Meritamen

Meritamen
Queen consort of Egypt
Great Royal Wife
Lady of The Two Lands
Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt
King's Daughter, his beloved, etc
Statue of Meritamen
Bornc. 13th century BC
Diedc. 13th century BC
Thebes?
Burial
QV68, Valley of the Queens, Thebes
SpouseRamesses II
Dynasty19th of Egypt
FatherRamesses II
MotherNefertari
ReligionAncient Egyptian religion
Meritamen in hieroglyphs
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Meritamen
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Beloved of Amun

Meritamen (also spelled Meritamon, Meritamun, Merytamen, Merytamun, Meryt-Amen; ancient Egyptian: Beloved of Amun) was a daughter and later Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great, born by his first queen Nefertari.

Family

Meritamen was a daughter of Ramesses and his first Great Royal Wife, Nefertari. She appears as the fourth daughter in the list of daughters in Abu Simbel and had at least four brothers: Amun-her-khepeshef, Pareherwenemef, Meryre and Meryatum, as well as a sister named Henuttawy. Meritamen may have had more brothers and sisters, but these five are known from the facade of Queen Nefertari's temple in Abu Simbel.

Her eldest brother, Amun-her-khepeshef, was the crown prince until at least year 25 of the reign of their father. Prince Prehirwenemef is known to have served in the army and is depicted in the battle scenes from Kadesh. The youngest sibling known to us, Prince Meryatum, would later become High Priest of Re in Heliopolis.

Around the time her mother died (around the 23th regnal year), Meritamen became Royal Wife, along with her half-sister Bintanath. In the following years, she, along with her half-sister, was successively promoted to Great Royal Wife. Like Nefertari and Tuya, Meritamun’s funerary cult system was also associated with the mortuary temple of Ramesses II; somewhere in the temple she had a personal commemorative space established specifically for her, where offerings were made to this statue. Later, the White Queen statue was removed from its original location for preservation and placed in a building initially named the White Queen Chapel, which was subsequently renamed the Meritamen Chapel. However, this building was actually constructed during the reign of Akhenaten, leading some scholars to suggest that her statue was relocated to this site at an uncertain later date. Nevertheless, Meritamen was worshipped in some form within the Ramesseum, very likely in connection with her funerary cult.

Depictions of Meritamen

Meritamen is depicted in quite a few scenes in temples and is represented on several statues.

Titles

Burial in the Queens Valley

Queen Meritamen raises the ḥrp-scepter high above her head with her back arm (as shown in the image above).

The exact time of Meritamen's death remains uncertain, but it could not have been earlier than the 50th year of Ramesses II’s reign. There is no reason to assume that the promotion of younger princess‑queens coincided with the retirement or death of older ones. Records of Meritamen, Bintanath, and Henutmire during the reign of Ramesses II can be traced as late as between the 42nd and 56th years. They likely all outlived their father‑husband. Meritamen’s tomb later received an additional small chamber, which was left unfinished, suggesting that she underwent a change in status shortly before her death. She probably died in the early part of Merneptah’s reign, while Henutmire lived on into the reign of Amenmesse.

Meritamen was buried at QV68 in the Valley of the Queens. The tomb of Meritamen was described by Lepsius. An interesting scene in the tomb shows Meritamen consecrating cloth-boxes to Osiris and Hathor. The inscriptions identify the Queen as The Osiris, King's Daughter, Great Royal Wife, Lady of Both Lands, Merytamen, may she live. She is said to be "Bringing a box of clothing, eternally; consecrating the box of clothing three times" (sic).

Here, Meritamen assumes a strikingly dynamic pose, raising the ḥrp-scepter high above her head with her back arm. The image resembles the typical stance of the Canaanite goddess Anat—Meritamen lifts the scepter above her head just as Anat would hold an axe. There is no comparable example in any of the queenly tombs of the 18th or 19th Dynasties, making this pose truly unique. This may be because Anat was a goddess especially revered by Ramesses II, and it could also reflect Meritamen’s personal devotion.

The sarcophagus-lid is now in Berlin (15274). Meritamen's titles on the sarcophagus lid are given twice. At the head she is described as: "[King's Daughter], Great [Royal Wife], Lady of Both Lands, Merytamen, justified". Over the head she is described as: "The Osiris, King's Daughter beloved of him, Great Royal Wife, Lady of Both Lands, Merytamen, justified".

See also