Meritites II (Merytiotes, Meritetes) or Meritites A ("beloved of her father"; ) was a 4th Dynasty princess of ancient Egypt, probably a daughter of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Khufu Khufu or Cheops (died 2566 BC) was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom period (26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his ...

. She may have been a daughter of Meritites I based on the fact that this queen is mentioned in

mastaba A mastaba ( , or ), also mastabah or mastabat) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks or limestone. These edifices marked the burial sites ...

G 7650. She married the Director of the

Palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

, Akhethotep (a non-royal court official), and she had several children with her husband. Meritites and her husband shared a mastaba G 7650 in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...

Family and early life

Meritites II was probably a daughter of Khufu, as she was said to be a ''King's daughter of his body'' and as the location of her tomb indicates a relation to Khufu. She was a Prophetess of Khufu,

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 ...

, and

Neith Neith (, a borrowing of the Demotic (Egyptian), Demotic form , also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an ancient Egyptian deity, possibly of Ancient Libya, Libyan origin. She was connected with warfare, as indicated by her emblem of two crossed b ...

. Meritites was married to Akhethotep, who was a director of the palace. Further titles of Akhethotep include ''Sole friend'', ''Priest of the Bas of

Nekhen Nekhen (, ), also known as Hierakonpolis (; , meaning City of Hawks or City of Falcons, a reference to Horus; ) was the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt at the end of prehistoric Egypt ( 3200–3100 BC) and probably also during th ...

'', and ''Overseer of fishers/ fowlers''.Flentye, Laurel. "The Mastabas of Ankh-haf (G 7510) and Akhethetep and Meretites (G 7650) in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza: A Reassessment." In Zahi Hawass and Janet Richards, eds. The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O'Connor, Vol. I. Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte, Cahier no. 36. Cairo: Supreme Council of Antiquities, 2007, pp. 291-292, 294-298, 301-303, figs. 1, 3, 6, 7. In the tomb, several children are depicted. A block formerly in the McGregor collection, but now in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

shows two daughters. One daughter is named Hetepheres and only a partial name has been preserved for the second girl: Khufu .. Reisner, ''A History of the Giza Necropolis'', Volume II, Appendix B: Cemetery 7000, Retrieved fro
The Giza Archives

Burial

Akhethotep and Meritites were buried at

in tomb G 7650. The mastaba is stone built and the interior offering room is decorated. Akhethotep is depicted with his wife Meritites and attendants in some of the scenes. In one scene, Akhethotep is accompanied by two daughters. A red granite sarcophagus with a palace facade was discovered in shaft C.Porter, Bertha and Moss, Rosalind, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings Volume III: Memphis, Part I Abu Rawash to Abusir. 2nd edition (revised and augmented by Dr Jaromir Malek), 1974. Retrieved from gizapyramids.org Meritites died during the reign of her brother Khafre.

Literature

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meritites 02 Princesses of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt 26th-century BC women 3rd-millennium BC births 3rd-millennium BC deaths Children of Khufu