Keminub was an

ancient Egyptian 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 ...

queen with the title ''king's wife''. She lived during the Late

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is a series of rulers reigning from 1991–1802 BC (190 years), at what is often considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI–XIV). The dynasty periodically expanded its terr ...

or Early 13th Dynasty of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.

Burial

Tomb

Dahshur DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur''; ' ) is an ancient Egyptian pyramid complex and necropolis and shares the name of the nearby village of Manshiyyat Dahshur () in markaz Badrashin, Giza Governorate, Giza ...

, the tomb of Keminub was next to the

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

of Amenemhet II. For that reason, it has been suggested she was his wife. The tomb had been heavily plundered by robbers, leaving only fragments of the coffins, which allowed the archaeologists to identify the names and titles of the Keminub. The tomb is characterized by a long vaulted corridor, mud-brick walls, and a thoroughly looted burial chamber.

Coffin

The style of her coffin and burial is close to burials of the 13th dynasty. She may therefore have been a queen of this dynasty instead. The name of her husband is so far unknown. Keminub was buried together with a treasurer named

Amenhotep Amenhotep (''Ỉmn-ḥtp''; "Amun is pleased" or "Amun is satisfied") is an ancient Egyptian name. Its Greek version is Amenophis (). Its notable bearers were: __NOTOC__ Pharaohs of the 18th dynasty * Amenhotep I * Amenhotep II *Amenhotep III * ...

, who is dated to the

13th Dynasty The Thirteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XIII) was a series of rulers from approximately 1803 BC until approximately 1649 BC, i.e. for 154 years. It is often classified as the final dynasty of the Middle Kingdom (which includes ...

Book of the Dead

On the fragments of her coffin appears one of the earliest attestations of chapter 151 of the ''

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' is the name given to an Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC ...

.'' Lüscher, B. 1998, ''Untersuchungen zu Totenbuch Spruch 151. Studien zum Altägyptischen Totenbuch''. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, ISBN 34470368X, p. 52-53

References

Literature

*Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan: ''Fouilles à Dahchour en 1894-1895'', Wien 1903, p. 70, fig. 117 *Peter Janosi: ''Keminub - eine Gemahlin Amenemhets II.?'', In: ''Zwischen den beiden Ewigkeiten, Festschrift Gertrud Thausing'', Bietak, Manfred (Hrsg.), p. 94 - 101
Keminub on Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom and early New Kingdom
{{Queens of Ancient Egypt 18th-century BC Egyptian women 17th-century BC Egyptian women Queens consort of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt