Khnumhotep & Niankhkhnum

Welcome to Gay History Month! For the entire month of October, we will be posting about important events in gay history. Check back often for updates! Now let's head waaay way back to the 24th century BCE.

Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum are considered to be the first recorded same-sex couple in the history books. The tomb of these two was discovered in 1964 by an Egyptologist named Ahmed Moussa in the necropolis at Saqqara, Egypt. It is very rare to find men of equal status buried in the same tomb.

They were royal servants, and shared the title of Overseer of the Manicurists in the palace of King Niuserre. In their joint tomb, they are marked as "royal confidants". In wall paintings found in the tomb, the two are seen holding hands, and posing with their arms around each other. In the most prolific, they are embracing with their noses touching, in the most intimate pose allowed in Egyptian art. Nose touching was considered a form of kissing.

Niankhkhnum means "joined to life", and Khnumhotep means "joined to the blessed state of the dead". Combined, they names can be translated as "joined in life and joined in death".

The tomb was opened to the public in 1990, and has since become a huge gay tourist attraction.