Petrie Museum painted wooden stele of Neskhons

Neskhons (“She Belongs to Khons”), once more commonly known as “Nsikhonsou”, was a noble lady of the 21st Dynasty of Egypt.

Biography

She was the daughter of

Smendes II Smendes II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt. He briefly governed from about 992 to 990 BC., p.207 Biography The name ''Smendes'' is a hellenization of the Egyptian name ''Nesbanebdjed'' (''"He of the ram, lord of Mendes"''), ...

and Takhentdjehuti, and wed her paternal

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal relat ...

, High Priest

Pinedjem II Pinedjem II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 990 BC to 969 BC and was the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country. He was married to his full sister Isetemkheb D (both children of Menkheperre, the High Priest of ...

, by whom she had four children: two sons, Tjanefer and Masaharta, and two daughters, Itawy and

Nesitanebetashru Nesitanebetashru ''(ns-t3-nb.t-ỉšrw)'' was the name of two ancient Egyptian women. The name means “belonging to the lady of the ''ashru''”; the ''ashru'' or '' isheru'' was a crescent-shaped sacred lake around the temples of solar goddesses ...

. These are named on a decree written on a wooden tablet, which was placed in her tomb in order to ensure her well-being in the afterlife and to prevent her doing harm to her husband and children. This suggests family problems around the time of her death.Dodson & Hilton, p.207 CanopicJarsOfNeskhons-BritishMuseum-August21-08

CanopicJarsOfNeskhons-BritishMuseum-August21-08

She predeceased her husband and her mummified corpse was placed with that of Pinedjem II in Tomb DB320 in the

Theban Necropolis The Theban Necropolis is a necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom. Mortuary temples * Deir el-Bahri ...

, in which it was rediscovered in 1881. She was buried in the 5th regnal year of

Siamun Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun Siamun was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first Dynasty. He built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful rule ...

in coffins that were originally made for Pinedjem's sister and first wife Isetemkheb. Both the inner and outer coffins were found, but one of them was reused for the reburial of

Ramesses IX Neferkare Setepenre Ramesses IX (also written Ramses) (originally named Amon-her-khepshef Khaemwaset) (ruled 1129–1111 BC) was the eighth pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the third longest serving king of this Dynasty after Ra ...

. It is unknown whether her coffin was reused after her death or that she donated it to the reburial of Ramesses. The later theory is supported by the fact that she also donated linens for the rewrapping of his mummy; the former is indicated by the fact that apparently no attempt has been made to redecorate the coffin for a male mummy.

Mummy

The corpse was partially unwrapped by

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

on 27 June 1886; twenty years later, G. Elliot Smith removed the remainder of the wrappings. Neskhons did not have any gray hairs, so it is likely that she died young; according to Smith, she was either pregnant or giving birth at her death. The gold decoration of her coffin has been stolen in antiquity; her heart scarab was stolen by the Abd-el-Rassul family of grave robbers, but has been recovered and taken to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. Her titles were: ''First Chantress of Amun; King's Son of Kush.''

Biography

Mummy

References

Further reading