Queen Meryt-Neith

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Queen Meryt-Neith is the first queen who ruled as a king over Egypt , like queen Neith-Hotep . Her name is associated with goddess Neith . There were two huge tombs for her: one is at Saqqara close to the capital of the newly-unified country and the other is at Abydos in Upper Egypt .

Different opinions were expressed concerning Queen Meryt-¬Neith . Had she ruled over Egypt or simply had she been a king's consort? We have no decisive proof that she ever ruled as a king , as she was not on any of the King-Lists . However , Meryt-Neith was known in the history of Egypt , during the time when the written records were somewhat obscure .

The problem with Meryt-Neith first came to light in 1900 AD . Her tomb was discovered among kings at Abydos . Meryt-Neith's name was inscribed on her tomb's wall , so in the beginning , the name was accepted to be referring to a male king . Based on this evidence , Meryt-Neith was classified as a king , possibly the third ruler of the 1st Dynasty . Later on , it became apparent that the name , Meryt-Neith , is actually for a female and it means 'beloved of Goddess Neith' . At that point , Meryt-Neith was accepted to be re-classified as a powerful king's consort . This view is supported by the discovery of few seals bearing Den's name inside her tomb at Abydos , so some scholars assumed that she must have been his wife . Some objections have been raised against this opinion due to the fact that Den's tomb which is next to Meryt-Neith's tomb was plundered . This may suggest that the contents of both tombs have been mixed up together . We know now that Meryt-Neith had another tomb at Saqqara where she had a solar boat , which was believed to be granting her spirit to travel with the Sun-god in the Afterlife , an honor reserved normally for the king .

So Meryt-Neith , by having two tombs , became the only woman known to have been commemorated in this way . This strongly suggests that she may have been a ruler or at least a co-regent rather than a mere consort .