Neithhotep
| Neithhotep in hieroglyphs | |||
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Personal name:
Neith-hotep/Hotep-Neith Nt.-ḥtp Neith is merciful |
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Neithhotep or Neith-hotep was an Ancient Egyptian queen consort living and ruling during the early 1st dynasty. She was once thought to be a male ruler: Her outstandingly large mastaba and the royal serekh ensnaring her name on several seal impressions previously led Egyptologists and Historians to the erroneous belief that she may have been an unknown king.
As the understanding of early Egyptian writings developed, scholars learned that Neithhotep was in fact a woman of extraordinary rank; she was subsequently considered to be the wife of unified Egypt's first pharaoh, Narmer, and the mother of Hor-Aha. More recent discoveries suggest that Neithhotep might have instead been a spouse of Hor-Aha, and the mother and co-regent of successive ruler Djer. Archeological evidence also indicates that she may have ruled as pharaoh in her own right, and as such would have been the earliest female monarch in history.
Neithhotep's name is connected to Neith, the goddess of war and hunting. This followed a tradition notably practiced during the first dynasty: many queens (such as Merneith/Meritneith, another possible female pharaoh and descendant of Neithhotep) and princesses (such as Aha-Neith, Her-Neith, Nakht-Neith and Qa'-Neith) also had names referencing the deity.
As a queen, Neithhotep bore several elite and pious titles:
It is possible, that Neithhotep bore more royal titles, but these haven't been discovered yet. At the time Neithhotep ruled, many royal titles for kings and queens hadn't been introduced yet. At this early state of hieroglyphic development, the early Egyptians may not have known yet how to express certain titles. Alternatively, the believe in the dynastic roles of queens was still a different one as it was at Meritneith's time.
Neithhotep's name was found at Helwan, Abydos and Naqada. It appears on clay seal impressions, on ivory tags and as inscriptions on stone bowls. Most of the objects were found in her burial complex and in the tombs of Aha and Djer. On several clay seals, Neithhotep's name was written inside a double serekh, the midst of the merged serekhs is perched by a divine standart of Neith. One unusual seal impression gives the name diction Hetepjw.
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