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Egyptian queen fought for political rights 4,000 years ago

CAIRO, JULY3

An Egyptian queen fought 4,000 years ago for equal political rights
with men and was granted the supreme honor of receiving a pharaonic
burial, a French archaeological team announced Wednesday.

The texts found engraved in the pyramid of Queen Ankhenespepi II were
meant to allow her become immortal, a privilege until then restricted
to the pharaohs, said the team in a resume of its latest research
campaign in the ancient Saqqara cemetery complex, 20 kilometres (12
miles) south of Cairo.

"An exceptional funerary complex was built for this powerful woman,
and pyramid texts were engraved in the tomb chamber to open the road
of eternity before her," wrote the mission led by Audran Labrousse.
"The dignity of the monument is until this day unique" for an
Egyptian queen, "which induces the possibility that she received a
near-kingly burial," it added.

Pyramid texts are prayers and magic formulas engraved in
hieroglyphics on the walls of the compartment containing the
sarcophagus, meant to help the pharaoh rise from the dead and become
part of the eternal world of the Gods.

In the pyramid of Ankhenespepi II, the text addresses the queen,
telling her to "stand up, remove the earth and shake the dust away,
get ready for the voyage ... you will not die, your name will
remain."

The discovery of the texts in the remains of the queen's pyramid was
announced two years ago, but the indications published at the time
said they were prayers for the immortality of the pharaohs, not her
own.

Ankhenespepi II married two kings, Pepi I and his successor Merenre,
and then ruled for many years as regent for her son, Pepi II, who was
only six years old when he ascended the throne.

Because she ruled like a king, she claimed the right to immortality,
implementing a pharaonic version of equal rights and duties.

Her pyramid was not more than 15 meters (50 feet) high, but she had
an impressive funerary temple at the entrance.

The lintel of the gate's temple, unearthed in 1997, is a 17-tonne
block of granite engraved with an inscription that starts with her
title, "Mother of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt."

The importance of Ankhenespepi II is also attested in a 40-centimeter
(16-inch) statue representing her with Pepi II as a child on her lap,
kept in New York's Brooklyn Museum of Art.

According to Manetho, an Egyptian historian of the third century BC,
Pepi II ruled 94 years, the longest reign in history.

But Pepi II was also the last pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, a glorious
period spanning four centuries (circa 2600 to 2200 BC) that ended in
the chaos of a rebellion during which royal tombs were desecrated and
pillaged.

Historians agree that a series of bad harvests and waning central
authority were the main reasons behind the collapse of the Old
Kingdom.

But Labrousse told reporters here that Ankhenespepi's quest for
immortality broke a major pillar of pharaonic spiritual power and
might have produced religious and social upheaval that also
contributed to the revolt.

"What she did allowed all the Egyptians to claim in turn eternal
life," the French archaelogist explained. He expected the upcoming
round of excavations and research in Saqqara "to shed more light on
this period of mutations."

Ancient Egypt had only a handful of female rulers, the best known of
whom was the pharaoh Hatshepsut, who lived in the 15th century BC.
AFP

http://metimes.com/2K2/issue2002-27/cultent/egyptian_queen_fought.htm