Around 1100 B.C there lived a young lady in the city of Light, today known as Luxor - Egypt, she was called Anhai. From her book of the dead it was revealed that she was a member of a college of Amun-Re.Karnak temple is dedicated to Amun, and Amun-Re means, Amun(the hidden one) and the Sun(Ra) a mixture of two gods. Anhai would have walked, in the many halls of this beautiful and unique place.
She was a beautiful woman, which is clear t see on her papyrus book of the dead. A slim and slender woman with long dark brown hair, the fine linen, curved around her body.
Her book of the dead, indicates a person of significant stature, the quality of the paper as well as the quality of the artists work. A priestess of Amun-Re, and as such she would have dedicated her life to the service of this God, and not to a family life of her own. She would have been present at each festival, and probably a partaker of events dedicating to Amun-Re. She would have walked down the Sphinx alley, as great ships sailed along side the dancers, moving towards the Karnak temples in a great precession.
The mystery of Anhai
She is a fascinating and mysterious woman, even until this very day. From a silent papyrus scroll her life screams loudly about her balanced life.
The tomb of Anhai has never been located, or maybe it has?
The fact surrounding this scroll of papyrus is yet another mystery to ancient history. Since ancient days, artifacts have been sold through different ways, some more legal than others. One of such objects was a small statue of the god Ptah-Seker-Ausar* which was found to contain a Papyrus scroll belonging to a lady named Anhai. It was parts of her Book of the dead, and its condition was remarkable.
* Ptah-Seker-Ausar: This is a name given to a large class of wooden figures, usually they stand on small pedestals. This god was great in his own right, combined by three elements. It is the fascinating triad of Ptah the Creator, Seker the god of the dead in Memphis (Sakkarah), and Osiris the god of the dead of Abydos a nome (city) of Upper Egypt.