Meresankh IV was a Queen

Queen consort

A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...

 of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 in the 5th dynasty

Fifth dynasty of Egypt

The fifth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties III, IV and VI under the group title the Old Kingdom. Dynasty V dates approximately from 2494 to 2345 BC.-Rulers:...

. Her name means "she loves life".

Biography

Meresankh IV was a queen of Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

 towards the end of the 5th dynasty. While some sources consider that her husband is unknown, other sources suggest her husband was the pharaoh Menkauhor Kaiu

Menkauhor Kaiu

Menkauhor Kaiu , was a Pharaoh of the Fifth dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He was the successor of King Nyuserre Ini and was succeeded by Djedkare Isesi. Menkauhor's royal name or prenomen means "Eternal are the Souls of Horus".-Family:Menkauhor may have been a son of Nyuserre...

. It is also possible that Meresankh IV was the wife of the pharaoh Djedkare Isesi

Djedkare Isesi

Djedkare Isesi in Greek known as Tancheres from Manetho's Aegyptiaca, was a Pharaoh of Egypt during the Fifth dynasty. He is assigned a reign of twenty-eight years by the Turin Canon although some Egyptologists believe this is an error and should rather be thirty-eight years...

.

Meresankh IV may have had sons: Remkuy (Raemka) and Kaemtjenent. The family relationship between Meresankh and Remkuy and Kaemtjenent are based on the general dating of their monuments (mastabas in Saqqara). It is possible that Kaemtjenent may have been a son of Djedkare Isesi rather than Menkauhor Kaiu.

Titles

The titles of Meresankh IV were: Great one of the hetes-sceptre, King’s Wife, Great of Praises, She who sees Horus

Horus

Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...

 and Seth

Seth

Seth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...

, Priestess of Thoth

Thoth

Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...

, Priestess of Tjazepef, Directress of the butchers in the acacia house, Attendant of Horus, Companion of Horus, Consort and beloved of the Two Ladies

Two Ladies

In Ancient Egyptian texts, Two Ladies is a religious euphemism for Wadjet and Nekhbet, the deities who were the patrons of the Ancient Egyptians and worshiped by all after the unification of its two parts, Lower Egypt, and Upper Egypt...

, Companion of Horus.

She was buried in tomb 82 in Saqqara

Saqqara

Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...

 - tomb D5 in Marriete's Mastaba. The tomb only had one chamber and there were no inscriptions on the walls. The text recording queen Meresankh IV comes from a stela found in the tomb along with a serdab

Serdab

A serdab , literally meaning "cold water", which became a loan word in Persian for 'cellar') is an ancient Egyptian tomb structure that served as a chamber for the Ka statue of a deceased individual. Used during the Old Kingdom, the serdab was a sealed chamber with a small slit or hole to allow the...

.