Meryibre Khety
Meriibre, Meribre and Kheti, Akhtoy, Achthoes; Merybtawy, Meribtawy
Copper container with Meryibre Khety's royal titulary. Paris, Louvre.
Nomarch ofHeracleopolis Magna andPharaoh
Reign	c. 2160 BCE – ?
Predecessor	a pharaoh of theEighth Dynasty
Successor	Neferkare VII (not directly)
Royal titulary Horus name Meryibtawy mr.j-j-jb-t3.wj Loved by the heart of theTwo Lands Nebty name Meryibtawy mr.j-j-jb-t3.wj Loved by the heart of the Two Lands Golden Horus Mery..? mr.j..? ? Praenomen Meryibre mr.j-j-jb-rˁ Loved by the heart ofRa Nomen Khety ẖtj(j)
Dynasty	9th Dynasty(mainstream);10th Dynasty(Von Beckerath)

Meryibre Khety, also known by his Horus nameMeryibtawy, was apharaoh of the9th or10th Dynasty of Egypt, during theFirst Intermediate Period.

Some scholars^[1][2][3][4] believe that Meryibre Khety was the founder of the 9th Dynasty, aHerakleopolitannomarch who gathered enough authority to claim himself the legitimate successor of the6th Dynasty pharaohs. It seems that Meryibre ruled over his neighboring nomarchs with an iron fist, and it is likely for this reason that in later times this ruler becameManetho's infamousAchthoes,^[3] a wicked king who went insane and then was killed by acrocodile.

Alternatively, otherEgyptologists such asJürgen von Beckerath^[5] believe instead that Meryibre reigned toward the end of the subsequent 10th Dynasty, shortly before kingMerikare.

Because of the contrasting opinions of scholars, Meryibre's reign is difficult to account and date with reliability; if he really was the founder of the 9th Dynasty, his reign should have conventionally begun in c. 2160 BCE,^[6] while in the second case his reign should have started about a century later.

This ruler is known only for few objects,which are a sort ofcopperbrazier or basket from a tomb nearAbydos (found along with ascribe's palette bearing the name of king Merikare) now exhibited at theLouvre Museum, anebony wand fromMeir now at theCairo Museum (JE 42835), anivorycasket fragment fromLisht and some other minor finds.^[2][3] Thanks to those few monuments, however, Meryibre'sroyal titulary is the most complete amongst the known pharaohs of this period.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKhety Meriibre.

• Meryibre Khety's page on Eglyphica.net.

• 22nd-century BC pharaohs
• Nomarchs
• Pharaohs of the Ninth Dynasty of Egypt
• Pharaohs of the Tenth Dynasty of Egypt
• 3rd-millennium BC births
• 22nd-century BC deaths

• Pages using the WikiHiero extension
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata