Ramesses’ Royal Ladies
Ramesses II is the last great Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt. During his reign of over sixty-six years (1279BC-1213BC) in the 19th dynasty, Egypt enjoyed peace and prosperity. The longevity not shared by most of his contemporaries allowed him to build monuments extravagantly through the entire empire, and his name was respected throughout the kingdoms the archaeologists now called “Ancient World”. I am, however, more interested in the royal women that lived in his era, starting from the royalty’s polygamy system.
The Royal Harems
Although Polygamy is permitted, not many could really afford it besides the royal families. The Author of “Ramesses Egypt’s Greatest pharaoh” Joyce Tyldesley describes the Egypt royal harems “were not the dynastic equivalent of the Turkish seraglio: hot-houses full of nubile young women trained in the arts of love and guarded by impassive eunuchs, nor were they the restrictive, shadowy prisons of imperial India, China and Japan”. Rather the author compared it to the “convents of medieval Europe”, where large number of “loose and unattached women of the court” lived together with the Pharaoh’s wives.
The Hierarchies of the Royal Wives
There were three broad categories of the royal wives. At the head of the pyramid is the consort or principal queen whose son was destined to inherit the throne; next came the secondary wives or lesser queens whose numbers might include high-born Egyptian women, foreign brides of some prestige and favorites of the king; finally came the numerous concubines of relatively humble birth whose main duty was to please the king and whose children were generally disregarded in terms of the succession.
The Fate of the Princesses
The royal family has a very inconvenient tradition for the princesses: the daughter of the king cannot marry beneath herself, nor can she marry foreign kings. This has some practical benefits: it will keep the power within the family and prevent ambitious outsiders to claim the throne by marrying into the royal circle. Many times the only suitors left for the princesses were their brothers and fathers, otherwise they have to remain unmarried. Even female infanticide was practiced to eliminate the Princesses’ marriage problem. Why Egyptians cannot find another way out is beyond me.
Ramesses himself married at least three of his daughters and one sister. The sister, Hentmire, could have enjoyed a “normal” marriage with a commoner just like her elder sister Tia did, had she born a little bit earlier. When Ramesses and Tia were born, their grandfather was still a commoner --- an ex-military officer turned administrator who was later chosen by the son-less Pharaoh Horemheb (who was also an military officer) to take the throne. So Tia was considered as a commoner, not a royal princess. Hentmire however was born after her grandfather became Pharaoh, so as a royal princess she had to marry her brother Ramesses.
Before his reign, Queen Ankhesenamen, the widow of King Tut (the one that is currently on a road-show in the U.S.), sent an unprecedented request to the Hittites King asking him to send a son as her husband. This is against the Egyptian tradition. The supposed bridegroom Prince Zananza was ambushed and murdered on his way to Egypt.
The Mother
The images of Ramesses’ mother, Tuya, can be found on the façade of the Abu Simbel temple and in the Ramesseum. Born a commoner, Ramesses felt he need some self-promotion to straighten his authority. He rewrote the story of his own miraculous birth to give himself a divine father: in the chapel of Ramesseum dedicated to his mother, the images shows the queen Tuya “sat unchaperoned on a bed facing (the God) Amen who held the ankh in his right hand while stretching out with his left hand towards the queen…” By claiming Amen as his father, Ramesses is considered semi-divine.
The Wives
The first two principal wives are Nefertari and Iset-Nofret. Egyptian Queens’ essential career, besides producing an heir, was to conduct religious rituals. There were a few rituals requiring the participation of a woman, and sometimes when the king is absent, the queen conduct rituals on behalf of the king.
Nefertari was the dominant of the two queens. Her name appeared with the Pharaoh on every pillar of Abu Simbel and her restored tomb is in the valley of Queens in Luxor. She gave Ramesses ten children, but none of them outlived the Pharaoh. Iset-Nofret’s sons however, were able to enjoy full lives and became warrior, priest and Pharaoh.
The rest of principal wives are: Iset-Nofret’s daughter Bintanath, Nefertari’s daughter Meritaten, Nebettawy, king’s sister Hentmire, and the two Hittite princesses.
The Hittite Brides
During his Reign Ramesses made the first Peace Treaty in the human history with his rival the Hittite King. A copy of the Treaty is now on the wall of the General Assembly building of the United Nation.
Ramesses married at least three daughters of Hittite King. Only the first bride has some records left. Along with her was a dowry “[more] than that of the king of Babylon”. Ramesses was eager to receive the dowry and, while impatiently waiting for it, even wrote a letter to the Hittite king to beg. Queen Pudukhepa, his future mother-in-law, wrote letter back to rebuke his plea.
