Who is Meritaten

Princess Meritaten (sometimes spelt Merytaten or Meryetaten and meaning "Beloved of the Aten") was probably born in Thebes (moden day Luxor in Egypt) The exact year of her birth has not been recorded but is believed to be about 1356 BC. She was the eldest daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti who may also have gone on to rule Upper and Lower Egypt in her own right after the death of Akhenaten in 1334 or 1336 BCE. We believe that Akhenaten and Nefertiti had 6 daughters (possibly 7) but no sons, as shown in the table below. (I have added links to good 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

1341BC

Setepenre

1339BC

Unknown daugher? Tutankhamun?

1338BC?

Could be a daughter of 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.)

King Akhenaten is known best for his monotheistic religious beliefs. He and Nefertiti worshipped the Aten - the sun disc. Sometime just after Ankhesenamun was born, in year 6 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 Meritaten 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.

More has been written about tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings than almost any other tomb. Debate rages as to whether the mummy is that of Akhenaten or Smenkhare. There is also debate about the canopic jars found in the tomb. Were they reused for the mummy in the tomb? Could the mummy actually be that of a woman? Do the canopic jars depect a woman's face, and if so whose? Is it Meritaten or Kiya, Akehnaten's secondary wife. I'll write a (long) lens about this important tomb as soon as I have time.

As most of the archaeological artefacts from the period have been damaged, few are inscribed with names. The couple shown in this beautiful piece may be Smenkhare and Meritaten; but it could also be Aknhenaten and Nefertiti or Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. It doesn't help that several of the items in Tutankhamun's own tomb seem to decpict somebody else - probably Smenkhare.

 

Photograph of relief in Altes Museum, Berlin by Keith Schengili-Roberts licensed under a creative commons attribution sharealike license on the terms set out here

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