Neithhotep spouse Narmer
Historical evaluations
After the discovery of her mastaba, Neithhotep was thought to be a male ruler: her outstandingly large tomb and the royal serekh bearing her name on several seal impressions led Egyptologists and historians to the erroneous belief that she might have been a yet unknown king. However, as the understanding of early Egyptian writings developed, scholars learned that Neithhotep was in fact a female noble of extraordinary rank. Along with this realization, scholars viewed her now as the wife of king Narmer and mother of Hor-Aha. This view was promoted by clay seal impressions found in her tomb showing the serekhs of Narmer and Aha.Neithhotep's name appears on several clay seal impressions inside a serekh – a fashion that was commonly reserved for male rulers only. Secondly, her tomb is of extraordinary size and it has its own cultic enclosure. Such a case is otherwise known only from queen Meritneith. Thirdly are the Wadi Ameyra inscriptions themselves: these reveal that Neithhotep arranged and ordered an expedition through the Wadi in attempt to mine ore and harvest feedstocks. But such an act commonly required royal powers that a mere queen consort didn't have – not unless she was in fact an independent, fully authorized ruler.The case of queen Neithhotep shows astonishing similarities to that of queen Meritneith, who had led the royal office for her still minor son, king Hor Den. This realization lead Egyptologists now to the theory that Queen Neithhotep may have also held the royal office for an infant child king as some kind of substitute king. Such an act is now known to have been fairly common in early Egyptian times. Royal dynasties were founded in early times by royal mothers, not by inheritance from father to son.Some scholars even believe that Neithhotep may be identical to a king Teti listed in the Ramesside king lists and indirectly mentioned on the famous Palermo Stone. The Palermo Stone provides an interregnum between king Aha and Djer by mentioning a "double date of death" in column I of the event years. The discrepancy between the date of death for Hor-Aha and the second death note spans around 1 year, 1 month and 15 days. Such a time span seems too short for a "real" ruler such as Hor-Aha, Djer or Wadj. It would rather fit someone who ruled as a substitute for the original pharaoh. And this, in turn, is now proven for Queen Neithhotep. Thus, the entry on the Palermo Stone may indeed be a reference to the interregnum of Queen Neithhotep. This would also explain why no contemporary artifact from the 1st Dynasty mentions the royal name Teti, but the others (Itetj and Ita).Equating Queen Neithhotep with Teti I is not commonly accepted. Egyptologists such as Werner Kaiser and Walter B. Emery point to several clay seal fragments with the Horus names of all kings from Narmer to Den. Such seals were discovered in Den's and Queen Meritneith's tombs and they all consequently begin their list with Narmer, who was the husband of Neithhotep. Kaiser and Emery see this as evidence that it was Narmer, not Hor-Aha, who started the First Dynasty. In addition, Kaiser points to seal fragments which mention the name Menj beside the serekh of Narmer. Thus, it is at least likewise possible that Narmer is identical to king Menes. This, in turn, would mean that the cartouche name "Teti" belongs to Hor-Aha, not to Queen Neithhotep.
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