This is a good site for information--
http://www.geocities.com/alisalee83/meryneith.html
Because my links usually goof up and must not be correct, I've posted out the information here.
Found in 2001 by a Dutch excavation team, bringing to light a previously unknown high official from the reigns of Akhenaten and Tutankhamen, is the tomb of Meryneith. He was buried in Saqqara, not too far from the tombs of Maya (Tutankhamen's treasurer) and Horemheb. His tomb was apparently started during Akhenaten's reign, but completed under the reign of his successor, Tutankhamen.
According to Dr. Maarten Raven, co-director of the Dutch expedition to Saqqara, Meryneith was a "steward of the Memphite temple of Aten" at the beginning of his career. As steward, it was Meryneith's job to supervise the economic aspects of the temple. Reliefs show him inspecting the grain that had been delivered from the temple's farmlands, as well as the various works produced by the temple's workshops. Meryneith is also shown at the launch of one of Akhenaten's royal barques. The reliefs show Akhenaten seated onboard, underneath a pavillion, but his figure has been destroyed -- it is difficult to make him out! Dr. Raven believes that these relief carvings were executed during the first few years of Akhenaten's reign, as they exhibit the characteristics of early Amarna art.
Reliefs carved in the more "mature" Amarna fashion can be found in other parts of the tomb, depicting the deceased entering and leaving the tomb. By now, Meryneith has changed his name to Meryre, which "clearly reflects the next step of Akhenaten's revolution, when the goddess Neith had been banned from the new pantheon." (p. 33) Thus, this part of the tomb dates from a later part of Akhenaten's reign.
At some point Meryneith, now called Meryre, was promoted to "scribe of the Temple of the Aten in Akhetaten and in Memphis." This title was found inscribed on a statue of Meryneith/re and his wife, Aniuya. It seems as though he divided his time between Memphis, and Akhenaten's new city, Akhet-aten. Some have wondered if this Meryre is the same as either of the two Meryre's that lived in Akhet-aten, "but these [men] always have different functions or different wives, and there is no evidence that any of these namesakes were identical to our tomb-owner." (p. 34)
After Akhenaten died, and Tutankhamen eventually came to the throne, Meryre's name was changed back to its original form, and he became, once again, Meryneith. He then became the High Priest of the goddess Neith, as her worship has been returned to under Tutankhamen. In the new reign, Meryneith's wife, Aniuya, became a songstress of Amen. But what is so confusing about this point in time, is that Meryneith has been promoted to "Greatest of Seers [a Heliopolitan term for High Priest] of the Aten." Meryneith held this title under Tutankhamen, and other "sources indicate that the Memphite temple of the Aten remained open for at least another generation, even though Akhenaten's memory was soon persecuted as that of a criminal." (p. 34) Perhaps this is not so strange when one considers that there existed Aten temples under Amenhotep III, and that the god was first given prominence under Tuthmosis IV, two kings who were certainly not heretics. Perhaps it was not the Aten itself that was seen as heretical, but Akhenaten and his method of worshipping it.
Bibliography
Raven, Maarten "Meryneith: High Priest of the Aten" Minerva: The International Review of Ancient Art and Archaeology, Vol. 13, No. 4, July/August 2002.
Hope all of this helps...
And screwed up the link (oh well)
