Neithhotep

Neithhotep (also Neithotep or Hetepu - Neith ) was an early Egyptian Queen of the 1st dynasty, who lived at the side of King (Pharaoh) and died under King Narmer Hor - Aha.

Name and identity

The name of Neithhotep is strongly influenced by the Egyptian goddess Neith, who learned ritual worship especially in the first half of the 1st dynasty. Her cult center was in Sais. Besides Neithhotep the names of some, especially women, persons are received with link to Neith on monuments and artifacts: Queen Meritneith and princesses Qa - Neith, Herneith and Aha - Neith.

Archaeological finds suggest that Neithhotep was the mother of King Aha, in recent years, Queen of Narmer and died under Aha. Evidence of this are clay seals from their grave with the name of Narmer and Aha. On the identity of possible further descendants nothing is known.

Possible regency

Much like Queen Meritneith also Neithhotep could have ruled on its own, as their name Aha and their own appears to Tonsiegeln from the grave of King in a Serech, this is not crowned in Neithhoteps case of a Horus falcon, but by the standard of the goddess Neith. Serechs but were generally reserved for male rulers. Further supporting this hypothesis is except through the Serechs by the unusual proportions of their grave system. A grave stele as in the case of Queen Meritneith one has so far not been found. The thesis of supremacy is not universally accepted.

Egyptologists Werner Kaiser and Günter Dreyer have suggested that Neithhotep possibly the same as King Teti, whose name traditionally appears as a direct successor of Menes, the first ruler of Egypt in the king lists. Kaiser and Dreyer suggests that the queen regent as an independent governance for her nephew, King Djer, took over because it was still a minor and therefore too young for the kingly office. This assumption is supported by the entry of the name " Teti " in the Turin Royal Canon, which Teti I. only 1 year and reigned 45 days.

Grave system

In the southern district of the Predynastic cemetery of Naqada is a large grave condition, whose former superstructure is ( mastaba ) today destroyed by erosion. The plant was excavated around 1897 by Jacques de Morgan and examined later by Ludwig Borchardt again. First, it was deemed a controversial ivory label for the grave of the legendary Menes. The choice of location for the grave system may refer to the origin of Neithhotep from the northern Lower Egypt, especially since her name also points in this direction. The fact that she was buried in Upper Egypt, may indicate that Narmer Neithhotep married to consolidate the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.