Nebunebty | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Royal Wife | ||||
Born | c. 2400 ± 100 BCE | |||
Died | c. 2400 ± 100 BCE | |||
Burial | c. 2400 ± 100 BCE | |||
Spouse | Shepseskare (?), Menkauhor (?) | |||
Issue | Nebuibnebty (?) | |||
Egyptian name | ||||
Transliteration | nbw nbtj | |||
Dynasty | 5th of Egypt | |||
Father | Unidentified noble | |||
Mother | Unidentified pharaoh consort | |||
Religion | Ancient Egyptian |
Nebunebty (also Nebunebti) was an ancient Egyptian queen who has been tentatively associated with the 5th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Her name translates as 'the gold of the Two Ladies', or 'golden are the Two Ladies'.
Nebunebty is poorly attested, and the particulars of her reign are highly uncertain. It has been proposed that she lived during the 5th or 6th Dynasty, [1] though French Egyptologist Michel Baud felt that this range might be narrowed down to the first half of the 5th Dynasty, on account of the datation of other monuments surrounding her burial. [2]
Austrian Egyptologist Wilfried Seipel suggests she may have been a queen to the pharaoh Shepseskare as part of a wider proposition concerning the marriages of royal women of the 5th Dynasty. [3] Baud criticises Seipel's methodology, observing that pharaohs might entertain several wives concurrently. [2] Baud suggests a wider date range that includes the reigns of Neferirkare, Neferefre, Shepseskare and Nyuserre.
Baud's assessment has been countered by Vivienne Gae Callender, who contends that the peculiarities of the titulary recorded in Nebunebty's mastaba likely relate her to women known to have lived during the reign of Djedkare. [4] Callender theorises that Nebunebty may have been a wife of Menkauhor, noting the possibility, were Nebunebty to have survived him, that she could have been interred during the reign of his successor Djedkare.
Callender also draws parallels between the offering formulae detailed on her tomb and those of Habauptah, an official who served multiple pharaohs of the 5th Dynasty, finding that they are largely identical. Callender therefore assumes Habauptah to have been a contemporary.
During the course of her life, Nebunebty was accorded the title of Royal Wife. [4] [5]
The Royal Wife Nebunebty in hieroglyphs | |||||||||
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Era: Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) | |||||||||
In addition, several epithets are bestowed in the inscriptions found at her burial: she who sees Horus and Set , great one of the Hetes-Sceptre, she who sits in the presence of Horus, companion of Horus, Great of Praise, she who is joined to the beloved of the Two Ladies and the King and honoured by the King, by Osiris, and by the Great God. [4] [5]
The title Royal Wife makes clear that she was married to a pharaoh, and thus of royal stature, but there exists no evidence to suggest that she was a princess prior to her marriage. [6]
Nebunebty's burial offers no surviving mention of her parentage or her issue, and her husband is referenced only by the title of pharaoh. [5]
Regarding the royal women of Nebunebty's probable dynasty, Callender considers the references to gold and to the Two Ladies characteristic of women alive around the time of Nyuserre and thereafter. [7] She postulates that Nebuibnebty, a contemporaneous figure of likely royal stature, could have been a daughter of Nebunebty on account of the similarities between their names. She acknowledges, however, that this is conjectural.
Nebunebty was buried in mastaba D 18 (no. 64) in Saqqara, [8] lying some way north of Djoser's burial complex. [9] According to Jánosi, Nebunebty's mastaba is one of only a few peculiar cases of a burial in Saqqara having little or no apparent association with its nearby pyramid complex. [10]
The mastaba was unearthed by Austrian Egyptologist Auguste Mariette in the latter half of the 19th century, whose exploits in Saqqara were published in Les Mastabas de l'Ancien Empire. [5]
Mariette observed at the time of excavation that the mastaba was in a good state of preservation. He assessed it to have consisted of several rooms whose walls were plastered with white stucco. However, other than two short inscriptions bearing record of Nebunebty, her titles and her epithets, there remained nothing else of note. After establishing that the mastaba contained no serdab or stelae, he refocussed his efforts elsewhere, leaving the rest of the mastaba unexcavated. [5]
Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis, was a pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years in the mid-24th century BC, succeeding Djedkare Isesi, who might have been his father.
