| Iset (Isis) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queen consort of Egypt Great Royal Wife | |||||
 Queen Isis behind her son Tuthmosis III | |||||
| Burial | Thebes? | ||||
| Spouse | Tuthmosis II | ||||
| Issue | Tuthmosis III | ||||
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| Dynasty | 18th of Egypt | ||||
| Religion | Ancient Egyptian religion | ||||
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| Iset in hieroglyphs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Era: New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) | |||
Iset (or Isis) was a queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, and she was named after goddess Isis. She was a secondary wife or concubine of Thutmose II. [1]
Iset was the mother of Thutmose III, the only son of Thutmose II. Her son died on 11 March 1425 BC and her name is mentioned on his mummy bandages and a statue found in Karnak. [2]
Although in these later instances Iset is referred to as Great Royal Wife, during the reign of Thutmose II the great royal wife was Hatshepsut. Thutmose II died in 1479 BC and, after his death, Hatshepsut became regent for the young king Thutmose III. Thutmose III became the head of the armies of Egypt as he grew up.
Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh until her death in 1458 BC when her co-regent, Thutmose III, became pharaoh. At that time Iset received the title of "King's Mother" (since her son had become pharaoh) and she may then have been designated as a royal wife if she had not been previously when he was the co-regent. [3]
At the time Thutmose III became pharaoh Neferure, the daughter of Hatshepsut and Thutmose II, was the God's Wife. She had served in this role throughout the reign of her mother as pharaoh. Neferure may have married Thutmose III but the sole evidence for this marriage is a stela showing Queen Satiah whose name may have been carved over that of another queen. The great royal wife, Merytre-Hatshepsut, became the mother of his successor.
Her son Tuthmosis III depicts his mother several times in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings. In KV34 there are depictions of the king with several female family members on one of the pillars. His mother Queen Isis is prominently featured.
Queen Isis is depicted behind her son on the boat. She is labeled as the King's Mother Isis. In the register below the boat Tuthmosis III is shown approaching a tree which is a representation of his mother Isis. Behind the king we see three of his wives: Queens Merytre, Sitiah, Nebtu and his daughter Nefertari.
It is not certain whether Iset was a concubine or a secondary wife of Thutmose II. [2] She also received the title "God's Wife", but probably only posthumously. [2]
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Hatshepsut was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II and the fifth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from c. 1479 BC until c. 1458 BC. She was Egypt's second confirmed queen regnant, the first being Sobekneferu/Nefrusobek in the Twelfth Dynasty.
Thutmose III, sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty. Officially he ruled Egypt from 28 April 1479 BC until 11 March 1425 BC, commencing with his coronation at the age of two and concluding with his death, aged fifty-six; however, during the first 22 years of his reign, he was coregent with his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh. While he was shown first on surviving monuments, both were assigned the usual royal names and insignia and neither is given any obvious seniority over the other. Thutmose served as the head of Hatshepsut's armies. During the final two years of his reign, he appointed his son and successor, Amenhotep II, as his junior co-regent. His firstborn son and heir to the throne, Amenemhat, predeceased Thutmose III.
Ahmose was an Ancient Egyptian queen in the Eighteenth Dynasty. She was the Great Royal Wife of the dynasty's third pharaoh, Thutmose I, and the mother of the queen and pharaoh Hatshepsut. Her name means "Born of the Moon".
Thutmose II was the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, and his reign is generally dated from 1493 to 1479 BC. Little is known about him and he is overshadowed by his father Thutmose I, half-sister and wife Hatshepsut, and son Thutmose III. He died around the age of 30 and his body was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.
God's Wife of Amun was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth dynasties. The office had political importance as well as religious, since the two were closely related in ancient Egypt.
Great Royal Wife, or alternatively, Chief King's Wife, is the title that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who served many official functions.
Neferure or Neferura was an Egyptian princess of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the daughter of two pharaohs, Hatshepsut and Thutmose II. She served in high offices in the government and the religious administration of Ancient Egypt.
Satiah was an ancient Egyptian queen, the first Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose III.
Mutnofret, also rendered as Mutneferet or Mutnefert, was a queen during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was a secondary wife of Thutmose I and the mother of his successor Thutmose II; Thutmose I's chief wife, however, was his sister Queen Ahmose, the mother of Hatshepsut.
Amenemhat was a prince of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the son of Pharaoh Thutmose III.
Iset or Isis was a princess of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, a daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose III and his Great Royal Wife Merytre-Hatshepsut.
Menkheperre was a prince of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, one of two known sons of Pharaoh Thutmose III and his Great Royal Wife Merytre-Hatshepsut. His name is the throne name of his father and means “Eternal are the manifestations of Re”.
Nebetiunet was a princess of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, a daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose III and his Great Royal Wife Merytre-Hatshepsut.
Meritamen was the name of two princesses during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, referred to as Meritamen C and Meritamen D by modern historians. Both were the daughters of Pharaoh Thutmose III and his Great Royal Wife Merytre-Hatshepsut. Their name is alternatively spelled Meritamun.
Tiaa or Tia'a was an ancient Egyptian queen consort during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was a "faceless concubine" during the time of Amenhotep II who withheld from her the title Great Royal Wife, but when her son Thutmose IV became pharaoh, he performed a revision of her status and gave her that title.
Hui or Huy was an ancient Egyptian priestess during the Eighteenth Dynasty. She was the mother of Merytre-Hatshepsut, the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose III.
Bas-relief carvings in the ancient Egyptian temple of Deir el-Bahari depict events in the life of the pharaoh or monarch Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty. They show the Egyptian gods, in particular Amun, presiding over her creation, and describe the ceremonies of her coronation. Their purpose was to confirm the legitimacy of her status as a woman pharaoh. Later rulers attempted to erase the inscriptions.
The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty spanned the period from 1550/1549 to 1292 BC. This dynasty is also known as the Thutmosid Dynasty for the four pharaohs named Thutmose.
Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose III after the death of Queen Satiah. She was the mother of Pharaoh Amenhotep II.
Women in ancient Egypt had some special rights other women did not have in other comparable societies. They could own property and were, at court, legally equal to men. However, Ancient Egypt was a patriarchal society dominated by men. Only a few women are known to have important positions in administration, though there were female rulers and even female pharaohs. Women at the royal court gained their positions by relationship to male kings.
