Nofret was a noblewoman and princess who lived in Ancient Egypt during the 4th dynasty of Egypt c. 2613 to 2494 BC. Nefert means "beautiful". Nofret is alternatively known as Nefert or Neferet.
Biography
Nofret's parents are not known. Nofret married
Prince Rahotep, a son of
Pharaoh Sneferu. She had six children with Rahotep: three daughters - Mereret, Nedjemib, and Sethtet - and three sons,
Prince Djedi, Itu, and Neferkau. They all had the same title of "King's Acquaintance".
[Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004 ]
Nofret was buried with her husband in mastaba 6 at Meidum.[ Dodson and Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004 ] In 1871 by Daninos, beautiful statues of Rahotep and Nofret were found.
Statues of Nofret and Rahotep
Prince Rahotep's statue has six columns of text, naming his titles and duties, with columns three and six, each ending with his name, Ra-Hotep. Nofret has identical texts, one column both right and left. Her name appears at the bottom, with the
determinative for 'women'. Her complete name is "Nsw-r(kh)-t, Nfr-t". The last, nfr-t means "beautiful woman" (the t being the bread bun for feminine); nsw-r(kh)-t, means "King's Acquaintance". Nofret's statue depicts her with noticeably paler skin than her male counterpart and with blue eyes. Her hair is hidden by a dark thick wig, though her natural hairline, showing dark straight hair, is visible.
r:a ! R4:t*p[ The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Ian Shaw, c 2000, p. 129.]]]
Philately and numismatics
Nofret is depicted on Egyptian stamps of 1958,
1989,
and 2000 (the cost is 20
Egyptian pound; No. 1669)
and on the Fujairah stamp of 1966 (pair statue).
The watermark of the banknote depicts the head of a sculptural image of Nofret.
External links
