Tomb Treasures of the Late Middle Kingdom: The Archaeology of Female Burials

CHAPTER 5 The King and the Women Buried Around Him

ChApTer 5 The King and the Women Buried Around him The burials of kings with only women placed around them seem to be a significant feature of many Old and all Middle Kingdom pyramid complexes. Among them are the burial complexes of the Sixth Dynasty containing the smaller tombs of queens. The pyramid complex of Pepy II consists of the king’s pyramid and pyramid temple, and around this pyramid the small pyramids of the king’s wives.1 There are no tombs of king’s daughters or male members of the family. They must have been buried somewhere else, perhaps somewhat farther away. The same arrangement is found for the pyramid complex of Pepy I, not far from the pyramid of Pepy II. Here, recent excavations uncovered many pyramids of king’s wives. In the pyramid complexes of the Twelfth Dynasty there were pyramids not only of queens but also of royal daughters, although the picture is patchy, as many of these complexes are heavily destroyed. It is possible to interpret this evidence on several levels. First of all, the king wanted to be close to his family, which included his wife, his daughters, and his mother, if she was not buried with her husband. One might ask, however, why there appear to be no burials of the king’s sons or brothers, who are almost invisible in Middle Kingdom sources. Perhaps with adulthood they became high officials and dropped the title “king’s son,” and are therefore no longer noticeable in our sources. Death in childbirth and mortality of young children was high in all pre-industrial societies, and we could therefore expect a certain number of king’s sons to have died young before entering any formal position. Nonetheless, even these are invisible in Middle Kingdom sources, while they are known from the New Kingdom, where objects WoMen BurieD ArounD The KinG 181 of king’s sons were found in the royal tombs, indicating that they were buried there.2 Therefore , it seems that there was some other reason why in the Middle Kingdom only women were placed around the king. First of all, it should be stressed that in almost all periods of Egyptian history, royal women appear in texts and depictions around the king. The most famous examples are the family “portraits” of King Akhenaton. On stelae, in tombs of officials, and in temples , Akhenaton is often shown next to his wife Nefertiti and next to some or even all of his daughters. Sons are never shown. This has often led to the conclusion that Akhenaton did not have sons.3 Looking at the whole of Ancient Egyptian history, however, it appears to be a common pattern that the king is shown or placed within the circle of the female members of his family. The male members of his family are not often represented, and only very rarely in the same context as the king.4 One of the earliest examples of this depiction of the king and his female family members is the series of stelae found at the Djoser complex at Saqqara. On these stelae king Djoser is mentioned by his Horus name, Netjerikhet (the name Djoser is known only from later sources for this king). Next to Djoser side by side on these stelae are the names of the 105. Relief fragment found at Heliopolis showing King Djoser. The female members of his family are depicted in small scale next to his feet. Drawing by the author from photograph; cf. Curto 1988, fig. 48; Ziegler 1999b, no. 7b. 182 ChApTer 5 king’s wife, the king’s mother, and a king’s daughter (who are not depicted ).5 There are fragments of a shrine or chapel of the same king in Heliopolis.6 Here the king is shown with, at his feet, the same women, depicted on a much smaller scale. No king’s son is present (Fig. 105). From the rest of the Old Kingdom, no comparable representations are preserved. In the mortuary temple of King Sahure, dating to the Fifth Dynasty, the sons of the king, the king’s mother, and the king’s wife are depicted several times.7 Officials serving the king are also depicted here. One wonders whether these reliefs had a different focus. The intention was most likely to represent the whole royal court. As we have seen, the Sixth Dynasty pyramid complexes are...