Nefertari, also known as Nefertari Meritmut, was an Egyptian queen and the first of the

Great Royal Wives Great Royal Wife, or alternatively, Chief King's Wife ( Ancient Egyptian: ''ḥmt nswt wrt'', cop, Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ Ⲟⲩⲣϣ), is the title that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who served many official ...

(or principal wives) of

Ramesses the Great Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded as t ...

.Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. 2004. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens, among such women as

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. ...

Nefertiti Neferneferuaten Nefertiti () ( – c. 1330 BC) was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a radical change in national religious policy, in whic ...

, and

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, af ...

, and one of the most prominent not known or thought to have reigned in her own right. She was highly educated and able to both read and write hieroglyphs, a very rare skill at the time. She used these skills in her diplomatic work, corresponding with other prominent royals of the time. Her lavishly decorated

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...

QV66 QV66 is the tomb of Nefertari, the Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses II, in Egypt's Valley of the Queens. It was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli (the director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin) in 1904. It is called the Sistine Chapel of Ancie ...

, is one of the largest and most spectacular in the

Valley of the Queens The Valley of the Queens ( ar, وادي الملكات ) is a site in Egypt, where the wives of pharaohs were buried in ancient times. It was known then as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning "the place of beauty". It was most famous for being the burial site ...

. Ramesses also constructed a temple for her at

Abu Simbel Abu Simbel is a historic site comprising two massive rock-cut temples in the village of Abu Simbel ( ar, أبو سمبل), Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt, near the border with Sudan. It is situated on the western bank of Lake Nasser, about ...

next to his colossal monument there.

Translation of name

There are different interpretations of the meaning of the name Nefertari. Nefertari means 'beautiful companion' and Meritmut means 'Beloved of the goddess

Mut Mut, also known as Maut and Mout, was a mother goddess worshipped in ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush in present-day North Sudan. In Meroitic, her name was pronounced mata): 𐦨𐦴. Her name means ''mother'' in the ancient Egyptian la ...

'. Some sources consider a more accurate translation for Nefertari as "the most beautiful one", "the most beautiful of them", "the most beautiful one of them all" "the most beautiful (one) among them", "the very best", or "the most beautiful of the women".

Titles

Nefertari held many titles, including: Great of Praises (wrt-hzwt), Sweet of Love (bnrt-mrwt), Lady of Grace (nbt-im3t), Great King's Wife (hmt-niswt-wrt), his beloved (hmt-niswt-wrt meryt.f), Lady of The Two Lands (nbt-t3wy), Lady of all Lands (hnwt-t3w-nbw), Wife of the Strong Bull (hmt-k3-nxt), god's Wife (hmt-ntr), Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (hnwt-Shm’w-mhw). Ramesses II also named her 'The one for whom the sun shines'.

Family

Although Nefertari's family background is unknown, the discovery in her tomb of a knob inscribed with the cartouche of Pharaoh Ay has led people to speculate she was related to him. The time between the reign of Ay and

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded a ...

means that Nefertari could not be a daughter of Ay and if any relation exists at all, she would be a great-granddaughter. There is no conclusive evidence linking Nefertari to the royal family of the 18th Dynasty, however.Tyldesley, Joyce. ''Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. 2006. Nefertari married Ramesses II before he ascended the throne.Kitchen, Kenneth A., ''Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, The King of Egypt'', Aris & Phillips. 1983 Nefertari had at least four sons and two daughters.

Amun-her-khepeshef Amun-her-khepeshef (died c. 1254 BC; also Amonhirkhopshef, Amun-her-wenemef and Amun-her-khepeshef A to distinguish him from later people of the same name) was the firstborn son of Pharaoh Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari. Name He was born ...

, the eldest, was Crown Prince and Commander of the Troops, and

Pareherwenemef Pareherwenemef (Pre-hir-wonmef, Prehirwenemef, Rehirwenemef ) was an ancient Egyptian prince of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, the third son of Pharaoh Ramesses II, the second by Queen Nefertari. Family Pareherwenemef was a son of Pharaoh ...

would later serve in Ramesses II's army. Prince

Meryatum Meryatum (“Beloved of Atum”) was an ancient Egyptian prince and High Priest of Re, the son of Pharaoh Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari. He is shown as 16th on the processions of princes, and is likely to have been the last child born to ...

was elevated to the position of

High Priest of Re The High Priest of Ra or of Re was known in Egyptian as the ''wr-mꜢw'', which translates as Greatest of Seers. The main cult of Ra was in ancient Heliopolis, northeast of present-day Cairo. The high priests of Ra are not as well documented as ...

in Heliopolis. Inscriptions mention he was a son of Nefertari. Prince Meryre is a fourth son mentioned on the façade of the small temple at

and is thought to be another son of Nefertari.

