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Pepinakht, nicknamed Heqaib, also Hekaib or Hekayeb (), was an nomarch of the 1st nomos of Upper Egypt ("Ta-Seti") under king Pepi II, towards the end of the 6th Dynasty. He was also an officer in charge of military expeditions in Nubia.
Heqaib was posthumously deified for his military prowess.
His capabilities and charisma earned him the nickname Heqaib ( ḥq3-ỉb - "He who controls his heart") and then, after his death, a quick apotheosis. This fact may be representative of the great power achieved by local authorities in this period, which is a prelude to the forthcoming collapse of the Egyptian state. His son, named Sabni, apparently succeeded him in his charges. In a room in an official building on Elephantine were found several wooden boxes with names of local officials. One box bears the name of Heqaib.Andreas Dorm: Elephantine XXXI, Kisten und Schreine im Festzug, Hinweise auf postume Kulte für hohe Beamte aus einem Depot von Kult- und anderen Gegenständen des ausgehenden 3. Jahrtauseends v. Chr. (Archäologische Veröffentlichungen 117), Wiesbaden 2015, , p. 166-175 These boxes were most likely used in rituals around the funerary cult of the people mentioned on them.
Heqaib's distant successors during the Middle Kingdom such as Sarenput I, Sarenput II and Heqaib III, expanded the sanctuary by building shrines dedicated to him and to themselves. However, with the advent of the troubled Second Intermediate Period the sanctuary was progressively abandoned and filled with debris, until its rediscovery by Edouard Ghazouli in 1932 and the subsequent excavations by himself and Labib Habachi.
Legacy
Shortly after Heqaib's death and divinization, a great number of people started to worship this "local saint" initially in front of his tomb at Qubbet el-Hawa, and later in a purpose-built sanctuary. From the various documents left by those devotees it is known that many of them were named "Heqaib" in his honour, and even some pharaohs are known to having left dedications in the sanctuary: among the royal statues found here can be mentioned those of Mentuhotep I (although posthumous), Intef II, Senusret III, Sekhemkare, Neferhotep I, and Sobekemsaf I, while it is known that Intef III ordered a restoration of the sanctuary during the early 11th Dynasty.
Further reading
Labib Habachi (1985). 380530496X, von Zabern. 380530496X
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