Kawit was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, a lower ranking wife of Pharaoh

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw-ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh Dyn ...

of the 11th Dynasty. Her tomb (DBXI.9) and small decorated chapel were found in her husband's

Deir el-Bahari Deir el-Bahari or Dayr al-Bahri ( ar, الدير البحري, al-Dayr al-Baḥrī, the Monastery of the North) is a complex of mortuary temples and tombs located on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, Egypt. This is a part o ...

temple complex,Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. (2004), p.88 behind the main building, along with the tombs of five other ladies,

Ashayet Ashayet or Ashait was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, a wife of Mentuhotep II in the 11th Dynasty. Her tomb (DBXI.17) and small decorated chapel were found in Mentuhotep II's Deir el-Bahari temple complex.Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dyan. The Comp ...

Henhenet Henhenet was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, a lower ranking wife of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th dynasty. Her tomb (DBXI.11) and small decorated chapel were found in her husband's Deir el-Bahari temple complex,Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dya ...

Kemsit Kemsit was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, the wife of pharaoh Mentuhotep II of the 11th Dynasty. Her tomb ( TT308) and small decorated chapel were found in her husband's Deir el-Bahari temple complex, behind the main building, along with th ...

Sadeh ) , observedby = Canada (by Iranian Canadians) USA (by Iranian Americans) , ends = , week_ordinal = , weekday = , month = January , date2008 = , date2009 = , date2010 = , date2011 = , date2012 ...

and Mayet. She and three other women of the six bore queenly titles, and most of them were priestesses of

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major 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 ...

, so it is possible that they were buried there as part of the goddess's cult, but it is also possible that they were the daughters of nobles the king wanted to keep an eye upon. Her stone sarcophagus is now 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 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 47397). The queen is depicted with short hair, she is sitting on a chair, a servant girl is arranging her hair, while a servant is pouring her a drink. On her sarcophagus her only titles are priestess and King's Ornament (a title for noble ladies at court), her queenly title appears only in her chapel. Also in her tomb were six miniature wax figurines depicting Kawit, in small wooden coffins, these may be early versions of

ushabti The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "' ...

.Grajetzki, Wolfram. Ancient Egyptian Queens: A Hieroglyphic Dictionary. London: Golden House Publications. (2005), p.29 The queen was also depicted on reliefs in the funerary temple of her husband Mentuhotep II. These depictions are today heavily destroyed, but it seems that she appeared in a scene showing a row of royal women. On the preserved fragments she is shown before queen

. Her title in the depiction is ''beloved king's wife''.

Dieter Arnold Dieter or dieter may refer to: * A person committed to dieting People Dieter is a German given name (), a short form of Dietrich, from ''theod+ric'' "people ruler", see Theodoric. Given name *Dieter Althaus (born 1958), German politician * ...

: ''Relief of Wives of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II'', in: A. Oppenheim, d. Arnold, D. Arnold, Kei Yamamoto (editors): ''Ancient Egypt Transformed, The Middle Kingdom'', New York 2015 , 102-103, no. 43; the fragments are now in Geneva, Musėesd'Arte ed d'Histore, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund 1907 (4767) Her titles were: King's Beloved Wife ''(ḥmt-nỉswt mrỉỉ.t=f ),'' King's Ornament ''(ẖkr.t-nỉswt),'' King's Sole Ornament ''(ẖkr.t-nỉswt wˁtỉ.t),''

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 ...

''(ḥm.t-nṯr ḥwt-ḥrw).''

Sources

21st-century BC Egyptian people 21st-century BC women Queens consort of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt Egyptian Museum Mentuhotep II Hathor {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub