Nitocris(2250 av. J.-C. — 2191 av. J.-C.)
Nitocris
8 min read
Nitocris is a legendary queen or female pharaoh of ancient Egypt, associated with the end of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2184 BC). Mentioned by Herodotus and Manetho, she is said to have avenged the murder of her brother before taking her own life. Her historical existence remains debated.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- c. 2184 BC: supposed reign at the end of the Sixth Dynasty of the Egyptian Old Kingdom
- Cited by Herodotus (5th century BC) as an avenging queen who drowned the murderers of her brother
- Mentioned by Manetho as the last ruler of the Sixth Dynasty
- Her existence is disputed by modern Egyptologists: no direct hieroglyphic attestation
- Considered one of the first women to have held supreme power in Egyptian history
Works & Achievements
The founding act of the Nitocris myth: the orchestration of a trap banquet and the drowning of her brother's murderers in a flooded secret chamber. This act, transmitted by Herodotus, makes her an archetypal figure of the avenging queen in the cultural memory of Antiquity.
Manetho credits Nitocris with a six-year reign as ruling pharaoh, which would make her one of the first women to have wielded supreme power in Egypt, long before Hatshepsut or Nefertiti.
Manetho attributes to Nitocris the construction of the third monument at Giza (today assigned to Menkaure). This erroneous yet revealing attribution testifies to the extraordinary prestige that ancient tradition bestowed upon this legendary queen.
The legend of Nitocris formed a major literary archetype of the avenging queen in ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern traditions, inspiring narratives and representations across several centuries.
Anecdotes
According to Herodotus, Nitocris seized power after the assassination of her brother, the rightful pharaoh, killed by court conspirators. Far from submitting, she devised a revenge of fearsome ingenuity: secretly having a vast underground chamber built, connected to the Nile by a hidden conduit, then inviting the murderers to a sumptuous banquet within it.
When the guests were full and drunk, Nitocris had the hidden conduit opened. The waters of the Nile flooded the chamber, drowning every one of her brother's killers with no hope of escape. This merciless revenge, worthy of the greatest tragic heroines, has echoed through the centuries as a symbol of royal justice and female determination.
Having carried out her revenge, Nitocris reportedly refused to face retaliation and chose death instead. Depending on the version of the legend, she either locked herself in a room filled with burning embers or threw herself onto a pyre. This final act makes her a tragic figure caught halfway between historical ruler and legendary heroine.
The Egyptian historian Manetho, writing in the 3rd century BCE, describes Nitocris as “the noblest and most beautiful woman of her time, fair-complexioned and rosy-cheeked.” This surprisingly precise physical description for such an ancient figure has puzzled modern historians, with some seeing it as borrowed from Eastern literary traditions about avenging queens.
Modern Egyptologists seriously debate whether Nitocris ever actually existed. In 2000, historian Kim Ryholt proposed that her name in the Turin Royal Canon was actually a misreading of the masculine name ‘Netjerkare’. Nitocris would then be a legendary construct — a myth of an avenging queen invented to explain the mysterious and catastrophic end of the Sixth Dynasty.
Primary Sources
Nitocris, I am told, was the most beautiful and noblest woman of her time; she put to death a great number of Egyptians to avenge her brother, whom they had killed and placed on the throne against her will, after having made him disappear.
Nitokris, a brave woman, the noblest and most beautiful of the women of her time, fair-complexioned with rosy cheeks; she built the third of the pyramids and reigned for six years.
[Lacunary entry in column IV, line 17, attributed by some scholars to Nitocris or Netjerkare; the name is partly erased, making its interpretation controversial and her historical existence uncertain.]
After the Sixth Dynasty, Nitocris avenged the murderers of her brother by drowning them in a secret chamber, then took her own life to escape punishment.
Key Places
Capital of the Old Kingdom and seat of pharaonic power for centuries. This is where the Sixth Dynasty court resided and where Nitocris is said to have exercised her legendary reign, orchestrated her revenge, and met her death.
The great royal necropolis of the Old Kingdom and burial site of the Sixth Dynasty pharaohs. Some Egyptologists have searched here, without conclusive results, for the tomb or funerary complex of Nitocris.
The mythical setting of her revenge according to Herodotus — a secret chamber dug beneath Memphis, connected to the Nile by a hidden channel, where Nitocris lured and drowned her brother's murderers during a trap banquet.
Site of the three great royal pyramids, the third of which was attributed to Nitocris by Manetho in antiquity. This legendary association helped establish her as a preeminent royal figure in Egyptian cultural memory.
Sacred site of the cult of Osiris and repository of the great royal king lists of antiquity. The Abydos King List, like the Turin Canon, is one of the sources used to study — and to question — the historical existence of Nitocris.
