Women’s Conspiracies (Harem Conspiracies)

Zahi Hawass

We knew several stories related to women’s conspiracies in Islamic history, Shajar al-Durr is the most celebrated tale.

However, I am going to discuss the earliest conspiracy planned by a woman 4200 years ago. The heroine of such a tale was Queen Imt's, the wife of King Pepi I, the third king of the sixth dynasty.

Military leader Uni narrated the story of the queen as he was ordered by the king to investigate with her, on the other hand, the leader didn’t unveil the real motive behind the order.

As for me, I don’t think that the reason was betrayal as the king wouldn’t allow to any official to know that he was betrayed by his wife. It could negatively influence the image of the king from his people’s eyes.

Although we couldn’t identify the real reason, it was the first time for an official to investigate with a royal lady.

Moreover, Uni was known for his tales about soldiers and their behaviors towards their wives and children that symbolized the morals of the Egyptian soldier through ages.

There was another conspiracy that involved King Pepi II who ruled Egypt for 90 years as he was crowned at the age of 8 years old. Therefore, his term was named as the longest one in the history of ancient Egypt.

The story expressed that one of King Pepi II’s officials used to watch the king during the his secret visit to the house of the leader of the army.

When Pepi II arrived the house, he climbed a ladder to step inside the place, next, he stayed the whole night with the leader. Then, he came back to his palace secretly without noticing anyone.

The story was written down at the age of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, and it was re-scripted in the late period of ancient Egypt. However, the narrator explained in the tale’s manuscript that he didn’t accuse the king of anything, but he only wrote the down the incident.

Although, the story referred to a relationship between the king and the leader which was rejected in ancient Egypt that’s why the story was narrated various times.

These stories are stories from the age of ancient Egyptians.

Contributed by: Rana Atef