosmos of which it was a model. The decoration of this chapel functions at three levels. First is the personal cosmos of Khnumhotep II (the landscape of Beni Hasan), within which the tomb owner was the focus of his own offering cult, which served to maintain him for his Afterlife. Second is the royal cosmos (the national landscape of Egypt), within which the tomb owner plays the role of the king. Third is the larger Egyptian cosmos, wherein the tomb owner acts as the creator/sun god. This tomb chapel can be seen as a miniature mortuary temple, in which Khnumhotep II was cared for as an effective deceased being, capable of interceding for his descendants and dependents in the realm of the gods. This tomb thus echoes, on a local level, the function of state temples dedicated to gods or to the mortuary cults of kings