Like the office of kingship in ancient Egypt, queenship, embodied by the king's mother and king's principal wife, was divine. The two queens wore the same insignia, used the same titles and appeared in the same types of scenes, because they shared a single role. In Egyptian belief, the sun god perpetually renewed himself by impregnating the sky goddess was both his consort and his mother. The king was the earthly manifestation of the sun god, and the role of the sky goddess was split between his mother and principal wife. The divine aspect of their role was displayed through various items of insignia that these queens shared with goddesses.
How kings chose their principal wives is unknown. Some principal wives were the sisters of the kings they married, but others were of non-royal birth. It was once thought that kings married their sisters because the right to the throne was passed through the female line, so that the man who married the current “heiress” became king. However, for this to be true, there would have had to have been an unbroken line of “heiresses” in descent from one another, and such a line does not exist. It seems more likely that kings who married their sisters did so because such unions occurred between deities but not among ordinary people: in this way, the king stressed his divine aspect and separated himself from his subjects.
Surviving evidence tells us little about the personalities of individual queens, but the large amount of material associated with some in contrast to others suggests that these were of particular importance. Two of the best-known queens are Nefertiti, consort of tge “heretic” king Akhen-aten (ca. 1353-1336BCE; see pp.128-9), and Nefertari, the first principal wife of Ramesses II. No other quees attained the prominence of Nefer-titi, nor was depicted more frequently on her husband’s monuments Akhenaten, who abandoned the worship of Egypt’s traditional gods in favour of that of the Aten (sun disc), built a number of temples to his god (see p.203). Nefertiti appears everywhere in the decoration of these buildings, accompanying her husband in rituals and even performing them alone. However, the most famous portrait of the queen is the cele-brated painted stone bust, now in berlin (see illustration), discovered in a sculptor’s workshop at el-Amarna, the site of Akhenaten’s capital city of Akhetaten.
When Ramesses II built a temple to his divine self at Abu Simbel, he erected a smaller temple nearby dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Queen Nefertari. Today, Nefertari is most famous for her painted tomb in the valley of the Queens in Western Thebes (see illustration).
HATSHEPSUT,THE FEMALE PHARAOH
Few royal women became pharaohs, but one of these exceptional figures was Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thutmose I and principal wife of her half-brother, Thutmose II. Hatshepsut bore Thutmose II a daughter but no surviving son, So when Thutmose II died young, the title of king was inherited by the son of one of his secondary wives. Thutmose III was too young to rule alone, and so Hatshepsut became regent. At some time between the second and seventh years of Thutmose’s reign, Hatshepsut took the titles of a king. At first, she was depicted in female dress, but soon she began to be represented in the traditional costume of a male king. To legitimize her claim to the throne, the queen set up inscriptions claiming a divine birth and stating that her father had proclaimed her his heir during his lifetime.
Hatshepsut did not replace Thutmose III, who ruled as king alongside her. The period was a prosperous one for the Egyptians, and Hatshepsut was able to sponsor numerous building projects; she also mounted important trade expeditions and military campaigns.
By his twenty-second year as king, Thutmose was ruling alone, presumably after Hatshepsut’s death. Late in his long reign-he ruled for fifty-four years – Thutmose instigated a campaign to mutilate Hatshepsut’s monuments, apparently to erase all signs of her kingship. It was once th7ought that Thutmose’s motivation was one of simple hatred. However, the reason may rather have been that Egyptians generally considered it unnatural for a woman to become king. As he neared the end of his reign, Thutmose may have wanted to prevent the succession of another female monarch by erasing the memory of pharaoh Hatshepsut. Perhaps significantly, her name and image were not attacked on those monuments that represent her simply as the queen-consort of Thutmose II.
Surviving evidence tells us little about the personalities of individual queens, but the large amount of material associated with some in contrast to others suggests that these were of particular importance. Two of the best-known queens are Nefertiti, consort of tge “heretic” king Akhen-aten (ca. 1353-1336BCE; see pp.128-9), and Nefertari, the first principal wife of Ramesses II. No other quees attained the prominence of Nefer-titi, nor was depicted more frequently on her husband’s monuments Akhenaten, who abandoned the worship of Egypt’s traditional gods in favour of that of the Aten (sun disc), built a number of temples to his god (see p.203). Nefertiti appears everywhere in the decoration of these buildings, accompanying her husband in rituals and even performing them alone. However, the most famous portrait of the queen is the cele-brated painted stone bust, now in berlin (see illustration), discovered in a sculptor’s workshop at el-Amarna, the site of Akhenaten’s capital city of Akhetaten.
When Ramesses II built a temple to his divine self at Abu Simbel, he erected a smaller temple nearby dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Queen Nefertari. Today, Nefertari is most famous for her painted tomb in the valley of the Queens in Western Thebes (see illustration).
HATSHEPSUT,THE FEMALE PHARAOH
Few royal women became pharaohs, but one of these exceptional figures was Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thutmose I and principal wife of her half-brother, Thutmose II. Hatshepsut bore Thutmose II a daughter but no surviving son, So when Thutmose II died young, the title of king was inherited by the son of one of his secondary wives. Thutmose III was too young to rule alone, and so Hatshepsut became regent. At some time between the second and seventh years of Thutmose’s reign, Hatshepsut took the titles of a king. At first, she was depicted in female dress, but soon she began to be represented in the traditional costume of a male king. To legitimize her claim to the throne, the queen set up inscriptions claiming a divine birth and stating that her father had proclaimed her his heir during his lifetime.
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| Head of queen Hatshepsut |
By his twenty-second year as king, Thutmose was ruling alone, presumably after Hatshepsut’s death. Late in his long reign-he ruled for fifty-four years – Thutmose instigated a campaign to mutilate Hatshepsut’s monuments, apparently to erase all signs of her kingship. It was once th7ought that Thutmose’s motivation was one of simple hatred. However, the reason may rather have been that Egyptians generally considered it unnatural for a woman to become king. As he neared the end of his reign, Thutmose may have wanted to prevent the succession of another female monarch by erasing the memory of pharaoh Hatshepsut. Perhaps significantly, her name and image were not attacked on those monuments that represent her simply as the queen-consort of Thutmose II.
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