Menhet, Menwi and Merti

Menhet, Menwi and Merti
King's Wives
A gazelle-headed diadem of Menhet, Menwi or Merti
Burial	Tomb 1, Wady D, in Wady Gabbanat el-Qurud near Luxor, Egypt
Spouse	Thutmose III
Dynasty	18th Dynasty

Menhet, Menwi and Merti,^[1] also spelled Manhata, Manuwai and Maruta,^[2] were three minor foreign-born wives of Pharaoh Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty. They are known for their lavishly furnished rock-cut tomb in Wady Gabbanat el-Qurud near Luxor, Egypt. They are suggested to be Syrian,^[3] as the names all fit into Canaanite name forms, although their ultimate origin is unknown.^[4] A West Semitic origin is likely, but both West Semitic and Hurrian derivations have been suggested for Menwi.^[5] Each of the wives bear the title of "king's wife", and were likely only minor members of the royal harem.^[1] It is not known if the women were related as the faces on the lids of their canopic jars are all different.^[4]

Their intact tomb was discovered in 1916 by Qurnawi locals. The mummies and other organic materials, such as wood, had disintegrated due to water seeping into the tomb over the millennia, but metal and stone objects survived. Their jewelry and other burial goods were sold on the local and international antiquities market, with most items being purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art between 1918 and 1988.