Nitocris II

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Nitocris II
High Priestess of Amun in Thebes
Divine Adoratrice of Amun?
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Nitocris II

hm-ntr [tpy] n-'Imn, Nt-jqrt [1]
High Priestess of Amun, Nitocris
Dynasty 26th Dynasty
Pharaoh Amasis II, Psamtik III
FatherAmasis II

Nitocris II (or Nitokris II, [1] Nitocris B, [2] Egyptian: Nt-jqrt, Nitiqret) was an ancient Egyptian princess and priestess during the reign of pharaoh Amasis II of the 26th Dynasty.

Biography

Daughter of Amasis II, [2] Nitocris II is mainly attested by an inscription on a bronze sitting statuette of Amun-Ra now in the University of Chicago Oriental Institute (registration no. E10584A-B [3] ) on which she is called High Priest of Amun ; the same object also claims that the God's Wife of Amun Ankhnesneferibre was her "mother". Nitocris' title is notable because she is the last attested holder of the once influential office of High Priest of Amun at Thebes, as well as one of only two known female holders; [4] she may have reached this office around 560 BCE. [2]

The fact that Ankhnesneferibre is called her "mother" suggests that Nitocris also held the office of Divine Adoratrice of Amun [1] which usually led to the charge of God's Wife of Amun after the adoptive mother's death. However, it seems that Nitocris never managed to reach the latter position because these offices were abolished soon after the Persian invasion of Egypt in 525 BCE. [5]

Related Research Articles

Psusennes II Last king of the 21st Dynasty of Egypt

Titkheperure or Tyetkheperre Psusennes II [Greek Ψουσέννης] or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut II [Egyptian ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫˁỉ-⟨n⟩-nỉwt], was the last king of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt. His royal name means "Image of the transformations of Re" in Egyptian. Psusennes II is often considered the same person as the High-Priest of Amun known as Psusennes III. The Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln notes that an important graffito from the Temple of Abydos contains the complete titles of a king Tyetkheperre Setepenre Pasebakhaenniut Meryamun "who is simultaneously called the HPA and supreme military commander." This suggests that Psusennes was both king at Tanis and the High Priest in Thebes at the same time, meaning he did not resign his office as High Priest of Amun during his reign. The few contemporary attestations from his reign include the aforementioned graffito in Seti I's Abydos temple, an ostracon from Umm el-Qa'ab, an affiliation at Karnak and his presumed burial – which consists of a gilded coffin with a royal uraeus and a Mummy, found in an antechamber of Psusennes I's tomb at Tanis. He was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes and the son of Pinedjem II and Istemkheb. His daughter Maatkare B was the Great Royal Wife of Osorkon I.

Takelot II Egyptian Pharaoh

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot II Si-Ese was a pharaoh of the Twenty-third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt in Middle and Upper Egypt. He has been identified as the High Priest of Amun Takelot F, son of the High Priest of Amun Nimlot C at Thebes and, thus, the son of Nimlot C and grandson of king Osorkon II according to the latest academic research. Based on two lunar dates belonging to Takelot II, this Upper Egyptian pharaoh is today believed to have ascended to the throne of a divided Egypt in either 845 BC or 834 BC. Most Egyptologists today, including Aidan Dodson, Gerard Broekman, Jürgen von Beckerath, M.A. Leahy and Karl Jansen-Winkeln, also accept David Aston's hypothesis that Shoshenq III was Osorkon II's actual successor at Tanis, rather than Takelot II. As Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton write in their comprehensive book on the royal families of Ancient Egypt:

Takelot II is likely to have been identical with the High Priest Takelot F, who is stated in [the] Karnak inscriptions to have been a son of Nimlot C, and whose likely period of office falls neatly just before Takelot II's appearance.

The Divine Adoratrice of Amun was a second title – after God's Wife of Amun – created for the chief priestess of the ancient Egyptian deity Amun. During the first millennium BCE, when the holder of this office exercised her largest measure of influence, her position was an important appointment facilitating the transfer of power from one pharaoh to the next, when his daughter was adopted to fill it by the incumbent office holder. The Divine Adoratrice ruled over the extensive temple duties and domains, controlling a significant part of the ancient Egyptian economy.

Gods Wife of Amun Highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult

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.

Amenirdis I

Amenirdis I was a God's Wife of Amun during the 25th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Originating from the Kingdom of Kush, she was the daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and Queen Pebatjma, and was later adopted by Shepenupet I. She went on to rule as high priestess, and has been shown in several artifacts from the period.

Nitocris I (Divine Adoratrice)

Nitocris I served as the heir to, and then, as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun or God's Wife of Amun for a period of more than seventy years, between 655 BC and 585 BC.

Osorkon III

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon III Si-Ese was Pharaoh of Egypt in the 8th Century BC. He is the same person as the Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun Osorkon B, son of Takelot II by his Great Royal Wife Karomama II. Prince Osorkon B is best attested by his Chronicle—which consists of a series of texts documenting his activities at Thebes—on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak. He later reigned as king Osorkon III in Upper Egypt for twenty-eight years after defeating the rival forces of Pedubast I/Shoshenq VI who had apparently resisted the authority of his father here. Osorkon ruled the last five years of his reign in coregency with his son, Takelot III, according to Karnak Nile Level Text No. 13. Osorkon III's formal titulary was long and elaborate: Usermaatre Setepenamun, Osorkon Si-Ese Meryamun, Netjer-Heqa-waset.

Great Royal Wife Principal wife of the pharaoh of 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.

Ankhnesneferibre

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.

Shepenupet II

Shepenupet II was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 25th Dynasty who served as the high priestess, the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, from around 700 BC to 650 BC. She was the daughter of the first Kushite pharaoh Piye and sister of Piye's successors, Shabaka and Taharqa.

Amenirdis II

The ancient Nubian princess Amenirdis II, daughter of the Kushite pharaoh Taharqa of the 25th Dynasty, was adopted by Shepenupet II, daughter of Piye, to become Divine Adoratrice of Amun from around 650 BC to 640 BC during the 26th Dynasty. Amenirdis adopted Nitocris, daughter of Psamtik I, to become her successor. She may have been married to one of Taharqa's sons, king Atlanersa.

Smendes II

Smendes II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt. He briefly governed from about 992 to 990 BC.

High Priest of Amun Priestly title in ancient Egypt

The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun was the highest-ranking priest in the priesthood of the ancient Egyptian god Amun. The first high priests of Amun appear in the New Kingdom of Egypt, at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Duathathor-Henuttawy

Duathathor-Henuttawy, Henuttawy or Henttawy("Adorer of Hathor; Mistress of the Two Lands") was an ancient Egyptian princess and later queen.

Henuttawy (priestess) Gods Wife of Amun

Henuttawy D was an ancient Egyptian high priestess, a God's Wife of Amun, during the 21st Dynasty.

Maatkare Mutemhat

Maatkare(Mutemhat) was an ancient Egyptian high priestess, a God's Wife of Amun during the 21st Dynasty.

Mutnedjmet was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 21st Dynasty. She was the Great Royal Wife of her brother, Psusennes I.

Nesitanebetashru(ns-t3-nb.t-ỉšrw) was the name of two ancient Egyptian women. The name means “belonging to the lady of the ashru”; the ashru or isheru was a crescent-shaped sacred lake around the temples of solar goddesses, here it refers to Mut.

Mehytenweskhet (Mehtenweskhet) was the daughter of the High Priest of Re Harsiese, and the Great Royal Wife of Psamtik I. She dates to the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt.

Mentuemhat

Mentuemhat or Montuemhat was a rich and powerful Theban official from ancient Egypt who lived during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt and Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt. He was the Fourth Priest of Amun in Thebes.

References

  1. 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: 179–186. doi:10.1177/030751330208800112. S2CID   190737173. pp. 179; 186
  2. 1 2 3 Kitchen, Kenneth A. (1996). The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC). Warminster: Aris & Phillips Limited. p. 608. ISBN   0-85668-298-5. § 365 n. 951; table 13A
  3. Picture of the statuette on the Chicago Oriental Institute website
  4. Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson (2004). ISBN   0-500-05128-3, p.246
  5. "God's Wife of Amun". Ancient Egypt by Anneke Bart. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
Preceded by
?
High Priest of Amun
c.560525 BCE
Succeeded by
office abolished(?)
Preceded by Divine Adoratrice of Amun
?525 BCE
Succeeded by
office abolished