Sobekneferu or Neferusobek () was the first confirmed queen regnant (or 'female king') of ancient Egypt and the last pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty and of the Middle Kingdom. Her reign was brief, lasting three years, 10 months, and 24 days according to the Turin Canon in the 18th century BC. She distinguished herself from any potential prior female rulers by adopting the full royal titulary which was often modified to acknowledge her womanhood such as by the titles 'daughter of Re' and 'female Horus'. She was also the first ruler to associate with the crocodile god Sobek in her nomen and prenomen.
Sobekneferu ascended to the throne following the death of Amenemhat IV, her presumed brother and husband, albeit the relationship is unsubstantiated. The reasons for her accession are debated. One possibility is that her predecessor had no male heir to bestow the throne to, thus leaving his sister to take the mantle of king. Yet, there are two candidate sons and Thirteenth Dynasty kings, Sobekhotep I and Sonbef, that may have filiative nomina stating that they are 'Amenemhat's son'. If Amenemhat IV is meant, then it may be that she usurped the throne from them, perhaps because she perceived them to be illegitimate. She also never associated herself with Amenemhat IV, instead asserting her legitimacy through their presumptive father, Amenemhat III. It appears though, that Sokebhotep I modelled his prenomen after Sobekneferu's Nebty name, indicating that he may have sought legitimacy from his predecessor and also demonstrating the esteem she was held in.
Contemporary evidence from her reign is scant. There are a few partial statues – one with her face, now lost – and a small corpus of seals and inscriptions that have been preserved. These mainly originate from Faiyum where she is credited with the completion of 'the Labyrinth' – the mortuary temple of Amenemhat III's pyramid at Hawara. One important inscription is a graffito recording the level of the Nile inundation at the fortress at Kumma in her third regnal year indicating that she maintained authority across Egypt. Her funerary monument remains unidentified, though a papyrus discovered in Harageh mentions a site called Sekhem Sobekneferu which may refer to it, and there is a storeroom administrator attested to on a stela providing evidence of an active funerary cult. Her rule is also attested to on several later king lists from the Thutmosid and Ramesside periods and in Manetho's Aegyptiaca.
Family
The link between Amenemhat III and his two successors, Amenemhat IV and Sobekneferu, is uncertain, though they are usually presumed to be his son and daughter. Amenemhat III had two known wives, Aat and Khenemetneferhedjet III, who died early in his reign and were buried in his first pyramid at Dahshur. He had a daughter, Neferuptah, who was provided a burial at his second pyramid at Hawara, but was actually interred in her own pyramid. She bore only one filiative title of and no indicator of royal marriage of . The enclosure of Neferuptah's name in a cartouche is significant and may indicate that she was groomed for the throne. The mother of Amenemhat IV, Hetepti, is attested in an inscription from Medinet Madi and is presumed to be a wife of Amenemhat III. The identity of Sobekneferu's mother is unknown, though either Aat or Khenemetneferhedjet III are candidates.
The identification of Amenemhat IV as progeny has been contested. Kim Ryholt has proposed that Amenemhat IV is of non-royal lineage because his mother, Hetepti, only has the title of and not of as well. Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton note that while Amenemhat IV does refer to Amenemhat III as his father in inscriptions, this may simply be referring to him as a predecessor, and also note the lack of the title for Hetepti. It is also possible that Amenemhat IV was a grandson instead. The relationship between Amenemhat IV and Sobekneferu is also unclear. The ancient historian Manetho in Aegyptiaca states that they were brother and sister. This filial identification is the norm and there is speculation on a potential marriage between them. There is no contemporary evidence for this as neither nor are attested for Sobekneferu.
Sobekneferu's accession may have been motivated by a lack of a male heir for Amenemhat IV; though there are two kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, Amenemhat [Sa] Sobekhotep (Sobekhotep I) and Amenemhat [Sa] Senebef (Sonbef), that may bear filiative nomen of indicating they may be his sons. Ryholt suggests that Sobekneferu may have taken the throne following Amenemhat IV's death because she perceived them to be illegitimate. Barbara Bell proposes that Sobekhotep I may have been a son of Amenemhat III from a secondary queen that legitimately ascended the throne following Sobekneferu. Julien Siesse and Robyn Gillam note that Sobekhotep I's prenomen bears a distinct resemblance to Sobekneferu's Nebty name which Gillam additionally notes indicates that he sought legitimacy through his predecessor and simultaneously reflects the esteem she held.
