Nefertari (19th dynasty)

Nefertirimerite courage in hieroglyphics
Nefertirimeritenmut (Nefert iri merit en Mut) Nfrt jrj mrjt n Mwt The most beautiful of all, beloved of courage
Nefertari with feather crown and vulture hood (painting from her grave complex)

Nefertari , also Nofretiri or Nefertari Meritenmut (* unknown; † around 1255 BC), was the " Great Royal Wife " of King ( Pharaoh ) Ramses II in the New Kingdom , 19th Dynasty .

Origin and family

So far there are no historical references to Nefertari's ancestry. In her rock grave ( QV66 ) in the valley of the queens the knob of a chest of the pharaoh Eje was found , which gave reason to assume that she was his granddaughter and therefore came from Achmim . At first this seems rather unlikely, since Pharaoh Eje was ostracized as king of the Amarna period under Ramses II. In Achmim, however, a colossal statue of Meritamun , a daughter of Nefertari, was found. This in turn suggests a connection between the queen and Achmim, a place from which Eje presumably also came.

Ramses II and Nefertari had five sons named Amunherchepeschef (from the 20th year of Ramses II's reign: Sethherchepeschef ), Paraherwenemef , Seti, Merire and Meriatum as well as four daughters named Baketmut, Nefertari, Meritamun and Henuttaui .

meaning

Queen Nefertari became famous in modern times for the magnificent wall paintings in her rock tomb QV66 in the Valley of the Queens in Thebes-West , which was discovered by Ernesto Schiaparelli in 1904 , as well as for the Small Temple in Abu Simbel , which was consecrated to her and the Hathor by Ibschek . Their importance in the life of Ramses II becomes particularly clear through their representations in the ancient Egyptian art of this time. She is very often depicted in the same size next to her husband, which comes close to equating her person with the king. This was rather unusual in ancient Egypt and is otherwise only attested for the great royal wives Teje and Nefertiti .

queen

Representation of Nefertari at the side of Ramses II in the Luxor Temple

Nefertari was married to her husband even before her accession to the throne and they both had several children together. It is first depicted in the tomb of the high priest of Amun , Nebwenenef, who was appointed high priest in the first year of Ramses II's reign. This event is depicted in his grave. Nefertari is pictured behind her husband in the palace's so-called " apparition window ". Nebwenenef stands in front of the royal couple. In the following years the queen repeatedly appears in scenes behind her husband. As the only wife of Ramses II, she also had a correspondence with Puduhepa , the wife of the Hittite king Hattušili III. These letters only started after the peace treaty between Ramses II and Hattušili III, in the 21st year of the former. In these correspondence, which is also known from other court members, mostly only courtesies were exchanged. In the cuneiform texts the queen appears as Naptera .

Nefertari is mentioned for the last time in the 24th year of Ramses II's reign, at the inauguration of the two temples of Abu Simbel , for which the ruling couple traveled to Nubia especially . Surprisingly, daughter Meritamun played the main role in the actual celebrations. It has been suggested that this was due to the sick condition of the Nefertari. After that she disappears from the sources and it can be assumed that she died shortly afterwards.

literature

• Heike C. Schmidt, Joachim Willeitner : Nefertari. Wife of Ramses II (= Zabern's illustrated books on archeology , Volume 10 ). 2nd edition, von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-1474-4 .
• Joyce Tyldesley : The Queens of Ancient Egypt. From the early dynasties to the death of Cleopatra. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 2008, ISBN 978-3-7338-0358-2 , pp. 145-150.
• Michael E. Habicht , Raffaella Bianucci, Stephen A. Buckley, Joann Fletcher , Abigail S. Bouwman, Lena M. Öhrström, Roger Seiler, Francesco M. Galassi, Irka Hajdas, Eleni Vassilika, Thomas Böni, Maciej Henneberg, Frank J. Rühli : Queen Nefertari, the Royal Spouse of Pharaoh Ramses II: A Multidisciplinary Investigation of the Mummified Remains Found in Her Tomb (QV 66). In: PLOS ONE. dated November 30, 2016, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0166571 .

Web links

Commons : Nefertari  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Nefertari in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ HC Schmidt, J. Willeitner: Nefertari. Wife of Ramses II. Mainz 1997, p. 12, fig. 12.
2. ^ HC Schmidt, J. Willeitner: Nefertari. Wife of Ramses II. Mainz 1997, p. 55, fig. 70.
3. ^ HC Schmidt, J. Willeitner: Nefertari. Wife of Ramses' II. Mainz 1997, pp. 63-64.
4. ^ HC Schmidt, J. Willeitner: Nefertari. Wife of Ramses' II. Mainz 1997, pp. 48-49.