Sobekneferu

History

Late Twelfth Dynasty

The Middle Kingdom attained its military and economic zenithon during the reigns of Senusret III and Amenemhat III respectively. Senusret III's reign was an inflection point in the domestic and foreign policy of Egypt. On the domestic front, he reorganized the administration displacing authority away from the nomarchs and condensing it into the hands of his appointed viziers and their councils. Yet, it is his foreign policy that forms the most significant component of his legacy and is defined by the military campaigns he led into Nubia and Syria–Palestine. These contributed the basis of the Greek legendary figure of Sesostris described by Manetho and Herodotus. Following 19 years of sole reign, he passed the throne to his son, Amenemhat III, with whom he seems to have shared it for a further 20 years. In turn, Amenemhat III presided over a peaceful Egypt enabling him to direct his attention to the economic development of the nation. His building programme spanned all of Egypt, but its nexus was at Faiyum to which he contributed two colossi of himself at Biahmu, temples to Sobek and Renenutet, a pyramid at Dahshur and another at Hawara which is most noted for its mortuary temple known by the epithet 'the Labyrinth', and expanded the agricultural potential of Lake Moeris. To provide the materials for these projects, the natural deposits of Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula to Nubia were extensively exploited. His reign lasted for at least 45 years, possibly longer, and may have ended with a coregency with his successor. Amenemhat IV ruled for nine or ten years, but there is scant information regarding his reign, and by the end of it the dynasty was in decline.

Accession

Sobekneferu ascended to the throne following Amenemhat IV. The reasons for the accession of a 'female king' are obscure, but may have been motivated by the lack of a male heir for Amenemhat IV or a dispute over their legitimacy. She is the earliest confirmed woman to rule over Egypt as a king and the first to adopt the full royal titulary. The traditional titles preceding her names were modified to note Sobekneferu's womanhood by appending the feminine marker t to them: sꜣ.t-rꜥ; ḥr.t. Though this was an inconsistent practice that was not done to all names bỉk-nbw or even in all cases sꜣ-rꜥ.

She was the first ruler to have a theophoric association with the crocodile god Sobek, whose identity appears in both her given nomen Sobekneferu and her chosen prenomen Sobekkare. The cult of Sobek had risen to prominence during the Twelfth Dynasty, particularly as successive kings directed their energy towards the development of Faiyum where Sobek was revered. This culminated in the incorporation of Sobek into the sun deity from whence he became a manifestation of that god as Sobek-Re in a process beginning in the Middle Kingdom and lasting through to the New Kingdom. Many of Sobekneferu's successors in the Second Intermediate Period also bore nomina invoking the god, further testifying to his elevated status.

Reign

Her comparatively brief reign of about four years has left, much as with her predecessor, a paucity of surviving contemporary records. Her efforts were concentrated on the Faiyum region – much like Amenemhat III earlier – indicating its retained import. In Faiyum, she is credited with the completion of 'the Labyrinth' of Amenemhat III's pyramid at Hawara. A group of statues of Sobekneferu found at Tell el-Dab'a, but bearing the epithet sbk-šdt, also suggest a Faiyum origin. Further south, she is attested in inscriptions from 'the temple of Kom el-Akareb' in Heracleopolis Magna. That a graffito was left at Kumma in her third year indicates that she was able to effect her authority across Egypt. No contemporary evidence has been recovered between Heracleopolis Magna and Kumma. Her funerary monument has not been positively identified. The two pyramids at Mazghuna have been proposed as potential candidates, but there is no evidence to support this assignment and they may date to the Thirteenth Dynasty. Sobekneferu's death brought a close to the Twelfth Dynasty and began the Second Intermediate Period. This transition appears to have been smooth as there is no evidence to suggest a violent collapse.

Early Thirteenth Dynasty

The Second Intermediate Period is poorly understood owing to the paucity of attestations for individual rulers of the time. The early Thirteenth Dynasty was characterised by a rapid succession of ephemeral rulers, the first of whom remains debated, though the principal candidates are Khutawyre Wegaf (Wegaf) and Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep (Sobekhotep I). The sheer numerosity of kingships and the brevity of their rule suggests that the throne may have been held by a rotating succession of appointees from the most influential families. This initial phase was brief owing to the exceptionally short reigns of the kings and was followed by a more stable succession with better attested rulers.

