Amanimalel (also Amanimalēl and Amanimalil) was a Kushite queen of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, likely a spouse of king Senkamanisken living in the second half of the 7th century BC. She is mostly known from one or possibly two statues of her of very high quality.

Chronology and family

Amanimalel lived in the second half of the 7th century BC. Several date have been proposed for her queenship based on those estimated for Senkamanisken's rule: 643–623 BC, or 642–623 BC. Amanimalel is presumed to have been a queen consort of Senkamanisken, who was also married to queen Nasalsa and, possibly, Masalaye. As such, Amanimalel could be the mother of queens Asata and Madekan who espoused kings Aspelta and Anlamani, respectively. These possibilities are debated however because of the lack of direct evidence on the matter. Amanimalel's parents are equally uncertain, she could be a daughter of

Atlanersa Atlanersa (also Atlanarsa) was a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, reigning for about a decade in the mid-7th century BC. He was the successor of Tantamani, the last ruler of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, and possibly a son of Tahar ...

Attestations

Amanimalel is attested by a high lifesize statue of the queen, which was uncovered in April 1916 by George Andrew Reisner in a cache at the Gebel Barkal temple B 500 during a joint

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

–

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 ...

expedition. The statue, one of the great masterpieces of African art, shows the queen in a traditionally Egyptian striding pose, wearing a Nubian variation of an Egyptian dress that could have been sheathed in silver while the feet may have been adorned with golden sandals. The back pillar of the statue states that she is "beloved of Amun of Napata who resides in the sacred mountain", showing that the queen participated in the cult 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 ...

Napata Napata ( Old Egyptian ''Npt'', ''Npy''; Meroitic ''Napa''; grc, Νάπατα and Ναπάται) was a city of ancient Kush at the fourth cataract of the Nile. It is located approximately 1.5 kilometers from the right side of the river at t ...

in a role that might have been related with that of

God's Wife of Amun God's Wife of Amun ( Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn'') 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 Twent ...

of the preceding Twenty-Fifth Dynasty. The inscription was under the aegis of a goddess whose portrait is damaged but may belong to Mut. The queen is shown holding a smaller statue of a god child wearing the double crown who might well be

Khonsu Khonsu ( egy, ḫnsw; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons or Khonshu; cop, Ϣⲟⲛⲥ, Shons) is the ancient Egyptian god of the Moon. His name means "traveller", and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon ...

, a son of Amun at Thebes, thereby associating the queen closely with the triad Amun, Mut and Khonsu. A second, very similar, quartzite statue is located at the

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, it ...

of Berlin and is thought to belong to Amanimalel owing to the close resemblance between both representations.

Tomb

The tomb of queen Amanimalel has not been identified with any certainty. Reisner proposed that pyramid 22 at the royal necropolis of

Nuri Nuri is a place in modern Sudan on the west side of the Nile, near the Fourth Cataract. Nuri is situated about 15 km north of Sanam, and 10 km from Jebel Barkal. Nuri is the second of three Napatan burial sites and the construction of p ...

belongs to her. The pyramid was excavated in 1917. These works unearthed fragments of gold foil, small silver artefacts and beads.

References and sources

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{refend 7th-century BC women Queens of Kush 7th-century BC Egyptian people