Ankhnesneferibre

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Ankhnesneferibre
God's Wife of Amun
Divine Adoratrice of Amun
Statue of Ankhenesneferibre by John Campana.jpg
Statue CG 42205 of Ankhenesneferibre, now in the Nubian Museum, Aswan
Tenure595525 BC
Predecessor Nitocris I
Successor Nitocris II (as Divine Adoratrice)
office abolished (as God's Wife)
Praenomen
Ankhnesneferibre
AnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibre
Ankhnesneferibre
Ankhnesneferibre

Heqatneferumut (Meritmut)
ḥq3t -nfrw-Mwt
[1]
Nomen
AnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibre
Ankhnesneferibre
Ankhnesneferibre
AnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibreAnkhnesneferibre
Ankhnesneferibre

Ankhnesneferibre
ˁnḫ-n.s-Nfrjbrˁ
[1]
Neferibre (i.e. Psamtik II) lives for her
Burial Medinet Habu
Father Psamtik II
Mother Takhuit

Ankhnesneferibre was an ancient Egyptian princess and priestess during the 26th Dynasty, daughter of pharaoh Psamtik II and his queen Takhuit. She held the positions of Divine Adoratrice of Amun and later God's Wife of Amun between 595 and 525 BC, during the reigns of Psamtik II, Apries, Amasis II and Psamtik III, until the Achaemenid conquest of Egypt. [2]

Contents

Biography

In 595 BC, Ankhnesneferibre was dispatched to Thebes to be adopted by the God's Wife of Amun Nitocris I, as a stela from Karnak records. [2] [3] Ankhnesneferibre held the position of Divine Adoratrice until Nitocris' death in pharaoh Apries' regnal Year 4 (586 BC), [2] after which she became the new God's Wife. [3] She governed at Thebes for several decades until 525 BC, when the Persian emperor Cambyses II defeated Psamtik III and conquered Egypt, putting an end to the 26th Dynasty and the positions of Divine Adoratrice of Amun and God's Wife of Amun. [2] After this date, Ankhnesneferibre disappeared from history as the last God's Wife, as did her likely successor, the Divine Adoratrice Nitocris II. [3] As with many of her predecessors, Ankhnesneferibre's tomb is located within the temple of Medinet Habu.

For Ankhnesneferibre several attestations are known, above all a statue depicting her now exhibited at the Nubian Museum of Aswan (CG 42205), and her black basalt sarcophagus, which was subsequently reused in Deir el-Medina during the Ptolemaic period by a man named Pymentu, and which is today located in the British Museum. [2]

Ancestry

References

  1. 1 2 von Beckerath, Jürgen (1999). Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen (in German). Mainz am Rhein, Von Zabern. ISBN   3-8053-2591-6. pp. 218-19
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson., pp. 245-46
  3. 1 2 3 Dodson, Aidan (2002). "The problem of Amenirdis II and the heirs of the office of God's Wife of Amun during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 88: 186. doi:10.1177/030751330208800112. S2CID   190737173.

Further reading

Leahy, A. (1996). "The adoption of Ankhnesneferibre at Karnak". Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 82: 145–165. doi:10.1177/030751339608200116. S2CID   163288140.

Preceded by Divine Adoratrice of Amun
595? BC
Succeeded by
God's Wife of Amun
586525 BC
Succeeded by
office abolished