Abedjou
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Queen MeritNit (MerytNeith, MerNeith, spelling varies) must have been a significant woman in Dynasty 1, c 2950 b.c., as she was given a funerary structure at the Royal funerary enclosure at Abedjou as well as funerary monument at Sakkara. She is also the very first woman in the history of ancient Egypt recorded as regent.

MeritNit or MerNeith, meaning Beloved of Nit, (Gr: Neith) was probably, though not proven, daughter to King Djer, the second king of the 1st Dynasty. She was also the Great Royal Wife ( that is queen, though that word does not exist in ancient Egyptian) of King Djet and the mother of King Den.

After the death of Djet, whose rule seems to have been short, it is believed that MeritNit reigned for a period while her son Den was too young.

The tomb of MeritNit was first excavated by William Petrie in 1900, who believed he had found the tomb of a king. Two large funerary stelae with the name of MeritNit (MerNeith) in raised relief, though not within a serekh were found nearby, and its structure corresponded to the other royal tombs in the enclosure. It consisted of a central burial chamber surrounded by eight store rooms. Around this structure over 40 subsidiary tombs were found. Many of those buried there seem to have been in her service, due to the content. Her shipmaker, her vasemaker and her artists were among those found here.

Though her name was first thought to be that of a king´s, it was later found engraved on a clay sealing in the tomb of Den as "King´s Mother MerNeit" (MwtNiswt). The seal states the kings from Narmer to Den and confirmes her status. It is somehow uncertain if she ruled in actual fact, since her name is not found on another clay seal listing of early rulers, which was found in the tomb of Qa´a, who reigned several kings later. The King´s Mother was an important position already in this early period, and brought a great deal of influence.

It was customary for the early dynastic rulers to have two funerary monuments, one for the actual tomb, the other one functioning as a cenotaph. MeritNit is sofar the only woman to have been commemorated in this way. At her funerary monument at Saqqara there were burials of various craftsmen intended to work for her in the Afterlife, as well as a solar boat to enable her to travel with the Sungod in the Afterlife. This last was normally exclusively the right of the King and it indicates that she may very well have been a regent or co-regent. At the least, she must have been a very influential and powerful woman.

Apart from this, evidence of MeritNit outside of Abydos is scarce. One explanation for this could be that all documents from her period of regency bore the name of the king, which in this case was her young son, Den. But there exists an unprovenanced alabaster cylinder vessel with her name in relief, and one small ivory vessel from Saqqara, also bearing her name. From same area are also three other named vessel fragments. Her name, MeritNit, meaning Beloved of Nit, indicates that she must have had some power in Lower Egypt, where the cult center of Nit was located at Sais. Here Nit was a deity of great importance ever since Predynastic times, with a dominant influence at court since several royal names from these periods are formed in combination with the deity´s.

Sources: Early Dynastic Egypt - Toby A.H. Wilkinson
Chronicles of The Pharaohs - Peter A. Clayton
Daughters of Isis - Joyce Tyldesley
Who´s Who in Ancient Egypt - Michael Rice
Aegypten, die Welt der Pharaonen - Stephan Seidlmeyer (article)