Djeseretnebti

Djeseretnebti (or Djeseret-Ankh-Nebti) is possibly the name of an Ancient Egyptian queen. Since this name appears without any queen‘s title, Egyptologists dispute the true meaning and reading of this name.

Ivory cloth label from the Sekhemkhet complex with the controversial Nebti name (right)

The name djeseret-nebti or djeseret-ankh-nebti appears on ivory cloth labels, found in the underground galleries beneath the pyramid of the 3rd dynasty king (pharaoh) Sekhemkhet at Saqqara. It is written with the common nebti-crest, but not with any personal title that could identify whether the person was a member of Egyptian royalty or that it was even a name. Egyptologists like Toby Wilkinson and Zakaria Goneim read the inscription as Djeser-Ti and identify it with the cartouche-name of the pharaoh Djeser Teti of the Abydos King List.

Wolfgang Helck, Peter Kaplony and Jean-Pierre Pätznik instead read the name as djeseret-ankh-nebti (‘the noble one who lives for the two ladies’) and see it as the name of a wife of king Sekhemkhet. They point to several clay seals found at Elephantine, which show Sekhemkhet's horus name alternating with the nebty name Hetep-Ren and postulate that this could be the original birth name of Sekhemkhet.