Ankhnesneferibre was an
ancient Egyptian princess and priestess during the
26th Dynasty
The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...
, daughter of pharaoh
Psamtik II
Psamtik II ( Ancient Egyptian: , pronounced ), known by the Graeco-Romans as Psammetichus or Psammeticus, was a king of the Saite-based Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (595 BC – 589 BC). His prenomen, Nefer-Ib-Re, means "Beautiful s theHeart ...
and his queen
Takhuit
Takhuit was the Great Royal Wife of Psamtik II. She dates to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt.
She was the wife of Psamtik II and the mother of Pharaoh Apries and the God's Wife of Amun
God's Wife of Amun ( Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn ...
. She held the positions of
Divine Adoratrice of Amun
The Divine Adoratrice of Amun (Egyptian: '' dwꜣt nṯr n jmn'') 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 ...
and later
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 Twenty ...
between 595 and 525 BC, during the reigns of Psamtik II,
Apries
Apries ( grc, Ἁπρίης) is the name by which Herodotus (ii. 161) and Diodorus (i. 68) designate Wahibre Haaibre, a pharaoh of Egypt (589 BC570 BC), the fourth king (counting from Psamtik I) of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. He was equ ...
,
Amasis II
Amasis II ( grc, Ἄμασις ; phn, 𐤇𐤌𐤎 ''ḤMS'') or Ahmose II was a pharaoh (reigned 570526 BCE) of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt, the successor of Apries at Sais. He was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest ...
and
Psamtik III
Psamtik III ( Ancient Egyptian: , pronounced ), known by the Graeco-Romans as Psammetichus or Psammeticus (Ancient Greek: ), or Psammenitus (Ancient Greek: ), was the last Pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt from 526 BC to 525 BC. Most of ...
, until the
Achaemenid conquest of Egypt
The Achaemenid conquest of Egypt took place in 525 BCE, leading to the foundation of the Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the "First Egyptian Satrapy" (). Egypt thus became a province (satrapy) of the Achaemenid Persian Empire until 4 ...
.
[, pp. 245-46]
Biography
In 595 BC, Ankhnesneferibre was dispatched to
Thebes to be adopted by the God's Wife of Amun
Nitocris I
Nitocris I (alt. Nitiqret, Nitokris I) (died 585 BC) 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.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Comple ...
, as a stela from
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. Construct ...
records.
[ after which she became the new God's Wife.][ She governed at Thebes for several decades until 525 BC, when the Persian emperor ]Cambyses II
Cambyses II ( peo, 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 ''Kabūjiya'') was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great () and his mother was Cassandane.
Before his accession, Cambyses ...
defeated Psamtik III and conquered Egypt, putting an end to the 26th Dynasty and the positions of Divine Adoratrice of Amun and God's Wife of Amun.[ After this date, Ankhnesneferibre disappeared from history as the last God's Wife, as did her likely successor, the Divine Adoratrice ]Nitocris II
Nitocris II (or Nitokris II, Nitocris B, § 365 n. 951; table 13A 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, Nitoc ...
.[ As with many of her predecessors, Ankhnesneferibre's tomb is located within the temple of ]Medinet Habu
Medinet Habu ( ar, مدينة هابو; Egyptian: ''Tjamet'' or ''Djamet''; cop, ''Djeme'' or ''Djemi'') is an archaeological locality situated near the foot of the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the River Nile opposite the modern city of Lux ...
.
For Ankhnesneferibre several attestations are known, above all a statue depicting her now exhibited at 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 International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, to a design by architect Mahmoud El-Hakim ...
of Aswan
Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) 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 ...
(CG 42205), and her black basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
sarcophagus
A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
, which was subsequently reused in Deir el-Medina
Deir el-Medina ( arz, دير المدينة), or Dayr al-Madīnah, is an ancient Egyptian workmen's village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom of ...
during the Ptolemaic period by a man named Pymentu, and which is today located in the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.[
]
Ancestry
References
Further reading
External links
The stela of Ankhenesneferibre
- English translation
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ankhnesneferibre
God's Wives of Amun
Princesses of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt
6th-century BC Egyptian women
6th-century BC clergy