Satinteti’s Offering Table: A Reused Block from Princess Watetkhethor Zeshzeshet’s Chapel in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery, Saqqara

Abstract

This article analyses the offering table from the chapel of Satinteti, a Memphite Priestess of Hathor, dating to the First Intermediate Period. The false-door and side-pieces are now held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (24.593a–c). The offering table, however, is still in the Teti Pyramid Cemetery and was fashioned from a reused block from the chapel of Princess Watetkhethor Zeshzeshet, the eldest daughter of King Teti of the Sixth Dynasty. The former inscriptions on the offering table are transcribed and the block digitally resituated on the southern wall of room B5 in Watetkhethor’s chapel. The dating for the chapel is assessed from several perspectives, and the technique and motivations for the reuse of the offering table are discussed. It is proposed that Satinteti may have deliberately sought a block from the chapel of this earlier, eminent woman in the completion of her own monument.