| Henutsen in hieroglyphs |
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Henutsen was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 4th dynasty. Her name is known only from a 16th dynasty stela, found next to an Isis temple which was built during the reign of the 20th dynasty near Pyramid GIc (which was probably hers). The stela calls her "King's Daughter", and since she had her own pyramid, it is likely that she was a wife of Khufu[1] and possibly a daughter of Sneferu, thus a sister or half-sister of her husband. She is likely to have been the mother of Pharaoh Khafre and princes Khufukhaf and Minkhaf.[2]
Pyramid GIc was originally not a part of Khufu's pyramid complex, as its southern side is aligned not with the side of the Great Pyramid, but with Khufukhaf's mastaba tomb nearby. Dr. Rainer Stadelmann believes Khufukhaf is the same person as Khafre and the pyramid was built by him for his mother,[2] but this identification is doubtful.[3]
Henutsen is identified with the daughter of Khufu in Herodotus's Histories whom the pharaoh prostituted to finance the building of his pyramid. The story is completely groundless.[2]
Sources
- ^ Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004) ISBN 0-500-05128-3, p.57
- ^ a b c Pete Vanderzwet: The Queens of Egypt's 4th Dynasty
- ^ Dodson & Hilton, p.60
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