Born: Unknown, Egypt
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Egypt
Also known as: NA
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
In the 4th Dynasty, which begins the Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613-2181 BCE), the queen Heterpheres I was the wife of king Sneferu (c. 2613-2589 BCE), the first to build a true pyramid in Egypt, and mother of Khufu (2589-2566 BCE) who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. Heterpheres I exerted considerable influence over her son who had her now-famous tomb built near his own pyramid complex. The details of her reign and rise to power are unclear. She could have been the daughter of Huni (c.2630-2613 BCE), the last king of the Third Dynasty, and if so, her marriage to Sneferu allowed for a smooth transition between the two dynasties.