Duathathor-Henuttawy, Henuttawy or Henttawy ''("Adorer of Hathor; Mistress of the Two Lands")'' was an

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 ...

ian princess and later queen.

Family

Henuttawy is likely to have been the daughter of

Ramesses XI Menmaatre Ramesses XI (also written Ramses and Rameses) reigned from 1107 BC to somewhere between 1078 BC and 1068 BC and is generally considered the tenth and final pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and as such, the last king of the Ne ...

, last king of the

20th dynasty The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties together constitute ...

, pp.205-206 by Tentamun.Forbes, Dennis C. ''Tombs, Treasures, Mummies: Seven Great Discoveries of Egyptian Archaeology'' (KMT Communications, 1998). pp 50, 651, 652 The placement of Henuttawy in the royal families of the late 20th dynasty and the early 21st dynasty is not entirely clear and open to interpretation. Duathathor-Henuttawy held several titles, including ''King's Daughter; King's Wife; King's Mother; Lady of the Two Lands; Mistress of the Two Lands; Daughter of the Great Royal Wife; Foremost Singer of Amun; Mother of the Great Royal Wife; Mother of the High Priest of Amun; Mother of Generalissimo.'' Edward F. Wente had conjectured that Henuttawy was the daughter of Smendes and Queen Tentamun, the wife of Pinudjem I and the mother of King Psusennes and his wife, Mutnodjmet, The High Priest of Amun Menkheperre, the Generalissimo of the South and North, Menkheperre, and God's Wife of Amun Maatkare.

Kenneth Kitchen Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (1932 – 6 February 2025) was a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and ...

had conjectured there were two women called Henuttawy during the period to explain some of the titles associated with the name Henuttawy. Wente had shown that Henuttawy was the wife of

Pinedjem I Pinedjem I (died 1032 BC) was ruler of Southern Egypt as the High Priests of Amun at Thebes, High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1055 BC, and nominal pharaoh alongside Smendes from 1054 to 1032 BC. He was the son of the Hi ...

, the Theban High Priest of

Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...

who was de facto ruler of

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 ...

and took on pharaonic titles later on.Andrzej Niwiński, "Problems in the Chronology and Genealogy of the XXIst Dynasty: New Proposals for their Interpretation", ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'', Vol. 16 (1979), pp. 49-68 The titles attested for Henuttawy helps us identify which of Pinedjem's children were hers:

Psusennes I Psusennes I (; Greek Ψουσέννης) was the third pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty who ruled from Tanis between 1047 and 1001 BC. ''Psusennes'' is the Greek version of his original name Pasibkhanu or Pasebakhaenniut (in reconstructed Late Egypti ...

, who went on to become pharaoh in Tanis; his wife

Mutnedjmet Mutnedjmet, also spelled Mutnodjmet, Mutnedjemet, etc. (), was an ancient Egyptian queen, the Great Royal Wife of Horemheb, the last ruler of the 18th Dynasty. The name, Mutnedjmet, translates as: "The sweet Mut" or "Mut is sweet." She was the s ...

; and Maatkare, who became God's Wife of Amun. It is likely she was also the mother of Henuttawy who is depicted along with Maatkare and Mutnedjmet in

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

. It is more difficult to identify the high priest referred to in her titles: three of Pinedjem's sons,

Masaharta Masaharta or Masaherta was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes between 1054 and 1045 BC. Biography His father was Pinedjem I, who was the Theban High Priest of Amun and de facto ruler of Upper Egypt from 1070 BC, then declared himself pharaoh in 10 ...

Djedkhonsuefankh Djedkhonsuefankh was a High Priest of Amun in Thebes believed to have been in office from 1046–1045 BC. It is often assumed that he was a son of Pinedjem I who succeeded his brother Masaherta during a time of great turmoil in the city of The ...

and

Menkheperre Menkheperre, son of Pinedjem I by wife Duathathor-Henuttawy (daughter of Ramesses XI by wife Tentamon), was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in ancient Egypt from 1045 BC to 992 BC and ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country., p.207 ...

became high priests, and one, two, or all three of them could have been Duathathor-Henuttawy's son. Niwiński conjectured that Henuttawy was the daughter of

and Tentamun. Dodson recognizes two queens named Tentamun. One is the wife of Ramesses XI and the mother of Henuttawy. This queen is mentioned in the funerary papyrus of Queen Hennutawy. Another queen named Tentamun was presumably a daughter of Ramesses XI and possibly a full sister of Henuttawy, and she was married to

Smendes Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled. His Egyptian nomen or birth name was actually Nesb ...

. The latter Tentamun is mentioned in the

Story of Wenamun The Story of Wenamun (alternately known as the Report of Wenamun, The Misadventures of Wenamun, Voyage of Unamūn, or nformallyas just Wenamun) is a literary text written in hieratic in the Late Egyptian language. It is only known from one incom ...

. She is mentioned before her husband's ascendence to the throne on a chalice found in Tanis, on a door lintel and on a relief in the

Khonsu Khonsu (; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons, Khonshu, or Konshu; ) is an ancient Egyptian god of lunar deity, the Moon. His name means 'traveller', and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon across the sky. Al ...

temple in the Karnak temple complex. Even here she is mentioned as a queen, with her name written in a

cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...

. Later she is also mentioned on a stela in

Coptos Qift ( ; ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a city in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated a little south of latitude 26° north, on the east bank of the Nile. In a ...

, in Mut's temple in Karnak and on several objects found in her son's tomb in Tanis. She is depicted on the facade of the Khonsu temple in Karnak.Dodson & Hilton, p.206

Death and burial

Her mummy and coffins were found in the

DB320 The Royal Cache, technically known as TT320 (previously referred to as DB320), is an Ancient Egyptian Hypogeum, tomb located next to Deir el-Bahari, in the Theban Necropolis, opposite the modern city of Luxor. It contains an extraordinary collect ...

cache along with those of several members of her immediate family., pp.205-206 She was buried elsewhere before being moved to the cache, but the original place of burial is not known. Henuttawy's mummy was found in a set of two wooden coffins. The coffins must have been covered in gold, but all of the gold had been adzed off. They are now in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. The mummy was damaged by tomb robbers. In the search for the heart scarab the main part of the chest area had been penetrated. Packing linen under a subject's skin had become common practice in 20th Dynasty mummification, but had caused the flesh on the face of Lady Henuttawy to burst open. The face was restored after discovery.

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Earl ...

purchased two large funerary papyrus rolls that are thought to have belonged to Queen Henuttawy.

Sources

{{reflist Queens consort of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Princesses of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian mummies 11th-century BC Egyptian women Ramesses XI