Nitocris possibly was the last queen of the Sixth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Her name is found in writings long considered as relatively accurate resources: a major chronological documentation of the reigns of the kings of ancient Egypt that was composed in the third-century BC by Manetho, an Ancient Egyptian priest and by the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, in his Histories (430 BC). She is thought to be the daughter of Pepi II and Neith and to be the sister of Merenre Nemtyemsaf II. Her historicity has been questioned by some with speculation that, if she was a historical ruler, she may have been a regent. Another view, by the Egyptologist Kim Ryholt, argues that Nitocris is legendary and derives from the historical king Neitiqerty Siptah who succeeded Nitocris's brother, Merenre Nemtyemsaf II, at the transition between the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period. Manetho claimed she built the "third pyramid" at Giza. Modern historians and archaeologists attribute that pyramid to a king of the Fourth Dynasty, Menkaure.

Greek tradition

According to Herodotus (Histories ii-100), Nitocris invited the murderers of her brother, the "king of Egypt", to a banquet, then killed them by flooding the sealed room with the waters of the Nile. Herodotus also indicated that, to avoid the other conspirators, she committed suicide (possibly by running into a burning room).

Egyptian records

The name, Nitocris, is not mentioned in any known native Egyptian inscriptions in stone and it was long thought that this king appears under her Egyptian name of Nitiqreti (nt-ỉqrtỉ) on a fragment of the Turin King List, dated to the Nineteenth Dynasty. The fragment where this name appears was thought to belong to the Sixth Dynasty portion of a king list, thus appearing to confirm the records of both Manetho and Herodotus. Microscopic analysis of the Turin King List suggests the fragment might have been misplaced in reassembling the fragmentary text, and that the name Nitiqreti is a faulty transcription of the prenomen of king Netjerkare Siptah I, who is named on the Nineteenth Dynasty Abydos King List as the successor of the Sixth Dynasty king Nemtyemsaf II. On the Abydos King List, Netjerkare Siptah is placed in the equivalent spot that Neitiqerty Siptah holds on the Turin King List. Several kings listed by Manetho, Herodotus, and the Turin list now are proven to have existed, but they were omitted from the Abydos list and their removal is suspected to be suppression of historical details not favored by the rulers when the Abydos list was created.

In modern fiction