Neithhotep

Neithhotep
Alabaster fragment with the name of queen Neith-hotep
Queen Consort of Egypt
Reign	c. 3050 BC
Died	c. 3050 BC
Burial	Naqada, Qena, Egypt

Neithhotep in hieroglyphs
Personal name: Neith-hotep/Hotep-Neith nt-ḥtp "Neith is merciful"[1]

Neithhotep or Neith-hotep (fl. c. 3050 BC) was an ancient Egyptian queen consort who lived and ruled during the early First Dynasty. She was once thought to be a male ruler: her outstandingly large mastaba and the royal serekh surrounding her name on several seal impressions previously led Egyptologists and historians to the erroneous belief that she might have been an unknown king.^[2] As the understanding of early Egyptian writings developed, scholars learned that Neithhotep was in fact a woman of extraordinary rank. She was subsequently considered to be the wife of unified Egypt's first pharaoh, Narmer, and the mother of Hor-Aha.^[2]

More recent discoveries suggest that Neithhotep might have instead been a spouse of Hor-Aha, and the mother and co-regent of successive ruler Djer. Archeological evidence also indicates that she may have ruled as pharaoh in her own right, and as such would have been the earliest known female monarch in history.^[3]