The God's Wives of Amun

 This blog is written by Pam Llewellin and covers the fourth in the series of lectures on The Service of the Gods; Priests and Priestesses in Ancient Egypt. Pam is retired and now has the time to develop her special interest in ancient religions, particularly the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. She co-administers two ancient Egyptian history websites with 13,000 members in the US and around the world, and is a regular visitor to Egypt with a particular interest/obsession with Karnak Temple.

In his fourth lecture of the course In the Service of the Gods: Priests and Priestesses in Ancient Egypt, Dr Griffin discussed the God’s Wives of Amun; the office closely associated with the service of the god at the great temple of Amun at Karnak. Dr Griffin mostly covered the periods of the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Dynasties (fig. 1). The Egyptian name for this title was ḥmt ntr n I͗mn and Dr Griffin tells us that the role was active from the Middle Kingdom onwards but came to economic and political prominence during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Most of those holding the title of the God’s Wife of Amun, prior to the Third Intermediate Period, were married to and appointed by the ruler of the time at the period when the creator god Amun became the main god worshipped at Karnak, and which also saw the role of High Priest of Amun increase in importance within the temple hierarchy. The role would later be inherited by the daughter of the king through being “adopted” by her predecessor.

Fig. 1: The God's Wife Amenirdis I

To the ancient Egyptians, the concept of a mortal woman in union with the supreme god Amun as his wife and consort, was completely acceptable, particularly when it came to temple rituals and religious festivals where she could be seen portraying this role alongside Amun’s divine wives, Mut and Amunet (fig. 2). There has been some conjecture as to the role of the God’s Hand title within the office which implies that one of the God’s Wife’s duties was to “stimulate” the god sexually, believed to be achieved perhaps, by shaking her sistrum. Miriam Ayad queries this theory and points out the instances of many pharaohs and priests holding/shaking sistra, with no sexual connotation. As with so many other rituals and practices, we don’t have the evidence to substantiate this claim in one way or the other.

Fig. 2: An unnamed God's Wife performing the Ritual Buring of Fans

Her other duties, as well as the ceremonies and rituals associated with the office are somewhat shrouded in mystery. The little information we do have comes from texts, and iconography on the temples, papyri and from their chapel walls. We know she performed a priestly role and would sometimes partake in the rituals usually associated with the pharaohs, such as the “burning of the fans” or the “stretching the cord” at the early construction of a temple (fig. 3). Her iconography includes the vulture headdress, the double plumes of Amun, the modius, the sistrum, the fly whisk, baton, and a circlet.

Fig. 3: Shepenwepet II stretching the cord

One appointment of significance is that of King Ahmose II (c.1552–1527 BC) who purchased the office of priesthood for his Great Royal Wife and half-sister. In so doing, Ahmose resurrected an obscure Middle Kingdom title and gave it national importance by linking it to the cult of Amun, helping to cement his own status in the newly united Egypt. This new title would be displayed on the Donation Stela in which the new God’s Wife of Amun, Ahmose-Nefertari, is depicted (fig. 4). The stela establishing the perpetual right of the heirs of the God’s Wife to the title, office, and the economic benefits from the temple estates and to keep the successors’ independence from future generations of rulership.

Fig. 4: The Donation Stela of Ahmose II

Ramesses VI conveyed the title of God’s Wife to his daughter Isis, in an effort to bolster his power at Thebes (fig. 5). She held the office for twenty-five years and survived into the reign of Ramesses X. She is probably the first God’s Wife to live in celibacy with no evidence that she was married. While other women had held the title of Gods Wife, God’s Hand, and Divine Adoratrice, only three held all three titles: Henuttawy of the Twenty-first Dynasty; Karomama Meritmut of the Twenty-second Dynasty, and Maatkare I Mutemhat, daughter of King Psusennes I of the Twenty-sixth dynasty. Karomama Meritmut is possibly the daughter of Osorkon II of the Twenty-second Dynasty and was adopted by Henuttawy as heir and successor to the office. The overseer of her treasury Ahentefnakht presented her with the now famous bronze statue of Karomama Meritmut, the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, now on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. When Maatkare’s mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahari cache, it was initially thought that she was buried with the mummy of a child alongside her, thus debunking the idea of religious celibacy. Later technology would reveal that it was the mummified body of a baboon thereby protecting her reputation as celibate.

