Archaeologists discover the 4,400-year-old tomb of a powerful Egyptian woman

A painting in a 4,400-year-old Egyptian tomb

(Image credit: BBC/Screenshot)

published 3 February 2018

Egyptian archaeologists have revealed the discovery of a 4,400-year-old tomb belonging to Hetpet, a powerful official in the royal court of the Old Kingdom who served as a priestess to the fertility goddess, Hathor.

"We know of course that [Hetpet] was a high official and that she had a strong link with the royal palace," said Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani on Saturday. Her tomb features rare wall paintings al-Anani said are in "a very good conservation condition, depicting Hetpet standing in different hunting and fishing scenes or ... receiving offerings from her children."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.