22 Facts About Huni

Huni was an ancient Egyptian king and the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom period.

Many Egyptologists believe that Huni was the father and direct predecessor of king Sneferu, but this is questioned by other scholars.

Huni is seen by scholars as a confusing figure in Egyptian history, because he was long remembered in Egyptian traditions, but very few documents, objects or monuments from his reign have endured.

Huni is not a well attested pharaoh; most of the attestations only point indirectly to him.

The orthography of the hieroglyphs that form Huni's name makes a reading as Njswt-Hw or Hw-en-Niswt plausible.

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Huni is further mentioned on the back of the Palermo stone in the section concerning the reign of the 5th-dynasty king Neferirkare Kakai, who apparently had a mortuary temple built for the cult of Huni.

Huni's identity is difficult to establish, since his name is passed down mostly as cartouche name and in different variations.

Huni proposed that ramesside scribes erroneously took away the juncus sign of the Niswt-Bity title and placed it before the royal cartouche, not realizing that this sign was part of the original birth- or throne-name of Huni.

Huni proposed that the candle wick was misinterpreted as the sign for "smiting", tempting the ramesside scribes to place the hieroglyph of a beating man behind it.

Since the Turin Canon credits a reign of 24 years to Huni, Stadelmann argues that this time span would perfectly fit to finish the Layer Pyramid.

Huni definitely bore the title of a queen, but no contemporary source connects her name with the title of a daughter or wife of Huni.

Possible wife of Huni was instead a queen Djefatnebty, whose name appears in black ink inscriptions on beer vases from Elephantine.

Huni's name is guided by the title great one of the hetes-sceptre, making her definitely a queen consort.

Until today, no child or other relative of Huni can be identified and connected to him with certainty.

Huni is given a reign of 24 years by the Turin canon, which is commonly accepted by scholars.

Only contemporary documents, which allow some evaluation of any political and social developments during Huni's time, are the tomb inscriptions of high officials such as Metjen, Khabausokar, A'a-akhty and Pehernefer.

Huni's name is mentioned in the Prisse Papyrus, a further evidence that Huni was remembered long after his death since the papyrus was written during the 12th dynasty.

One long-held theory posited that Huni had started a stepped pyramid, similar to that of king Djoser, Sekhemkhet and Khaba, but architecturally more advanced and with more and smaller steps.

Huni's name has yet to be found anywhere near the pyramid.

Third argument against the theory that Snefru completed Huni's project is newer evaluations of Snefru's time on the throne.

Huni argues that the finishing of the pyramid lasted a long period of time and since the Turin Canon credits a 24-year reign to Huni, this time span surely covered the building time needed for the pyramid.

Some scholars such as Andrzej Cwiek contest this attribution however, pointing out that it might be at least possible that the granite cone of Huni was re-used in later times, when ramesside priests restored cultic places of the Old Kingdom period.