Sobeknefru

Sobekneferu
Nefrusobek Skemiophris (in Manetho)
Preceded by: Amenemhat IV	Pharaoh of Egypt 12th Dynasty	Succeeded by: Sekhemre Khutawy or Wegaf
Reign	1806–1802 BC
Praenomen	M23-L2<-ra-I4-kA-> Sobek-kare Sobek is the Ka of Re
Nomen	G39-N5<-I3-nfr-nfr-nfr-> Sobekneferu The beauty of Sobek
Horus name	G5 ra-mr-M17-M17-t Meritra Beloved of Re
Nebty name	G16 G39-t-S42-nb:t-N16:N16 Satsekhem Nebettawy Daughter of the powerful one, Mistress of the two lands
Golden Horus	G8 Dd-t-xa:Z2 Djedetkhau Established of crowns
Father	Amenemhat III
Died	1802 BC

Sobeknefru (sometimes written "Nefrusobek") was an Egyptian female pharaoh of the Twelfth dynasty. Her name meant "the beauties of Sobek." Some scholars believe she was the daughter of Pharaoh Amenemhat III; Manetho states she was the sister of Amenemhat IV. She is the first known female ruler of Egypt, though Nitocris may have ruled in the Sixth Dynasty.

Amenemhat IV most likely died without a male heir. Consequently, Amenemhat III\'s daughter Sobekneferu assumed the throne. According to the Turin Canon, she ruled for 3 years, 10 months and 24 days. The end of her reign concluded Egypt\'s Twelfth dynasty and inaugurated the Thirteenth dynasty.

Reign

She is not known from many monuments, though many of her (headless) statues have been preserved including the base of a king\'s daughter with her name that was discovered in Gezer.Kim Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, Museum Tusculanum Press, (1997), p.213 ISBN 87-7289-421-0. She also made additions to the funerary complex of Amenemhat III at Hawara (called a labyrinth by Herodotus) and built at Herakleopolis Magna while a fine cylinder seal bearing her name and royal titulary is now located in the British Museum.Gae Callender, \'The Middle Kingdom Renaissance\' in Ian Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, (Oxford Univ. Press: 2003), paperback, p.159 A Nile graffito, at the Nubian fortress of Kumma records the Nile inundation height of 1.83 metres in Year 3 of her reign.Gae Callender, op. cit., p.159 Her monumental works consistently associate her with Amenemhat III rather than Amenemhat IV, supporting the theory that she was Amenemhat III\'s daughter and was perhaps only a step-sister of Amenemhat IV.Ryholt, op. cit., p.213 The Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt notes that the contemporary sources from her reign show she never adopted the title of "Queen or King\'s sister"--only \'King\'s Daughter\'--which supports this hypothesis.Ryholt, op. cit., p.213

Her tomb has not been positively identified, though she may have been interred in an uninscribed pyramid complex in Mazghuna, immediately north of a similar complex ascribed to Amenemhat IV. A place called Sekhem-Neferu is mentioned in a papyrus found at Harageh. This is perhaps the name of her pyramid.

Notes

References

• Dodson, Aidan. Hilton, Dyan. 2004. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson
• W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History,Archaeology and Society, Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0-7156-3435-6, 61-63
• Shaw, Ian. Nicholson, Paul. 1995. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers.
• Shaw, Ian, Ed. 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press. Graffito ref. pg. 170.

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