Photo of stone bust

Was this woman Egypt's first female pharaoh?

Neferusobek doesn't have the name recognition of Cleopatra and Hatshepsut, but she may have been the first woman to rule the ancient kingdom.

A headless bust of Neferusobek depicts the female king—perhaps the first ever—in both stereotypical female and male dress. This statue may have been recarved once she took the throne, adding the iconography of kingship, namely the kilt and Nemes headdress.
Photograph Courtesy Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Georges Poncet/ Art Resource, NY
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