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.[1]
Ivory cloth label from the Sekhemkhet complex with the controversial Nebti name (right)[2]
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.[3] 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.[3]
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 nameHetep-Ren and postulate that this could be the original birth name of Sekhemkhet.[1][4]