Attestations

Contemporary

Graffiti and seals

Only a small collection of sources attest to Sobekneferu's rule as king of Egypt. In Nubia, a graffito (SNM 34390 / RIK 11 / No. 382) in the fortress of Kumma records the height of the Nile inundation at +1.83 m (6.0 ft) during her third regnal year. Another inscription discovered in the Eastern Desert records 'year 4, second month of the Season of the Emergence'.

The British Museum has a fine cylinder seal (EA 16581) bearing her name and royal titulary in its collection. The glazed steatite seal measures 4.42 cm (1.74 in) long with a diameter of 1.55 cm (0.61 in). There is a 4.5 cm (1.8 in) long faded green faience cylinder from Faiyum in the collection of Farouk I carrying two columns of inscriptions. The first bears her name and titles and the second contains formulaic writing. There is another cylinder seal (JE 72663) from the collection of Fuad I, now in the Cairo Museum, which curiously places nsw-bỉty before Sobekneferu's nomen sbk-šdt-nfrw instead of her prenomen kꜣ-sbk-rꜥ. Sydney Aufrère notes that by the reign of Senusret II the kingly title had rigidified in presentation before the prenomen and proposes that Sobekneferu's may rather have been sbk-šdt-nfrw considering that there are several instances of that pairing. There is record of a further partial cylinder seal with Sobekneferu's titles in the private collection of a 'Mr. Nash from Margate'.

The British Museum also possesses an inscribed scarab (EA 66159) bearing Sobekneferu's name. The glazed steatite scarab measures 2.03 cm (0.80 in) by 1.32 cm (0.52 in) and 0.86 cm (0.34 in) in height. There is also a second scarab from the Grant Collection recorded in Historical scarabs and History by Flinders Petrie.

Statuary

Several headless statues of Sobekneferu have been identified. One is a quartzite torso (E 27135) of an originally life-size statue, held by the Louvre in Paris. It was purchased by the Louvre Museum in 1973, but its provenance is unknown. The remnant – which is missing the head, arms, and lower body – measures 0.48 m (1 ft 7 in) vertically, 0.33 m (1 ft 1 in) frontally, and 0.215 m (8.5 in) sagitally. In its iconography it blends feminine and masculine dress: She wears the typical female sheath dress, with straps attached reaching over the shoulders and covering her breasts, over which she has a šnḏwt kilt held by an inscribed belt and a strip of apron covering the genital region usually worn by men. On her chest rests a bivalve shell pendant like those that appear on statues of Senusret III and Amenemhat III. Finally, the statue bears the royal nms, of which only the striated lappets survive, identifying the subject as a ruler. Owing to the condition of the statue it is impossible to determine the depicted pose, though it may have been the subject in prayer with her hands laid flat upon the kilt.

Three apparently life-sized basalt or greywacke statues of Sobekneferu were found in Tell el-Dab'a: Two depict her in a seated posture trampling the Nine Bows, representing the subjugation of Egypt's enemies, while the third depicts her kneeling. The two seated statues were probably originally identical, though they were severely damaged by the time of their discovery. The better preserved 0.73 m (2 ft 5 in) tall statue retains the lower half, while the less preserved 0.64 m (2 ft 1 in) tall statue has additionally lost the subject's feet and pedestal. The surviving inscriptions commend her to Sobek of Shedyt, an important centre since Amenemhat III and an indicator that they might originate from Faiyum. The kneeling statue is also partial, retaining the lower 0.85 m (2 ft 9 in) of the whole, but displays the great ability of the work's executor to capture the motion of subject: She is planted firmly upon the plinth in the ball of her feet and knees, her mass resting on her heels and hands in her lap, before an inscription run right-to-left commending her to 'Sobek of Shedyt' and 'Horus residing in Shedyt, foremost of the Palace Lake', and wishing that she, the King of the Two Lands, may live. These statues were probably moved to Tell el-Dab'a by the Hyksos during their rule. Their current location is unknown. There is also a headless black basalt, granite, or granodiorite sphinx originally discovered by Édouard Naville in Qantir bearing a damaged inscription determined to be kꜣ-sbk-rꜥ the prenomen of Sobekneferu. The sphinx's current location is also unknown.

