Neith () 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, one of the principal queens of 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 ...

king Pepi II, who ruled (). Queen Neith was named after goddess

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 ...

Family

Neith is thought to have been a daughter of the king

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 ...

and queen Ankhesenpepi I, making her aunt and cousin to king Pepi II.Tyldesley, Joyce. Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. p.61 - 63. Thames & Hudson. 2006. Neith may be the mother of King Nemtyemsaf II., p.77 There is a legend about Queen Nitocris who, if she indeed existed at all, may have been a daughter of Neith.

Titles

Her titles as a royal daughter include: King's Daughter (''zȝt-nswt''), Eldest King's Daughter of his body (''zȝt-nswt-smswt-n-ẖt.f''), Eldest King's Daughter of his body of Mennefer-Meryre (''zȝt-nswt-smswt-n-ẖt.f-mn-nfr-mry-rˁ''), and Hereditary Princess (''jryt-pˁt''), As a wife of the king, she used the titles: King's Wife (''hmt-nisw''), Beloved King's Wife of Men-ankh-Neferkare (''ḥmt-nsw mryt.f-mn-ˁnḫ-nfr-kȝ-rˁ''), Great of Praises (''wrt-ḥzwt''), Great one of the hetes-sceptre (''wrt-hetes''), She who sees Horus and Seth (''mȝȝt-ḥrw-stẖ''), Attendant of Horus (ḫ''t-ḥrw''), Consort and beloved of the Two Ladies (''smȝyt-mry-nbty''), Companion of Horus (''tjst-ḥrw''), and Companion of Horus (''smrt-ḥrw'') Neith's title King's Mother (''mwt-nswt'') shows that she was the mother of a king.

Burial

Of the three small pyramid complexes built around that of the chief pyramid of Pepi II, Neith's is the largest. Neith's pyramid may have been the first one constructed among the queen's pyramids associated with Pepi II. Neith's pyramid complex included a small temple, a satellite pyramid and a fleet of sixteen small model wooden boats buried between the main and satellite pyramid. The entrance to the enclosure was flanked by two inscribed obelisks. Neith's burial chamber was inscribed with ''

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 ...

''. This is the second known occurrence of these texts in a queen's pyramid, the first being those of Ankhenespepy II. The burial chamber contained a red granite sarcophagus (empty) and a canopic chest.M. Lehner, The Complete Pyramids, 1997, Thames and Hudson The remains of at least part of her mummy were uncovered and were once housed in the Qasr el-Aini Medical School.

Sources

{{Queens of Ancient Egypt Queens consort of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt 23rd-century BC women 22nd-century BC women Pepi II Neferkare Pepi I Meryre 3rd-millennium BC births 23rd-century BC deaths Mothers of monarchs