List of children of Ramesses II

The Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II had a large number of children: between 48 and 50 sons, and 40 to 53 daughters[1] – whom he had depicted on several monuments.

Ramesses apparently made no distinctions between the offspring of his first two principal wives, Nefertari and Isetnofret.[2] Both queens' firstborn sons and first few daughters had statues at the entrance of the Greater Abu Simbel temple, although only Nefertari's children were depicted in the smaller temple, dedicated to her.[3] Other than Nefertari and Isetnofret, Ramesses had six more great royal wives during his reign – his own daughters Bintanath, Meritamen, Nebettawy and Henutmire (who, according to another theory was his sister), and two daughters of Hattusili III, King of Hatti. Except the first Hittite princess Maathorneferure and possibly Bintanath, none are known to have borne children to the pharaoh.

The first eight sons of Ramesses: Amunherkhepeshef, Ramesses, Pareherwenemef, Khaemwaset, Montuherkhepeshef, Nebenkharu, Meryamun and Sethemwia. Temple Wadi es-Sebua
A procession of the first nine daughters of Ramesses: Bintanath, Baketmut, Nefertari, Meritamen, Nebettawy, Isetnofret, Henuttawy, Werenro and Nedjemmut. Most of his children are known to us from processions like this.

The first few children of Ramesses usually appear in the same order on depictions. Lists of princes and princesses were found in the Ramesseum, Luxor, Wadi es-Sebua and Abydos. Some names are known to us from ostraka, tombs and other sources. The sons of Ramesses appear on depictions of battles and triumphs–such as the Battle of Kadesh and the siege of the Syrian city of Dapur–already early in his reign (Years 5 and 10, respectively), thus it is likely that several of them were born before he ascended to the throne. Many of his sons were buried in the tomb KV5.

Ramesses' efforts to have his children depicted on several of his monuments are in contradiction with the earlier tradition of keeping royal children, especially boys in the background unless they held important official titles. This was probably caused by the fact that his family was not of royal origin and he wanted to stress their royal status.[4]

  1. ^ Dodson & Hilton 2004, p. 166.
  2. ^ Tyldesley 2001.
  3. ^ Dodson & Hilton 2004, p. 167.
  4. ^ Dodson & Hilton 2004, pp. 164–165.