One statuette (Berlin ÄM 14475) of Sobekneferu with her visage is known. It was bequeathed to the Egyptian Museum of Berlin by 'Dr. Deibel' in 1899 but lost during World War II, yet its existence is assured by photographs and a plaster cast made in 1905. The fragment is made of greywacke and measures 0.09 m (3.5 in) wide by 0.062 m (2.4 in) deep and is 0.14 m (5.5 in) tall. It depicts a woman wearing a Hathor wig with a hole in her skull apparently there to receive a headdress, possibly a crown. It is uninscribed, and thus unidentifiable alone, but can be dated to the late Twelfth to Thirteenth Dynasty by its style. Biri Fay proposed the possible identification with Sobekneferu in 1988 writing '[o]ne such example, the bust of a queen of the late Middle Kingdom ... with the features of Amenemhat III, is perhaps a representation of Nofrusobek'. The upper fragment connects with the lower part of a seated statuette (MFA 24.742), discovered by George Andrew Reisner in the temple of Taharqa, of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, at Semna and held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The greywacke lower fragment measures 0.085 m (3.3 in) wide by 0.175 m (6.9 in) deep and rising 0.214 m (8.4 in) high. It depicts a woman with her hands on her lap seated upon a throne bearing the royal symbol smꜣ tꜣwy flanked by plants representing Upper and Lower Egypt on each side. The identity of the subject was confirmed on connecting the two pieces. The upper half depicts a woman of the Twelfth to Thirteenth Dynasty, whilst the lower half with its smꜣ tꜣwy inscription designates a seated pharaoh, which in combination leaves a single potential candidate: Sobekneferu.

Architecture

Sobekneferu invariably related herself to Amenemhat III, suggesting that she was a royal daughter, whilst never mentioning her predecessor Amenemhat IV, indicating they may have only been step-siblings and that his mother may not have been a member of the royal family. One such association comes from a limestone block (LDUCE-UC 14337) from 'the Labyrinth' of the pyramid at Hawara bearing both Amenemhat III and Sobekneferu's names that also contains the only known reference to a goddess Dḥdḥt. Further inscriptions from Hawara include: Three blocks (including Berlin 1164) found by Karl Richard Lepsius containing fragmentary cartouches reconstructed with Sobekneferu's name, a granite block discovered by Flinders Petrie bearing no name, but connected to Sobekneferu by its content which reads '... her monument to her father forever', and a 0.4 m (1 ft 4 in) section of an up to 7 m (23 ft 0 in) tall red granite column bearing the serekhs of Amenemhat III and Sobekneferu with a Horus falcon atop each. The Horus of Amenemhat III carries a composite of an ꜥnḫ sign and ḏd pillar, representing life and stability respectively, that it presents to the Horus of Sobekneferu. This imagery indicates that Amenemhat III was deified before the column was built and reflects Sobekneferu's intent to legitimise her reign by securing his favour. The evidence from Hawara suggests that 'the Labyrinth' was completed during Sobekneferu's reign. By contrast, Amenemhat IV's name does not appear at Hawara and with the exception of the temple of Renenutet at Medinet Madi he is unattested in the Faiyum region.

The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin possesses an alabaster fragment (Berlin 38/66) acquired in 1966 that bears the names of Amenemhat III and Sobekneferu enclosed in rectangles and in association with Sobek. The provenance of this item is unknown, but it too may originally have come from Hawara. Marco Zecchi comments that the contents of the inscription suggest a dual purpose to draw a connection between Sobekneferu and Amenemhat III via Sobek and then to employ the god's authority over Egypt, shown by his title ḥqꜣ idbwy, to grant legitimacy to Sobekneferu as Amenemat III's successor.

There is evidence that she built in Heracleopolis Magna from a destroyed 'temple of Kom el-Akareb', south of the temple of Haryshef, which remains unidentified. It appears to be oriented towards the pyramid of Senusret II which may indicate a Middle Kingdom origin. The portico of this temple is partially preserved. In 1915, Georges Daressy discovered a pair of colossi that Ramesses II – and later Merneptah – had appropriated from an earlier Twelfth Dynasty pharaoh – potentially Senusret III, based on a third colossus from this king that was found in 2011, or Amenemhat IV. Whilst excavating, Daressy found a red granite architrave bearing Sobekneferu's names reused in the temple's pillars. Four more granite papyriform columns bear Sobekneferu's inscriptions, while a further ten granite beams may originate from the same source.

