8/12/2019 Royal Egypt Wife

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Great Royal Wife, or alternatively Chief King's Wife (Ancient Egyptian: ḥmt nswt wrt), is the term

that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. The former is also, in

the form of the simplification Great Wife, applied to more contemporary royal consorts in states all

over modern Africa.

While most Ancient Egyptians were monogamous, the pharaoh would have had other, lesser wives

and concubines in addition to the Great Royal Wife. This arrangement would allow the pharaoh to

enter into diplomatic marriages with the daughters of allies, as was the custom of ancient kings.[1]

In the past the order of succession in Ancient Egypt was thought to pass through the royal women.

This theory, referred to as the Heiress Theory, has been rejected ever since the 1980s and is now not

accepted by Egyptologists.[2][3] The throne likely just passed to the eldest living son of the pharaoh.

The mother of the heir to the throne was not always the Great Royal Wife, but once a pharaoh was

crowned, it was possible to grant the mother of the king the title of Great Royal Wife, along with

other titles. Examples include Iset, the mother of Thutmose III,[4] Tiaa, the mother of Thutmose IV[2]

and Mutemwia, the mother of Amenhotep III.[5]

Meretseger, the chief wife of Senusret III, is the earliest queen whose name appears with this title;

she also was the first consort known to write her name in a cartouche.[6] However, she is only

attested in the New Kingdom[7] so the title might be an anachronism. Perhaps the first holder of its

title was Nubkhaes of the Second Intermediate Period.

A special place in the history of great royal wives was taken by Hatshepsut. She was Great Royal Wife

to her half-brother Thutmose II. During this time Hatshepsut also became a God's Wife of Amun (the

highest ranking priestess in the temple of Amun in Karnak). After the death of her husband, she

became regent because of the minority of her stepson, the only male heir (born to Iset), who

eventually would become Thutmose III. While he was still very young, however, Hatshepsut was

crowned as pharaoh and ruled very successfully in her own right for many years. Although other

women before her had ruled Egypt, Hatshepsut was the first woman to take the title, pharaoh, as itwas a new term being used for the rulers, not having been used before the eighteenth dynasty.

When she became pharaoh, she designated her daughter, Neferure, as God's Wife of Amun to

perform the duties of a priestess. Her daughter may have been the great royal wife of Thutmose III

but there is no clear evidence for this proposed marriage.[8]

Elsewhere, in Kush and other major states of ancient Africa, the rulers often structured their

households in much the same way as has just been described. This practice has continued to the

present day, with the most senior polygamous spouses of contemporary African royals often being

referred to by the honorific Great Wife.