Naunakhte (fl c. 1100s BCE) was an Egyptian woman of the 20th Dynasty, who is best known from her will.[1][2]
She lived in the workers' village at Deir el-Medina, and was married twice. Her first marriage was to Qenhirkhopsef, the head scribe of Deir el-Medina, who owned a large library of texts (and carved many pieces of graffiti around the area of the Valley of the Kings).[3] When they married, Naunakhte was only 12-years-old, while her husband was in his 50s. After her first husband died, she married Khaemnun, a village workman.[1][4][3] She had several children - most likely from her second marriage - totalling 4 sons and 4 daughters.[1][5]
In the 1920s, archaeologists working at Deir el-Medina discovered 4 papyri that dealt with the inheritance of the estates of Naunakhte: the document as a whole is commonly known as the Will of Naunakhte.[1] The so-called will is a transcript, recording the verbal statements Naunakhte made at court in Deir el-Medina, in October 1145 BCE, in the 3rd year of the reign of the pharaoh Ramses V.[1][6][7]
Naunakhte, who was at that time quite elderly, probably around 80-years-old, stated that four of her children should not inherit any of her property, because they had not taken care of her in her old age.[4][3] Though these children would inherit the property that once belonged to their father - Naunakhte's second husband Khaemnun - they would inherit nothing from her estate or that of her first husband.[1][2]
Another court record, dating from a year later, suggests that Naunakhte had died, as Khaemnun returned to court, and requested that everything be done as Naunakhte had wished.[4]
This will gives insight into the rights of Egyptian women during the 20th Dynasty, as well as law, and family dynamics, including expectations of children's behaviour towards elderly parents.[3] For instance, the will shows that Naunakhte was able to inherit property from her own father, and that property remained hers during both of her marriages.[3][1][2]