The bride eventually arrived in Egypt, was given the Egyptian name “Maathorneferure” and became the principal wife. Ramesses, feeling the need to brag as usual, made up a story that was displayed in various places including Abu Simbel. In the story the Hittite king offered his daughter as a tribute to Ramesses so the Hittite kingdom would not be destroyed by Egypt.
Maathorneferure bore Ramesses a daughter and died young.
The Female Pharaohs
There are at least six female Pharaohs in Egypt.
After Ramesses’ reign and some kings later, a Queen named twosret took over her dead stepson’s throne to become the female Pharoah. By then the Egypt has already greatly weakened. Twosret only enjoyed two years of solo rule over a strife-torn Egypt.
The best-known female Pharaoh was Hatchepsut some 250 years earlier. She has come to the throne at a time of peace and prosperity. She ruled for 22 years and was considered a successful Pharoh. Before Hatchepsut there were two more female kings. Neithikret (c.2148-44 BC) and Sobeknefru (c.1787-1783 BC) who was portrayed wearing the royal headcloth and kilt over her otherwise female dress and was generally interpreted as a courageous woman struggling against all the odds to preserve her dynastic line. Another arguable female king is the wife of “heresy king” Ankhenaten, Nerfertiti. She and her husband established the not-very-popular monotheistic Amerna period some 90 years before Ramesses. The last female Pharaoh was the famous Cleopatra VII.
Sources:
BBC History: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/
Egyptologyonline: http://www.egyptologyonline.com/ramesses_the_great.htm
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II
Ramesses Egypt’s Greatest Pharaoh by Joyce Tyldesley. Published by the Penguin Group.
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy.
- posted on 11/21/2005
Great info! Time to test my own Egytian knowledge. :) 看看我最近学的古埃及花边新闻:
Ramesses II is most likely the Pharoah in the Biblical story of Exodus. He outlived many of his 50+ sons. Perhaps the death of his first born was related to the biblical story of god killing all the first borns of Egypt.
In ancient Egypt, one become a Pharoah by marrying the daughter of the principal wife. I did not know the sad fate of the many princesses. :(
Ramesses most beloved was Nefertari. Her tombe is arguably the most beautiful in Egypt. The tomb might be closed to tourists forever.
A commoner Ay married Ankhesenamun (King Tut's widow) and became Pharoah. Ay was King Tut's father and King Tut's advisor. One theory says he killed Hitties prince.
The Hittite brides Ramesses married were for political reaons.
Hatshepsut erected the tallest Obelisks.
- Re: Ramesses’ Royal Ladiesposted on 11/21/2005
Too old to arouse interest. :) - posted on 11/21/2005
I knew you would read this, Ar-shan!
According to my “source”, Ay is Ankhesenamun’s grandfather. Ankhesenamum probably didn’t like the idea of her uncle-in-law: her aunt and Ay’s daughter’s husband, Horemheb, to claim the throne after Ay’s death. So she invited Hittite’s prince. Anyway it was a very strange decision.
阿姗 wrote:
A commoner Ay married Ankhesenamun (King Tut's widow) and became Pharoah. Ay was King Tut's father and King Tut's advisor. One theory says he killed Hitties prince. - Re: Ramesses’ Royal Ladiesposted on 11/21/2005
not long ago PBS aired a program about Ramesses. one thing I have to make clear: can his mummy still be seen today? I think in the program the mummy was shown (an ugly, weird scene, I had to close my eyes) many times. Ah-san, please find this out for me when you visit Egypt. :) - posted on 11/21/2005
可以看到他的木乃伊。据说他的 mummy 是唯一出过国的法老,当年因为发霉了,运到法国去修复。因为他总算是一国之君,入境时,受到国君之礼。哈哈!现在他应该是在埃及开罗博物馆里。他的牙齿很糟糕,大概有很严重的牙疼病。他晚年的健康很差。(照片我就不连过来了。)
我对木乃伊没有太大兴趣,不仅因为难看,而且我害怕死东西(所以从来不敢杀蚊子蚂蚁,也不敢切肉烧鱼)。我认识的不少男人却都很向往木乃伊,一到博物馆就要去看。不知为什么。会不会因为不能生孩子,就更加向往肉体的长生?我听了30小时的 Bob Brier 的埃及学讲座。他是第一个制作人体木乃伊的现代人。真恐怖啊!!
gadfly wrote:
Too old to arouse interest. :)
这些法老的确很老,离我们三四千年远了,可是我们却知道他们的那么多八卦故事。如何不能激起我们的好奇呢?不管是古代还是现代,人性都是一样的。
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