Mother Complex

There is no such thing as coincidence... While I was getting ready to do more posting tonight on the topic of MA, I thought I'd check the archaeological news first. What appeared first in my screen was this article from Haaretz entitled "Mother Complex": Tue., April 07, 2009 Nisan 13, 5769 By Ran Shapira The Egyptian researchers who, in early January, entered the burial room in the latest pyramid to be discovered in Saqqara, south of Cairo, labored for five hours before they could lift the lid of the sarcophagus within. Inside was a mummy wrapped in a flax shroud. In addition to pottery shards, gold wrappings were also found in the sarcophagus, which apparently were used to cover the fingers of the mummified body. Although no inscriptions were found in the tomb, the researchers assume, with a high level of probability, that it contains the body of the mother of the founder of the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty: Pharaoh Teti. The pyramid in which the queen, Sesheshet, was buried, was discovered in November 2008 - it is the 118th found in Egypt. Its discovery in Teti's burial compound surprised the researchers to some extent, since the site had been thoroughly combed through over the past 150 years. In addition to the pyramid where the king himself was buried, two "satellite pyramids" were found, the tombs of his two principal wives: The one belonging to Iput I was discovered about 100 years ago; the second, of Khuit, was discovered in 1994. Information about the queen herself is very meager. In a papyrus document that includes medical prescriptions, her name is mentioned alongside a request for a preparation that was supposed to strengthen thin hair. Nevertheless, it is possible that the "pharmacists" used her name to lend a bit of prestige to the prescription, and did not necessarily prepare it for her. Another inscription mentions her as being the mother of the king, and in several reliefs of the same area the name "Sesheshet" appears. However, these do not contribute substantial information about the king's mother. Scholars believe she played a very important role in her son's ascent to the throne, thanks, among other things, to her success in mediating between two rival factions within the royal family. Dr. Deborah Sweeney, an expert on ancient Egypt from the archaeology department of Tel Aviv University, says researchers assume that Sesheshet belonged to the close circle of the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas. He had no sons to inherit the throne and Teti may have been his grandson. Since it is not known when she died, researchers can only guess that the pharaoh's mother was alive during almost 20 years of his reign, which extended from 2323 to 2291 B.C.E. "Queens were identified with the goddesses that accompany the sun god, protect him and give him strength," Sweeney explains. "The king needed a queen at his side. There were periods when the queens played a political role, but that was an exception. There was a need for that, for example, when a king ascended to the throne as a child. Usually in those cases there was a queen mother, who took charge of governing until her son grew up." Dr. Rachel Shlomi-Chen, of Hebrew University's department of Ancient Near Eastern history, says Manetho, a Greek historian from the 3rd century B.C.E., wrote about a conspiracy in Teti's court. Furthermore, archaeologists excavating the cemetery near Teti's pyramid in Saqqara have found evidence that may point to a plot: The inscriptions on the tombs of high-ranking officials in the court were damaged, in what does not seem to be a random way, scholars claim: It may have been deliberately done to the tombs of officials belonging to the conspiracy. The queen mother may have helped Teti in his struggle against the conspirators, but in any case, according to Manetho, he was murdered by his bodyguards not long after she died. His dynasty, the Sixth, ruled Egypt until 2184 B.C.E., almost 1,000 years before the period of Rameses II, the king during whose reign the Exodus from Egypt took place. Egyptian scholars, headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities, stress that Sesheshet's pyramid is more impressive in terms of its dimensions than the structures usually built by ancient Egyptian rulers for their wives and mothers. Discovered beneath seven meters of sand, this pyramid in its prime was 14 meters high and the width of its square base was 22 meters. There is no question that Teti wanted to express respect for his mother by building the structure, but this in itself was not so unusual, Shlomi-Chen emphasizes: In ancient Egypt, the royal family also played an important religious role, and its members were considered to be the earthly incarnations of gods. The pharaoh was identified with Horus, god of the sky and the sun. The queen was both the spouse of the most important god and the mother of the god-king who was to succeed him. She was also identified with the goddess Hathor, the mother of Horus and the wife of the sun god, Ra. One of Hathor's symbols was a noisemaker, which is called sistrum in Greek and sesheshet in Egyptian. A step up The transition between the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties was accompanied by significant changes in religion and ritual. Dr. Sweeney explains that the kings of the Fifth Dynasty built their pyramids at Abu Sir rather than Saqqara. Alongside their pyramids, in addition to pyramids for their wives and mothers, they also built a sun temple, symbolizing their belief in Ra. During the Fifth Dynasty, the cult of Ra constituted the state religion, but there were changes during the reign of the last two kings in the dynasty: Alongside the pyramids of Unas and his predecessor, there were no sun temples, nor were there any in the burial compound of Teti and his family. "It is possible that Teti and Unas built huge temples in the capital city of Memphis, but nothing remains of them," Sweeney suggests. Unas also built his pyramid in Saqqara, which shows that after living elsewhere, he returned to the ancient burial site where the most famous type of step pyramid, that of Djoser, was constructed. Another innovation relating to Unas' pyramid, according to Shlomi-Chen, is the fact that the walls bear inscriptions - spells designed to accompany the king in the Land of the Dead. In the inscriptions, Unas is identified for the first time with Osiris, king of the Land of the Dead, and not only with the sun god. The Osiris cult, which came to symbolize the resurrection of the dead and was identified with the cycles of nature, had been started two generations earlier by the nobility. Teti ascended the throne on the backdrop of profound changes in Egyptian religion and culture, and became part of them. Further research into his mother's tomb will likely shed more light on him and on the events of that period of antiquity.

Queen Seshestet's Tomb Found

I'm not sure if I published something on this story earlier - here is a news story from Yahoo/News today. Note the difference in how the Queen's name is spelled in the photo credit and in the article itself: Shesheti versus Seshestet. Photo credit: Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass (L) excavates a newly discovered grave containing the remains of Queen Shesheti in Saqqara, in this handout photo taken January 6, 2009.(Handout/Reuters) Mummy thought to be Queen Seshestet found in Egypt Thu Jan 8, 7:21 am ET CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian archaeologists have found the remains of a mummy thought to be that of Queen Seshestet, the mother of a pharaoh who ruled Egypt in the 24th century BC, the government said on Thursday. After five hours spent lifting the lid of a sarcophagus in a pyramid discovered south of Cairo last year, they found a skull, legs, pelvis, other body parts wrapped in linen, and ancient pottery, the government's antiquities department said. They also found gold wrappings which would have been put on the fingers of the mummified person. Grave robbers ransacked the burial chamber in ancient times and stole the other objects. "Although they did not find the name of the queen buried in the pyramid, all the signs indicate that she is Seshestet, the mother of King Teti, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty," chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said in a statement. Teti ruled Egypt for at least 10 years around the year 2300 BC and is buried nearby. While archaeologists have found many royal mummies from ancient Egypt, most of them are from the New Kingdom, which began 500 years after Teti's time. (Writing by Jonathan Wright; Editing by Sophie Hardach)

A Female Guard of Pharaoh Teti

Whoa! Okay, called me warped. Tonight is the grande finale of Bruno and Carrie Ann's Dance Wars, oooohhhh hhhaaaaa! And later, Pussycat Dolls start a new show "Girlicious". How can I resist? I've got a ham bone a mile long, always to be on the stage but I have absolutely no talent for dancing and, at my age darlings, I'm excusing myself from being sexy. Spunky is mostly what I manage these days...

So, tonight I'm splitting my time between doing the blog, research, and watching the shows.

BUT - you've just got to read this. I came across it entirely by accident as I was looking for information on Arabian battle queens. It's from Ancient Times Discussion Board under the topic Women in the Ancient World/ancient women and professions (this part of the Board hasn’t had a new post since 2005):

The latest Bulletin from the Australian Centre for Egyptology arrived today. It includes a little article that’s just right for this thread. This is the story of a woman of the Egyptian Old Kingdom who held a job not usually associated with women until the 20th Century CE. It’s also a story that might involve treason, retribution and a reward for loyalty. Does it sound interesting? Before we can get to the story of our lady we have to talk about the Old Kingdom in Egypt. Hang on. I think you’ll be happy.

Teti was the first King of Dynasty 6. Around his tomb he established a small but elite cemetery for members of his court. High position wouldn’t necessarily get a courtier a place in Teti’s cemetery. Loyal, personal service to the Royal Family just might do it. That seems to be the case of a humble lady known as Merinebti.

In the whole Teti cemetery uncovered so far, only 3 women have tombs of their own. One is Nedjetempet whose son married the King’s daughter. Another woman with a private tomb is a priestess of Hathor who was probably buried later that Teti’s time. It’s easy to see how Nedjetempet rated a tomb of her own. Merinebti’s tomb is a different story. The highest title the lady ever held was ‘guard’. The mystery is compounded by the fact that her tomb was taken from a man of much higher position.

