| Mutnedjmet | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Mut is Sweet" | ||||||||||||||
 Statue of Horemheb and Mutnedjmet at the Museo Egizio, Turin.©HEN-Magonza | ||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | 18th Dynasty | |||||||||||||
| Pharaoh(s) | Ay Horemheb | |||||||||||||
| Titles | King's Great Wife Hereditary Princess Great of Praises Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt Chantress of Hathor and Amun | |||||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Horemheb | |||||||||||||
| Issue | Tanedjmet (?) | |||||||||||||
| Burial | Saqqara tomb of Horemheb | |||||||||||||
- For other pages by this name, see Mutnedjmet.
Mutnedjmet (ancient Egyptian: mwt-nḏm.t, "Mut is Sweet") was the was a Queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty during the New Kingdom.
Titles[]
Mutnedjemet's titles include: Hereditary Princess (ỉry.t-pꜥt), King's Great Wife (ḥmt-nswt-wr.t), Great of Praises (wr.t-ḥzwt), Lady of Grace (nbt-imꜣt), Sweet of Love (bnr.t-mrwt), Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (ḥnwt-shmꜥw-mhw), Chantress of Hathor (ḥsyt-nt-ḥwt-ḥrw), and Chantress of Amun (smꜥyt-nt-ỉmn).[1]
Family[]
Mutnedjmet was the queen consort of Pharaoh Horemheb. Her parentage is uncertain. Some Egyptologists have speculated that Mutnedjemet is identical to Nefertiti's sister Mutbenret.[2] This identification was partially based on the fact that Mutbenret's name used to be read as Mutnedjmet. Other Egyptologist such as Geoffrey Martin note that there is no definite evidence to prove this assertion.[3] Martin writes that:
"The name Mutnodjmet was not particularly rare in the late Eighteenth Dynasty, and even if she were the sister of Nefertiti her marriage to Horemheb would have had no effect on Horemheb's legitimacy or candidacy since Mutnodjmet (who is depicted in the private tombs at El-Amarna) was not herself of royal blood. In any case whatever her antecedents Mutnodjmet could have been married to Horemheb a little before he became Pharaoh."[4]
Mutnedjmet may have been the mother of Tanedjmet, who's connection to the royal family of the Nineteenth Dynasty is uncertain, but this remains highly speculative.
Burial[]
Mutnedjmet died soon after Year 13 of her husband's rule in her mid-40s based on a wine-jar docket found in a burial chamber of Horemheb's tomb at Saqqara, in Memphis and a statue and other items of hers found here.[5] The mummy was found in King Horemheb's unused tomb alongside his first wife Amenia and with the mummy of a still-born, premature infant. Mutnedjmet's mummy shows she had given birth several times, but the last King of the 18th Dynasty did not have a living heir at the time of his demise. It has been suggested that she had a daughter who was simply not mentioned on any monuments. The presence of the infant along with Mutnedjmet in the tomb suggests that this queen died in childbirth. A canopic jar of the Queen is now located in the British Museum.[6]
It is possible that the QV33 tomb in the Valley of the Queens was originally built for her. The tomb is known as the tomb of an otherwise unknown Tanedjmet, but both cartouches with her name are damaged and the similar hieroglyphs for tꜣ and mwt allow for this interpretation.[7]
See also[]
- Saqqara tomb of Horemheb
References[]
Bibliography[]
- Dodson, A./Hilton, D., 2004: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, London.
- Grajetzki, W., 2005: Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary. Golden House Publications.
- Martin, G.T., 1991: The Hidden Tombs of Memphis. Thames & Hudson, London.
- Thomas, E., 1967: Was Queen Mutnedjmet the Owner of Tomb 33 in the Valley of the Queens? The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 53.
- Tyldesley, J, 2006: Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. Thames & Hudson, London.