Menka (queen)

Menka
Queen consort of Egypt
Illustration of the fragment of the basalt relief depicting Menka
Spouse	Uncertain, Khasekhemwy (?)
Dynasty	2nd Dynasty

Menka in hieroglyphs
Menka (Men ka) Mn k3 (My) Ka shall be durable Name
Maat-Hor M33.t-Ḥr.(w) She who beholds Horus Title

Menka was thought to be the name of a late Second Dynasty Egyptian queen and appears as such in a few publications. However, a review of the evidence makes it likely that a woman called Menka was never a queen.

Fragment

Very little is known about the life of Menka, whose identity is known only from a basalt fragment most likely coming from Gebelein. The name Menka means "the ka shall be durable" and the fragment with her name also includes hieroglyphs that could be read as “who sees Horus”, which was the title of queens in the early dynastic age and during the Old Kingdom. The fragment also includes a depiction of her. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The relief depicts Menka as a standing woman, in a close-fitting dress, with a large, hemispherical vessel on her head and with standards lined up behind her. The hieroglyphs do not indicate who her consort was. ^[4] Egyptologist Wolfgang Helck noticed that the scene bears considerable stylistic resemblance to an unfinished scene located on a basalt relief at the archaeological site of Gebelein, that is attributed to King Khasekhemwy, who was the last Pharaoh of the Second Dynasty of Egypt. Helck has suggested that the fragment of Menka's relief may also originate from that site. ^[5]

Vivienne Callender reviewed the evidence of the relief. She noted that the woman shown there bears a vessel on the head. This is typical for the depiction of an offering bearer. No queen is ever shown in this position. The hieroglyphic inscription might now relate to the woman depicted. ^[6] Menka was therefore most liekly a servant shown on this relief. She was not a queen.

References

1. Grajetzki, Wolfram (2005). Ancient Egyptian Queens: A Hieroglyphic Dictionary. Golden House Publications. pp. 120–1. ISBN   978-0-9547218-9-3.
2. Schlögl, Hermann Alexander [in German] (2006). Das Alte Ägypten: Geschichte und Kultur von der Frühzeit bis zu Kleopatra (in German). C.H.Beck. ISBN   978-3-406-54988-5.
3. Roth, Silke (2001). Die Königsmütter des Alten Ägypten von der Frühzeit bis zum Ende der 12. Dynastie (in German). Harrassowitz. p. 383. ISBN   978-3-447-04368-7.
4. Dodson, Aidan; Dodson, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. ISBN   978-0-500-05128-3.
5. Helck, Wolfgang (1987). Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit (in German). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN   978-3-447-02677-2.
6. Vivienne Callender (2011̠). In Hathor's image I: The wives and mothers of Egyptian kings from Dynasties I-VI. Prague: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, ISBN: 9788073083816, p. 47.