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Timeline › 13th Dynasty

Neferhotep I c. 1741–1730 BC

One of the strongest kings of the 13th Dynasty, who reigned for about eleven years and was not of royal birth. A stela he set up at Abydos tells how he had a new statue of Osiris made for the god's festival there. Statues of him are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and in Bologna, and a relief from Byblos shows the city's governor seated before his cartouches.

Throne name: Khasekhemre

ḫꜥ-sḫm-rꜥ: “The power of Ra appears”

Sign by sign

  1. Sun N5rꜥ The sun, the sun god Ra. Day.
  2. Sun rising over a hill N28ḫꜥ To appear in glory, to rise (of the sun and of kings).
  3. Forearm D36ꜥ The sound ꜥ (ayin).
  4. Sekhem sceptre S42sḫm Power, might.
Now draw this cartouche yourself

Birth name: Neferhotep

nfr-ḥtp: “The beautiful one is content”

Sign by sign

  1. Heart and windpipe F35nfr Good, beautiful, perfect.
  2. Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Offering. Peace, to be content.
  3. Bread loaf X1t The sound t. Also the feminine ending.
  4. Stool Q3p The sound p.
Now draw this cartouche yourself

Where to see Neferhotep I's name today

Museum

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square holds some of the most important inscribed objects in Egypt, from the Narmer Palette, with one of the first royal names, to the Merneptah Stela, with the first mention of Israel. You can follow the script here from its beginnings to long New Kingdom texts.

Site

Abydos

Abydos was the holy city of Osiris and a royal burial ground from the very start of Egyptian history. For hieroglyph lovers it has everything: some of the oldest writing known, the famous King List, and the finest painted relief of the New Kingdom.

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met's Egyptian galleries let you walk through an Old Kingdom tomb chapel and a whole Roman-era temple, the Temple of Dendur, where the emperor Augustus appears as pharaoh with cartouches. The statues of Hatshepsut from her temple at Deir el-Bahari carry her names in full.

Names of gods (Ra, Amun, Ptah) are written first out of respect, even when they are read later. Dates are approximate; we follow Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000).