Everything known about Pehernefer, including his high titles and his career, comes fromtombinscriptions. These reveal that he held high positions, such as:[3][4][5][6]
One of the "Great ten of Upper Egypt" (Egyptian:Wer-medj-shemaw)
He who's under the head of the king (Egyptian:Heri-tep-nesw)
Controller of the audience hall (Egyptian:Kherep djekh)
Leader of the endowment estate ofMeresankh I (Egyptian:Heqa-hwt-a'a-Meresankh)
Overseer of the treasuries (Egyptian:Imi-ra per-hedj)
Overseer of all royal works (Egyptian:Imi-ra kat-nebet net-nesw)
Overseer of the royal granaries (Egyptian:Imj-ra schenut-nebut inet-nesu)
Administrator of the royal palatinate "Horus the blessed star on heaven" (Egyptian:Adj-mer Hor seba-chentj-pet)
Administrator of the western desert (Egyptian:Adj-mer semet-imentet)
Nothing is known about Pehernefer's family. Possible contemporary office partners includedNetjeraperef,[2]Khabawsokar,Metjen andAkhetaa,[5] who were also holding office under Huni and Sneferu. All their tomb inscriptions reveal that the time of both kings must have been a very prosperous one and economy and office administration flourished. Metjen's tomb inscription actually reveals that offices were only passed down within family generations and by inheritance only.[4]
Pehernefer's tomb is lost today. It was excavated atnorthern Saqqara, but was either forgotten over time or dismantled in the meanwhile. Copies of Pehernefer's tomb inscriptions were published by French archeologistGaston Maspero in 1893 and further analyzed byAustrian EgyptologistHermann Junker in 1939.[4][6]
^abHermann Ranke:Die ägyptischen Personennamen: Einleitung. Form und Inhalt der Namen. Geschichte der Namen. Vergleiche mit andren Namen. Nachträge und Zusätze zu Band I. Umschreibungs-listen. J. J. Augustin, Heidelberg 1952 (2nd edition), p. 86.
^abHarco Willems:Historical and Archaeological Aspects of Egyptian Funerary Culture: Religious Ideas and Ritual Practice in Middle Kingdom Elite Cemeteries. BRILL, Leiden 2014,ISBN9004274995, p. 22-23.
^abWolfgang Helck:Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit (=Ägyptologische Abhandlungen (ÄA), vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987,ISBN3447026774, p. 274 & 289.
^abcToby A. H. Wilkinson:Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge, London 2002,ISBN0203024389, p. 109, 110, 114, 119 and 121.
^abHratch Papazian:Departments, Treasuries, Granaries and Work Centers. In: Juan Carlos Moreno García:Ancient Egyptian Administration. Brill, Leiden 2013,ISBN9004250085, p. 73-74.
^abHermann Junker:Pḥrnfr. In:Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (ZÄS), vol.75. Berlin/Cairo 1939, p. 63-84.
