Ashayet or Ashait was an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian queen consort, a wife of

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II (, meaning "Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his Prenomen (Ancient Egypt), prenomen Nebhepetre (, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt, Elev ...

in the

11th Dynasty The Eleventh Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XI; ) is a well-attested group of rulers. Its earlier members before Pharaoh Mentuhotep II are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, whereas the lat ...

. Her tomb (DBXI.17) and small decorated chapel were found in Mentuhotep II's

Deir el-Bahari Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri (, , ) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis. History Deir el-Bahari, located on the west ...

temple complex.Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. (2004), p.87-88 The shrine and burial of Ashayet was found along with the tombs of four other women in their twenties,

Henhenet Henhenet was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, a lower ranking wife of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th dynasty. Her tomb (DBXI.11) and small decorated chapel were found in her husband's Deir el-Bahari temple complex,Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dyan. ...

Kawit Kawit, officially the Municipality of Kawit (), is an urban municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cavite, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 107,535. It is one of ...

Kemsit Kemsit was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, the wife of pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. Her tomb (TT308) and small decorated chapel were found in her husband's Deir el-Bahari temple complex, behind the main building, along with the to ...

Sadeh Sadeh ( also transliterated as ''Sade''), is an Iranian festival that dates back to the Achaemenid Empire. ''Sadeh'' is celebrated 50 days before Nowruz. Sadeh in Persian means "hundred" and refers to the one hundred days and nights remaining t ...

, and a young girl, Mayet. However, it is likely that there were three other additional shrines that were destroyed in the expansions of Mentuhotep II's burial complex. The nine shrines were built in the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. It comprises the seventh Dynasty, Seventh (altho ...

, prior to Mentuhotep II's reunification of Egypt. She and three other women of the six bore queenly titles, and most of them were Priestesses of

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

. The location of their burial is significant to their titles as Priestesses of

as the cliffs of

Deir el-Bahri Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri (, , ) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part of the Theban Necropolis. History Deir el-Bahari, located on the west ...

were sacred to

from the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

onwards. Her titles were: King's Beloved Wife ''(ḥmt-nỉswt mrỉỉ.t=f ),'' King's Sole Ornament ''(ẖkr.t-nỉswt wˁtỉ.t),''

Priestess of Hathor Priestess of Hathor or Prophetess of Hathor was the title of the Ordination of women#Ancient Egypt, Priestess of the goddess Hathor in the Temple of Dendera in Ancient Egypt. Title The title is known to be given during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, an ...

''(ḥm.t-nṯr ḥwt-ḥrw),'' Priestess of Hathor, great of '' ka''s, foremost in her places ''(ḥm.t-nṯr ḥwt-ḥrw wr.t m 3.ws ḫntỉ.t m swt=s),'' Priestess of Hathor, great of ''ka''s, foremost in her places, Lady of

Dendera Dendera ( ''Dandarah''; ; Bohairic ; Sahidic ), also spelled ''Denderah'', ancient Iunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”, Tentyris,(Arabic: Ewan-t إيوان-ة ), or Tentyra is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of ...

''(ḥm.t-nṯr ḥwt-ḥrw nb.t ỉwn.t wr.t k3.w=s ḫntỉ.t m swt=s).'' Ashayet's stone sarcophagus (JE 47267) contained a wooden coffin (JE 47355) and a wooden statue was also located in the tomb; they are now in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. Her stone sarcophagus is particularly well known for the exterior relief and painted interior. The painted interior was copied as tempera on paper facsimiles by Charles K. Wilkinson in Gurna in 1926. The facsimiles are now found in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York, but were never published. In the interior decoration of two

Medjay Medjay (also ''Medjai'', ''Mazoi'', ''Madjai'', ''Mejay'', Egyptian ''mḏꜣ.j'', a Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba, nisba of ''mḏꜣ'') was a demonym used in various ways throughout History of ancient Egypt, ancient Egyptian history to refe ...

women, Federtyt and Mekhenet, are depicted and named as part of Ashayet's household. Depictions of her three female scribes were named and depicted in same publisher. Liszka interprets this as this elite woman was in charge of her own household and choices of commissioned art for her depiction of afterlife. It has been posited that Ashayet herself was a Nubian elite woman living as queen in Egypt.

Facsimiles of Aashyt's sarcophagus

File:Facsimile_of_the_painting_on_the_inner_front_side_of_the_sarcophagus_of_Aashyt_MET_48.105.32_EGDP013012.jpg, Facsimile painting on the sarcophagus of Queen Ashayet, smelling the sacred blue lotus File:Facsimile of the painting on the inner back side of the sarcophagus of Aashyt MET DT232303.jpg, Inner back side of the sarcophagus of Aashyt (facsimile by Charles K. Wilkinson) File:Facsimile of the painting at the head end of the sarcophagus of Aashyt MET 48.105.29 EGDP013010.jpg, Inner head end of the sarcophagus of Aashyt (facsimile by Charles K. Wilkinson) File:Facsimile of the painting on the inside of the foot end of the sarcophagus of Aashyt MET 48.105.30 EGDP013011.jpg, Inner foot end of the sarcophagus of Aashyt (facsimile by Charles K. Wilkinson)

Sources

{{Queens of Ancient Egypt 21st-century BC Egyptian people 21st-century BC women Queens consort of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt Egyptian people of Nubian descent Egyptian Museum Mentuhotep II Hathor