The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 102 (2016), 55–72 ISSN 0307-5133 FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT NIANKHKHNUM AND KHNUMHOTEP WERE TWINS By LINDA EVANS and ALEXANDRA WOODS The Saqqara tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep has been the subject of considerable debate. Unique wall scenes in which the tomb-owners hold hands and embrace have led to much speculation about their relationship: some scholars suggest that the two were simply brothers and show ilial afection, others have proposed that they were twins, ranging from identical to conjoined siblings, while a third hypothesis views their relationship as homosexual. Recent re-examination of the tomb’s decorative programme has revealed a signiicant number of paired images in which scenes or elements of a motif ‘mirror’ one another. Many of these motifs are either the irst known examples in an elite tomb or images that are exclusive to this tomb. We propose that these unusual doubles allude to the tomb-owners’ relationship, adding further support to the proposal that Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were identical twins. واليكسندرا وودز إفان ليندا ا توأمين خنوم وخنوم حوتب كان نى عنخثبت أن مزيد من اأدلة ت مناظر فريدة تظهر طويلة. حيث دفعت لفترةجدللرا ل بسقارة مثا خنوم وخنوم حتب ظلت مقبرة نى عنخ أصحابقتهما: فبعضلشك فى عا إلى اان بعضهما بأيدى بعضهما، ويحضنلمقبرة وهما يمكسان ا أنهماخوية، واقترح أخرونعر الود اأن مشاطة أخوين ويظهرا كانا ببسايناثن الدارسون رجح أن ا هى عاقة مثقتهمالثة أن عالثا حين ترى الفرضية ا بين شقيقين، فى، فالمناظر تظهر تطابق توأمين ل ية. مغزى، تعكس كالمرآة عن عدد من صور مزدوجة ذاترف المقبرةسة حديثة لبرنامج زخا كشفت درا فى مقبرة أمثلة معروفةعناصر إما أنها أولذه الا. كثير من ه المقبرة نفسه مناظر أو عناصر زخرفة نادرة تلمظر المزدوجة اللمناقترح أن تلك اذه المقبرة. ن، أو صور حصرية له متميزةلعاقة بين ح إلى ا ا توأمين متطابقين خنوم و خنوم حتب كان نى عنخ دعم آخر لفرض أن المقبرة، وتضيف أصحاب. The mid-Fifth Dynasty tomb of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep has baled scholars since its discovery by Ahmed Moussa at Saqqara 52 years ago (1964). 1 At the centre of the controversy are the tomb’s enigmatic owners, as relected in both the texts and decoration. The men’s kinship is not speciied in any of the extant inscriptions, yet their shared titles of ‘Manicurist of the King’ 2 and ‘Overseer of Manicurists of the Palace’, 3 1 PM III 2 : 641–644, map 62, plan 66; J.-P. Lauer, ‘Travaux dans la nécropole de Saqqarah (Campagne 1964–1965)’, BSFE 43 (1965), 20; J. Leclant, ‘Fouilles et travaux en Égypte et au Soudan 1964–1965’, Orientalia 35 (1966), 138–9 [18]; J. Leclant, ‘Fouilles et travaux en Égypte et au Soudan 1965–1966’, Orientalia 36 (1967), 190; M. Basta, ‘Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Saqqara (1964) & the Discovery of a Tomb from the 5th Dynasty’, ASAE 63 (1979), 35–50. 2 This variant is not listed in Jones, Index; however, see the closely related titles of ‘manicurist’ and ‘manicurist of the palace’ in D. Jones, An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, I (BAR International Series 866 I; Oxford, 2001), 308 [1121–2].