Submitted Name Revision History

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5/2/2014, 6:32 PM Ora
5/2/2014, 6:30 PM Ora
12/14/2007, 9:11 PM shagbo

Name Meretseger
Gender Feminine
Other Forms FormsMertseger
Edit Status Statusnot set

Meaning & History

Means "She who loves silence."

In Egyptian mythology she was believed to rule over the Theban necropolis. She is depicted with the head of a cobra and so is sometimes associated with HATHOR, or as a coiled cobra, or very rarely as having the head a cobra, a human woman, and a vulture all at once. As the patron deity of the workers in Deir el-Medina who built the tombs, she punished those who committed crimes but healing those who repented. She was said to spit poison at anyone who tried to vandalize or rob royal tombs. Her close association with the Valley of the Kings kept her worship from spreading and when the valley was no longer used, she was no longer worshiped.

Meretseger was also the name of the wife of the Pharaoh SENUSRET III, and the first to bear the title Great Royal Wife, which went on to be the standard title for the chief wives of pharaohs. She was also the first queen consort to have her name written in a cartouche.
Added 12/14/2007 by shagbo