Meritamen Meritamen (also spelled ''Meritamun, Merytamen, Merytamun, Meryt-Amen''; ancient Egyptian: ''Beloved of Amun'') was a daughter and later Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great. Family Meritamen was a daughter of Ramesses and one ...

and Henuttawy are two royal daughters depicted on the façade of the small temple at Abu Simbel and are thought to be daughters of Nefertari. Princesses named Bak(et)mut, Nefertari, and

Nebettawy Nebettawy ''(nb.t-t3.wỉ;'' “Lady of the Two Lands”) was an ancient Egyptian princess and queen, the fifth daughter and one of the eight Great Royal Wives of Pharaoh Ramesses II. Life Nebettawy may have been the daughter of Ramesses ...

are sometimes suggested as further daughters of Nefertari based on their presence in Abu Simbel, but there is no concrete evidence for this supposed family relation.

Biography

Nefertari first appears as the wife of

in official scenes during the first year of Ramesses II. In the tomb of

Nebwenenef Nebwenenef was High Priest of Amun at the beginning of the reign of Ramesses II during the 19th Dynasty. Prior to that, Nebwenenef had served as High Priest of Anhur and High Priest of Hathor during the reign of Seti I and possibly even ...

, Nefertari is depicted behind her husband as he elevates

to the position of

High Priests of Amun The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun ('' ḥm nṯr tpj n jmn'') 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 ...

during a visit to Abydos.Kitchen, Kenneth A. ''Ramesside Inscriptions, Translated and Annotated Translations: Ramesses II, His Contemporaries'' (Ramesside Inscriptions Translations) (Volume III) Wiley-Blackwell. 2001 Nefertari also appears in a scene next to a year 1 stela. She is depicted shaking two

sistra A sistrum (plural: sistra or Latin sistra; from the Greek ''seistron'' of the same meaning; literally "that which is being shaken", from ''seiein'', "to shake") is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient ...

before

Taweret In Ancient Egyptian religion, Taweret (also spelled Taurt, Tuat, Tuart, Ta-weret, Tawaret, Twert and Taueret, and in Greek, Θουέρις – Thouéris, Thoeris, Taouris and Toeris) is the protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and ...

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

, and

Nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

.Kitchen, K.A., ''Ramesside Inscriptions, Translated & Annotated, Translations'', Volume II, Blackwell Publishers, 1996 Nefertari is an important presence in the scenes from

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-ai ...

and

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Constru ...

. In a scene from Luxor, Nefertari appears leading the royal children. Another scene shows Nefertari at the Festival of the Mast of

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as ( Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → ( Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egypt ...

Min Min or MIN may refer to: Places * Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China ** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian * Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China * Min River (Fujian) * Min River (Sichuan) * Mineola (A ...

-Kamephis. The king and the queen are said to worship in the new temple and are shown overseeing the Erection of the Mast before Amen-Re attended by standard bearers. Nefertari's speech during this ceremony is recorded:

Your beloved son, the Lord of Both Lands, Usermaatre Setepenre, has come to see you in your beautiful manifestation. He has erected for you the mast of the (pavilion)-framework. May you grant him eternity as King, and victory over those rebellious (against) His Majesty, L.P.H.

Nefertari appears as Ramesses II's consort on many statues in both Luxor and Karnak. In Western Thebes, Nefertari is mentioned on a statuary group from Deir el-Bahari, a stela and blocks from Deir el-Medina. The greatest honor was bestowed on Nefertari however in

. Nefertari is depicted in statue form at the great temple, but the small temple is dedicated to Nefertari and the goddess

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

. The building project was started earlier in the reign of

, and seems to have been inaugurated by ca year 25 of his reign (but not completed until ten years later). Nefertari's prominence at court is further supported by

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedg ...

tablets from the

Hittite Hittite may refer to: * Hittites, ancient Anatolian people ** Hittite language, the earliest-attested Indo-European language ** Hittite grammar ** Hittite phonology ** Hittite cuneiform ** Hittite inscriptions ** Hittite laws ** Hittite religion * ...

city of

Hattusas Hattusa (also Ḫattuša or Hattusas ; Hittite: URU''Ḫa-at-tu-ša'',Turkish: Hattuşaş , Hattic: Hattush) was the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age. Its ruins lie near modern Boğazkale, Turkey, within the great loop of t ...

(today Boghazkoy,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

), containing Nefertari's correspondence with the king

Hattusili III Ḫattušili (''Ḫattušiliš'' in the inflected nominative case) was the regnal name of three Hittite kings: * Ḫattušili I (Labarna II) * Ḫattušili II * Ḫattušili III It was also the name of two Neo-Hittite kings: * Ḫattušili I (Laba ...

and his wife Puduhepa. She is mentioned in the letters as ''Naptera.'' Nefertari is known to have sent gifts to Puduhepa:

The great Queen Naptera of the land of Egypt speaks thus: Speak to my sister Puduhepa, the Great Queen of the Hatti land. I, your sister, (also) be well!! May your country be well. Now, I have learned that you, my sister, have written to me asking after my health. ... You have written to me because of the good friendship and brotherly relationship between your brother, the king of Egypt, The Great and the Storm god will bring about peace, and he will make the brotherly relationship between the Egptian king, the Great King, and his brother, the Hatti King, the Great King, last for ever... See, I have sent you a gift, in order to greet you, my sister... for your neck (a necklace) of pure gold, composed of 12 bands and weighing 88 shekels, coloured linen maklalu-material, for one royal dress for the king... A total of 12 linen garments.

