Shepenupet I
Shepenupet I at Karnak.
Divine Adoratrice of Amun
God's Wife of Amun
PredecessorKaromama Meritmut
SuccessorAmenirdis I
Royal titulary
Prenomen  (Praenomen)
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imn
n		 G17W9F34
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Khenemetibamun
ẖnm(t)-ib-Jmn[1]
She Who is One with the Heart of Amun
Nomen
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G14N36N37
p Z9		 F13
>

Shepenupet Meritmut
šp-(n)-wp(t) mrjt-mwt[1]
Shepenupet, beloved of Mut
Burial
Medinet Habu[2]
Dynasty23rd Dynasty
FatherOsorkon III
MotherKaroadjet

Shepenupet I or Shapenewpet I was God's Wife of Amun during the Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt.[3]

Biography

She was the first “hereditary” God's Wife or Divine Adoratrice of Amun to wield political power in ancient Thebes and its surrounding region. She was the first to take on complete royal titulary with names in two cartouches (her prenomen Khenemetibamun means 'she who is one with the heart of Amun'), and although her successors followed her example, she remained the only one who also bore the royal titles “Lord of the Two Lands” and “Lord of Appearances”, also, the only one whose throne name refers to Amun, not to his wife Mut.[4]

She was the daughter of Osorkon III and Queen Karoadjet, and the (half-)sister of Takelot III and Rudamun.[5] She was God's Wife during her father's whole reign. When Kashta, a monarch of the 25th Dynasty, extended his influence to the Theban area, she was compelled to adopt Kashta's daughter Amenirdis I as her successor and name her as her chosen heir. Shepenupet and Amenirdis are depicted together in Wadi Gasus.[3]

Shepenupet is known to have survived into the reign of Shebitku since she is depicted on a section of a wall Temple J which was decorated under this Nubian king.

Sources

  1. 1 2 von Beckerath, Jürgen (1999). Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen (in German). Mainz am Rhein, Von Zabern. ISBN 3-8053-2591-6., pp. 198-99
  2. ↑ KAWAI, Nozomu (1998). "Royal Tombs of the Third Intermediate and Late Periods". Orient. 33: 33–45. doi:10.5356/orient1960.33.33. ISSN 1884-1392.
  3. 1 2 Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05128-3., p.231
  4. ↑ László Török: The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization. ISBN 90-04-10448-8, p.148
  5. ↑ Dodson & Hilton, pp.226-227
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