Who is Meketaten

Meketaten had 5 sisters including Ankhesenamun who was Tutankhamun's Great Royal Wife. Find out more on my lens about Nefertiti's daughters.

Children of Akhenaten and Nefertiti
Nefertiti's Children
Meketaten's Childhood
Read more about Amarnan women
An early death
An alternative baby theory
Or was Nefertiti the mother?
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There is no record of Meketaten's ("Protected by the Aten") birth; however she is known to be the second daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Nefertiti and her date of birth can be guessed from that of her sisters. We know that Akhenaten and Nefertiti had 6 daughters and possibly a 7th, who could even have been a son, Tutankhamun, as shown in the table below. (I have added links to my Squidoo lenses where available.)

Name

Born

Died

Notes

Meritaten

1356BC

 

Smenkhare's Queen. Later Pharaoh?

Meketaten

1350BC?

1338BC?

Mother of Tutankhamun?

Ankhesenpaaten

1348BC

1323BC??

Tutankhamun's Queen

Neferneferuaten-Tasherit

1344BC

Neferneferure

1343BC

Setepenre

1343BC

Unknown daugher? Tutankhamun?

1341BC?

Could be a daughter of Meritaten or Meketaten

(The dates shown are the best estimates of Egyptologists but could be wrong by a few years. The dating method generally used is to determine in which year of Akhenateb's reign that an event occurred. However, both this determination is uncertain in many cases and the dates of Akhenaten's own reign have not been fixed so there is a double uncertainty. I am still researching these dates and will fill in gaps when I can find the details.)

Pharaoh Akhenaten is known best for his monotheistic religious beliefs. He and Nefertiti worshipped the Aten - the sun disc. When Meketaten was about three years old, in year six of Akhenaten's reign, he moved the court to a new cult centre in Middle Egypt and established it has new capital. The city was given the name Akhetaten but is better known by it's modern name of Amarna and the period is referred to as the Amarna Period (or sometimes just Amarna).

Princess Mekhetaten was raised in Atenism and her childhood was probably spent mostly at Amarna. She is depicted there with her parents and sisters in a number of reliefs and plaques which have survived.

The dates of Meketaten's tragically short life are uncertain but we can be reasonably confident that she was between 9 and 12 when she died. Her sarcophagus is only 1m in length. Room Gamma of the royal tomb at Amarna which was prepared for Pharaoh Akhenaten and Nefertiti show the grieving parents hovering over the body of a young woman, who in another frieze is named as Mekataten. The young woman is shown with a baby and it is probable, despite her young age, that she died in childbirth. Several Amarna women disappear at this time and there is an alternative theory that Meketaten died in a plague but this seems less likely as Nefertiti is clearly shown in the image.

As Akhenaten, "married" both Meritaten and Ankhesenpaaten (Ankhesenamun), he is usually presumed to be the baby's father. The name of the baby has been lost in damge to the frieze but in some theories is suspected to be Tutankhamun. Whether Meketaten or Neferttiti is the babe's mother is a matter of great conjecture.

Clearly Meketaten was interred in the royal tomb at Amarna and although her sarcophagus was found in the tomb, her mummy is missing. It may have been destroyed but it is suspected that Tutankhamun had the Amarna royal mummies moved from Amarna to the Valley of the Kings. There is therefore some hope that an cache of Amarnan mummies, perhaps including Meketaten's mummy, may yet be discovered. However it is perhaps fitting that Meketaten is remembered in the tomb of Tutankhamun, in which an ivory painting palette bearing her name was found.

Jacobus van Dijk ot the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen has written a paper in which he advances an alternative theory, in summary:

• the baby shown in the frieze was female;
• all other royal women are accounted for, so
• the baby shown represents a reincarnation of Meketaten

The paper is worth reading because it offers a very complete analysis of the competing theories. Ultimately, personally, I find the conclusion unconvincing as we should recognise the possibilty of an unknown child of Mekataten, or even of Nefertiti. The records from the Amarna period as a whole are wildly incomplete and, in particular, the gaps in our knowledge in the final years of Akhenaten's reign, are considerable.

If you have any extra information or questions about this lens you can contact Kate Phizackerley, the lensmistress, using the contact form I have provided.

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