Setibhor () was an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian queen consort from the end of the 5th Dynasty. She was most likely the wife of king Isesi. She had several titles including ''Friend of Horus'' ''The one who sees Horus and Seth'', ''the great one of the hetes sceptre'', ''the great of praise'' and ''king’s wife, his beloved.'' Her pyramid was known for a long time, lying next to that of the king at

Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...

and is known for its unusually large size, the largest built for a Queen in the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –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 Dynast ...

. Her name and titles were found on a column in 2019. The pyramid incorporates elements that were previously only used in the complexes of the king. Egyptian archeologist

Ahmed Fakhry Ahmed Fakhry () (born in Faiyum Governorate in 1905 – Paris, 7 June 1973) was an Egyptian archaeologist who worked in the Western desert of Egypt (including in 1940 dig at El Haiz, and then at Siwa), and also in the necropolis at Dahshur. ...

(1905–1973) excavated her

mortuary temple Mortuary temples (or funerary temples) were temples that were erected adjacent to, or in the vicinity of, royal tombs in Ancient Egypt. The temples were designed to commemorate the reign of the Pharaoh under whom they were constructed, as well as f ...

in the 1950s, but the report was never published. American Egyptologist Klaus Baer (1930–1987), who assisted Fakhry on the excavation, noted that scenes had been "secondarily altered" with texts above the Queen's head erased and replaced by "vultures and other royal insignia". He also noted that the temple was "badly destroyed". Contemporary American Egyptologist Ann Macy Roth suggested that the royal insignia and the violence used on her monument indicate that she may have ruled as a female king, similar to how

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut ( ; BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from until (Low Chronology) and the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She was Egypt's second c ...

's monuments were defaced after her death. More recent research after fuller excavation of the monument is more cautious, but still point to the high status of this woman. The decoration of her pyramid temple shows many features only attested for sure for later queens.Hana Vymazalová: ''Newly uncovered relief fragments of Queen Setibhor: A queenly decorative theme with unusual features'','' Prague Egyptological Studies'' XXVI (2021), 10
online
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Setibhor 25th-century BC women 24th-century BC women Queens consort of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt 3rd-millennium BC births 24th-century BC deaths