rich Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > huge tomb that dates back to the era of King
> Akhenaton...
> a priest called Meri Neet, who had become known as
> the chief superintendent of god Aton at the time.

FWIW, this story is over 6 years old. We reported it in the Forum of Amun in March 2001, and EEF stated in its most recent postings of last week that it had reported the find in EEF News 137 (for those of you subscribed to EEF), dated 15 February 2001. In short, it is simply a rehashing of very old news, something that, alas! the Egypt State Information Service is unfortunately renowned.

It was also pointed out on EEF that artefacts from this tomb have been known for some time, having been published in Porter and Moss, Topographical Bibliography, III-2: 666.

Merineith seems to have quite a chequered career: his titles include "Greatest of Seers of Aton", "Steward of the temple of Aton", and "High Priest of Neith". His name seems to have changed from Merneith---> Meriaten --> Meritre (per Schlögl 1983: 27; my thanks to John Legon for this information). Apparently he was quick to change with the political fortunes of his lifetime.

Reference:

Schlögl, H. A. 1983. Echnaton - Tutanchamun. Fakten und Texte. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom