Herit was an ancient Egyptian princess of the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...

. She was most likely the daughter of the

Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...

-ruler

Apepi Apepi (also Ipepi; Egyptian language '), Apophis ( gr, Ἄποφις); regnal names Neb-khepesh-Re, A-qenen-Re and A-user-Re) was a Hyksos ruler of Lower Egypt during the Fifteenth Dynasty and the end of the Second Intermediate Period. Accordin ...

who was the most important king of the

15th Dynasty The Fifteenth Dynasty was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt. The 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combi ...

. The names of the king and of Herit appear on the fragment of a stone vessel found in a Theban tomb ( Tomb ANB) excavated by Howard Carter sometimes regarded as the one of king

Amenhotep I Amenhotep I () ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(w) /jaˌmanuwˈħatpaw/ "Amun is satisfied"; Amarna cuneiform ''a-ma-an-ha-at-pe'' or ''-at-pa''), Amenôthes I, or Amenophis I, (,) from Ancient Greek Ἀμένωφις ,Dodson & Hilton (2004) p.126 additionally ...

.Howard Carter: ''Report on the tomb of Zeser-ka-ra Amenhetep I, discovered by the Earl of Carnavon in 1914'', in: ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 3 (1916), 152, pl. XXI.1 This finding led to speculation that Herit may have been married to a Theban king of the

17th Dynasty The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period, approximately from 1580 to 1550 BC. Its mainly Theba ...

. The vase, however, may just as well have been an item which was looted from Avaris after the eventual victory over the Hyksos by

Ahmose I Ahmose I ( egy, jꜥḥ ms(j .w), reconstructed /ʔaʕaħ'maːsjə/ ( MK), Egyptological pronunciation ''Ahmose'', sometimes written as ''Amosis'' or ''Aahmes'', meaning " Iah (the Moon) is born") was a pharaoh and founder of the Eighteent ...

. On the vessel Herit bears the title ''king's daughter''. Her name is written in a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

, a privilege not granted to all members of the royal family. Nothing else is known about her. The fragment of the stone vessel is today in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(21.7.7).

William C. Hayes William Christopher Hayes (March 21, 1903 – July 10, 1963) was an American Egyptologist. His main fields of study were history of Egyptian art and translation/interpretation of texts.W. C. Hayes, ''The Scepter of Egypt'', part II, 4th print ...

, ''The Scepter of Egypt II'', New York 1959, , p. 6, fig. 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herit 16th-century BC women Princesses of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt