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Undoubtedly, the structuring of Egyptian royalty was meant to focus upon a male king, who was considered to be the earthly manifestation of Horus, a male god. Normally, a king would be succeeded by his senior surviving son, but every so often in Egyptian history, a woman rose to power, sometimes acting as regent for a young son, but at other times taking the throne completely, as in the case of Hatshepsut. However, Hatshepsut was not the first nor the last woman to rule Egypt. In fact, the last ruler of a pharaonic Egypt is frequently considered to be Cleopatra, prior to Egypt's fall into Roman hands. Perhaps the first woman to wield executive power in Egypt was Merytneith, a probable wife of Djet who acted as regent during her son's (Den) early years. However, few claim that she was a king in her own right.  So who was the first woman to rule Egypt? The earliest candidate for an actual female king of Egypt is Khentykaues I, who lived at the end of the 4th Dynasty. Her unusual tomb is located at Giza, and on its granite doorway is recorded a set of titles that can be read either as "Mother of Two Kings" or "King and Mother of a King". In support of the latter title is her image, which was altered to show her in a kingly pose, including a false beard.  Khentykaues I may have ruled during the youth of her presumed son, Sahure, possibly in conjunction with Userkaf, the founder of the 5th Dynasty. However, despite the fact that she was apparently considered the ancestress of the 5th Dynasty and was commemorated in the mortuary chapel at Abusir of Khentykaues II, the wife of Neferirkare and mother of Reneferef  (and probably Nyuserre Ini), her name has never been found in a royal cartouche. It should be pointed out that most modern lists of Egyptian kings do not include Khentykaues I as a ruler. A more mysterious candidate for the first female king of Egypt is recorded many centuries later in the work of the Egyptian Historian, Manetho. He, in an obvious error known to us today, says that Nitokris built the third pyramid. Herodotus also mentions Nitokris, telling us that she killed hundreds of Egyptians to avenge the king, her brother, whom his subjects had killed. She accomplished this by constructing a huge underground chamber where she invited to a banquet all those she knew to be responsible for her brother's death. Then, when the banquet was underway, she let the river in on them through a concealed pipe. Afterwards, in order to escape her punishment, she was reported to have flung herself into a room full of embers. Interestingly, Herodotus does not ascribe the third pyramid at Giza to this woman, but rather to another female courtesan of the 26th Dynasty. Nitokris is actually a Greek rendering of the Egyptian name Neitaqerti, and in the Turin king-list, which can be dated to the 19th Dynasty, this Egyptian name appears on a fragment that seems to belong to the late 6th Dynasty portion of the papyrus. Initially, many scholars linked this name to the legendary queen. However, work on linking the misplaced parts of the papyrus during the mid 1990s has suggested that the Nitokris cartouche is actually part of the titulary of a clearly male king named Siptah. Furthermore, it has also been suggested that "Neitaqerti" is actually the result of a faulty transcription of the prenomen, "Netjerkare", which was assumed by a king on his accession.  This would fit nicely with the only other kings-list, at Abydos, that covers the period. It places a "Netjerkare" in exactly the right spot, though it is clear that by the early 19th Dynasty, when both lists were compiled, that there was some confusion that resulted in a "Neitaqerti" being inserted in some historical documents concerning the period after Pepi II, though no others. This does give us one possibility for the link between Nitokris and the third pyramid at Giza. Three reigns after Pepi II, the Abydos list records a King Menkare, a name which is very close to Menkaure, the actual 4th Dynasty builder of the third pyramid at Giza. Given Manetho's claim that the third pyramid belonged to Nitokris, a transformation from Menkaure to Menkare to Neitaqerti could be used to suggest that the prenomen of Neitaqerti was Menkare. It is also possible that the Giza pyramid female connection might actually be with the tomb of Khentykaues I, the size of which has sometimes led to its being called the "fourth pyramid" at Giza. It should be note, however, that several sources list Nitokris (Nitiqret) as a king of Egypt, including the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Aidan Dodson's Monarchs of the Nile and Nicolas Grimal's A History of Ancient Egypt. However, it should be noted that each of these sources appears to rely completely on Manetho and the kings-lists. Other evidence for her rule is practically nonexistent, and there is no contemporary trace of a King Nitakris (the English term "queen" can mean both a female king and the wife of a king, but in Egyptian the terms for the two are completely distinct). Hence, her rule is very suspect. It is not until the end of the Middle Kingdom that we find, for the first time, clear evidence for a female king of Egypt. Her name was Sobekneferu (Nefrusobk, Neferusobek, Sobekkara). The name 'Sobekneferu' means, "The beauties of Sobek", the crocodile god. The rulers of the 12th Dynasty established a religious and economic center in the Fayoum where the crocodiles were nurtured and worshipped.  During the prosperity and innovations of this period, it is possible that Amenemhat III may have even contemplated a female as his heir. A daughter of the king named Nefruptah was invested with a cartouche around her name, something never before done for anyone other than a king, and she was given titles often used by a king's wife, though apparently she was never married to a king. After her death, she was first buried in her father's burial chamber, but was then reburied in her own pyramid some two kilometers away.  However, she did not succeed Amenemhat III. After Amenemhat III's death, Amenemhat IV came to the throne, but he died early and was succeeded on the throne by a woman named Sobekneferu, who was presumably a sister of Nefruptah. She may have been the wife and sister of Amenemhat IV as well. Sobekneferu apparently ruled for only some four years, but is known from a number of monuments and artifacts, including five statues, fragments relating to the mortuary temple of Amenemhat III at Hawara, scarabs, seals and beads, as well as from a Nile inundation record. This latter document from the Nubian fortress of Kumma relates a poor flood of some 1.83 meters, and dates to Sobekneferu's last year. Usually, the queen uses feminine titles, but several masculine ones were also used. Three headless statues of the queen, discovered in the Fayoum, and a few other items contain her name. In one damaged statue of the queen of unknown origin, the costume she wears is unique in its combination of elements from male and female dress, echoing her occasional use of male titles in her records. In another intriguing statuette of the queen now in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the queen wears a sed-festival cloak and a most unusual crown, which may have resulted from an attempt to combine unfamiliar iconographic elements of male and female rulers. She contributed to Amenemhat III's Labyrinth, and also built at Herakleopolis Magna.  Generally, Sobekneferu is known as the last Egyptian king of the Middle Kingdom, prior to the confusion of the Second Intermediate Period. She is the last ruler prior to the New Kingdom to appear in the offering lists found at Abydos and Saqqara, which suggests some kind of posthumous verdict that separates her from the kings who followed her with equally short reigns.  Nothing is known of Sobekneferu's death or burial. Some have suggested that her burial might be one of the pyramids at Mazghuna, but this is very unlikely. Thus, one of the most powerful women of early world history final destiny remains a mystery to us.

Ain Soukhna

The moon has always played an important role in Egyptian religion, even through modern times, with it's symbolisms related to the Islamic faith. During ancient times, it was never as important to the Egyptians as the sun, though the moon was considered by them to be the nightly replacement of the sun. Within all of the known creation accounts, the Sun is always paramount. However, in the relationship between the Moon and the stars, the lunar god can be designated as "ruler of the stars". However, unlike the solar Aten, it is uncertain that the disk of the moon was itself ever worshipped as a deity during the history of ancient Egypt. Rather, like animals, it was regarded as a symbol or manifestation of specific deities.  When depicted, the moon is most commonly represented as a combination of the full-moon disk with the crescent moon. Lunar gods were almost always shown with this symbol on their heads. At times, the full-moon disk could have a wadjat eye (either the left or the right), or a lunar god depicted within it. The moon was, like the Sun, frequently shown traversing the sky in a boat. The most complete extant depiction of the entire lunar cycle is found inside the pronaos of the temple of Edfu. The beginning of the lunar cycle was considered to be the new moon, and it ended with the moment of the full Moon. Therefore, the moon only became visible on the second day of the lunar month. The lunar cycle is represented either as a six day evolution up to the sixth day, or as a fifteen day evolution up to the ideal day of the full moon. The importance given to the sixth day is probably explained by the increasing intensity of moonlight at this stage of the cycle, though sometimes the seventh day is mentioned instead. Interruptions in the usual lunar cycle were feared by the ancient Egyptians. A lunar eclipse was seen as a bad omen, evidenced from some Late Period texts that describe the sky swallowing the moon. The lunar cycle was also though to influence daily life, and the Egyptians dedicated stelae to it at Deir el-Medina, as well as forming personal names with the moon element.  In time, the moon became a symbol of rejuvenation, and given it's cycle, this is understandable. Later texts in fact describes it as "the one that repeats its form". Sometimes lunar gods were depicted as youths, though the entire lunar cycle could be compared to the life cycle of a man. It could also represent the old man who becomes once more, a child. During the New Kingdom, a pharaoh might be declared "young as the moon", and Amenhotep III fully identifies himself with the moon in his temple at Soleb. In funerary beliefs, the lunar cycle was an image of cyclical renewal. The feast of the sixth day was associated with the victory of Osiris, and even though the moment of the full moon could have the same significance, the sixth day became particularly important in funerary rituals. In fact, by the time of the Pyramid Texts, the deceased is already identified with the moon. During the Middle Kingdom, funerary beliefs were especially concerned with the night sky, even though lunar associations were not common during that period. However, the Coffin Texts from Deir el-Bersheh nevertheless accord an equal place in the afterworld to the lunar god Thoth, next to Osiris and Re. During the New Kingdom and later, the roll of the moon in the afterlife remains rare, but is found for instance in chapter 131 of the Book of the Dead.  The moon also had other associations in ancient Egypt. For example, on account of the similarity in shape of the crescent moon and a bull's horns, it was compared to that that important animal. Hence, lunar gods are frequently described with "sharp horns". During the Greek period especially at Edfu and Karnak, the metaphor is developed by calling the crescent moon the "rutting bull", while the waning moon is an ox. Bulls in ancient Egypt were often seen as a symbol of fertility, and so the moon was "the rutting bull who inseminates the cows", but it was also said that "You unite with young women, you are an inseminating bull who fertilizes the girls", indicating a perceived relationship between female fertility and the moon.  These concepts of fertility extend to resources as well, and the ancient Egyptians understood that there was a relationship that existed between the Moon and the growth of plants and that sowing was best done at the time of a full moon. However, it was even thought that minerals in the desert came into being under the Moon's influence.  The moon and the sun were commonly referred to by the ancient Egyptians as "the two lights", and the weaker light of the Moon is compared to the evening Sun. Most frequently, the ancient Egyptians interpreted these two lights as the eyes of Re, or of the sky god Horus, whose left eye was the Moon and whose right eye was the sun. The left eye was weaker because it had been damaged, according to myth. This myth was elaborated upon in various cult centers, giving rise to special forms of Horus such as Khenty-Khety of Letopolis and the later Hor-Merty of Horbeit (in the Delta). In fact, this mythology became very extensive, with a number of variants. Four primary myths can be identified surrounding the divine eyes. They included the eyes of the sky god, the injured eye of Horus, the solar eye and the distant goddess who is brought back. Variants of these myths were formed when elements form each were sometimes mixed and interchanged with the others. By far, the predominant myth concerning the moon relates its cycle to the battle between Horus and Seth. In this famous battle over the inheritance of Osiris, Seth steals the eye of Horus and divides it into six parts, thus damaging it. Thoth later restores it "with his fingers", or by spitting on it. Within the temple at Kom-Ombo (scene 950), a series of medical instruments is depicted being used in the healing of the eye by the god Horoeris. This restored eye is called wedjat beginning in the New Kingdom, but the myth is actually much older and can be found in Spell 335 of the Coffin Texts. Onuris, Thoth, or Osiris as moon returns the complete eye to Horus. Thoth may also be said to catch the lunar eye in a net, acting together with the god Shu. "Filling the Wedjat eye", "entering into the left eye", or "joining the left eye" also means restoring the eye. This act, which was performed by Thoth together with a specific group of fourteen gods,  was performed on the sixth lunar day. During the Greco-Roman period, temple reliefs form the region between Dendera and Esna indicate that the group of gods who restored the eye were the Ennead of Hermopolis. Together with Thoth, these gods represented the fifteen days leading up to the full moon, and again the days of the waning moon. As representing the latter, they are said to exit from the eye. At Edfu and Philae, the gods Tanenent and Iunit of the Hermopolitan Ennead are replaced by Hekes and Hepuy.  A symbolic variant of this theme occurs in the temples at Edfu and Dendera, where a staircase with fourteen steps supports the fourteen gods of the waxing moon. At Edfu, Dendera and Ismant el-Kharab (Dakhleh Oaisis) there exist a list of a different group of thirty, mostly male, deities associated with the days of the lunar month. In these legends at Ismant el-Kharab, the first fifteen gods are said to fill the wedjat eye with a fraction each day, after which the moon's reduction is recorded up to the twenty-fourth day, when the intensity of the moonlight has all but disappeared.  There were, of course, other important myths. Because of the identification of the moon with the god Horus, the birth of Horus (or Harsiese) was celebrated on the second lunar day in the ancient Egyptian month of Pharmuthi. Therefore, at Edfu where it is stated that "When he completes the half month, he assumes control of the sky rejuvenated", the full moon could be equated with the adult Horus. At the moment of the full moon, Horus was declared "true of voice" and "joyful", because of his victory over Seth in the divine tribunal of Heliopolis. Based on this theme, the lunar cycle was linked to the renewal of royal powers at Karnak. The opposition of the Sun and Moon in the sky on the fifteenth or sixteenth day of the month was the most important moment of the lunar cycle. This is evidenced by inscriptions at temples in Edfu, Dendera and Karnak. This moment in time was known as "the uniting of the two bulls", and was described in the New Kingdom Osireion at Abydos. A ritual in later temples was celebrated with the offering of two mirrors, symbolizing the two lights at this precise moment. The moment symbolized the rejuvenation of the sun god Amun-Re at Thebes, and also in the Dakhleh Oaisis, when his son and successor, the moon god Khonsu, received his heritage of cosmic rule.  Another important lunar god was Osiris, who may have only become identified with the moon as of the New Kingdom. The murder of the god Osiris and his resurrection were recognized in the lunar cycle, and the body of Osiris was equated with the moon. In this myth, Osiris' body was cut into fourteen parts by Seth, where were later reassembled and restored to life. Here also, the number of parts of Osiris' body were equated with the days of the waning or waxing moon.  In other areas of Egypt, the entire life cycle of Osiris were related to the lunar cycle, with the god's conception on the first day and his birth on the second lunar day. At Karnak, the temple of Pet was actually dedicated to this event. Osiris' murder and subsequent dismemberment were associated with the  period following the full moon. Hence, the second day of the month saw the reassembly of the god's parts and his "entering into the moon" on the sixth day. The rejuvenation and the defeat of the god's enemies occurred on the day of the full moon, when Osiris was declared victorious in the tribunal, and when Horus was awarded with his heritage. The name of the lunar god Khonsu relates to the verb which means "moving in various directions". This characterizes the lunar orbit, and particularly in the earliest references, Khonsu is given an aggressive nature. Later Theban sources tell how Khonsu traveled every day from the east (his temple at Karnak) to the west (the temple of Djeme), in order to revitalize his deceased father, Amun. Specifically, it is the Theban theology that describes the moon god as the son of the sun god. There were a few other gods with specific links to the moon, including Min and the Greek form of Isis. Goddesses were usually only associated with the moon when they were identified with the eye of Re, as were Tefnut and Hathor. The annual journey from Dendera to Edfu by the Hathor cult statue was timed in accordance with the phases of the moon.