Fig. 5: The God's Wife Isis before Osiris

Prior to the invasion of Egypt by the Nubians, the God’s Wife of Amun was already a prominent individual in Thebes and was quickly recognised by the Nubians as having great political potential. Shepenwepet I was the daughter of Osorkon III (777–749 BC) and was a single woman with no record of a husband or of her having had children (fig. 6). She was the only God’s Wife to bear the royal titles Lord of the Two Lands and Lord of Appearances. Shepenwepet was compelled to adopt Amenirdis I, the Nubian daughter of Kashta, the monarch of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, and name her as her successor and chosen heir. Shepenwepet I and Amenirdis I are depicted together in a rock drawing in Wadi Gasus. It is thought she is buried in a chapel at Medinet Habu.

Fig. 1: Shepenwepet being suckled by Hathor

Amenirdis I would be in office from 714–700 BC, and would adopt Piye’s daughter Shepenwepet II as her successor and heir. She was buried in a tomb in the grounds of Medinet Habu. Shepenwepet II was appointed as the God’s Wife during the reign of Shebitqo. During her term of office, she completed the funerary chapel of Amenirdis I and had her own funerary chapel constructed alongside the woman who had “adopted” her (fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Shepenwepet II before Harakhty, Isis, and Amenirdis I

The political climate changes during the Saite Period when Psamtek of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty becomes pharaoh and appoints his daughter Nitokris I to be God’s Wife and moves her from the Delta to Thebes. As Nitokris I was only a child when her father appointed her to be God’s Wife, she was able to keep the office for seventy years, from 655–585 BC (fig. 8). Before the previous holders of the office both died, the title of God’s Wife appears to have become less important and the main title would become that of Divine Adoratrice. It is at this time that the office of High Priest of Amun also appears to have disappeared. This could possibly be linked to the association between Amun and the unpopular Kushites and, as the god Amun was not the main god of Lower Egypt, his worship and influence would be overtaken by the cult of Osiris and Isis which inevitably weakened the political power and influence of the Priesthood of Amun at Karnak. The next God’s Wife was Ankhnesneferibre the daughter of Psamtek II who was made successor to the office by Nitokris I in the middle of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty. As far as we know, she is the last God’s Wife of Amun as it is questionable whether her “adopted” successor. Nitokris II. ever took up the office and the role was completely abolished when the Persians invaded Egypt and took control of the country.

Fig. 8: Nitokris I and her High Steward Pabasa

To conclude the session, Dr Griffin concentrated his talk on Princess Neferure, the daughter of Tuthmose II and the successor of her mother, Hatshepsut, who had been the God’s Wife of Amun prior her becoming the ruler of Egypt. Dr Griffin showed us W1376 from the Egypt Centre, a relief of a female figure and how, through a process of research and observation, he was able to determine that this was someone of royalty (fig. 9). He was able to determine that the figure was a female by the hieroglyph by the presence of the female pronoun in the inscription. The key to conclusively identifying the image was the hardly noticeable modius above the head on the relief, as it had been erased, but when he compared it with other images was able to confirm that the relief was Neferure. Neferure was quite young when she took up the office of God’s Wife. There are images of Neferure in several temples, including the Netjery-menu at Karnak and the Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut. Her tomb is at Wadi Gabbanat el-Qurud on the West Bank of Luxor.

Fig. 9: Relief of Neferure (W1376)

Mariam Ayad said in a recent television programme on Sacred Sites that the role of God’s Wife was akin to “that of a Medieval Pope”, and we have been shown how the role of God’s Wife could have been used as a vehicle for retaining or transmitting royal political power. How this power was used by the holder of the office is something we might never get to know but it does seem quite telling that the stewards who served the God’s Wife built some of the largest tombs ever found, whilst the God’s Wife’s tombs are more modest in comparison. However, they would leave us the legacy of their contribution to ancient Egyptian architecture by building beautiful temples and funerary chapels and their history would influence the Ptolemaic queens of Egypt who would borrow their titularies possibly in an attempt to legitimise their rule by linking with these prominent female figures from the Egyptian past. These would forever be the lasting legacies of the God’s Wife of Amun.

Bibliography:

Ayad, Mariam F. 2009. God’s Wife, God’s Servant: the God’s Wife of Amun (ca.740–525 BC). London; New York: Routledge.