The position of God’s Wife of Amun was one of the most politically powerful and spiritually significant in later Egyptian history. Elevated from a figurehead in the New Kingdom (c.1570-1069 BCE), the God’s Wife of Amun would hold power equal to a pharaoh by the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1069-525 BCE) when the God’s Wife would rule Upper Egypt.
Although some scholars maintain that the position existed in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE), only the title is mentioned in that period and it was nothing exceptional. There were many ‘God’s Wives’ and probably had been earlier. There was a God’s Wife of Ra, a God’s Wife of Ptah, and a God’s Wife of Amun along with other deities’ ritual wives.
These women were either the mother, wife, or eldest daughter of the king and would perform necessary rituals at ceremonies and festivals. From the beginning of the New Kingdom, however, this title would be imbued with greater power and significance. Inscriptions from the 18th Dynasty, such as the famous Donation Stele, attest to the great wealth and prestige of the God’s Wives and later inscriptions make clear that the position only grew in power.
In the 20th Dynasty, Isis (also known as Iset and Aset), the virgin daughter of Ramesses VI (1145-1137 BCE) became God’s Wife of Amun and, from then on, the position would be held by celibate women of royal birth, no longer wives or mothers of the king, by royal decree. Ramesses VI may have believed succession would go more smoothly if God’s Wives were free to adopt a successor without considering familial obligations.
Ahhotep I & Ahmose-Nefertari
During the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1782 – c. 1570 BCE), which followed the Middle Kingdom, Egypt was divided with no strong central government. The foreign Hyksos ruled in Lower Egypt, the Egyptians held Upper Egypt from Thebes, and the Nubians had the southern regions. The Theban prince Ahmose I (c.1570-1544 BCE) drove the Hyksos from Egypt, defeated the Nubians, and unified Egypt under his rule.
Ahmose I credited the god Amun with his victories but, significantly, also honored his mother Queen Ahhotep I (c. 1570-1530 BCE) who held the title of God’s Wife of Amun (as inscribed on her sarcophagus). When Ahmose I led the army south to campaign against the Nubians, Hyksos sympathizers seem to have tried to overthrow his new administration and this rebellion was put down by Queen Ahhotep I.
Egyptologist Betsy M. Bryan observes how “Ahhotep apparently commanded the respect of local troops and grandees to preserve a fledgling dynastic line and she continued to function as king’s mother well into the reign of Amenhotep I” (Shaw, 218). At some point she surrendered the role of God’s Wife to her daughter, Ahmose-Nefertari, who was also Ahmose I’s wife.
Prior to Ahhotep I, only two women are attested to as God’s Wives of Amun: Sit-ir-bau and Ta-khered-qa, both of the late 17th Dynasty. Neither of these women is mentioned as wielding any considerable power, and the title may have been awarded posthumously. The God’s Wife of Amun at that time would have played a role in certain rituals, and however important that role may have been, its influence began and ended with the ceremony.
Ahhotep I, though, was able to extend her power over the military as the king’s mother and Lady of the Two Lands and presumably over religious aspects as God’s Wife; thus making her the most powerful individual in Egypt after the king.
The cult of Amun had been growing in power since the period of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613-2181 BCE) and had amassed considerable wealth by the time of Ahmose I. The monarchs of the Old Kingdom had conferred tax-exempt status on the priesthood in return for the rituals they performed at mortuary complexes, and this policy enriched the clergy at the expense of the crown. By the time of the New Kingdom, the cult of Amun was so popular and so wealthy they were able to exert considerable influence on policy.
The New Role of God’s Wife
When Ahhotep I conferred the title on Ahmose-Nefertari, Ahmose I increased the power of the God’s Wife dramatically and, perhaps, in a deliberate effort to diminish the power of the priests. The God’s Wife was no longer a mere figurehead nor was she any kind of understudy for the king in times of crisis; now the God’s Wife of Amun was effectively the female counterpart of the high priest. She was granted her own private income in compensation for performing rituals previously reserved for the high priesthood. Bryan identifies the duties of the position starting with Ahmose-Nefertari:
1. Participation in the procession of priests for the daily liturgies of Amun. She was shown accompanying the priests called “god’s fathers,” a general designation that could include the top four priests of the temple, known by numbered position, i.e., “first priest,” etc.
2. Bathing in the sacred lake with the pure priests before carrying out rituals.
3. Entering the most exclusive parts of the temple together with the high priest. This included the holy of holies.
4. With the high priest, “calling the god to his meal,” reciting a menu of food offering being presented to Amun.
5. With the high priest, burning wax effigies of the enemies of the god to maintain the divine order.
6. Shaking the sistrum before the god to propitiate him.
7. Theoretically, as the “god’s hand,” assisting the deity in his self-creative masturbation. In this way and in her sistrum activity (a sexual allusion) she performed as the god’s wife.
These responsibilities and honors were rewarded with tax-exempt land, housing, food, clothing, gold, silver, and copper, male and female servants, wigs, ointment, cosmetics, livestock, and oil. While most of this payment was used in the performance of her duties, the lands would generate further revenue which would go directly to the God’s Wife as her personal property, not to the temple.
