Mutnedjmet was an ancient Egyptian queen of the

21st Dynasty The Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXI, alternatively 21st Dynasty or Dynasty 21) is usually classified as the first Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period, lasting from 1077 BC to 943 BC. History After the r ...

. She was the Great Royal Wife of her brother,

Psusennes I Psusennes I ( egy, pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-njwt; 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 Pasebakhaenniu ...

. It is generally assumed that she was the mother of Pharaoh Amenemope but, since genealogical evidence is lacking, this is primarily based on the fact that he succeeded to the throne. That she was the mother of the Crown Prince Ramesses-Ankhefenmut , p.207 has been challenged and now seems unlikely. She was the daughter of High Priest of Amun

Pinedjem I Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1032 BC and the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that t ...

, who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Southern Egypt from 1070 BCE onwards, then proclaimed himself pharaoh in 1054 BCE. Her mother was

Duathathor-Henuttawy Duathathor-Henuttawy, Henuttawy or Henttawy ''("Adorer of Hathor; Mistress of the Two Lands")'' was an ancient Egyptian princess and later queen. Family Henuttawy is likely to have been the daughter of Ramesses XI, last king of the Twentieth dy ...

, a daughter of

Ramesses XI Menmaatre Ramesses XI (also written Ramses and Rameses) reigned from 1107 BC to 1078 BC or 1077 BC and was the tenth and final pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and as such, was the last king of the New Kingdom period. He ruled Egypt for ...

, last ruler 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 furthermore toget ...

. Three of her brothers succeeded each other as High Priests of Amun and a sister, Maatkare became

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 ...

. She was buried in the tomb of her husband at

Tanis Tanis ( grc, Τάνις or Τανέως ) or San al-Hagar ( ar, صان الحجر, Ṣān al-Ḥaǧar; egy, ḏꜥn.t ; ; cop, ϫⲁⲛⲓ or or ) is the Greek name for ancient Egyptian ''ḏꜥn.t'', an important archaeological site in the ...

, in a burial chamber parallel to his. Her burial chamber was later usurped by king Amenemope, but her name and some of her titles survived, mainly on the side of the sarcophagus which was turned to the wall.

Pierre Montet Jean Pierre Marie Montet (27 June 1885 – 19 June 1966) was a French Egyptologist. Biography Montet was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, Rhône, and began his studies under Victor Loret at the University of Lyon. He excavated at Byblos ...

believes that a depiction of Mutnedjmet on the wall of the burial chamber may have been usurped and reworked into a goddess when turning the scene into a depiction of Amenemope turned out to be too much work. The present whereabouts of her mummy remain unknown, but around 1980 some bronze ushabtis of her have surfaced on the antiquities market which suggests that her alternative burial (or a deposit of funerary equipment) may have been discovered.G.T. Martin, On some

Shabtis The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of "' ...

of Mutnodjmet, wife of Psusennes I, in: BSEG 7 (1982), 73-77. Several burial items are now in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

. Her titles were: ''King's Daughter of His Body; King's Sister; Great Royal Wife; Lady of the Two Lands; Second Prophet of Amun in Tanis.''

Bibliography

*G.T. Martin, On some

of Mutnodjmet, wife of Psusennes I, in: BSEG 7 (1982), 73-77. *P. Montet, La Nécropole Royale de Tanis à la Fin de 1945, in: ASAE 46 (1947), 311-322. *P. Montet, Les Constructions et le Tombeau de Psousennès à Tanis, Paris 1951. La Nécropole de Tanis II.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutnedjmet (21st Dynasty) 11th-century BC Egyptian women Queens consort of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt