Meritites I was an ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian Queen of the 4th dynasty

Fourth dynasty of Egypt

The fourth dynasty of ancient Egypt is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom. Dynasty IV lasted from ca. 2613 to 2494 BC...

.

She was a daughter of King Sneferu

Sneferu

Sneferu, also spelled as Snephru, Snefru or Snofru , was the founder of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt. Estimates of his reign vary, with for instance The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt suggesting a reign from around 2613 BC to 2589 BC, a reign of 24 years, while Rolf Krauss suggests a 30-year reign...

 and the wife of King Khufu

Khufu

Khufu , also known as Cheops or, in Manetho, Suphis , was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. He reigned from around 2589 to 2566 BC. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. He is generally accepted as being the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of...

. Her name means "Beloved of her Father". Several of her titles are known from a stela found at Giza. She was the mother of Crown Prince Kawab

Kawab

Kawab was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was the eldest son of King Khufu and Queen Meritites I. Kawab served as vizier and was buried in the double mastaba G 7110 - 7120 in the east field which is part of the Giza Necropolis.- Biography:Kawab was the eldest son of Pharaoh...

 and may have had several more children. Meritites was buried in the middle Queen's Pyramid and Giza (Pyrmaid G 1b).

Biography

Meritites was a daughter of Sneferu. Meritites married her (half?-)brother Khufu

Khufu

Khufu , also known as Cheops or, in Manetho, Suphis , was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. He reigned from around 2589 to 2566 BC. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. He is generally accepted as being the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of...

. With Khufu, she was the mother of Crown Prince Kawab

Kawab

Kawab was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was the eldest son of King Khufu and Queen Meritites I. Kawab served as vizier and was buried in the double mastaba G 7110 - 7120 in the east field which is part of the Giza Necropolis.- Biography:Kawab was the eldest son of Pharaoh...

, and possibly Djedefre. Both Queen Hetepheres II

Hetepheres II

- Birth and family :Queen Hetepheres II may have been one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt, which lasted from ca. 2723 to 2563 BC. She was a daughter of Khufu and was either born during the reign of her grandfather Sneferu or during the early years of...

 and Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 Khafra

Khafra

Khafra — also Khafre — was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Fourth dynasty, who had his capital at Memphis. According to some authors he was the son and successor of Khufu, but it is more commonly accepted that Djedefre was Khufu's successor and Khafra was Djedefre's...

 have been suggested as children of Meretites I and Khufu as well, and it is possible that Meritites II

Meritites II

Meritites II or Meritites A was a 4th dynasty Princess of Ancient Egypt, and likely a daughter of King Khufu. She may have been a daughter of Meritites I besed on the fact that this queen is mentioned in mastaba G 7650...

 was a daughter of Meritites I as well.

Mariette recorded a stela at Giza in which Meritites is said to be a favorite of both Sneferu and Khufu:

King's wife, his beloved, devoted to Horus

Horus

Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...

, Mertitytes. King's wife, his beloved, Mertitytes; beloved of the Favorite of the Two Goddesses; she who says anything whatsoever and it is done for her. Great in the favor of Snefr[u]; great in the favor of Khuf[u], devoted to Horus, honored under Khafre. Merti[tyt]es. [Breasted]

Meritites held the titles: great one of the hetes-sceptre of Khufu (wrt-hetes-nt-khwfw), great one of the hetes-sceptre of Snofru (wrt-hetes-nt-snfrw), king’s wife, his beloved (hmt-nisw meryt.f), attendant of Horus

Horus

Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...

 (kht-hrw) and consort and beloved of the Two Ladies

Two Ladies

In Ancient Egyptian texts, Two Ladies is a religious euphemism for Wadjet and Nekhbet, the deities who were the patrons of the Ancient Egyptians and worshiped by all after the unification of its two parts, Lower Egypt, and Upper Egypt...

 (sm3yt-mry-nbty).

Pyramid

Pyramid G 1b is thought to be the tomb of Meritites. The queen's pyramids were often constructed to the south of the king's pyramid, but a quarry located to the south of Khufu's pyramid caused the located of the smaller pyramids to shifted to the east.
Reisner placed the construction of the pyramid of Meritites in ca. year 15 of the reign of Khufu

Khufu

Khufu , also known as Cheops or, in Manetho, Suphis , was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. He reigned from around 2589 to 2566 BC. Khufu was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty. He is generally accepted as being the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of...

. The construction of her pyramid would have started very soon after the construction of pyramid G 1a. The queen's pyramids are part of the East Field at Giza

Giza East Field

The East Field is located to the east of Khufu’s pyramid and contains cemetery G 7000. This cemetery was a burial place for some of the family members of Khufu....

 which also includes some royal mastabas.

Pyramid

Pyramid

A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...

 G 1a (the northernmost of three small pyramids east of the Great Pyramid

Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact...

 of Giza) was at first thought to belong to Meritites, but it is now thought to belong to Khufu's mother Hetepheres I

Hetepheres I

Queen Hetepheres I was a Queen of Egypt during the 4th dynasty.- Biography :Hetepheres I may have been a daughter of pharaoh Huni. Her title God's Daughter suggests she was the daughter of a king and the most likely candidate is Huni, the predecessor of Sneferu...

. More recently Pyramid G 1b is thought to be the tomb of Meritites. It had a small mortuary temple and a boat pit associated with it. No boat was found in the rock cut boat pit however. The mortuary temple was decorated with scenes. Relief fragments from a false-door and walls were recoved during excavations. The title of Queen was preserved in a fragment now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (27.1321). Further fragments include parts of an offering list, men bringing offerings and animals, and a boat
being paddled.