
History of Queen Merneith
Merneith is the First Queen who ruled Egypt, and there is a different opinion as to whether she was the one who ruled the country or whether she was the wife of King Jet only.
Archaeologists consider it a key to the rule of the Pharaohs of Egypt in the dynastic era, and some manuscripts suggest that she may have ruled the country alone during a period.
Her name and character
The name Meret Neth is associated with the ancient Egyptian goddess Neth, an important idol during the first dynasty. Some relics and tools from her era are found bearing other names, such as Neth hatep, meaning a satisfied Neth, and Nakh Neth, meaning a strong Neth.
Her name is the king's mother, who appears on many of the king dens royal seals. It may mean that he was her son. The found relics indicate that she was the wife of King Jet in 2900 BC, and was probably the daughter of Pharaoh Djer. On the other hand, the archaeologist Peter Caploni believes that she was the daughter of Ger, where traces bearing her name were found in his tomb, and she was the wife of Jet.
Her runis
Lamrit Neith found a memorial plaque from sandstone, which was found by the researcher Flinders Petrie in 1900 near the graves of Umm el-Kab. Seals of her name were also found in her tomb with the den (Pharaoh) in Abydos. Its name is less frequently found in sites other than Abydos.
Broken flasks and bowls of elephant tooth were found in the cemetery of Saqqara. This tomb was initially classified as her tomb, where her name was found engraved on an alabaster plate, and researchers later did not confirm this.
But her name was found on the seals of personalities who worked under her management in Saqqara, including the agent "Hatia" and"Sakha". "Sakh-ka-Saj" was the administrator of the district of "Hor-Waj", who was the contemporary of the Pharaohs Jer, Waji, and Den, and was buried in Saqqara.
Her tomb
The tomb measures 19.2 × 16.3 meters, and its height is not known with accuracy. The design of the tomb is similar to the tombs of King Jer (Pharaoh), Jet, den, AJ-EB, Samer-kht, and Qaa. And in the center of the tomb, he found a wooden coffin, as is the case with other kings. Around the chamber, there are 8 storage chambers and surrounded by 41 chambers for the dead, in which the senior staff, female and male servants of the Queen, and dogs are buried.
The design of the Tomb stems from the system of depicting the ascension to heaven after death, as engraved on an elephant tooth comb found in the Tomb of Pharaoh Jet, depicting the Earth and the sky. The Falcon Horus and the name written in the serekh (the name of the king or queen) fill the place between heaven and Earth. On both sides of the comb, there are two pillars of the sky. This shows the ancient Egyptian belief that the power of the King occupied the place between the Earth and the sky. That is, the King was up to his rank, which was then written and described in the texts of the pyramids in detail (during the IV dynasty, such as the pyramid of Unas).
There are also 71 secondary tombs in the Umm el-kab area, which have an area of 66.5 × 25.5 meters, located in the Meret Neith Cemetery in Abydos, the so-called "Valley area". Those secondary graves located to the northwest of her tomb were intended for the Queen's servants and were buried in simple wooden coffins. It seems that all the servants of the Queen and her animals were killed to be buried with her to accompany and serve her in the afterlife.
This system ended with the burial of the Kings after the pharaoh, as he was the last king of the first dynasty, and his tomb was surrounded by 26 secondary graves.
Numerous ivory and stone tools were found in the secondary tombs northwest of the Meret Neith cemetery. That is the Tomb of Meret Neith was identified by the presence of a flask decorated with the name of the Queen. That is why archaeologists disagreed on the burial place of Queen Meret Neith and the area around her grave. Archaeologist "Werner Kaiser" believes that this area belonged to the Tomb of Pharaoh Den. However, subsequent excavations have confirmed that it is a grave site belonging to the cemetery of Meret Neath. The tomb area is also located close to the Tomb of King Jer, as the design of their tombs is consistent.
There is a terrace S3503 in the Saqqara area (near Giza), which some historians believed in the past to be the Tomb of Meret Neith. However, this attribution is still puzzling scientists because the preparation of two tombs for one queen was a strange issue at that time, and this perception may be due to the custom that every king from that period had a tomb in Abydos.
But there is little belief in the theory that her tomb is located in Saqqara, especially since the method of burial is different, and the owner of the cemetery of Saqqara is unknown.
Cemetery s-3503 is a terrace formed from the outside in the manner of niches (corners), as shown after removing the dust from it with colors used in its decoration. Its substructure consists of a chamber lined with adobe bricks, measuring 14.25 × 14.50 meters, and followed by five secondary chambers. The sarcophagus chamber measures 4.80 × 3.50 meters, and the remains of a wooden coffin and small pieces of thin gold plates were found in it. Next to it was found a seal of King Waji (jet) and Queen Meret Neith. The Mastaba was stolen in the Old Testament and set on fire.
Recent evidence
The name of Meret Neith was not found on the seals in the Tomb of Pharaoh Qaa, the eighth pharaoh of the first dynasty, and all the rulers of Egypt in that first period are mentioned on it. It seems that Queen Meret Neith has had her historical reputation reduced at least since the reign of the Pharaoh.
The name of Meret Neith is purged from the stone of Palermo in a broken piece of a memorial plaque from the era of the sixth dynasty of Egypt. This painting contains the history of several kings, and her name is found in a second list that mentions annual events by Pharaoh den. According to the researchers "Kurt set" and"Silke rot" the stone of Palermo proves that Meret Neith is the mother of Pharaoh den.
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