Uncertain

A possible reference to Sobekneferu before her accession was found on a statue base discovered in Gezer in 1971, but its current whereabouts is unknown. The statue fragment made of granite gneiss measured 0.117 m (4.6 in) wide by 0.102 m (4.0 in) deep and rose to a height of 0.056 m (2.2 in). It is partial, preserving only the pedestal and feet of the subject with identical, albeit very fragmentary, inscriptions on either side. These bear Sobekneferu's nomen and identify her as a sꜣ.t-nsw. Nevertheless, there are multiple candidate subjects available: Sobekneferu, daughter of Senusret I; Sobekneferu, presumed daughter of Amenemhat III; or even a third as yet unknown Sobekneferu.

A damaged statuette (MET 65.59.1) of a woman in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York has been suggested to represent Sobekneferu. The schist statuette measures 0.163 m (6.4 in) vertically, 0.11 m (4.3 in) frontally, and 0.75 m (30 in) sagitally. The woman's face is badly damaged, retaining only the features of her brow, left eye, cheek, and traces of her nose. She wears a shoulder-length globular wig which frames her ears, and a crown composed of a uraeus – now headless – flanked by two vultures with outstretched wings which is of unknown iconography. She was probably seated, her arms were crossed across her chest with the left hand alone protruding from beneath her ḥb-sd cloak pulled taught revealing her chest and shoulders. This posture and garb are known from a handful of Third and Fourth Dynasty images of royal women. The omission of the symbols of royal authority – the wꜣs scepter and ḥḏt crown – suggests the subject may be a royal mother rather than a pharaoh. It proves equally difficult to place in context: The style of the ears and eyelids preclude a dating earlier than the reign of Senusret III; however, the presence of archaic features from the Old Kingdom is unattested in the late Middle Kingdom suggesting a later date when both Old and Middle Kingdom styles were in vogue, particularly between the Twenty-Second and Twenty-Sixth Dynasties. It has a companion in a granite statuette head (ÆIN 595) found in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen that, though substantially worn, bears the same style globular wig and uraeus – whether it also shares the vulture iconography is indeterminable – placing the two statuettes as contemporaneous which is easier to explain with a late Middle Kingdom date.

A statue-head (MET 08.200.2) of a Twelfth Dynasty king in The Met discovered in a burial shaft south of the causeway of the pyramid of Amenemhat I at El Lisht remains unassigned, though candidates include Amenemhat I, III, IV, Senusret III, and Sobekneferu. The 0.14 m (5.5 in) tall limestone head's style is akin to those from late in Amenemhat III's reign. It may belong to a shrine from the same pyramid of which a partial limestone lintel (MET 22.1.12a, b), measuring 0.25 m (9.8 in) high by 0.65 m (2 ft 2 in) wide, bearing Amenemhat IV's name and titles has been recovered. The image bears a striking resemblance to Amenemhat IV, but has softer, more feminine features and is free of the wrinkles and depressions that characterise the bridge of Amenemhat IV's nose, leading Simon Connor to propose that it might be Sobekneferu.

A king's face from a statue (MET 29.100.150) of unknown provenance may speculatively represent Sobekneferu. It was bequeathed to The Met by Louisine W. Havemeyer in 1929 at which time it was identified as bearing the likeness of Amenemhat III, an attribution which remains the norm. The statue is 1:3 scale with a height of 0.089 m (3.5 in) carved into a grey marble. Its face is remarkably intact though only small fragments of the royal nms headdress are present and nothing below the neckline. It is wrinkle-free, with a defined bone structure and slight traces of loose skin; the nose has a slight characteristic arch with a bulbous tip; the lower lip bears a distinct depression; and the eyes are formed into the hooded almond shape recognisable in late Twelfth Dynasty portraiture. William Hayes assigned it to the 'expressive style' of Amenemhat III's sculptural tradition for its idealistic presentation of the young subject and contrasted it against a much later statue-head in black granite that portrayed him with 'utter and unrelenting realism'. Dorothea Arnold writes that the face displays 'an unmistakable femine character' making it 'tempting to identify the pharaoh represented as Queen Sobekneferu'.

