Nimaethap

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Nimaethap
Queen of Egypt

Inscription in the mastaba of Metjen mentioning Nimaethap. Metjen was a priest of the mortuary cult of Nimaethap during to the 4th dynasty.
Ancient Egyptian N-m3ˁ.t-ḥp
H p
Aa5		 n U2 Aa11
t
Consort Khasekhemwy
Dynasty 2nd dynasty and 3rd dynasty
Religious beliefs Ancient Egyptian religion

Nimaethap; also written Nymaathap, old reading: Hepenmaat[1]) was a Queen of Ancient Egypt at the end of the Second Dynasty.

Biography

Fragment of seal impression on clay mentioning the "mother of the king's sons" Nymaathap, from the tomb of Khasekhemwy in the Umm el-Qa'ab.

Nimaethap was possibly the wife of Pharaoh Khasekhemwy and the mother of Djoser, the first Pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt.[2] Alternatively, some scholars are of the view that Nimaethap was the daughter of Khasekhemwy, the wife of Pharaoh Sanakht and mother of Djoser. However, most Egyptologists place Sanakht in the second half of the Third Dynasty thus supporting the theory that Nimaethap was the wife of Khasekhemwy. There is clear evidence that Djoser arranged the queen's funeral.[3]

Nimaethap held the titles of Mother of the King's Children, Mother of the Dual King and Attendant of Horus. In inscriptions dating to the Fourth Dynasty she is referred to as a King's Wife.[4] She may also have been the mother of Djoser's wife Hetephernebti.

Seal impressions with her name were found in Khasekhemwy's tomb complex in Abydos and in Tomb K1 of Beit Khallaf. Her funerary cult is mentioned in the Saqqara tomb (LS6) of Metjen, who lived at the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Petrie (RT.II, p.54)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 48–49. ISBN 0-500-05128-3. 
  3. ↑ Verner, Miroslav (2001). The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments. New York: Grove Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-8021-1703-1. 
  4. ↑ Grajetzki, Wolfram (2005). Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary. London: Golden House. p. 5. ISBN 0-9547218-9-6. 

Further reading

  • Ranke, Hermann (1935). Die Ägyptische Personennamen. Glückstadt: J. J. Augustin. p. 172.  (German)
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