Nebetah ( egy, nb.t-ꜥḥ)
was one of the daughters of
ancient Egyptian
pharaoh
Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...
Amenhotep III of the
18th Dynasty and his
Great Royal Wife Tiye
Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. ...
. She was a younger sister of
Akhenaten
Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth D ...
.
Biography
Nebetah's name means ''Lady of the Palace''.
Her name, like that of her elder sister
Henuttaneb
Henuttaneb was an Ancient Egyptian princess of the Eighteenth Dynasty and daughter of pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife, Queen Tiye.
Family
Henuttaneb was one of the daughters of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III of the 18t ...
was also frequently used as a title for queens. She was possibly one of the youngest of the royal couple's children, since she does not appear on monuments on which her elder sisters do. She is shown on a
colossal statue from Medinet Habu. This huge sculpture shows Amenhotep III and Tiye seated side by side, "with three of their daughters standing in front of the throne--Henuttaneb, the largest and best preserved, in the centre; Nebetah on the right; and another, whose name is destroyed, on the left."
Unlike her sisters
Sitamun and
Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
, she was never elevated to the rank of queen, and her only known title is ''King's Daughter Whom He Loves'' (the usual title for princesses). This, combined with the fact that after Amenhotep III's death she ceases to be mentioned, suggests that she died at an early age. It was once suggested that she was renamed during the Atenist reforms started by her brother, and is identical with Princess
Beketaten
Beketaten ( egy, bꜣk.t-itn)(14th century BCE) was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 18th Dynasty. Beketaten is considered to be the youngest daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife Tiye, thus the sister of Pharaoh Akhena ...
who was never mentioned before the reforms.
[Joyce Tyldesley: ''Nefertiti – Egypt's Sun Queen,'' Viking Adult (1999), p.136.]
The mummy known as
The Younger Lady
The Younger Lady is the informal name given to a mummy discovered within tomb KV35 in the Valley of the Kings by archaeologist Victor Loret in 1898. The mummy also has been given the designation KV35YL ("YL" for "Younger Lady") and 61072, and cur ...
has been identified as the mother of
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
. Nebetah or Beketaten have been considered as the possible identity of this mummy.
References
{{reflist
14th-century BC Egyptian women
Princesses of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Children of Amenhotep III