Lady Sattjeni V of Elephantine, Once More.

The October-November special issue of NILE Magazine: Discover Ancient Egypt Today has just appeared. Its main feature story is on  'THE GOVERNORS OF ELEPHANTINE'. These were the princes who are buried in the tombs of Qubbet el-Hawa (on the Nile opposite modern Aswan).  This was a whole dynasty of governors, their mothers, wives, and their very extended family -- an elite just below the pharaohs in rank -- who ruled this southernmost province of Egypt during the Twelfth Dynasty (ca. 1960-1780 BCE).  

I was asked to write an essay for this special issue, and I very much enjoyed doing it. Not just to write about the governors (though, surely, backstabbing and political machinations are always fascinating), but because I really wanted to think again about the life of Lady Sattjeni V -- daughter,  wife, and mother of a pride of governors.  We have found out a remarkable amount about this lady who lived in the late Middle Kingdom. She was a key figure in the dynasty, and we are lucky enough to know about her suprising role in keeping power in the hands of her family. Nile Magazine now updates my earlier blog posts on Sattjeni V (A Leading Lady in Elephantine on the Nile, Part I and Part II).  

This is the true story of an Egyptian Dynasty, as it happened some 3,800 years ago -- fresh from the pages of the NILE: