Khamerernebty II (fl. c. 2600 BCE)
Khamerernebty II (fl. c. 2600 bce)
Egyptian queen. Name variations: Khamerernebti II. Flourished around 2600 bce; daughter of Khamerernebty I and King Khafre or Chephren (Greek); married her brother King Menkaure (Menkure or Mykerinos [Greek], who built the Third Pyramid at Giza); children: son Khuenre (died prematurely).
Egyptian queen, the eldest daughter of Queen Khamerernebty I and King Khafre, Khamerernebty II is believed to have been married to her brother King Menkaure and had a son Khuenre who died prematurely. Like her mother, Queen Khamerernebty II served the cults of important deities and bore the titles of a major queen, such as "God's Daughter of his Body, One Who Sits with Horus, Greatly loved Wife of the King." However, she either died long before her husband or, as seems more likely, fell from his favor before her death. This is suggested by her statement in her tomb that she paid the artisan from her own largess. She enlarged the tomb begun by her mother and added many statues, among which is one more than twice lifesized, the earliest known colossus of a woman. In the tomb inscriptions, Khamerernebty II emphasizes her closeness to the king, although the fact that she was not buried at his funerary complex but instead had to use the tomb built for her mother, suggests otherwise.
Barbara S. Lesko , Department of Egyptology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island