In 1900 AD, the famous Egyptologists William Petrie discovered the tomb of Merneith and because of its nature, he believed it belonged to a previously unknown pharaoh from the first dynasty. When it was discovered that Merneith was a woman, she became one of the most disputed royalty in the early dynastic period: when did she rule? how did she attain power? Her name was first thought to be that of a king, which caused some confusion about the sequence of the rulers of the 1st Dynasty. It was later discovered that the name of MerNeith must have been the King?s mother because of the many sealings found in King Den tomb.
Not only was she the royal wife of Djet, but she was also the mother of Den. Researchers have linked Merneith's family traits with Djer, Djet, and Den. King Djer might have been her father, but there is no hard evidence. However, since she is the mother of Den, she is more than likely the wife of King Djet.
Merneith is believed to have become ruler upon the death of her husband, Djet in the thirtieth century B.C.. The title she held, however, is debated. It is possible that her son Den was too young to rule when Djet died, so she may have ruled as regent until Den was old enough to be the king in his own right.
The strongest evidence that Merneith was a ruler of Egypt is her tomb in Abydos (Tomb Y) which is unique among the otherwise exclusively male tombs. When her tomb was excavated it was empty, but it revealed an underground chamber lined with mud bricks, which was surrounded by rows of small satellite burials with at least 40 subsidiary graves. The servants were thought to assist the ruler in the afterlife. The burial of servants with a ruler was a consistent practice in the tombs of the early first dynasty pharaohs. Large numbers of sacrificial assets were buried in her tomb complex as well, which is another honor afforded to pharaohs that provided the ruler with powerful animals for eternal life.
It was customary for the early dynastic rulers to have two funerary monuments, one for the actual tomb, the other one functioning as a cenotaph. MeritNit is sofar the only woman to have been commemorated in this way. she was given a funerary structure in Abydos and also Sakkara.
At her funerary monument at Saqqara, there were burials of craftsmen devoted to work for her in the afterlife, as well as a solar boat to enable her to travel with the Sun God in the afterlife. This last was normally exclusively the right of the King and it indicates that she may very well have been a regent and she was a very powerful ruler.
Among other evidence that Merneith ruled Egypt was a seal found in the tomb of her son Den. The seal includes Merneith on a list of the first dynasty kings. Merneith's name was the only name of a woman included on the list. But it didn't state she ruled, her name was listed as the "King's mother."
Information about her outside of Abydos, except for Saqqara, is very limited. Her name was known to mean beloved by Neith and her stela contained the symbol of that deity. it indicates that she has some power in the lower parts of Egypt, specifically at Sais, where the cult center of Nit was located.
Therefore only the two tombs and the two stelas induce to think she was a person of a status fairly comparable to that of a King. Indeed it is probable that in the mentality of the ancient Egyptian her condition of rulership was never accepted or recognized.
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