The Alabaster Statue of Amenirdis I

Historical Background about Amenirdis I

Amenirdis I (her throne name is Khaneferumut) was a God‟s Wife of

Amun during the 25th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Originating from
the Kingdom of Kush, she was the daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and
Queen Pebatjma, and was later adopted by Shepenupet I. She went on
to rule as high priestess, and has been shown in several artefacts from
the period.

She was a Kushite princess, the daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and

Queen Pebatjma. She is likely to have been the sister of
pharaohs Shabaka and Piye. Kashta arranged to have Amenirdis I
adopted by the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I,
at Thebes as her successor. This shows that Kashta already
controlled Upper Egypt prior to the reign of Piye, his successor.

She ruled as high priestess approximately between 714 and 700 BCE,
under the reigns of Shabaka and Shabataka, and she adopted Piye‟s
daughter Shepenupet II as her successor. She also held the priestly
titles of Divine Adoratrice of Amun and God’s Hand. Upon her death,
she was buried in a tomb in the grounds of Medinet Habu.

She is depicted in the Osiris-Hekadjet ("Osiris, Ruler of Eternity")

temple in the Karnak temple complex, and in Wadi Gasus, along with
Shepenupet I. She is mentioned on two offering tables, five statues, a
stela and several small objects including scarabs. A statue of
Amenirdis I carved from granite and decorated in gold leaf is held by
the Nubian Museum in Aswan, Upper Egypt. The statue itself shows
her decorated in the Egyptian style, with similarities to depictions
of Isis and Hathor.

The funerary chapel of Amenirdis I

The funerary chapel of Amenirdis I, located to the southeast of the
funerary temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, is the earliest
surviving stone chapel in a row of 4 chapels that originally stood with
their facades facing the small 18th Dynasty temple of Djeser-Djeserou.
A dedicatory inscription that runs along the entrance to the chapel
proper indicates that the current stone chapel was constructed by
Amenirdis‟s niece, adoptive daughter, and successor in office as
God‟s Wife: Shepenwepet II, who declares that she had constructed
“this monument of eternity for her mother.”
As it currently stands, a pylon-façade leads into a 4-columned
courtyard that may have once leaving the center aisle exposed.
Beyond that columned courtyard lies the supported a colonnade,
funerary chapel of Amenirdis itself. It consists of two tent shrines set
one inside the other, such that a corridor is created between the two
shrines. Scenes depicting the funerary cult of Amenirdis are depicted
on the inner walls of that corridor (i.e. the external walls of the inner
structure), where Shepenwepet II appears as the main officiant
performing various purification rites for the benefit of her deceased
adoptive mother.

The God’s Wife of Amun

God’s Wife of Amun (ancient Egyptian: ḥmt-nṯr n Imn) is an ancient

Egyptian religious occupational title. It was created for the chief
priestess of the ancient Egyptian deity Amun, thus being the female
equivalent of the High Priest of Amun. During the first millennium
BCE, the God‟s Wife of Amun exercised her largest measure of
influence, facilitating the transfer of power from one pharaoh to the
next, adopting his daughter as heir to her own office. The God‟s Wife
of Amun ruled over the extensive temple duties and domains,
controlling a significant part of the ancient Egyptian economy.

The title "God‟s Wife of Amun" might have shared a similar purpose
to that of the titles "God‟s Wife" (of which it is the extended version)
and "God‟s Mother". The latter two titles served as propaganda to
emphasize the king‟s divine conception by Amun, thus conveying that
the Pharaoh was a (demi)god. Previously the pharaoh was considered
to become divine only after death. While the God‟s Wife of Amun
title was theoretically sacred, it was essentially wielded as a political
tool by the pharaoh to ensure "royal authority over the Theban region
and the powerful priesthood of Amun" there.

However, the extended title God‟s Wife of Amun also extended its
purpose in not merely conveying a message, but as a functional office.
Unlike the God‟s Wife and God‟s Mother, the God‟s Wife of Amun
held a priestly post of importance in the temple of Amun
at Thebes and thus effectively became the female counterpart of
the High Priest of Amun.

