Senemut

Senenmut High Steward of the King
Statue of a Kneeling Senenmut from the Brooklyn Museum
Dynasty	18th Dynasty
Pharaoh	Hatshepsut
Father	Ramose
Mother	Hatnofer
Burial	TT71

Senenmut (sometimes spelled Senmut, Senemut, or Senmout) was an 18th dynasty ancient Egyptian architect and government official. His name translates literally as "mother's brother."

Senenmut was of low commoner birth, born to literate provincial parents, Ramose and Hatnofer (or "Hatnefret") from Iuny (modern Armant). Senenmut is known to have had 3 brothers—Amenemhet, Minhotep and Pairy—and 2 sisters—Ahhotep and Nofrethor respectively. However, only Minhotep is named outside chapel TT71 and tomb TT353 in an inventory on the lid of a chest found in the burial chamber of Ramose and Hatnofer. More information is known about Senenmut than many other non-royal Egyptians because the joint tomb of his parents (the construction of which Senemut supervised himself) was discovered intact by the Metropolitan Museum in the mid-1930s and preserved. Christine Meyer has offered compelling evidence to show that Senenmut was a bachelor for his entire life: for instance, Senenmut is portrayed alone with his parents in the funerary stelae of his tombs; he was depicted alone, rather than with a wife, in the vignette of Chapter 110 from the Book of the Dead in tomb 353 and, finally, it was one of Senenmut's own brothers, and not one of his sons, who was charged with the execution of Senenmut's funerary rites.

Senenmut first enters the historical record on a national level as the "Steward of the God's Wife" (Hatshepsut) and "Steward of the King's Daughter" (Neferure). Some Egyptologists place Senenmut's entry into royal service during the reign of Thutmose I, but it is far more likely that it occurred during either the reign of Thutmose II or while Hatshepsut was still regent and not pharaoh. After Hatshepsut was crowned pharaoh, Senenmut was given more prestigious titles and became high steward of the king.