 One of
the highest ranks a woman could attain in a cult of the god was the position
known as God’s
Wife. Another high temple rank for women was Divine
Adoratrice, which in the 18th Dynasty was sometimes held by women
of high status at court, like the mother of the queen, or by the wife of the
high priest in the Amun
cult at Karnak.
The title of God’s Wife was originally held by a King’s daughter who
was destined to become queen. If she died before her father, then both title
and heir apparent were transferred to another daughter of the king.
The title was passed from mother to daughter, and both could wear it
simultaneously, as did Hatshepsut and her daughter Neferure. It was abandoned
during the Amarna period, when Tiy and Nefertiti became queens, though neither
was of royal blood. The title was revived in the 19th
Dynasty, when
the wives of Ramesses I and
Seti I were each called "Divine Wife of
Amun," but they were not daughters of kings. None of the wives of Ramesses
II bore the title. The only other "Divine Wife of Amun" during the
19th Dynasty (that we know of) was Tausert, the wife of
King Siptah, who may have
been the daughter of Seti
II.
By this time, the title meant that the wife of the High Priest of Amun was
the embodiment on earth of the god’s wife. This did not preclude her from
marrying and having children.
After the high priest of Karnak became the virtual ruler of Upper Egypt,
daughters of the High priest filled the role of God’s Wife but also took the
old queenly title of Lady of the Two Lands and wrote their names inside the
royal cartouche. Other women of the family served as Prophetess of Mut.
After the end of the 20th
Dynasty, Egypt embarked upon what is
called today the Third Intermediate Period, 21-24th
Dynasties.
Ramesses XI, the last king of the 20th Dynasty, was powerless to
prevent the Theban region in the south from becoming independent of the
royal rule centered in Tanis in the Delta. This move to independence in Thebes
was initiated by Herihor, an army general who became High Priest or First
Prophet of Amun, controller of the vast temple estates of the god. The Tanite
kings accepted this independence and gave princesses to the priest-kings in
marriage.
So the rule of Egypt was divided between the royal family living in Tanis
in the Delta and the High Priests of Amun in the south at Thebes. The northern
princesses would marry the High priests, and then the God’s Wife of Amun was
conferred upon a daughter of this union. So Piankh married Henttowy of Tanis,
and their son, Pinudjem, married first Makare and then her niece Esemkhebe. At
her marriage, Makare was given the titles of "Divine Wife of Amun"
and "Divine Votaress."
Thus the High Priests from then on were descended from the Tanite kings.
The Gods’ Wives are generally credited with being the true leaders of Upper
Egypt at this time, their long lives, spanning several kingly reigns, bringing
moral and political stability and leadership.
A papyrus found at Deir el-Bahri shed some light on the relationship
between Neskhons, the wife of Pinudjem II, and her husband:
I will turn the heart of Neskhons, the daughter of Thendhout, and she shall
not do any evil thing to Pinudjem, the child of Isimkheb; I will turn her
heart, and will not allow her to curtail his life; I will turn her heart and
will not allow her to cause to be done to him anything which is detrimental to
the heart of a living man.
By the 23rd
Dynasty, Egypt was under Libyan rule. From the reign
of Osorkon III to that of Psammetik III, Thebes was ruled by a succession of
five daughters of the ruling royal house who would live in Thebes and give all
their attention to the god’s cult. The first was Shepenwepet I, who was
appointed Divine Wife by her father, Osorkon II, who received all the estates
and property formerly possessed by the High Priest.
She also officiated at the Temple of Osiris. Shepenwepet I continued in
power under Osorkon’s successor, Takeloth III, though no mention of the
Divine Wife appears in his records and he made no arrangements for a
successor.
When at the end of the Third Intermediate Period the rulers of
Kush began
to extend their authority into Egypt and took power away from the Libyans,
Piankh invaded Thebes from Kush  to
become the first ruler of the 25th
Dynasty. He persuaded
Shepenwepet I to adopt his sister Amenirdis, as successor. So Amenirdis
carried the old title of Divine Adoratrice Apparent.
When Shepenwepet I died, she was buried along with several family members
in a vault beneath the floor of her mortuary chapel at Medinet
Habu.
Amenirdis I, sister of the general Piankh, reigned as Divine Wife under
Piankh, Shabaka, and Shabitko of the 25th Dynasty. She in turned
adopted Piankh’s daughter to succeed her as Shepenwepet II. Some years later
Shepenwepet II adopted the daughter of Taharqa to reign as Amenirdis II. There
is a fragmentary stela that refers to Taharqa having given his daughter to
marry the vizier Montuemhat and that they had a son named Nasalsa.
When Amenirdis I died, her niece completed a mortuary chapel at Medinet
Habu for her, though nothing now remains in the burial chapel. But her grave
goods can be found in museums all over the world.
When the Assyrians first invaded Egypt, they placed a puppet, Necho of Sais,
on the throne in the Delta. Taharqa had fled to Kush, leaving behind his wives
and children. When Taharqa died, his successor, Tantamani, had a dream
promising him Egypt, and marched north, killing Necho of Sais. The Assyrians
again marched on Egypt and sacked Thebes. But Shepenwepet II remained in
position as Divine Wife of Amun.
