Neith was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, one of the principal queens of the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 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 ...

pharaoh

Pepi II Neferkare Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is ...

, who ruled (c. 2278 BC – c. 2184 BC). Queen Neith was named after goddess

Neith Neith ( grc-koi, Νηΐθ, a borrowing of the Demotic (Egyptian), Demotic form egy, nt, likely originally to have been nrt "she is the terrifying one"; Coptic language, Coptic: ⲛⲏⲓⲧ; also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an early ancien ...

Family

Neith is thought to have been a daughter of the pharaoh

Pepi I Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of ...

and queen

Ankhesenpepi I Ankhesenpepi I (also Ankhenespepi I or Ankhenesmeryre I) was a queen consort during the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. Biography Ankhesenpepi was a daughter of the female vizier Nebet and her husband Khui, nomarch of Abydos. Ankhesenpepi's sister ...

, making her aunt and cousin to pharaoh 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 Merenre Nemtyemsaf II was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth and penultimate ruler of the 6th Dynasty. He reigned for 1 year and 1 month in the first half of the 22nd century BC, at the very end of the Old Kingdom period. Nemtyemsaf II likel ...

., p.77 There is a legend about Queen

Nitocris Nitocris ( el, Νίτωκρις) possibly was the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt's Sixth Dynasty. Her name is found in Herodotus' ''Histories'' (430BC) and in writings by the 3rd-century BC Manetho, but her historicity has been questioned. If she ...

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 pharaoh 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 pharaoh.

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 Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is ...

. Neith's pyramid complex included a small temple, a satellite pyramid and a fleet of sixteen 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