History

The title "God‟s Wife of Amun" is first used during the Eighteenth
Dynasty. The first God‟s Wife of Amun was Ahhotep I, who was
succeeded by her daughter, Ahmose-Nefertari. The latter‟s
appointment to this function was recorded on a stela in the temple of
Amun at Karnak. She was succeeded in this office by her
daughter Ahmose-Meritamun, who in turn handed it to Hatshepsut,
before the latter ascended the throne as pharaoh.

Both Ahmose-Nefertari and Hatshepsut sometimes used the title as an

alternative to that of "King‟s Great Wife", which shows the
importance of the role. Upon becoming king in her own right,
Hatshepsut passed the title on to her
daughter Neferure. Under Thutmose III and Amenhotep II the title
and its powerful office had fallen into disuse, presumably a deliberate
attempt to limit female power and to guarantee that another
'Hatshepsut case' would not occur in the future.

However, as the authority of the reigning king declined while that of

the High Priest of Amun kept rising at Thebes towards the end of
the New Kingdom, the office of God‟s Wife of Amun was resurrected
by Ramesses VI and the title given to his daughter Iset. Additionally
she was the first to hold the new title "Divine Adoratrice of Amun", to
accompany a resurgence of the title God‟s Wife of Amun.

The office of the God‟s Wife of Amun reached the very height of its
political power during the late Third Intermediate Period, when
Shepenupet I, Osorkon III‟s daughter, was first appointed to this post
at Thebes. The Nubian king Kashta, in turn, appointed his daughter,
Amenirdis I, as her successor. The high status of this office is
illustrated by the tomb of Amenirdis at Medinet Habu.

Later, during the Saite Twenty-sixth Dynasty, Psamtik I would

forcibly reunite Egypt in March 656 BC under his rule and compel the
God‟s Wife of Amun serving at the time, Shepenupet II, daughter of
Piye, to adopt his daughter Nitocris I as her chosen successor to this
position. The office continued in existence until 525 BC under
Nitocris' successor, Ankhnesneferibre, when the Persian Empire
overthrew Egypt‟s last Saite ruler, Psamtik III (526–525 BC), and
enslaved his daughter. Thereafter, the powerful office of God‟s Wife
of Amun disappears from history.

The Statue of Amenirdis I

Gallery number: 30 – Ground Floor

Material: It is made of alabaster (Ss in hieroglyphics) quarried from
Hatnub in el-Minya. Hatnub is the main quarry of alabaster in Egypt. It is
located about 25 km southeast of Tell el-Amarna at el-Minya. It is called
in hieroglyphs @wt-nbw, „House of Gold‟ indicating the purest kinds of
alabaster. The base is made of grey granite called in hieroglyphs mAT
quarried from Aswan.
Provenance: Great Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak Complex, Thebes.
Dating: Third Intermediate Period, the reign of King Shabaka (713-698
BC).
Height: 170 cm

This is one of the most celebrated statues of Amenirdis I, daughter of King

Kashta of the 25th Dynasty. It was discovered by Auguste Mariette within
a small chapel at the Great Temple of Amun-Re in Karnak Temple. She is
shown standing and slightly advanced with her left leg. She is shown
wearing a diadem decorated with royal cobras or uraei on top of her
tripartite wig. The wig is topped with a vulture cap with a further two uraei
flanking the head of a vulture on her forehead. She wears a long tight
dress, and holds a necklace in her right hand and a flagellum in her left.

The names and titles of Amenirdis I are inscribed in sunk reliefs inside
cartouches on the pedestal of the statue. They read Drt nTr Imn-ir-di.s
meaning „the god‟s hand, she who was given by Amun‟ and Hmt nTr ¢a-
nfrw-Mwt meaning „the god‟s wife, the beautiful appearance of Mut‟.
These names and titles are followed by the phrase anx.ti Dt, „may she live
forever‟.