Meresanch III.

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Meresanch III. in hieroglyphics
mr s anx

Meresanch (Meres anch)
She loves life /
Life loves her

Meresanch III. was a queen of the ancient Egyptian 4th Dynasty . She was a daughter of Crown Prince Kawab and his wife Hetepheres II and thus a granddaughter of Pharaoh Cheops . She was married to her uncle, King Chephren . From this marriage came the viziers Duaenre and Nebemachet , two other sons named Cheneterka and Niuserre , as well as a daughter named Schepsetkau and probably two other daughters, unknown by name. Among other things, she had the titles " Who watches Horus and Seth ", " Horus ' friend whom he loves", " King's wife " and " King's daughter ".

Her grave

Ground plan and cross section of grave G 7530
Statue of Hetepheres II and her daughter Meresanch III; Museum of Fine Arts , Boston

Meresanch III. belongs to the double mastaba G 7530-7540 in the east cemetery of the Great Pyramid of Cheops . The sacrificial chapel of the tomb is located at the northern end of the east side and is very unusual for mastabas: While the sacrificial chapel is usually built into the core of the mastaba or is connected to it at the same level, an underground structure was built here that is unique in this form the mastaba architecture is. The chapel is decorated with reliefs, but they remained unfinished.

The northern half of the grave (G 7530) consists of three rooms. The lintel above the entrance gives two dates. The first gives the anniversary of the death of Meresanch III. at (year 1, 21st Schemu I ), the second the day of her funeral ([year 2], 18th Peret II ), which took place 273 days after her death. It is unclear whose reign these data refer to. While Reisner was still based on Schepseskaf , more recent studies tend to suggest Mykerinos .

Room A shows reliefs with craftsmen making statues , a sarcophagus , a shrine and a false door, as well as melting metal. Further scenes show Meresanch's father Kawab, her mother Hetepheres II, as well as her sons Cheneterka, Duaenre (here called Duare) and Niuserre (here called Niuserre- Anch , although the ankh was added later). On the south wall there are three niches containing statues of scribes carved out of the rock. The first statue shows Chemetnu the Elder, a craftsman who directed the construction of the chapel . The second statue presumably represents his son Chementnu the Younger. The third niche contains a group of four unlabeled statues, which Reisner assumes to represent the sons of Chemetnus the Younger.

Room B contains a false door on its west wall , which is flanked left and right by two statues carved out of the rock, which Meresanch III. and represent her mother Hetepheres II. Statues were also carved out of the rock in room C. There are a total of ten pieces in a row. According to Reisner, the three right represent Hetepheres II, the middle four Meresanch III. and the three left Schepsetkau and two other daughters of Meresanchs.

A shaft leads from room B to the burial chamber located underground. A black granite sarcophagus was found there, which is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo . The skeleton of the deceased was still in it. Research showed that she was about 1.54 m tall and died between the ages of 50 and 55.

A double statue of the deceased and her mother, fragments of two other statues and three servant statuettes were also found in various places in the grave. All of them are now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

literature

  • Michel Baud : Famille royale et pouvoir sous l'Ancien Empire égyptien. Tome 2 (= Bibliothèque d'Étude. Volume 126/2). Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1999, ISBN 2-7247-0250-6 , pp. 461–463 ( PDF; 16.7 MB ).
  • Aidan Dodson , Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt . The American University in Cairo Press, London 2004, ISBN 977-424-878-3 , pp. 52-61.
  • Dows Dunham , William Kelly Simpson : Giza Mastabas. Volume 1. The Mastaba of Queen Mersyankh III . Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 1974, ISBN 0-87846-104-3 ( PDF; 30.4 MB ).
  • Bertha Porter , Rosalind LB Moss : Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. III. Memphis. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1974, pp. 197-199 ( PDF; 30.5 MB ).
  • George Andrew Reisner : A History of the Giza Necropolis. Volume I . Harvard University Press, Harvard 1942, pp. 203, 207, 225-226, 310, Fig. 131 ( PDF; 249.8 MB ).
  • George Andrew Reisner: The Tomb of Meresankh, a Great-Granddaughter of Queen Hetep-Heres and Sneferuw. In: Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts. Volume 25, Boston 1927, pp. 64-79. ( PDF; 4.1 MB ).
  • ME Habicht , PE Eppenberger, FM Galassi, FJ Rühli, M. Henneberg: Queen Meresankh III - the oldest case of bilateral Silent Sinus Syndrome (c. 2620/10 - 2570 BC)? In: Anthropology. (CZ), Volume 56, No. 2. doi: 10.26720 / anthro.17.09.25.2

media

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann Ranke : The Egyptian personal names. Volume 1: Directory of Names. Augustin, Glückstadt 1935, p. 158 ( PDF file; 24.2 MB ).
  2. ↑ Silke Roth : The royal mothers of ancient Egypt from the early days to the end of the 12th dynasty. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2001, ISBN 3-447-04368-7 , p. 385.
  3. ^ D. Dunham, WK Simpson: Giza Mastabas. Volume 1, Boston 1974, p. 1.
  4. ^ D. Dunham, WK Simpson: Giza Mastabas. Volume 1, Boston 1974, pp. 7-8.
  5. ^ B. Porter, RLB Moss: Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings. III. Memphis. Oxford 1974, p. 198.
  6. ^ D. Dunham, WK Simpson: Giza Mastabas. Volume 1, Boston 1974, p. 17.
  7. ^ D. Dunham, WK Simpson: Giza Mastabas. Volume 1, Boston 1974, p. 20.
  8. ^ A. Dodson, D. Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. London 2004, p. 60.
personal data
SURNAME Meresanch III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Queen of the ancient Egyptian 4th Dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH 26th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 26th century BC Chr.