Queen Ankhesenamen presents lotus flowers to Tutankhamen.
From an ivory box from Tutankhamen's tomb.
Titles: Hereditary
Princess (iryt-p`t), Great of
Praises (wrt-hzwt), Sweet of
Love (bnrt-mrwt), Sweet of
Love (ndjmt-mrwt)
Lady of Grace (nbt-im3t),
Lady of Love (nbt-mrwt),
Lady of The Two Lands (nbt-t3wy),
Great King’s Wife (hmt-niswt-wrt),
King’s Wife, his beloved (hmt-nisw
meryt.f), Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (hnwt-Shm’w -mhw).
Full title on some Amarna monuments:
King’s Daughter of his body, his beloved Ankhes-en-pa-aten, born of the
great royal wife, his beloved, Lady of the Two Lands (Neferneferuaten)|
may she live (s3t-niswt-nt-kht.f-meryt.f-anx-s-n-p3-itn-ms-n-hmt-niswt-wrt-meryt.f-nbt-t3wy-(itn-nfr-u-nfr-tyit)| anx-s)
Early years as Princess Ankhesenpaaten at
the court at Amarna
Ankhesenamen
was born Ankhesenpaaten. She was the third daughter of Akhenaten and
Nefertiti. She appears on the monuments in Amarna roughly after year 5
or 6 of the reign of Akhenaten. She is depicted in several of the tombs
in Amarna and appears in other inscriptions and sculptures.
Later married King Tutankhamen.
Left: Princess Ankhesenpaaten
stands on her mother's lap. From a stela.
Right: Princess Ankhesenpaaten stands behind her two sisters, Meritaten
and Meketaten.
They shake a sistrum as their parents, Akhenaten and Nefertiti,
dedicate votive items to the Aten.
Ankhesenpaaten stands behind
her sisters Meritaten and Meketaten,
while their parents hand rewards to the priest Parennefer.
Ankhesenpaaten is followed by a royal nurse and her aunt the Princes
Mutnodjemet.
The tribute from year 12
depicted in Huya's tomb.
Ankhesenpaaten is the left-most princes at the top. She is shown
affectionately caressing her sister's face.
Sculptures of Amarna
Princesses. These princesses are not identified and
could represent Meritaten, Ankhesenpaaten or one of the other royal
princesses.
Ankhesenamen as Queen.
Tutankhamen
came
to
the throne
at a very young age. He must have been 7 or 8 years old. It is not
known how old Ankhesenpaaten was when she became Queen of Egypt. It is
usually thought that she must have been several years older than her
husband.
After approximately 3 years on the throne the royal couple changed
their
names
from Tutankhaten and Ankhesenpaaten to Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamen.
The name change seems to have been accompanied by a move to the north.
Akhetaten was abandoned and the royal couple moved back to their
palaces in Thebes and Memphis.
Statues in Karnak and Luxor with the facial features of Tutankhamen and
Ankhesenamen.
On the left: Amun and Amunet in Karnak.
On the right: A dyad from Luxor.
Ankhesenamen
is known to have been depicted on several monuments near Memphis. In
the temple tomb built by Horemheb before he became pharaoh we see
Ankhesenamen behind Tutankhamen. Sadly enough the top of the scene has
been lost, but it appears that the royal couple is bestowing rewards on
courtiers.
Evidence of Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamen was also found at Dashur, This
necropolis is slightly south of Saqqara and tombs from the time of
Tutakhamen were found. Some of the finds include signet rigns inscribed
with the name of Ankhesenamen.
Ankhesenamen stands behind Tutankhamen in the tomb of Horemheb in
Saqqara.
Images of Ankhesenamen from the tomb of her husband
Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
When the tomb of Tutankhamen was
discovered by Howard Carter, several items showed the image of
Tutankhamen's Queen. One of the most famous object is the golden throne
which shows Ankhesenamen standing before her husband. She is apparently
annointing the king. Ankhesenamen is shown wearing a short Nubian wig
and her regalia consist of a modius consisting of uraei topped with the
horned sundisk and the double plumes. The sundisk and plumes associate
her with the goddess Hathor.
Ankhesenamen annointing Tutankhamen. Scene from the famous throne found
in KV62.
Close-up of Queen Ankhesenamen and King Tutankhamen.
A better photograph of the throne can be found at Richard
Seaman's website
Another
object showing Ankhesenamen with her husband is a beatiful golden
shrine. The shrine was found empty, but probably conatined a small
statue in antiquity. The outside of the shrine is decorated with many
different scenes showing Ankhesenamen and Tutankhamen. In several of
the scenes Ankkhesenamen is shown with a short wig. Sometimes combined
with a side-lock. She is shown offering lotus flowers and other objects
to Tutankhamen. In one sceen she stands behind the king in a papyrus
skiff while hunting ducks in the marsh. Ankhesenamen is depicted with a
fly-whisk.
Images from the shrine from Tutankhamen's tomb.
In
Tutankhamen's tomb there were also two mummies of small babies. It' is
possible that these two children were still-born children of
Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamen. Ankhesenamen may have been the mother of
a small girl seen in Amarna named Ankhesenpaaten-tasherit. It's also
possible however that this girl was a daughter of Kiya, or even of some
other lady. No surviving children of Ankhesenamen are known however.
On the left: the mummies of the
babies from Tutankhamen's tomb.
On the right: One of the miniature mummy masks.
After Tutankhamen
After the death of Tutankhamen a
queen referred to as Dahamunzu writes to King Suppiluliumas and asks
him to send her a son.
Records
were
found in the Hittite archive outlining this strange string of events.
After the death of King
Tutankhamen, Queen Ankhesenamen wrote to the King of the Hittites and
asked him to send
her one of his sons. She promises to marry the Prince and make him King
of Egypt. She claims to be afraid and declares that she will not marry
any of her 'servants'. King Suppiluliuma suspects some trick and sends
one
of his envoys to investigate. After some time the King decides to send
his
son, Prince Zannanza, to Egypt. The prince dies and the King expects
foul
play. The last letters in the exchange show a correspondence between
Aye
and Suppiluliuma. This shows that all of Ankhesenamen's machinations
have
come to naught.
Ring linking the names of
Ankhesenamen and Pharaoh Aye.
There is some indication that Ankhesenamen married Aye,
but
she disappears from history soon after that. It is not known where she
was buried, and no funerary objects with her name are known to exist.
This leaves the possibility that her tomb is still somewhere out there,
waiting to be discovered.
