Neferu II

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Neferu II
King's wife; King's daughter
Figurine Neferu Met.jpg
Funerary figurine of Neferu made from wax, from TT319. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Burial
Spouse Mentuhotep II
Egyptian name
Neferu IINeferu IINeferu II
Dynasty 11th Dynasty
Father Intef III
Mother Iah

Neferu II was the wife and sister of the ancient Egyptian king Mentuhotep II who ruled in the 11th Dynasty, around 2000 BC. [1] [2]

Relief of a woman carrying a sunshade, found in Neferu's tomb TT319. Walters Art Museum. Egyptian - Woman Carrying a Sunshade - Walters 22325.jpg
Relief of a woman carrying a sunshade, found in Neferu's tomb TT319. Walters Art Museum.

Neferu is mainly known from her tomb (TT319) at Deir el-Bahari. [3] The tomb was found badly destroyed but the decorated burial chamber was well preserved and many fragments from the reliefs in the tomb chapel were found. [3]

Her main titles were king's wife and king's daughter. [1] The inscriptions in the tomb mention that she was the daughter of a person called Iah, [4] most likely the king's mother Iah who was the mother of king Mentuhotep II. She was therefore his sister. It is known that Mentuhotep II was the son of king Intef III who was most likely the father of Neferu.

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Neferukayet was an ancient Egyptian princess and queen of the Eleventh Dynasty. Her name is only known from her steward Rediukhnum's stela, which was found in Dendera. She is possibly identical with the mother of Intef III, whose name was Neferu. Neferukayet also bore the titles "king's daughter" (z3.t-nỉsw.t), "king's beloved wife" (ḥm.t-nỉsw.t mrỉỉ.t=f) and "royal ornament" (ẖkr.t-nỉsw.t), based on this, she was likely the daughter of Intef I and the wife of Intef II. Furthermore, in the tomb of king Intef III was found a relief fragment naming a woman called Neferukau. Silke Roth argued that Neferukau is just a different writing for the name Neferukayet. Neferu would be just a short version of the name Neferukau/Neferukayet.

References

  1. 1 2 Wolfram Grajetzki: Ancient Egyptian Queens, a hieroglyphic dictionary, Golden House P. London, 2005, p. 28
  2. Grajetzki, Wolfram (2024). The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt: history, archaeology and society (2nd ed.). London ; New York: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 18. ISBN   978-1-350-45553-5.
  3. 1 2 Porter, Bertha; Moss, Rosalind L. B. (1960). Topographical bibliography of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic texts, reliefs, and paintings. Vol I, Part 1: The Theban necropolis. Oxford: Griffith Inst., Ashmolean Museum. pp. 391–393. ISBN   978-0-900416-10-1.
  4. William C. Hayes: The Scepter of Egypt I, New York 1953, ISBN   0870991906, p. 160; 327

Literature