Djeseretnebti

Djeseretnebti in hieroglyphs
Djeseret-ankh-Nebti Ḏsr.t-ˁnḫ-Nb.tj

Djeseretnebti (or Djeseret-Ankh-Nebti) is possibly the name of an Ancient Egyptian queen. Since this name appears without any queen‘s title, Egyptologists dispute the true meaning and reading of this name.^[1]

Evidence

Ivory cloth label from the Sekhemkhet complex with the controversial Nebti name (right)^[2]

The name djeseret-nebti or djeseret-ankh-nebti appears on ivory cloth labels, found in the underground galleries beneath the pyramid of the 3rd dynasty king (pharaoh) Sekhemkhet at Saqqara.^[3] It is written with the common nebti-crest, but not with any personal title that could identify whether the person was a member of Egyptian royalty or that it was even a name. Egyptologists like Toby Wilkinson and Zakaria Goneim read the inscription as Djeser-Ti and identify it with the cartouche-name of the pharaoh Djeser Teti of the Abydos King List.^[3]

Wolfgang Helck, Peter Kaplony and Jean-Pierre Pätznik instead read the name as djeseret-ankh-nebti (‘the noble one who lives for the two ladies’) and see it as the name of a wife of king Sekhemkhet. They point to several clay seals found at Elephantine, which show Sekhemkhet's horus name alternating with the nebty name Hetep-Ren and postulate that this could be the original birth name of Sekhemkhet.^[1][4]

References

1. Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4, pp 108, 117.
2. Zakaria Goneim: Horus Sekhemkhet. P. 21 et seq.; see also Toby A. Wilkinson: Early dynastic Egypt. P. 98 et seq.
3. Toby Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge, London/New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1, p 98.
4. Peter Kaplony: Die Inschriften der Ägyptischen Frühzeit. 1. Band, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1963, pp 538–540.