Userkare was the second pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, reigning briefly, 1 to 5 years, in the late 24th to early 23rd century BC. Userkare's relation to his predecessor Teti and successor Pepi I is unknown and his reign remains enigmatic.
Pepi I Meryre was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of Teti, the founder of the dynasty, and ascended the throne only after the brief intervening reign of the shadowy Userkare. His mother was Iput, who may have been a daughter of Unas, the final ruler of the preceding Fifth Dynasty. Pepi I, who had at least six consorts, was succeeded by his son Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, with whom he may have shared power in a coregency at the very end of his reign. Pepi II Neferkare, who might also have been Pepi I's son, succeeded Merenre.
Merenre Nemtyemsaf was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, fourth king of the Sixth Dynasty. He ruled Egypt for six to 11 years in the early 23rd century BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of his predecessor Pepi I Meryre and queen Ankhesenpepi I and was in turn succeeded by Pepi II Neferkare who might have been his son or less probably his brother. Pepi I may have shared power with Merenre in a co-regency at the very end of the former's reign.
Huni was an ancient Egyptian king, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom period. Based on the Turin king list, he is commonly credited with a reign of 24 years, ending c. 2613 BC.
Userkaf was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Fifth Dynasty. He reigned for seven to eight years in the early 25th century BC, during the Old Kingdom period. He probably belonged to a branch of the Fourth Dynasty royal family, although his parentage is uncertain; he could have been the son of Khentkaus I. He had at least one daughter and very probably a son, Sahure, with his consort Neferhetepes. This son succeeded him as pharaoh.
Neferirkare Kakai was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the third king of the Fifth Dynasty. Neferirkare, the eldest son of Sahure with his consort Meretnebty, was known as Ranefer A before he came to the throne. He acceded the day after his father's death and reigned for eight to eleven years, sometime in the early to mid-25th century BCE. He was himself very likely succeeded by his eldest son, born of his queen Khentkaus II, the prince Ranefer B who would take the throne as king Neferefre. Neferirkare fathered another pharaoh, Nyuserre Ini, who took the throne after Neferefre's short reign and the brief rule of the poorly known Shepseskare.
Menkauhor Kaiu was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Old Kingdom period. He was the seventh ruler of the Fifth Dynasty at the end of the 25th century BC or early in the 24th century BC.
Djedkare Isesi was a pharaoh, the eighth and penultimate ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt in the late 25th century to mid-24th century BC, during the Old Kingdom. Djedkare succeeded Menkauhor Kaiu and was in turn succeeded by Unas. His relationship to both of these pharaohs remain uncertain, although it is often conjectured that Unas was Djedkare's son, owing to the smooth transition between the two.
Neferefre Isi was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He was most likely the eldest son of pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II. He was known as prince Ranefer before he ascended to the throne.
Nyuserre Ini was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He is credited with a reign of 24 to 35 years depending on the scholar, and likely lived in the second half of the 25th century BCE. Nyuserre was the younger son of Neferirkare Kakai and queen Khentkaus II, and the brother of the short-lived king Neferefre. He may have succeeded his brother directly, as indicated by much later historical sources. Alternatively, Shepseskare may have reigned between the two as advocated by Miroslav Verner, albeit only for a few weeks or months at the most. The relation of Shepseskare with Neferefre and Nyuserre remains highly uncertain. Nyuserre was in turn succeeded by Menkauhor Kaiu, who could have been his nephew and a son of Neferefre.
Shepseskare or Shepseskara was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the fourth or fifth ruler of the Fifth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. Shepseskare lived in the mid-25th century BC and was probably the owner of an unfinished pyramid in Abusir, which was abandoned after a few weeks of work in the earliest stages of its construction.
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