Ankhesenamun

Ankhesenamun
Great Royal Wife
Sculpture fragment
believed to be of Ankhesenamun,
Brooklyn Museum, United States
Tenurec. 1332–1323 BC
Bornc. 1348 BC[1] or c. 1342 BC[2]
Thebes
Diedafter 1322 BC (aged 20-26)[2]
Burial
KV21 (uncertain)
SpouseTutankhamun (half-brother or cousin)
Ay (grandfather or great-uncle?)
Issue317a and 317b (uncertain)
Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit (uncertain)
Egyptian name
M17mn
N35
S34S29
N35
B1
Dynasty18th of Egypt
FatherAkhenaten
MotherNefertiti
ReligionAncient Egyptian religion

Ankhesenamun (ˁnḫ-s-n-imn, "Her Life Is of Amun"; c. 1348[1] or c. 1342 – after 1322 BC[2]) was a queen who lived during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Born Ankhesenpaaten (ˁnḫ.s-n-pꜣ-itn, "she lives for the Aten"),[3] she was the third of six known daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti. She became the Great Royal Wife of Tutankhamun.[4] The change in her name reflects the changes in ancient Egyptian religion during her lifetime after her father's death. Her youth is well documented in the ancient reliefs and paintings of the reign of her parents.

Ankhesenamun was well documented as being the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Initially, she may have been married to her father and it is possible that, upon the death of Tutankhamun, she was married briefly to Tutankhamun's successor, Ay, who is believed by some to be her maternal grandfather.[5]

DNA test results on mummies discovered in KV21 were released in February 2010, which has given rise to speculation that one of two late 18th Dynasty queens buried in that tomb could be Ankhesenamun. Because of their DNA, both mummies are thought to be members of that ruling house.[6]

  1. ^ a b Arnold, Dorothea; Allen, James P.; Green, L. (1996). The Royal Women of Amarna: Images of Beauty from Ancient Egypt (Hardback ed.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. xviii. ISBN 0-87099-816-1. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Galassi, F. M.; Ruhli, F. J.; Habicht, M. E. (2016). "Did Queen Ankhesenamun (c. 1342 - after 1322 BC) have a goitre?: Historico-clinical Reflections upon a paleo-pathographic study". Working Paper. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3356.5843. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  3. ^ Ranke, Hermann (1935). Die Ägyptischen Personennamen, Bd. 1: Verzeichnis der Namen (PDF). Glückstadt: J.J. Augustin. p. 67. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  4. ^ Dodson, Aidan; Dyan Hilton (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. p. 148.
  5. ^ Grajetzki, Wolfram (2000). Ancient Egyptian Queens; a hieroglyphic dictionary. London: Golden House. p. 64.
  6. ^ Hawass, Zahi; et al. (2010). "Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun's Family". The Journal of the American Medical Association. 303 (7): 638–647. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.121. PMID 20159872.