Betrest

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Betrest in hieroglyphs
bt
E11		 tir
s		 tB1

Batiires
Bꜣ.ti ir.s
May Bata be favorably disposed toward her[1]
  Mother of Pharaoh Semerkhet

Betrest (also read as Batyires,

First Dynasty
.

Name

Den or Anedjib.[6]

Identity

Betrest is said to have been the mother of

Den to have been her husband. If so, King Anedjib would have been a (half-)brother of King Semerkhet.[3] Another theory is that Betrest was the wife of the short-ruled Anedjib.[2]

Possibly, she also is identified on a stela found at

Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt.[3] Silke Roth and Toby Wilkinson point out, however, that the ram-hieroglyph was read differently in early times. The reading as "Ba" (meaning "soul"), does not appear before the Old Kingdom period and during the two first dynasties the ram-sign was read as, Khnemu (for the deity Khnum) or Ser (meaning "sheep", "ram", or "begetter"). This reading is promoted by the hieroglyph for "s" on the stela. In sum the reading on the stela had to be Seret, which means "mother sheep" or "she of the ram". It seems that the later ramesside scribes, who compiled the Annal stone (and therefore the Cairo stone inscription), had no knowledge of the older readings for the ram sign and simply read "Ba", changing Seret into Batyires.[5][6]

Tomb

If the lady Betrest is the same person as the lady Seret of the first dynasty stela, then Betrest was buried in the necropolis of King Den at Abydos. Her tomb comprises a chamber that is structurally nestled into the entrance of Den's own funerary chamber and therefore, is subsidiary to his burial. There are two chambers fitting this description, one on the left side of the entrance and the other on the right. The two chambers differ in size but both are visibly larger than the ordinary subsidiary tombs of retainers. This peculiarity points to the privileged status that Betrest/Seret must have enjoyed during this king's reign. Indeed, only queens and royal mothers were allowed to be buried so close to the king. Unfortunately, it is not recorded in which of the two chambers the stela was found.[5][6]

References

  1. ISBN 3-447-04368-7
    , page 384.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-500-05128-3
  3. ^ a b c Grajetski Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary Golden House Publications, pg. 4-5
  4. ^ W. M. Flinders Petrie: A History of Egypt, from the earliest Kings to the XVIth Dynasty, London 1923 (10th Edition), p. 22
  5. ^
    ISBN 3-447-04368-7
    , p. 26–30.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0710306678
    , p. 125.
  7. ISBN 3-933684-18-8
    , p. 79-84.
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