Abstract
The tomb of Menekhibnekau is one of the four large shaft tombs of the Saite-Persian period discovered in Abusir West. The volume presents the complete decoration of its burial chamber.
The first part is dedicated to the inner greywacke sarcophagus with gate guardians and guardians of the Stundenwachen and the text of BD 72 on the chest exterior and a treaty of mutual protection with the sun god with divinization of the body parts of the deceased on the lid exterior (the interior of the inner sarcophagus was undecorated). The second part is dedicated to the outer sarcophagus, with mostly protective texts on the inside, and excerpts from the Coffin Texts, Pyramid Texts, the Book of the Dead and the glorification ritual on the outside.
Notable are two texts invoking the protection of the divine mother: Mehetweret and her sever utterances on the western interior side of the lid, and Nut and Isis on the lid exterior, which only have parallels in the nearby tomb of Iufaa. The third part focuses on the decoration of the burial chamber with excerpts from the Pyramid Texts and the Book of the Dead.
The appendices contain a preliminary overview of the process of the decoration of the tomb, synoptic hieroglyphic transcriptions of the texts known (only) from both Menekhibnekau's and Iufaa's tombs, an overview of the methods of documentation and a short chapter of the osteological remains of Menekhibnekau, which was not finished in time to be included in the first volume.