Princess Hetepheres (or Hetepheres A) was an Egyptian

princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subst ...

who lived during the 4th Dynasty. Hetepheres was the daughter of King

Sneferu Sneferu ( snfr-wj "He has perfected me", from ''Ḥr-nb-mꜣꜥt-snfr-wj'' "Horus, Lord of Maat, has perfected me", also read Snefru or Snofru), well known under his Hellenized name Soris ( grc-koi, Σῶρις by Manetho), was the founding phar ...

and the wife of vizier

Ankhhaf Ankhhaf was an Egyptian prince and served as an overseer during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, who is thought to have been Ankhhaf's half-brother. One of Ankhaf's titles is also as a vizier, but it is unknown which pharaoh he would have held this ...

Biography

Princess Hetepheres A was a daughter of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

and her mother was Queen

Hetepheres I Hetepheres I was a queen of Egypt during the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2600 BC) who was a wife of one king, the mother of the next king, the grandmother of two more kings, and the figure who tied together two dynasties. Biography Het ...

. Princess Hetepheres married her younger half-brother

, who was a

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

.Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. Hetepheres is depicted in Ankhhaf's tomb in

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

(G 7010). Hetepheres had the titles "eldest king's daughter of his body", "the one whom he loves" and "Priestess of Sneferu". She would have been a person of some importance as the wife of a vizier and as the sister of Pharaoh

Khufu Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having co ...

.Laurel Flentye, ''The Mastabas of Ankh-haf and Akhethetep and Meretites in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza: A Reassessment'' in Essays in Honor of David B. O'Connor Ankhhaf and Hetepheres had a daughter, who was a mother of Ankhetef. This grandson is depicted in the tomb for

and Hetepheres.

Tomb

Hetepheres' husband Ankhhaf had a large

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

numbered G 7510 in the

Giza East Field The East Field is located to the east of the Great Pyramid of Giza and contains cemetery G 7000. This cemetery was a burial place for some of the family members of Khufu. The cemetery also includes mastabas from tenants and priests of the pyramid ...

. The decoration includes the depiction of a grandson, implying that the tomb was constructed and decorated later in the life of Ankhhaf. There is no burial shaft for Hetepheres in this tomb, and she may have died before the completion of the tomb and may have been buried elsewhere.

References

27th-century BC women 26th-century BC women Princesses of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt 26th-century BC clergy Sneferu Ancient Egyptian priestesses {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub