Queen Sobekneferu (sometimes written as Nefrusobek) was the Egyptian queen of the Twelfth dynasty, who ruled without a king. Her name meant "the beauties of Sobek". Some scholars believe that she was the daughter of Pharaoh Amenemhat III; Manetho states that she was the sister of Amenemhat IV. She is the first known female ruler of Egypt, but Nitocris may have ruled in the Sixth Dynasty.

Amenemhat IV most likely died without a male heir. Consequently, Amenemhat III's daughter Sobekneferu assumed the throne. According to the Turin Canon, she only ruled Egypt for 3 Years 10 Months and 24 days. The end of her reign also concluded the Twelfth dynasty. She is not known from many monuments, though many of her (headless) statues have been preserved, and she seems to have built at the funerary complex of Amenemhat III at Hawara (called a labyrinth by Herodotus). A Nile graffito, at the Nubian fortress of Kumma records the Nile inundation height of 1.83 m in Year 3 of her reign. Her monumental works consistently associate her with Amenemhat III rather than Amenemhat IV, supporting the theory that she was the former's daughter.

Her tomb has not been positively identified, though she may have been interred in an uninscribed pyramid complex in Mazghuna, immediately north of a similar complex ascribed to Amenemhat IV.

References

• Dodson, Aidan. Hilton, Dyan. 2004. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson
• W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History,Archaeology and Society, Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0715634356, 61-63
• Shaw, Ian. Nicholson, Paul. 1995. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers.
• Shaw, Ian, Ed. 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press. Graffito ref. pg. 170.
• Sobekneferu: The First certain Royal Queen of Egypt

Pharaohs of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt | Queens regnant

Nofrusobek | Néférousobek | Meritra | Sobekneferu | Neferoesobek | Sebekneferu | Нефрусебек | Sobekneferu