The Old Kingdom title ‘guard wasn’t a high position but it was an honorable one. It isn’t clear exactly what their duties were but the term may refer to bodyguards for the royal family. In such a position it’s likely that royalty and humble folk saw each other on a daily basis. Perhaps the King could relax with his guard. He had to know them well. They were responsible for his life. They very well may have exchanged jokes.

As in modern law enforcement, the position of guard tended to run in families. Old Kingdom titles weren’t hereditary but we know of fathers and sons or groups of brothers who were all guards. We even know of one, Khufuankh, whose parents were both guards. Not many women held the position but female guards did exist.

We know nothing about Merinebti’s family or life except that she was probably in her 50s when she died. Why should an obscure female guard be given a coveted place in Teti’s cememtery? Why was her tomb taken from someone else?

The tomb in which Merinebti was buried originally belonged to Mereri, who held such titles as "overseer of weapons" and "Superintendent of the King’s house". He must have been a powerful man. He also must have done something horrible to have his tomb taken from him and his name erased. In the same area of the cemetery the tomb of the Vizier Hesi suffered a similar fate. Could both men have been involved in the same disgrace?

A key may be Mereri’s title "overseer of weapons". In the Old Kingdom there was no real army to speak of. In time of need local nobles were expected to provide troops for the King. Weapons were fairly rare. Even scenes of the King hunting in the desert show his bodyguards armed with sticks instead of something more lethal. An overseer of weapons could do a lot of mischief if he so chose.

Manetho claims that Teti was assassinated by his bodyguards. There’s really nothing to support this but it helps our story. Say Teti really was assassinated by plotters supplied with arms by Mereri and supported by the Vizier Hesi. Teti’s son Pepi I exacts justice with an iron hand. He imposes the worst possible punishment on the murderers of his father by depriving them of their tombs and obliterating their names. Perhaps Merenibti was the one who uncovered the plot. What better thanks than to reward her with the Overseer of weapons’ tomb?

Of course, we’ll never know. That little scenario is pure speculation. All we have is the tantalizing fact of a humble female guard buried in a tomb taken from a man of very high status. Ain’t speculation grand?

This post is a recap of : Kanawati, Naguib. "A Female Guard Buried in the Teti Cemetery" IN: BULLETIN OF THE AUSTRALIAN CENTER FOR EGYPTOLOGY. V.12 (2001) p.65-70.

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I tried to locate further information online about Merinebti, but I found no images and no details from the excavation. I did find this:

From Wikipedia:

Dr. Naguib Kanawati is the founder, in 1989, of the Australian Centre for Egyptology, which coordinates all Australian excavations in Egypt with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Reports: 17) Naguib Kanawati & Mahmoud Abder-Raziq, with contributions by L. Horácková, Ann McFarlane, T.H. Schmidt-Schultz, M. Schultz, Sameh Shafik, Eugen Strouhal, Elizabeth Thompson, Naguib Victor and Roxie Walker, The Teti Cemetery at Saqqara, Volume VII: The Tombs of Shepsipuptah, Mereri (Merinebti), Hefi and Others, (Warminster, 2001). ISBN 0-85668-806-1.

I also found this fascinating bit of information about a lady I assume is Mereri's wife (the disgraced official who gave up his tomb to Merinebti). Now, it could be that this is a different Mereri - on the other hand, the website I got this information noted that the tomb was from the Old Kingdom. Teti was the first Pharaoh of Dynasty 6 of the Old Kingdom and his son, Pepi, was one of the longest ruling Pharaohs ever. This Mereri's wife was a priestess of Hathor. I don't think it's a coincidence:

The red scarf was worn as a part of the costume for priestesses of Het-Hert during the Old Kingdom. It is a long, narrow piece of fabric that is tied around the neck with its ends trailing down the back like streamers. It was also worn by dancers, though draped in a different way.

Outside the Old Kingdom mastaba tomb of Mereri at Saqqara there is a false door of his wife Nebet (aka Ibi), a priestess of Het-Hert. The false door of a tomb is the place where the Seen and Unseen Worlds connect, allowing the ka of the deceased to partake of the offerings placed there by loving relatives.

The carved relief from this false door shows Nebet wearing a long scarf and carrying two cloth sacks and two sistra (one of which is sticking out of the sack on the right). It looks as if she also might be wearing a menat necklace around her neck. One of her titles was "Priestess of Het-Hert in all Her Places."

It seems that Pharaoh Pepi was merciful and did not have the name of Mereri's wife erased from eternity forever, as he might have done as a punishment for Mereri. (By the way, I believe the red scarf on the false door carving was emphasized by Photoshopping).