| Meresankh III in hieroglyphs |
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Queen Meresankh III was the daughter of Hetepheres II and Prince Kawab and a grand-daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu. Her parents were brother and sister. She married the pharaoh Khafra of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt and bore him four sons: Nebemakhet, Niuserre, Khenterka and Duaenre as well as a daughter named Shepsetkau.[1] She held the royal titles of King's Daughter and King's Wife, Great of Scepter.[2]
When she died some time shortly after the reign of Khafra, Meresankh was buried in an extensively decorated mastaba tomb at Giza along with a rock-cut chapel (G7530-5440). Inscriptions on the tomb provide both the time of her death and the date for her funeral, which followed some 272 days after her death.[3] She apparently died during the first regnal year of an unnamed king, possibly the pharaoh Menkaure.[4]
This tomb was originally planned for her mother Hetepheres II, but she instead donated it for her daughter's use—which suggests that Meresankh's death was sudden and unexpected.[5] Hetepheres also provided her daughter with a black granite sarcophagus decorated with palace facades for Meresankh's burial.[6]
Her tomb was discovered by archeologist George Reisner on April 23, 1927,[7] with subsequent excavations undertaken by his team on behalf of Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Her sarcophagus and skeleton are today located in the Cairo Museum; the latter reveals that she was 1.54 metres (5 feet) tall and between 50-55 years at her death.[8] The tomb also contained a set of the earliest known canopic jars.[9] A limestone statue depicting Queen Hetepheres embracing her late daughter Meresankh was found in her tomb and is today located in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.[10]
External links
- ^ Meresankh III
- ^ Tyldesley, Joyce. Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2006., p.45. ISBN 0-500-05145-3
- ^ Tyldesley, p.48
- ^ The Queens of Egypt's 4th Dynasty
- ^ Meresankh III
- ^ The Tomb of Meresankh III (G 7530-40) at Giza
- ^ Finding the Pharaohs
- ^ Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004), p.60
- ^ Tyldesley, p.48
- ^ Dodson & Hilton, p.57
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