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| Bintanath in hieroglyphs | ||||||||||
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Bintanath (In Tomb) Daughter of Anath | ||||||||||
Bintanath (On stela) Daughter of Anath | ||||||||||
Bintanath (also Bentanath) was a daughter and later Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II, born by his second spouse Isetnofret.[1][2][3]
Bintanath was likely born during the reign of her grandfather Seti I. Her mother, most likely, was Isetnofret, One of the earliest wives that Ramesses II had during his time as crown prince.[4] Her name is Semitic, meaning Daughter of Anath, referring to the Canaanite goddess Anath. She had at least three brothers, Ramesses, Khaemwaset and Merneptah[1][5], no full sisters. Princess Isetnofret has been considered by some scholars to be her full sister because of the name; however, in the New Kingdom, this name—praising the goddess Isis—was very common across all social classes, and women in artisan village families were often given this name. Moreover, Princess Isetnofret does not appear on either of the two family stelae, indicating that she was not her full sister.[4]
Joyce Tyldesley once proposed that Bintanath had a daughter who was also named Bintanath, and she married the next pharaoh, Merneptah. According to Tyldesley, a statue of Merneptah in Luxor mentions "the Great Royal Wife Bintanath", who is, possibly, this daughter, since it is unlikely that the older Bintanath married Merneptah when both of them were well over sixty. However, it is entirely possible that Bintanath never married Merenptah and used the "Great Royal Wife" title only because she was entitled to it due to her first marriage.[6]
According to the tomb paintings, Bintanath was once thought to have had a daughter.[7] However, since McCarthy’s 2011 study of all the queens’ tombs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties, this theory has been rejected. The “King’s Daughter” who appears in her tomb is more likely a manifestation of Bintanath’s own soul, much like how the Book of the Dead often depicts the same individual in different forms of age within a single scene.[8]
Bintanath is depicted in a scene on a pylon in Luxor dated to year 3 of Ramesses II. She is said to be the King's daughter of his body, and is the first in a procession of princesses. She is followed by Meritamen in this procession. Bintanath appears twice as a princess in Abu Simbel. Together with Nebettawy she flanks the southernmost colossus on the facade of the great temple. On one of the pillars inside the temple she is shown offering flowers to the goddess Anuqet.[9]
Bentanath became Great Royal Wife around the 25th year of her father's reign.[1] During her time as queen she held many titles including hereditary princess, the great first one (iryt-p`t-tpit-wrt), Lady of The Two Lands (nbt-t3wy), Great King’s Wife (hmt-niswt-wrt), Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (hnwt-Shm’w -mhw), King’s Daughter (s3t-niswt), and eventually King’s Sister (snt-niswt).[10]
Bentanath was Ramesses II’s eldest daughter, but she was not the eldest of all his children. She held the title Hereditary Princess, the Great First One (iryt-p‘t-tpit-wrt), a fully feminine title that denotes only the first among the king’s daughters. Nefertari’s eldest daughter, Meritamen, also held this title, indicating her status as the eldest by maternal line. On the second level of the Aswan Rock stela, Bentanath is depicted standing with her brothers, whose titles begin with “his (Khaemwaset’s) sister/brother,”[11] revealing her position among her full siblings: the Ramesses princes were the eldest, followed by her, and in fact, she may have even been younger than the king’s third son, Pareherwenemef.
As (great) royal wife Bintanath appears on several statues of Pharaoh Ramesses II. She is depicted on a statue from the Sinai (BM 697), on two sandstone colossi found in Tanis, but probably originally from Pi-Ramesse, and on a statue from the south gate of the Ptah precinct in Memphis. An usurped Middle Kingdom statue from Heracleopolis depicts both Bintanath and her sister Meritamen, and a statue from Hermopolis depicts Bintanath and Henutmire (both as great royal wives). Bintanath is depicted on statues of her father at least three times in Karnak and Luxor, and she appears in statues in Wadi es-Sebua.[9]
Two family stelae show Bintanath with her immediate family. The Aswan rock stela shows Ramesses II, Isetnofret and Khaemwaset before the god Khnum, while in another register Bintanath appears with her brothers Ramesses and Merneptah. Another stela from West Silsila depicts Bint-Anath standing behind her mother Isetnofret and her father Ramesses II as the king offers Maat to the gods Ptah and Nefertem. Prince Khaemwaset stands in front of the king, while her brothers Ramesses and Merneptah are shown in a lower register.[9]
Despite her being Ramesses' first daughter, she was actually one of the few children who outlived their long-lived father. She was depicted on a statue usurped by Merenptah.[1] She died during the reign of her brother Merneptah and was buried in the tomb QV71 in the Valley of the Queens.[1]
The tomb is described by Lepsius (number 4). The name of Bintanath is given in slightly different spellings in the tomb.[12] Bintanath is shown before Osiris and Nephthys. Both gods say: "I grant you a place of repose in the land of righteousness." Queen Bintanath is depicted together with a “King’s Daughter,” who is believed to be a manifestation of her own soul.[8] Bintanath's sarcophagus was later usurped by a man.[9]
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