Neferitatjenen
The vizier Amenemhat, now King Amenemhat I, moved to his court northwards and founded a new capital city, Itj-Tawy. Itj-Tawy is today lost, but is assumed to have been in the Faiyum region. Here, taking his cue from the Old Kingdom monarchs, Amenemhat abandoned the more restrained Theban-style rock-cut tomb and built a pyramid in the new royal cemetery of Lisht. Around his pyramid enclosure he built 22 burial shafts for the most important royal women. included amongst these was, we must assume, Amenemhat's consort Neferitatjenen, the mother of his son and co-regent Senusret and his daughter Nefru.
After 30 years on the throne, Amenemhat was murdered. Unlike most murder victims, he was able to write a letter to his son detailing the horrific chain of events leading up to, and including, his death. "His letter was actually composed by the scribe Khety, who wrote from the viewpoint of the dead king to increase the dramatic effect:
"As I began to drift into sleep, the very weapons that should have been used to protect me were turned against me while I was like a snake of the desert. I awoke with a jump, alert for the flight, and found that it was a combat with the guard. Had I been able to seize my weapon I would have beaten the cowards single-handed, but no one is strong at night.... I had not expected it and had not predicted the treachery of my servants. Had any woman ever marshalled troops! Are rebels nurtured in the palace?"
Egypt's scribes shied away from recording anything that might suggest an absence of maat, and so accounts of crimes against the royal family are few and far between. It therefore comes as little surprising that we have no more official record of Amenemhat's death by unnatural causes. However, Khety's account is backed up, somewhat obliquely, by the fictional Middle Kingdom story of Sinuhe, which tells how the eponymous hero runs away from Egypt upon learning of the king's death. Why would Sinuhe run away if the elderly Amenemhat had died of natural causes? And, indeed, why would he run away if he weren't frightened that he would somehow be implicated in the death? We know, because he tells us, that Sinuhe was in the service of the royal harem:
"I was an attendant who waited on his lord, a servant of the royal harem assigned to the Princess Nefru, wife of King Senusret and daughter of King Amenemhat."
The inference that the king has fallen victim to a harem plot is to disrupt the intended succession hovers unspoken. If this was the case, it was a plot that was only partially successful. The king might have died, but he was succeeded as he had planned by Senusret I.
After 30 years on the throne, Amenemhat was murdered. Unlike most murder victims, he was able to write a letter to his son detailing the horrific chain of events leading up to, and including, his death. "His letter was actually composed by the scribe Khety, who wrote from the viewpoint of the dead king to increase the dramatic effect:
"As I began to drift into sleep, the very weapons that should have been used to protect me were turned against me while I was like a snake of the desert. I awoke with a jump, alert for the flight, and found that it was a combat with the guard. Had I been able to seize my weapon I would have beaten the cowards single-handed, but no one is strong at night.... I had not expected it and had not predicted the treachery of my servants. Had any woman ever marshalled troops! Are rebels nurtured in the palace?"
Egypt's scribes shied away from recording anything that might suggest an absence of maat, and so accounts of crimes against the royal family are few and far between. It therefore comes as little surprising that we have no more official record of Amenemhat's death by unnatural causes. However, Khety's account is backed up, somewhat obliquely, by the fictional Middle Kingdom story of Sinuhe, which tells how the eponymous hero runs away from Egypt upon learning of the king's death. Why would Sinuhe run away if the elderly Amenemhat had died of natural causes? And, indeed, why would he run away if he weren't frightened that he would somehow be implicated in the death? We know, because he tells us, that Sinuhe was in the service of the royal harem:
"I was an attendant who waited on his lord, a servant of the royal harem assigned to the Princess Nefru, wife of King Senusret and daughter of King Amenemhat."
The inference that the king has fallen victim to a harem plot is to disrupt the intended succession hovers unspoken. If this was the case, it was a plot that was only partially successful. The king might have died, but he was succeeded as he had planned by Senusret I.
