Behenu () 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 of the

Sixth Dynasty The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third Dynasty of Egypt, Third, Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egyp ...

. She is thought to have been the wife of either

Pepi I Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I; died 2283 BC) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, king, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years from the 24th to the 23rd century BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Ki ...

or of

Pepi II Pepi II Neferkare ( 2284 BC – 2214 BC) was a pharaoh, king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is the Ka (Egyptian soul), Ka of Re (Egyptian religi ...

. The remnants of her pyramid were first discovered in 2007, and news of the discovery of her burial chamber was made public in March 2010. The complex was discovered in the vicinity of the pyramid of the Pepi II, and it is thought that she was most likely the wife of this king, but no inscription has been uncovered that would positively link her to him. A set of

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...

was uncovered along with the burial chamber. This is only the second known instance of these ancient religious texts being used in association with a queen instead of the king.

References

24th-century BC women 23rd-century BC women 22nd-century BC women Queens consort of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt {{Africa-royal-stub 3rd-millennium BC births 3rd-millennium BC deaths