Iytjenu (The one who has come distinguished) was an ancient Egyptian king of the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom. It comprises the Seventh (although this is mostly considered spurious ...

, about 2100 BC. Very little is known about him as he is only indirectly attested in the name of a woman called Zat-Iytjenu - ''Daughter of Iytjenu''. The element Iytjenu within the woman's name is written with a royal

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 fea ...

. In this period the cartouche was only used for writing a king's name. Therefore, her name must refer to a king. The ruler's name is composed of two elements: Iy and Tjenu, both elements are also well attested as independent names. The position of the king within the First Intermediate Period remains highly speculative. Zat-Iytjenu is only known from her false door (

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 a ...

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 metro ...

, JE 59158) excavated at

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, Memphis. ...

in about 1920 to 1922 by

Cecil Mallaby Firth Cecil Mallaby Firth (5 July 1878 – 1931) was a British Egyptologist. Firth was baptised at Ashburton in Devon on 14 August 1878, the son of Henry Mallaby Firth, gent., and Frances (Fanny) Caunter. He became a lawyer, and after briefly wor ...

. Firth never found time to publish the stela. However, a note on the king's name was written shortly after by

Henri Gauthier Henri Louis Marie Alexandre Gauthier (19 September 1877 – 1950) was a French Egyptologist and geographer. In 1903 he entered the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology of Cairo. He made extensive excavations at Dra Abu el-Naga and El Qattah ( ...

in 1923. The false door was only fully published in 1963 by

Henry George Fischer Henry George Fischer (May 10, 1923 – January 11, 2006) was an American Egyptologist and poet. Biography Born on May 10, 1923, in Philadelphia, Fischer graduated from Princeton University in 1945, after that he was sent teaching English ...

.H. G. Fischer: ''A stela of the Heracleopolitan Period at Saqqara: the Osiris Iti'', in ''ZÄS'' 90 (1963), 36-37, pl. VI Very little is known about Zat-Iytjenu. She bore the titles ''sole ornament of the king'' and ''

Priestess of Hathor Priestess of Hathor or Prophetess of Hathor was the title of the Priestess of the goddess Hathor in the Temple of Dendera in Ancient Egypt. Title The title is known to be given during the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and was at that point very powerful ...

''. Her relation to king Iytjenu is unknown. Royal names as part of private names are common in almost all periods of

Ancient Egyptian history The history of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The pharaonic period, the period in which Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, is dated from the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iytjenu 22nd-century BC Pharaohs 21st-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Pharaohs of the Ninth Dynasty of Egypt Pharaohs of the Tenth Dynasty of Egypt First Intermediate Period of Egypt