# Houni’s Two Tombs: An Ancient Egyptian Mystery at Saqqara and Abydos - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2068275962953846963 - Source account: [@Lucius_Gellius](https://x.com/Lucius_Gellius) - Source language: French - Target language: English - Duration: 2:31 - Published: 2026-06-24 - Machine translated. Check the original before quoting. - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos - Original-language version: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/fr/les-deux-tombeaux-du-vizir-houni-le-myst%C3%A8re-de-saqqara-et-abydos.md ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos) Ancient Egypt still has its mysterious secrets, like the story of the two tombs of Vizier Houni. [0:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=6) Two tombs for a single man, which would of course be strange today, was already so at that time. [0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=12) Which makes particularly baffling the discovery made in late 2024 in the Saqqara necropolis. [0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=18) Archaeologists discovered, while excavating a mastaba, that is to say, a funerary building, columns of hieroglyphs with a sense of déjà vu. [0:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=25) This rings a bell. I know this text. So I search the collections of Old Kingdom texts to see if I can find this parallel. [0:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=34) And there, all those elements fit perfectly with probably the most famous known autobiography of the Old Kingdom, of a person named Houni. [0:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=44) This important figure was the vizier of Pepi I, King of Egypt, over 4,200 years ago. [0:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=50) In other words, the second most important person in the kingdom. [0:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=53) The problem is, he is already known to have a tomb in Abydos, about 400 km away. [0:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=59) So, could the Saqqara mastaba belong to an usurper? [1:02](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=62) Archaeologists quickly rule out this hypothesis when they discover the tomb's false door. [1:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=67) It was through this door that the deceased's soul was supposed to leave. [1:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=70) And Huni's name is indeed found there. But there is no indication that his body is there. [1:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=74) Yet in Saqqara, Huni would have had a front-row seat to join Pepi I in his eternity. [1:19](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=79) The hope of survival in the afterlife is linked to proximity to the king. [1:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=85) The closer you are to the king, the more likely you are to participate in the king's rebirth. [1:30](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=90) So why would Houni have been buried so far away in Abydos? [1:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=94) First, we know he was appointed governor of this province at the end of his life. [1:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=98) We also know that in Abydos, a new cult was emerging, that of Osiris. [1:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=103) With this cult, Egyptians could address the deity directly without going through the king to hope to see their bodies reborn in his image. [1:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=110) And indeed, in Houni's mastaba in Abydos, a painting shows the vizier imploring Osiris in the direction of this god's tomb. [1:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=118) A staging that corroborates the idea of a Pepi I with weakened authority. [2:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=123) The end of Pepi I's reign corresponds to a tumultuous period, filled with court intrigue and profound upheavals of the social order. [2:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=130) There is every reason to believe that Huni initially wanted to be buried in Saqqara, but ultimately turned to the necropolis of Abydos. [2:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=138) Clue by clue, archaeologists are lifting the veil on these mysteries. [2:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/htIbKMhhwsbt/en/houni-s-two-tombs-an-ancient-egyptian-mystery-at-saqqara-and-abydos?t=142) They shed light on the end of ancient Egypt's first golden age.