Amenirdis I also spelled Amnéritis, Amenaedais12 (throne name: Hatneferumut3) was a God's Wife of Amun4 during the 25th Dynasty of ancient Egypt.5 Originating from the Kingdom of Kush, she was the daughter of Pharaoh Kashta6 and Queen Pebatjma, and was later adopted by Shepenupet I. She went on to rule as high priestess, and has been shown in several artefacts from the period.
Biography
During the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the office of "Divine Wife" acquired a new significance. From that time on, the Divine Wives were princesses of royal lineage who never married an earthly king; their royal spouse was the god Amun. For this reason, they were regarded as queens and bore the corresponding titles. Succession took place through adoption, with the "daughter" succeeding the "mother" upon the latter's death. In the Theban theocratic state, the Divine Wife exercised royal or princely authority—acting, to a certain extent, as the king's successor—while the importance of her priestly functions simultaneously increased.78
Amenirdis I was a Kushite princess, the daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and Queen Pebatjma. She is likely to have been the sister of pharaohs Shabaka and Piye.59 Kashta arranged to have Amenirdis I adopted by the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I, at Thebes as her successor.10 This shows that Kashta already controlled Upper Egypt prior to the reign of Piye, his successor.11
She ruled as high priestess approximately between 714 and 700 BCE, under the reigns of Shabaka and Shabataka, and she adopted Piye's daughter Shepenupet II12 as her successor.5 She also held the priestly titles of Divine Adoratrice of Amun and God's Hand.13Both Amenirdis I and Shepenwepet II, were “the nominal heads of the Theban theocracy” for the duration of Nubian rule in Egypt. Upon her death, she was buried in a tomb in the grounds of Medinet Habu.58
She is depicted in the Osiris-Hekadjet Osiris, Ruler of Eternity temple in the Karnak temple complex,14 and in Bab El-Gasus15, along with Shepenupet I. She is mentioned on two offering tables, five statues, a stela and several small objects including scarabs.5 A statue of Amenirdis I carved from granitoid and decorated in gold leaf is held by the Nubian Museum in Aswan, Upper Egypt. The statue itself shows her decorated in the Egyptian style, with similarities to depictions of Isis and Hathor.16
Chapel
Located within the temple enclosure at Medinet Habu, the funerary chapel of Amenirdis I is situated to the southeast of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III. The chapel was once second in a row of four chapels constructed for the God’s Wives of Dynasties Twenty-three to Twenty-six. The chapels stood to the south of the main axis of the Great Temple at Medinet Habu, with their façades facing the Eighteenth Dynasty temple of Amun, constructed by Hatshepsut and Thutmose III 17 The chapel was first cleared in 1895, but it was not until the middle of the 20th century that the architecture of the chapels was surveyed and published.7 Of the four original chapels, only the two central ones, belonging to the Nubian God’s Wives of Amun, Amenirdis I and Shepenupet II, are still preserved.18 Of the four funerary chapels constructed for the God’s Wives at Medinet Habu, the chapel of Amenirdis is the best preserved. A narrow doorway in its single-towered pylon-facade leads to a columned court. Currently, only the bases of the four columns that once stood in the court are preserved. The South wall of the court also forms the facade of Amenirdis’s cult chapel. A single chamber constitutes the shrine that covers the tomb of Amenirdis I. This chamber is located inside a larger building, and a narrow corridor surrounded the shrine of Amenirdis. The burial chamber was located beneath her cult chamber. Both the crypt and the cella are devoid of inscriptions. Instead, scenes pertaining to Amenirdis’s funerary service, along with funerary texts, whose aim was to revive her, are located on the inner and other walls of the corridor created between the two structures.19
At the southern end of the East Wall, the texts commence with a representation of Amenirdis standing before an offering table. An offering list is inscribed just above the table. Immediately following this vignette is Shepenwepet’s dedicatory inscription, in which she declares, "I have erected this monument for eternity for her mother Amenirdis":20
Ho God’s Wife, Divine Adoratrice, king’s daughter of the Lord of the Two Lands Kashta, justified,
God’s Hand, Amenirdis, justified! Provide yourself with the Eye of Horus
the Red Crown, rich in ba-power () and many-natured,
that they may protect you, just as it protects her Horus;
that it may set your ba-power, O God’s Wife, Divine Adoratrice, Mistress of the Two Lands,
Amenirdis, justified, at the head of the Ennead, as the serpent-goddess() who is at your brow.
Raise yourself, O God’s Wife, Divine Adoratrice, King’s daughter of the Lord of the Two Lands Kashta, justified,
God’s hand, Amenirdis, justified, that they may guide you to your mother Nut, who grasps your arm.
Further reading
- Ayad, Mariam F. (2004). "The Selection and Layout of the Opening of the Mouth Scenes in the Chapel of Amenirdis I at Medinet Habu". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 41: 113–133. doi:10.2307/20297190. JSTOR 20297190.
- Ayad, Mariam F. God's Wife, God's Servant: The God's Wife of Amun (c. 740–525 BC). Routledge, 2009. ISBN 978-0-415-41170-7.
- Dodson, Aidan (2002). "The Problem of Amenirdis II and the Heirs to the Office of God's Wife of Amun during the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty". The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. 88: 179–186. doi:10.2307/3822343. JSTOR 3822343.
- Hays, Harold M. (2003). "A New Offering Table for Shepenwepet". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 40: 89–102. doi:10.2307/40000292. hdl:1887/16164. JSTOR 40000292. S2CID 194067578.
- Kitchen, Kenneth, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 B.C.), 2 Sub edition. Aris & Phillips, 1996. ISBN 0856682985.
- Pope, Jeremy (2014). The Double Kingdom under Taharqo. Studies in the History of Kush and Egypt, c. 690–664 BC. Leiden: Brill. pp. 193–225.
Notes