From Osorkon III’s time on, the title "Divine Wife of Amun" was
that of a daughter of the king who became the consecrated wife of the god,
Amun. She was expected to reside in Thebes and probably responsible to make
known the will of Amun through oracular means. The Divine Wife held a second
title, that of "Hand of the God."
At this time, political power was held by Montuemhet, a man holding a minor
political office. He was only Fourth Prophet of Amun, but also mayor of the
city and governor of Upper Egypt. Taharqa had installed Montuemhet in Thebes
when he was residing at the royal palace in Tanis in the Delta. After Taharqa
fled Egypt, the Assyrians confirmed Montuemhet as vassal, and he boasts of
protecting the city of Thebes and conducting ceremonies of purification in the
despoiled temples.
Psammetik I became the first ruler of the
26th Dynasty, but was
little more than an Assyrian vassal. Psammetik gradually formed an alliance
with the rulers in Herakleopolis and was recognized as overlord. When he was
recognized as ruler by Thebes, who had still considered the Kushites their
king, Egypt was once again unified and could declare itself independent from
Assyria. Psammetik appointed his daughter Nitoqret as Divine Wife of Amun.
Other women were still involved in serving in the temple, not just the
daughter of the king. The title "singer in the temple of Amun" was
held by approximately 100 women from the reigns of Takelot II to the end of
the 26th Dynasty. They were most likely retainers of the god’s
wives, and some are buried not far from the tomb chapels of the 25th
and 26th Dynasties at Medinet Habu.
Shepenwepet II meanwhile, the reigning Divine Wife, already had an adopted
daughter, Amenirdis II, to succeed her. Both of them were loyal to Tantamani,
the Nubian. But Nitoqret did not arrive in Thebes until some months after
Tantamani was already dead.
It has been suggested that Nitoqret was adopted by Amenirdis II, who was
Divine Wife Apparent at that time, and not by Shepenwepet II. But possibly,
Shepenwepet II adopted Nitoqret, and Amenirdis II returned to Kush.
This adoption of Nitoqret was recorded on a great granite stela at Karnak
which tells how she was escorted from the Delta to Thebes in a long procession
of boats bearing much dowry. It describes how, in the spring of 655 BCE,
Nitoqret and her retinue boarded ships from the Delta and sailed to Thebes.
Montuemhet accepted Nitoqret as Divine Wife, and agreed to allow the king
to appoint not only her officials but also the governor and border commander
of the area to the south of Thebes. In return Montuemhet was allowed to retain
his position as mayor of Thebes. Probably in return for his new loyalty,
Montuemhet’s tomb near Deir el-Bahri is magnificent, its large pylon
dominating the plain. It has a vast underground complex and enormous sun-court
adorned with statues of him.
The God’s Wife now dressed in royal insignia, including the uraeus, was
accorded royal titles and even wrote her name in a royal cartouche. She owned
about 2000 acres of fertile land in both the Delta and in Upper Egypt.
Rather than administering her own wealth, Nitoqret’s father Psammetik I
appointed an overseer who would answer to him. But once the king died,
Nitoqret appointed her own men, loyal to her. Nitoqret was given some 2000
acres of land in both Upper and Lower Egypt. Every day, Nitiqret was to
receive from the fourth priest of Amun, his eldest son, his wife, and from the
first and third priests of Amun, a total of 600 deben of bread, 11 hin (just
under half a liter) of milk, 2 1/6 cakes, 2 2/3 bundles of herbs. Monthly she
would receive 3 oxen, 5 geese, 20 heben of beer, and the yield of many fields.
Various temples gave her 1500 deben of bread. She thus received 2100 deben of
bread daily and over 2000 acres in eleven nomes.
Nitoqret reigned for over fifty years, not appointing a successor in all
that time. During her time, the Assyrians invaded and Thebes was sacked, the
temple robbed of its treasure. But when she was in her eighties, in 594 BCE,
she adopted the daughter of Psammetik II, her great niece Ankhnesneferibre.
This girl not only took the title of Divine Wife of Amun, she was also given
the title of First Prophet or High Priest of Amun, the only woman known to
hold this office. Her beautiful stone sarcophagus shows her effigy wearing a
queen’s headdress and holding the flail and crook scepters of Egypt.
Eight years later, Nitoqret died. Her funerary inscription bears language
very similar to that used by the kings themselves.
"Year 4 of Apries,
4th month of Shomu, day 4, the Divine Wife Nitoqret, justified, was
raised up into heaven, being united with the sun’s disk, the divine flesh
being merged with him who made it."
She was buried at Medinet Habu. Though her burial chamber was pilfered, her
sarcophagus sits in the Cairo
Museum.
Ankhnesneferibre could not prevent King Amasis from appointing his own man
as her steward. When the King of Persia conquered Egypt, she had reigned for
60 years. When the Persians conquered Egypt, the office of God’s Wife was
discontinued and never again resurrected.
Sources:
- Position of Women in the Egyptian Hierarchy by Aylward Blackman, JEA 7
- Daughters of Isis by Joyce Tyldesley
- Celibacy and Adoption Among God’s Wives of Amun and Singers in Temple
of Amun by Emily Teeter
- Women in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Watterson
- Women in Ancient Egypt by Gay Robins
Marie Parsons is an ardent student of Egyptian archaeology, ancient
history and its religion. To learn about the earliest civilization is to
learn about ourselves. Marie welcomes comments to marieparsons@prodigy.net.
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