Homepage Timeline Maps A-Z index Learning

Who was Nefermaat?

Information about Nefermaat is to be found in hieroglyphs on the panel of his false door.
Many of his titles are here mentioned.

Two of his titles seem to be particularly important.

Nefermaat bears the titulary of the vizier
(tAiti zAb TAti):
He also bears the title oldest king's son
(zA-niswt smsw):

for the other titles of Nefermaat click here

 

The vizier was in almost all periods the head of the administration. The title king's son might mean that Nefermaat was really the son of a king, but there are many examples, especially from the Old Kingdom, where the title was honorific. In the Egyptian language, 'son' could also mean grandson or even great-grandson.

Because of the importance of Nefermaat, which can be seen at his huge tomb, he is often regarded as real son of king Snefru. However there is no proof for that.

Who was Atet ?

Whereas the Meydum inscriptions give some information about Nefermaat, information on Atet, his wife, is more sparse. It can only certainly be said that she bore the title rxt-njswt - 'She who is known to the king'.


 

Copyright © 2001 University College London. All rights reserved.