[Editor’s note: Brian Alm has been kind enough to submit another guest article to Em Hotep, for which we are very appreciative. Please note that all hypertext links are inserted by the editor for navigational and search engine optimization and may lead to links which do no represent Mr. Alm’s views or opinions. The captions for the photos and illustrations are likewise statements by the editor, so if there are mistakes, please do not blame Brian! Enjoy!]
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Tags: Ahhotep I, Ahmose-Nefertari, Gods Wife of Amun, Hatshepsut, Hetepheres I, King's Great Wife, Meresamun, Meritaten, Merneith, Mutemwia, Sobeknefru, Tausret, Tetisheri, Tiye
Comments Off on Women of Power and Influence in Ancient Egypt
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 Period, New Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, Second Priesthood of Amun, Seventeenth Dynasty, Tempest Stele, Thebes
The story of Amun’s rise to supremacy over the Egyptian pantheon is inseparable from the story of how Thebes rose from an insignificant speck on the map to the spiritual center of the Egyptian universe.
This account of the ascent of Thebes and the god Amun sets the background for a series that will investigate an order of female pontiffs called the God’s Wives of Amun and how these tributaries converge into the ethos, or pathos, of the Heretic King, Akhenaten.
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Tags: Ahhotep I, Ahmose I, Amun, Apepi, Avaris, Eleventh Dynasty, Fifteenth Dynasty, First Intermediate Period, Gods Wife of Amun, Herakleopolis, Hyksos, Intef II, Kamose, Karnak, Khamudi, Mentuhotep II, Middle Kingdom Period, Montu, New Kingdom, Second Intermediate Period, Seqenenre Tao II, Sixteenth Dynasty, Thebes, Thirteenth Dynasty, Tjaru
Dra Abu el-Naga is a sort of suburb, if you will, of the Valley of the Kings where some tombs belonging to Seventeenth Dynasty royalty (such as Queen Ahhotep I, to the left) have been discovered, along with the tombs of Theban priests and officials.
Zahi Hawass has released a new video, which premiered at Heritage Key, with some of the recent discoveries at Dra Abu el-Naga, including some details about the tomb of Amun-Em-Opet, the Supervisor of Hunters.
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Tags: Ahhotep I, Amun-Em-Opet, Dra Abu el-Naga, Eighteenth Dynasty, New Kingdom Period, Tombs, Valley of the Kings, Zahi Hawass
