BENI HASAN

also spelled Bani Hasan Egyptian Middle Kingdom archaeological site, on the eastern bank of the Nile, roughly 155 miles (245 km) south of Cairo. The site is noted for its rock-cut tombs of the 11th- and 12th-dynasty officials of the 16th Upper Egyptian (Oryx) nome, or province. Some of the 39 tombs are painted with scenes of daily life and important biographical texts. The governors of the nome, whose capital was Menat Khufu, ancestral home of the 4th-dynasty pharaohs, administered the eastern desert. The tomb of one, Khnumhotep II, contains a scene showing Semitic Bedouin merchants in richly coloured garments entering Egypt. A rock-cut shrine of Pakhet, known as Speos Artemidos, built by Queen Hatshepsut and Thutmose III of the 18th dynasty, lies one mile north, in an ancient quarry, with a smaller shrine of Alexander II nearby.