History Late Twelfth Dynasty The Middle Kingdom attained its military and economic zenithon during the reigns of Senusret III and Amenemhat III respectively. Senusret III's reign was an inflection point in the domestic and foreign policy of Egypt. On the domestic front, he reorganized the administration displacing authority away from the nomarchs and condensing it into the hands of his appointed viziers and their councils. Yet, it is his foreign policy that forms the most significant component of his legacy and is defined by the military campaigns he led into Nubia and Syria–Palestine. These contributed the basis of the Greek legendary figure of Sesostris described by Manetho and Herodotus. Following 19 years of sole reign, he passed the throne to his son, Amenemhat III, with whom he seems to have shared it for a further 20 years. In turn, Amenemhat III presided over a peaceful Egypt enabling him to direct his attention to the economic development of the nation. His building programme spanned all of Egypt, but its nexus was at Faiyum to which he contributed two colossi of himself at Biahmu, temples to Sobek and Renenutet, a pyramid at Dahshur and another at Hawara which is most noted for its mortuary temple known by the epithet 'the Labyrinth', and expanded the agricultural potential of Lake Moeris. To provide the materials for these projects, the natural deposits of Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula to Nubia were extensively exploited. His reign lasted for at least 45 years, possibly longer, and may have ended with a coregency with his successor. Amenemhat IV ruled for nine or ten years, but there is scant information regarding his reign, and by the end of it the dynasty was in decline.
Accession Sobekneferu ascended to the throne following Amenemhat IV. The reasons for the accession of a 'female king' are obscure, but may have been motivated by the lack of a male heir for Amenemhat IV or a dispute over their legitimacy. She is the earliest confirmed woman to rule over Egypt as a king and the first to adopt the full royal titulary. The traditional titles preceding her names were modified to note Sobekneferu's womanhood by appending the feminine marker to them: ; . Though this was an inconsistent practice that was not done to all names or even in all cases .
She was the first ruler to have a theophoric association with the crocodile god Sobek, whose identity appears in both her given nomen Sobekneferu and her chosen prenomen Sobekkare. The cult of Sobek had risen to prominence during the Twelfth Dynasty, particularly as successive kings directed their energy towards the development of Faiyum where Sobek was revered. This culminated in the incorporation of Sobek into the sun deity from whence he became a manifestation of that god as Sobek-Re in a process beginning in the Middle Kingdom and lasting through to the New Kingdom. Many of Sobekneferu's successors in the Second Intermediate Period also bore nomina invoking the god, further testifying to his elevated status.
Reign Her comparatively brief reign of about four years has left, much as with her predecessor, a paucity of surviving contemporary records. Her efforts were concentrated on the Faiyum region – much like Amenemhat III earlier – indicating its retained import. In Faiyum, she is credited with the completion of 'the Labyrinth' of Amenemhat III's pyramid at Hawara. A group of statues of Sobekneferu found at Tell el-Dab'a, but bearing the epithet , also suggest a Faiyum origin. Further south, she is attested in inscriptions from 'the temple of Kom el-Akareb' in Heracleopolis Magna. That a graffito was left at Kumma in her third year indicates that she was able to effect her authority across Egypt. No contemporary evidence has been recovered between Heracleopolis Magna and Kumma. Her funerary monument has not been positively identified. The two pyramids at Mazghuna have been proposed as potential candidates, but there is no evidence to support this assignment and they may date to the Thirteenth Dynasty. Sobekneferu's death brought a close to the Twelfth Dynasty and began the Second Intermediate Period. This transition appears to have been smooth as there is no evidence to suggest a violent collapse.
Early Thirteenth Dynasty The Second Intermediate Period is poorly understood owing to the paucity of attestations for individual rulers of the time. The early Thirteenth Dynasty was characterised by a rapid succession of ephemeral rulers, the first of whom remains debated, though the principal candidates are Khutawyre Wegaf (Wegaf) and Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep (Sobekhotep I). The sheer numerosity of kingships and the brevity of their rule suggests that the throne may have been held by a rotating succession of appointees from the most influential families. This initial phase was brief owing to the exceptionally short reigns of the kings and was followed by a more stable succession with better attested rulers.
Attestations Contemporary Graffiti and seals Only a small collection of sources attest to Sobekneferu's rule as king of Egypt. In Nubia, a graffito (SNM 34390 / RIK 11 / No. 382) in the fortress of Kumma records the height of the Nile inundation at + during her third regnal year. Another inscription discovered in the Eastern Desert records 'year 4, second month of the Season of the Emergence'.
The British Museum has a fine cylinder seal (EA 16581) bearing her name and royal titulary in its collection. The glazed steatite seal measures long with a diameter of . There is a long faded green faience cylinder from Faiyum in the collection of Farouk I carrying two columns of inscriptions. The first bears her name and titles and the second contains formulaic writing. There is another cylinder seal (JE 72663) from the collection of Fuad I, now in the Cairo Museum, which curiously places before Sobekneferu's nomen instead of her prenomen . Sydney Aufrère notes that by the reign of Senusret II the kingly title had rigidified in presentation before the prenomen and proposes that Sobekneferu's may rather have been considering that there are several instances of that pairing. There is record of a further partial cylinder seal with Sobekneferu's titles in the private collection of a 'Mr. Nash from Margate'.
The British Museum also possesses an inscribed scarab (EA 66159) bearing Sobekneferu's name. The glazed steatite scarab measures by and in height. There is also a second scarab from the Grant Collection recorded in Historical scarabs and History by Flinders Petrie.
Statuary