Ankhesenamun; The Great Royal Wife who was married not once, but twice

BY DAVE RANKIN

Inter-family marriages were common for many lineages through the history of Kemet. I personally have outlined numerous full or half siblings joined in union that were performed to preserve royal bloodlines. To the ancient Kemetian, this was a way of life ordained by the gods. So, they did their best to ensure the base of power was centralized within the family. This week’s focus tells a story of a young princess who was married not once, but twice to family members following a long-standing tradition, which probably did more harm than good.

Born during a time of Kemet’s religious revolution, Ankhesenpaten was the third of six daughters born to Akhenaten and Nefertiti. She along with her two older sisters Meriaten, Meketaten were labelled as senior princesses who participated in various functions of government and religious activities alongside their parents. While there isn’t a complete picture of what her life was like as a child, one could only assume that it was filled with the drama that surrounded her father.

As we outlined in previous entries, Akhenaten was a man who marched to his own beat, discarding certain traditions along the way. Especially when it came to his devotion to the god Aten and his relationship with clergy and neighbouring states under the empire. It is here where I advise you, the reader, to peruse through some of my older articles on the details of Akhenaten’s reign. However, there is one event that I will point out that is directly connected to our muse.

Ankhesenpaten was swept up in a power struggle around the age of thirteen when she was married to her father in the latter years of his reign. Although this was done in hopes of producing a male heir to the throne, the move failed miserably when she bore him a baby girl who was named, Ankhesenpaaton-tasherit or “Ankhesenpaaton the Younger”.

Not long after the passing of her father, the senior princess was married to her second family member, her half-brother Tutankhamun. Much of this marriage was spent restoring the confidence of the people through re-establishing ties with the clergy and diplomatic relationships with nation states under the empire. The largest move the young royal couple made was reverting back to the worship of Amun. This was cemented when both changed their names. Tutankhaten changed his name to the familiar Tutankhamun. While Ankhesenpaten, changed her name to Ankhesenamun, which now meant “She Lives for Amun.”

As much the young couple attempted to live out their duties, they were still plagued with untimely events. First, Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun had twin daughters that died very young. I had read an article online stating that one of the daughters had Spengel’s deformity. To be honest this was the only article I had read on the subject. So I can’t confirm this fact to be true. Next was the passing of her husband “King Tut.” He was around eighteen years old when he left his young wife with no heir of his own.

Realizing this, Ankhesenamun wrote a letter to the Hittite king Suppiluliumas in what is now called the “Hittite Letters,” to send one of his sons to marry her. The following is an excerpt survived from a clay tablet from the Hittite archives. “My husband has recently died, and I have no son. But thy sons, they say, are many. If thou wilt send me a son of thine, he shall become my husband.” Eventually the king agreed and sent his son Zennanza. He too died on the journey to meet his new bride. There are reports that Kemetian forces murdered Zennanza when he reached the borders. Ankhesenamun was then promised to be married to her vizer, Aye.

In a bizarre twist of events, Ankhesenamun then disappears from the records of history. Nobody knows what happened to her. There is no record of her death. Her tomb has yet to be discovered. Egyptologists predict that she lived to about twenty one years before she disappeared. Again, with no evidence, it is very hard to know if this is certain.

We are very hopeful that one day the discovery of her tomb will provide us with the answers surrounding this “Great Royal Wife.” Till then, we could only speculate on how Ankhesenamun passed.