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Huni (original reading unknown) was an ancient Egyptian king and the last pharaoh of the 3rd dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. Following the Turin king list, he is commonly credited with a reign of 24 years, ending c. 2600 BC. Huni's chronological position as the last king of the third dynasty is seen as fairly certain, but there is still some uncertainty on the succession order of rulers at the end of 3rd dynasty. It is also unclear under which Hellenized name the ancient historian Manetho could have listed him in his historical writing ''Aegyptiacae''. Most possibly he is to be identified with the Hellenized name Aches, as Winfried Barta proposes. Many Egyptologists believe that Huni was the father and direct predecessor of king Sneferu, but this is questioned by other scholars. Huni is seen by scholars as a confusing figure in Egyptian history, because he was long remembered in Egyptian traditions, but only very few documents, objects or monuments have endured.〔 == Attestations == Huni is not a well attested pharaoh; most of the attestations only point indirectly to him. There are only two contemporary objects with his name. The first one is a conical stele made of red granite, discovered in 1909 on the island of Elephantine. The object is long, thick and broad. Its shape resembles a typical Benben stele, as known from mastaba tombs of early dynastic kings. At the front, the cone presents a rectangular niche with an incarved inscription inside. The inscription mentions a royal palace named ''Palace of the headband of Huni'' and writes Huni's name above inside a royal cartouche. The decorated niche is interpreted by scholars as a so-called "apparition window". The lower part of the window frame is flattened and elongated and shows traces of a second inscription, apparently the same as inside the window. It is not fully clarified, where exactly the object was once on display. Because it was found very close to a stepped pyramid, Egyptologists such as Rainer Stadelmann propose a position on the very front of the monument, or even visibly embedded in one of the steps. Today Huni's dedication cone is on display in the Cairo Museum as ''object JE 41556''.〔Winfried Barta: ''Zum altägyptischen Namen des Königs Aches.'' In: ''Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo. (MDAIK)'', vol. 29. von Zabern, Mainz 1973, pages 1–4.〕〔 The second finding, discovered in 2007, is a polished stone bowl made of magnesite, found at South-Abusir in the mastaba tomb ''AS-54'', belonging to a high official, whose name is yet unknown to archaeologists. The stone vessel inscription mentions Huni's name without a cartouche, but with the ''Njswt-Bity'' title. The orthography of the hieroglyphs that form Huni's name makes a reading as ''Njswt-Hw'' or ''Hw-en-Niswt'' plausible.〔M. Barta: ''An Abusir Mastaba from the Reign of Huni'', in: Vivienne Gae Callender (et al., editors): ''Times, Signs and Pyramids: Studies in Honour of Miroslav Verner on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday'', Prague: Charles University, Faculty in Art, 2011, ISBN 978-8073082574, p. 41–51 (inscription depicted as fig. 6 on p. 48)〕 Huni is also attested in mastaba ''L6'' at Saqqara, attributed to the official ''Metjen'' and dating to the end of the 3rd dynasty. There, an inscription was found with the name of a royal domain ''Hw.t-njswt.-hw'' ("Hut-nisut-hu") of Huni.〔Wolfgang Helck: ''Der Name des letzten Königs der 3. Dynastie und die Stadt Ehnas'', in: ''Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur'' (SAK), 4, (1976), pp. 125–128.〕 Huni is further mentioned on the back of the Palermo stone in the section concerning the reign of the 5th-dynasty king Neferirkare Kakai, who apparently had a mortuary temple built for the cult of Huni. The temple, however, has not yet been located.〔 Finally, Huni is attested in the papyrus Prisse, in the Instructions of Kagemni, probably dating to the 13th dynasty. The papyrus gives an important indication about Huni's succession in column II, line 7: Most scholars today think that this extract may strengthen the theory that Huni was the last king of the 3rd dynasty and immediate predecessor of king Snefru (the first ruler of the 4th dynasty).〔Nicolas Grimal: ''A History of Ancient Egypt'', pp. 65–67.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Huni」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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