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Meritre-Hatshepsut
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mryt-rꜥ ḥt-špsw.t
"Beloved of Re, Foremost of the
Noble Ladies"
Dynasty 18th Dynasty
Pharaoh(s) Thutmose III
Amenhotep II
Titles King's Great Wife
King's Mother
God's Wife
God's Hand
Great of Praises
Lady of the Two Lands
Hereditary Princess
Sole Companion
Mother Huy
Spouse(s) Thutmose III
Issue Amenhotep II, Menkheperre,
Iset, Nebetiunet, Meritamen,
Meritamen
Burial KV35 (?)
For other pages by this name, see Meritre or Hatshepsut.

Meritre-Hatshepsut (transliteration: mryt-rꜥ ḥt-špsw.t, meaning: "Beloved of Re, Foremost of the Noble Ladies") was an ancient Egyptian Queen during the Eighteenth Dynasty in the New Kingdom.

Titles[]

Meritre-Hatshepsut is known to have held the titles Hereditary Princess (ỉrt-pꜥt), Sole Companion (smr wꜥt), Great of Praises (wrt-ḥzwt), King's Mother (mwt-nỉswt), Lady of the Two Lands (nbt-tꜣwỉ), King's Wife (ḥmt-nỉswt), King's Great Wife (ḥmt-nỉswt-wrt), God's Wife (ḥmt-nṯr), God's Hand (ḏrt-nṯr).[1]

Family[]

Meritre-Hatshepsut was the wife of Pharaoh Thutmose III. She became the principal wife of her husband after the death of Sitiah. Meritre-Hatshepsut was of noble birth. She was probably the daughter of the Divine Adoratrice Huy, whose statue in the British Museum (EA 1280) shows Huy holding a grandchild and represents the other children of Thutmose III and Meritre-Hatshepsut along the sides of her seated statue. Meritre-Hatshepsut was the mother of Pharaoh Amenhotep II and Prince Menkheperre. Her daughters were Iset, Nebetiunet, Meritamen and Meritamen.[2]

Attestation[]

Meritre-Hatshepsut is attested in the mortuary temple of Thutmose III in Medinet Habu. The queen is depicted standing behind a seated Thutmose III. She's depicted in full Queenly regalia, including the vulture cap, modius with double plumes and the fly-whisk. She is attested with the title "Great Royal Wife".[3]

Meritre-Hatshepsut is depicted in several tombs, including that of her husband Thutmose III (KV34). On one of the pillars the queen, identified as Meritre, is one of three queens following Thutmose III. Meritre is followed by Queen Sitiah, King's Wife Nebetu and Princess Nefertari.

In the TT72 tomb of Ra in Thebes, Meritre-Hatshepsut is depicted seated next to/behind her son Amenhotep II.[4] A scene in another tomb in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna seems to depict a statue of Meritre-Hatshepsut that is shown in a small structure on a sled. The other statues depicted all represent Thutmose III. A stela (borne by the statue of a courtier) depicts Meritre-Hatshepsut standing before Thutmose III. The Queen is shown wearing a modius and double plumes. She is shown holding a fly-whisk in one hand and an ankh in the other.

Burial[]

Meritre-Hatshepsut was originally meant to be interred in KV42, a rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Foundation deposits were found in 1921 which clearly establish that the tomb was originally meant for her. She may instead have been buried in KV35, the tomb of her son Amenhotep II. KV42 may have been reused for the Theban Mayor Sennefer and his wife Senetnay.[5]

References[]

  1. Grajetzki 2005.
  2. Dodson & Hilton 2004, p. 132–133, 139.
  3. Lepsius 1913, p. 38.
  4. Lepsius 1913, p. 62.
  5. "KV42 from the Theban Mapping Project".

Bibliography[]

  • Dodson, A./Hilton, D., 2004: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, London.
  • Grajetski, W., 2005: Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary. Golden House Publications, London.
  • Lepsius, K.R., 1913: Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien. Bd. 5, Leipzig 1913 (reprint: Verlagsgruppe Zeller, Osnabrück 1970).
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