Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit

[The King's Daughter of] his body, his beloved, Ankhesenpa[aten, born of the King's Great Wife] Nefernefru[aten]-Nefertity, may she live forever [and ever, (and) Ankhesenpa]aten the Younger, [born of the King's Daughter Ankhesenpaaten, bo]rn of the King's Great Wife [Nefernefrua]ten-[Nefertity]
(Translation by Edmund Melzer.)

A "talatat" is a small limestone building block, distinctive of the Amarna period. The one shown is important as the main evidence for Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit. It reaveals that:

✿   she was the daugher of Ankhesenpaaten;
✿   who was born before Ankhesenpaaten changed her name to Ankhesenamun;
✿   and almost certainly before the death of Akhenaten; however
✿   there is no mention that Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit was the daughter of Akhenaten.

Not only do we need to fill in gaps on the talatat block itself, we then must make guesses about the paternity of Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit. Her mother is clear, but who was he father? It is believed that Ankhesenpaaten was married to her father Akhenaten so he is the prime candidate; however, the talatat stresses Ankhesenpaaten as the grand-daughter of Akhenaten rather than indentifying her as Akhenaten's daughter which would clearly be more important. The alternative, would seem to be Smenkhare who it is commonly thought married Ankhesenpaaten after the death of Ankhenaten, although her is more closely identified as the husband on Ankhesenpaaten's eldest sister Meritaten.

Unless more evidence is found, the paternity of Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit must remain uncertain although if it isn't Akhenaten we can be fairly sure it was a very senior prince, probably the heir apparent.

A second difficulty is that if Ankhesenpaaten was born in year 4 of Akhenaten's reign, as he only reigned 16-17 years, Ankhesenpaaten would have had to give birth aged 11 or 12 and even then it seems unlikely that there was time before Akhenaten's death for the existence of Ankhesenpaaten to be recorded in stone.

Despite this talatat, some Egyptologists suggest that Ankhesenpaaten was the daughter of Akhenaten's second wife, Queen Kiya. There is no direct evidence to prove this, but it would have the advantage of avoiding some of the difficulties outlined above which arise if Ankhesenpaaten was her mother.

Two little princesses are known from the Amarnan royal palace, Ankhesenamun Tasherit and Meritaten Tasherit (or Merytaten Tasherit in some spelllings). Tasherit just means little so it doesn't indicate relationship, but some suspect the two little girls were sisters, possibly even twins.

There was also mention of a daughter of Kiya, whose name is unknown so she is often referred to as Kiya Tasherit. It is possible that Kiya Tasherit was in fact either Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit or Meritaten Tasherit. This seems unlikely. There was intense rivalry between Akhenaten's senior wives, Nefertiti and Kiya and it is unlikley Neferiti would have allowed one a daughter of Kiya to be named after one of her own daughters.

A more likely possibility is that Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit and/or Meritaten Tasherit were the daughters of Pharaoh Smenkhare and his wife Meritaten.

One possibilty which isn't often dicussed is that one of the two tasherit princesses could be the daughter of Meketaten, who is believed to have died in childbrth.

In common with most of the Amarna royal women, we do not know when Ankhesenpaaten Tasherit died, nor where she was burried, although it is most likely that she was burried originally in a tomb at Amarna. The view of most Egyptologists is that both Akhenaten and Nefertitiwere originally interred in the Royal Tomb at Amarna. There is some suggestion that they were then moved to tombs at Luxor, either the Valley of the Queens or, more probably, the Valley of the Kings.

If the mummies of Akhenaten and Nefertit were moved to the Valley of the Kings, then any daughters buried with them in the Royal Tomb would probably have been moved with them and may be found in an Amarna cache in the Valley of the Kings.

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