Taimhotep

Ptolemaic Period

Taimhotep was married at the age of fourteen to Psherenptah, the High Priest of Ptah in Memphis, one of the most powerful offices in the state. She bore him three daughters and then a son; she died at the age of thirty.

Taimhotep left a long inscription in which she records her life and laments the fact that it was cut short; the inscription belong to a genre of such memorial dedications which are notable for their mood of pessimism and anxiety, in contrast to the generally sunnier and more optimistic terms of earlier memorials. Taimhotep died on 15 February 42 BC and was buried by her husband the High Priest, who died the following year.

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Last Updated: June 20th, 2011