Amenirdis I (throne name: ''Hatneferumut'') was a God's Wife of Amun during the

25th Dynasty The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of t ...

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

., p.238 Originating from the

Kingdom of Kush The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian language, Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Akkadian language, Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX Χους or Αἰθιοπία; ''Ecōš''; ''Kūš''), also known as the Kushite Empire, or simply Kush, was an an ...

, she was the daughter of Pharaoh

Kashta Kashta was an 8th century BCE king of the Kingdom of Kush, Kushite Dynasty in ancient Nubia and the successor of Alara of Kush, Alara. His nomen ''k3š-t3'' (transcribed as Kashta, possibly pronounced /kuʔʃi-taʔ/) "of the land of Kush" is ofte ...

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.

Biography

She was a Kushite princess, the daughter of Pharaoh

and Queen Pebatjma. She is likely to have been the sister of pharaohs

Shabaka Neferkare Shabaka, or Shabako ( Meroitic: 𐦰𐦲𐦡𐦐𐦲 (sha-ba-ka), Egyptian: 𓆷𓃞𓂓 ''šꜣ bꜣ kꜣ'', Assyrian: ''Ša-ba-ku-u'', Šabakû ) was the third Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who reigned fr ...

and

Piye Piye (also interpreted as Pankhy or Piankhi; was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from 744–714 BC. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, modern-day Sudan. Name Piye ...

. Kashta arranged to have Amenirdis I adopted by the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I, at Thebes as her successor. This shows that Kashta already controlled

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

prior to the reign of Piye, his successor. She ruled as high priestess approximately between 714 and 700 BCE, under the reigns of Shabaka and Shabataka, and she adopted Piye's daughter Shepenupet II as her successor. She also held the priestly titles of '' Divine Adoratrice of Amun'' and ''God's Hand''. Upon her death, she was buried in a tomb in the grounds of Medinet Habu. She is depicted in the

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

-Hekadjet ("Osiris, Ruler of Eternity") temple in the Karnak temple complex, and in Wadi Gasus, along with Shepenupet I. She is mentioned on two offering tables, five statues, a stela and several small objects including scarabs. A statue of Amenirdis I carved from granitoid and decorated in

gold leaf upA gold nugget of 5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter (bottom) can be expanded through hammering into a gold foil of about 0.5 m2 (5.4 sq ft). The Japan.html" ;"title="Toi gold mine museum, Japan">Toi gold mine museum, Japan. Gold leaf is gold that has ...

is held by the

Nubian Museum The Nubian Museum (officially the International Museum of Nubia) is an archaeological museum located in Aswan, Upper Egypt. It was built following the UNESCO International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, to a design by architect Mahmoud ...

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city ha ...

. The statue itself shows her decorated in the Egyptian style, with similarities to depictions of

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

and

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, 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 god Horus and the sun god R ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amenirdis 01 God's Wives of Amun Princesses of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt 8th-century BC clergy 8th-century BC Egyptian women 8th-century BC Egyptian people

Biography

References

Further reading

External links