Queen of Pyramids: The Powerful Hetepheres I and her Magnificent Tomb

Behind the success of the great builders of pyramids, including Snefru and Khufu, stands a woman. She was one the most important women of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 BC– 2181 BC) and the owner of a magnificent tomb full of treasures.

Hetepheres I was a wife of pharaoh Snefru (ruled c. 2613 BC – 2589 BC), mother of Khufu, and the grandmother of Djedefre, Khafre, and Queen Hetepheres II. Her titles were: King’s Mother, Mother of the Dual King, Attendant of Horus, and God’s Daughter of his body. She married Snefru to connect two royal lines. Her father was the pharaoh Huni and Snefru was probably her step brother. His mother was surely related to the another pharaoh of this period, but it’s unknown which one.

Hetepheres probably died during the reign of Khufu. We don’t know too much about her personality or her life. Even her tomb was unknown until February 2nd, 1925. That was the day when Mohamadien Ibrahim, who was working for George Andrew Reisner, head of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, discovered a tomb that was attributed to Queen Hetepheres. This spectacular discovery provided the world with a name of one of the first important ancient Egyptian women and also brought some information about this forgotten queen to light.

An Unexpected Discovery in Giza

Reisner was an American Egyptologist who worked at Harvard University and led American excavations to both Egypt and Nubia (currently Sudan). In 1925, he was working around the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza, but on February 2nd he was away on vacation in the United States.