Nefertari is shown at the inaugural festivities at Abu Simbel in year 24. Her daughter

is depicted taking part in place of her mother in some of the scenes. Nefertari may well have been in failing health at this point. After her death she was buried in tomb

in the

Monuments

Abu Simbel, great temple

Nefertari appears twice as one of the royal women represented beside the colossal statues of

Ramesses II Ramesses II, ). (; egy, rꜥ-ms-sw, , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he is often regarded as the gre ...

that stand before the temple. To the left of the doorway, Nefertari, Queen-Mother

Tuya A tuya is a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period. As lav ...

and the king's son

(still called Amunhirwenemef here) flank the colossal statue of the king. To the right of the doorway Nefertari, Baketmut and the king's son

Ramesses Ramesses may refer to: Ancient Egypt Pharaohs of the nineteenth dynasty * Ramesses I, founder of the 19th Dynasty * Ramesses II, also called "Ramesses the Great" ** Prince Ramesses (prince), second son of Ramesses II ** Prince Ramesses-Merya ...

are shown with the

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

. Inside the temple Nefertari is depicted on one of the pillars in the great pillared hall worshipping

of Ibshek. On the wall of the inner pillared hall Nefertari appears behind Ramesses II. They stand before the barque of

, and Nefertari is shown playing the sistra. Elsewhere Nefertari and Ramesses II are shown before a barque dedicated to a deified Ramesses II. Nefertari is shown twice accompanying her husband in Triumph scenes.

Abu Simbel, small temple

The small temple at Abu Simbel was dedicated to Nefertari and

of Ibshek. The dedication text on one of the buttresses states: : "A temple of great and Mighty monuments, for the Great Royal Wife Nefertari Meryetmut, for whose sake the (very) sun does shine, given life and beloved" (Kitchen). While on other buttresses it says: : "King of South and North Egypt, Usermaatre Setepenre; he has made a Temple by excavation in the mountain, of eternal work(manship) in Nubia, which the King of South and North Egypt, Usermaatre Setepenre has made for the Great Royal Wife Nefertari Meryetmut, in Nubia, like Re forever and ever" (Kitchen). The two colossal standing statues of Nefertari in front of the small temple are equal in size to those of Ramesses II. Nefertari is shown holding a sistrum. She wears a long sheet dress and she is depicted with a long wig, Hathoric cow horns, the solar disk, and tall feathers mounted on a modius. In the interior of the temple, Nefertari appears in a variety of scenes. She is shown for instance offering to a cow (Hathor) in a papyrus thicket, offering before

Khnum Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt ...

Satis SATIS or Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme, is a traffic improvement project in Mumbai, India. Satis or SATIS may also refer to: * Satis (goddess) AKA Satet, the cult of deification of the floods of the Nile River in Egyptian mythology * ...

, and

Anuket Anuket was the ancient Egyptian goddess of the cataracts of the Nile and Lower Nubia in general, worshipped especially at Elephantine near the First Cataract. Etymology In ancient Egyptian, she was known as Anuket, Anaka, or Anqet. Her name ...

, the triad of

Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...

, and offering to

and

Tomb 66 in the Valley of the Queens

The tomb of Nefertari,

is one of the largest in the

. It is 520 square meters, and covered with pictures of Nefertari. Her husband, the pharaoh, is not represented in any of the pictures. Nefertari can be seen wearing Greek silver earrings with a

labrys ''Labrys'' ( gr, , lábrus) is, according to Plutarch (''Quaestiones Graecae'' 2.302a), the Lydian word for the double-bitted axe. In Greek it was called (''pélekus''). The Ancient Greek plural of ''labrys'' is ''labryes'' (). Etymology ...

design in one of the portraits. These would have been sent to her as a gift for diplomatic reasons. The tomb was robbed in antiquity. In 1904 it was rediscovered and excavated by

Ernesto Schiaparelli Ernesto Schiaparelli (; July 12, 1856 – February 14, 1928) was an Italian Egyptologist. Biography He was born in Occhieppo Inferiore (Biella). He found Queen Nefertari's tomb in Deir el-Medina in the Valley of the Queens (1904) and ...

. Several items from the tomb, including parts of gold bracelets, shabti figures and a small piece of an earring or pendant are now in the

Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. Additional shabti figures are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was reported that a pair of mummified legs found in QV66 and now at the

Museo Egizio The Museo Egizio ( Italian for Egyptian Museum) is an archaeological museum in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, specializing in Egyptian archaeology and anthropology. It houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities, with more than 30, ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

may indeed be Nefertari's based on the bone structure and the age of the person, which fits the profile of Nefertari.

References

External links

The tomb of Nefertari Merytmut
{{Authority control 13th-century BC births 1250s BC deaths 13th-century BC Egyptian women 13th-century BC clergy Wives of Ramesses II