Merit-Ptah (2699–2659 BCE)

Born 2699 BCE, died 2659 BCE.

Merit-Ptah ("Beloved of Ptah") was thought to be a female chief physician of the king's court during the Second Dynasty of Egypt, c. 2700 BC. She was purportedly referred as such on an inscription left on her grave at Saqqara by her son. However, in recent times it has been argued that she most likely never existed, being a modern 1938 invention of Canadian feminist Kate Hurd-Mead. Jakub Kwiecinski, a historian at the University of Colorado, was cited by secondary source Newsweek arguing that the made-up story of Merit-Ptah exemplifies how "seemingly well-sourced Wikipedia articles" can mislead, and he cautioned against over-reliance on secondary sources.

Text from the Wikipedia article Merit-Ptah, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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