Sesenebnef was an Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian chief lecture priest of the Thirteenth Dynasty

Thirteenth dynasty of Egypt

The thirteenth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties XI, XII and XIV under the group title Middle Kingdom. Other writers separate it from these dynasties and join it to Dynasties XIV through XVII as part of the Second Intermediate Period...

, around 1750 BC. He is mainly known from his tomb at el-Lisht

El-Lisht

Lisht or el-Lisht is an Egyptian village located south of Cairo. It is the site of Middle Kingdom royal and elite burials, including two pyramids built by Amenemhat I and Senusret I. The two main pyramids were surrounded by smaller pyramids of members of the royal family, and many mastaba tombs of...

 which was excavated around 1900. The tomb was found looted but still contained the remains of two wooden coffins, one placed inside the other. The remains of the coffins were found in a poor state of preservation. Therefore the inscriptions on the coffin were copied and the coffins were left on the site. These texts belong to the longest religious text

Religious text

Religious texts, also known as scripture, scriptures, holy writ, or holy books, are the texts which various religious traditions consider to be sacred, or of central importance to their religious tradition...

s of the late Middle Kingdom

Middle Kingdom of Egypt

The Middle Kingdom of Egypt is the period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the establishment of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, between 2055 BC and 1650 BC, although some writers include the Thirteenth and Fourteenth dynasties in the Second Intermediate...

 of Ancient Egypt. Many spells on the coffins are only known from the Book of the Dead

Book of the Dead

The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...

which dates several hundred years later.

Literature

• MM.J.-E. Gautier, G. Jéquier: Mémoire sur les Fouilles de Licht (Cairo, 1902), p. 74-77, plates XVI-XXV