Iput I was a
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
, a daughter of King
Unas
Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), 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 (circa 2 ...
, the last king of the
Fifth Dynasty of Egypt
The Fifth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty V) is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. The Fifth Dynasty pharaohs reigned for approximately 150 years, from the early 25th century BC until ...
. She married
Teti
Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, sometimes also Tata, Atat, or Athath in outdated sources, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List b ...
, the first
Pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...
of the
Sixth Dynasty of Egypt
The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt.
Pharaohs
Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho a ...
. Their son was
Pepi I Meryre
Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) 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 ...
.
[Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. ] She possibly ruled as regent for her son Pepi I.
Life
Iput was a daughter of the Fifth Dynasty King
Unas
Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), 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 (circa 2 ...
. Her mother was
Nebet or
Khenut. She married King
Teti
Teti, less commonly known as Othoes, sometimes also Tata, Atat, or Athath in outdated sources, was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was buried at Saqqara. The exact length of his reign has been destroyed on the Turin King List b ...
, who was the first king of the
Sixth Dynasty of Egypt
The Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty VI), along with the Third, Fourth and Fifth Dynasty, constitutes the Old Kingdom of Dynastic Egypt.
Pharaohs
Known pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty are listed in the table below. Manetho a ...
. Their son was King
Pepi I
Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) 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 ...
. Iput is depicted with her son Pepi on a decree-stela from
Koptos.
The skeletal remains found at her pyramid show she died as a middle-aged woman.
Iput had another son,
Nebkauhor. She had several daughters:
Seshseshet Waatetkhethor,
Seshseshet Idut,
Seshseshet Nubkhetnebty and
Seshseshet Sathor.
Titles of Iput I
Iput I held several titles
[Grajetzki, Ancient Egyptian Queens: A Hieroglyphic Dictionary, Golden House Publications, London, 2005, ] because she was the daughter of a king: ''Daughter of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt'' (''s3t-niswt-biti''), ''King’s Daughter of his body'' (''s3t-niswt-nt-kht.f''), ''God’s Daughter'' (''s3t-ntr''), ''This God’s Daughter'' (''s3t-ntr-wt'').
Other titles are because she was married to a pharaoh: ''King’s Wife, his beloved'' (''hmt-nisw meryt.f''), ''Companion of
Horus
Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...
'' (''smrt-hrw''), ''Great one of the hetes-sceptre'' (''wrt-hetes''), ''She who sees Horus and Seth'' (''m33t-hrw-stsh''), and ''Great of Praises'' (''wrt-hzwt'').
Iput gained even more titles when her son Pepi I took the throne: ''King’s Mother'' (''mwt-niswt''), ''Mother of the Dual King'' (''mwt-niswt-biti'') and ''King’s Mother of the pyramid Mennefer-Pepy'' (''mwt-niswt-mn-nfr-ppy'').
Burial
Iput was buried in
Saqqara
Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphi ...
, in a pyramid near that of Teti. The pyramids of Iput and
Khuit were discovered between July 1897 and February 1899 by Victor Loret.
The burial chamber contained a limestone sarcophagus, and a cedar coffin. Remains of a middle-aged woman were found. Some of her funerary equipment has survived. These include canopic vessels, a headrest, and a gold bracelet.
[Verner, Miroslav. The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments. Grove Press. 2001 (1997). ] Her remains are in the
Egyptian Museum
The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...
. The gold bracelet was found on Iput's arm. The chamber further contained several vessels including polished red pottery and a rock crystal cup. Model vessels and tools were included in the burial as well. Some of these had originally been covered in gold.
References
{{Queens of Ancient Egypt
Ancient women regents
Princesses of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt
Women rulers of Egypt
Queens consort of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt
24th-century BC women