Historical

In the Thutmosid period, she is listed on the Karnak list of early Egyptian kings in the twenty-second entry. In the Ramesside period, she is conspicuously excluded from the Abydos King List, but mentioned in the Saqqara Tablet, and Turin Canon. The Saqqara Tablet records her praenomen in the twenty-second entry. The Turin Canon – seventh column, second line – credits her with a reign of 3 years, 10 months, and 24 days. Her exclusion at Abydos – along with all other female kings, pharaohs of the First and Second Intermediate Periods, and of the Amarna Period – indicates who Seti I and Ramesses II viewed as legitimate rulers of Egypt. In the Hellenistic period, Manetho gives her the name Σκεμιoφρις ('Skemiophris') and credits her with a reign of four years.

In the opening half of the Eighteenth Dynasty, a visiting scribe(s) left a pair of inscriptions referencing Sobekneferu in TT60 belonging to Senet, mother or wife of Intefiqer, vizier under Senusret I. The tomb contains the largest corpus of graffito amongst those in the Theban necropolis, indicating a pronounced interest in site driven by some combination of its prominent siting atop the hill at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, impeccable state of preservation, contemporaneously perceived ancientness – few monuments in the area originate from the period –, and/or assumed affiliation with the royal house of the Twelfth Dynasty – perhaps inferred from the unique depiction of a seated king (Senusret I) by its entrance which do not otherwise appear in private tombs before the New Kingdom. The two inscriptions appear to erroneously identify the tomb as either belonging to or belonging to the time of Sobekneferu – a portion of the first inscription is now illegible casting doubt on its precise reading.

Burial

Sobekneferu's tomb has not yet been positively identified. There is a Sekhem Sobekneferu mentioned on a papyrus (LDUCE-UC 32778) found at Harageh which may identify her monument. On a Thirteenth Dynasty funerary stela (Marseille 223) from Abydos, now in Marseille, there is mention of a ỉr.y-ꜥ.t of Sobekneferu named Heby attesting to an ongoing funerary cult.

Mazghuna

Two pyramids at Mazghuna were cleared and excavated by Ernest Mackay in 1910–1911 who attributed them to the final two suzerains of the Twelfth Dynasty: Amenemhat IV and Sobekneferu. No name was recovered from either site, so Mackay based his assignment on its similarity to the Hawara pyramid, proposing that '[t]he northern pyramid, being the largest, was probably intended for the former ruler, but it is practically certain that he must have been buried elsewhere, for the tomb had never been used'. Since then, scholars have frequently designated them to Amenemhat IV and Sobekneferu, with the North Mazghuna pyramid typically assigned to Sobekneferu.

Only the substructure of the pyramid was completed; construction of the superstructure and wider temple complex was never begun. The substructure passages had a complex plan: A stairway descended south from the east side of the pyramid leading to a square chamber connecting to a sloping westward passage up to a portcullis – consisting of a 42,000 kg (93,000 lb) quartzite block intended to slide into and block the passage – beyond which it wound through several more turns and a second, smaller portcullis before terminating at the antechamber. South of it lay the burial chamber which was near wholly occupied by a quartzite monolith vessel for the sarcophagus. In a deep recess lay a quartzite lid which was to be slid over the coffin and locked into place with a stone block. All of the exposed surfaces were painted red with additional lines of black paint. Though the burial place had been constructed, no burial was interred there. Outside lay a mudbrick causeway leading to the pyramid built to serve the workforce.

Mackay's designation preceded the discoveries of the pyramids of Khendjer and Ameny Qemau of the Thirteenth Dynasty which have been noted to resemble those in Mazghuna causing some scholars to attribute them to the Thirteenth Dynasty instead.

Other proposals

Nabil Swelim and Aidan Dodson propose a chronological order of Hawara, Ameny-Qemau, North Mazghuna, South Mazghuna, and Khendjer. For either Amenemhat IV or Sobekneferu, Dodson suggests the South Dahshur A pyramid noting that it 'should probably be placed within the twenty-five years following the death of [Amenemhat] III'. Christoffer Theis revises Dodson's chronology, shifting the South Mazghuna pyramid much earlier in the chronology and provisionally assigns it to Sobekneferu on the basis of its architectural style and the evidence it was used for a burial, whilst for Amenemhat IV he suggests an as yet undiscovered tomb near Neferuptah's pyramid. Stefania Pignattari suggests that Sobekneferu's tomb may reside in Hawara owing to her connections with the site, and that Amenemhat IV's may be in Dahshur.