Meretites: A Woman of Power

Summary In the Old Kingdom, among the individuals linked to the hairdresser’s trade, Meretites is the only woman recorded to be connected with this field. However, she is not represented as jr.t-šn , i.e. ‘hairdresser’, as is the case in the Middle Kingdom; but as jmy(.t)-rꜣ js-šn , i.e. ‘director of the hairdressing office’. However, this title does not appear in any index or lexicon, making Meretites the only holder of this unpublished title. Thus, Meretites tells us that a woman in this period could be linked to the human body, more specifically the hair, but also that a hairdressing office existed. Would this office have had a particular function? Would the complete title of Meretites allow us to know the status of this particular woman in Egyptian society?