During the Middle Kingdom Period, having a daughter appointed as a God’s Wife in your local temple meant that you were a member of the upper crust of Egyptian society. But at the dawn of the New Kingdom, Pharaoh Ahmose I drafted a legal contract that made the God’s Wife of Amun arguably the second most powerful person in the kingdom. Before all was said and done, one God’s Wife would use the office to become the most powerful person in the kingdom.
With Amun now the King of the Gods, his earthly consort came into her own wealth and authority in a way that would ultimately shatter the glass ceiling of Egyptian politics, at least for a while…
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Tags: Ahhotep I, Ahmose I, Ahmose-Nefertari, Amun, Benefactor Stele, Donation Stele, Eighteenth Dynasty, Gods Wife of Amun, House of the Adoratrice, Karnak, Khabekhnet, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, Second Priesthood of Amun, Seventeenth Dynasty, Tempest Stele, Thebes
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