Ancient Egyptian Queens: Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut

CAIRO – 28 January 2018: Last time Egypt Today tackled the life of one of the greatest queens, the most beautiful queen on Earth in the Ancient world: Queen Nefertari. The selected queen for today is Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut.

Carrying royal noble origins, Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut lived during the 18th Dynasty, the New Kingdom of Ancient Egyptian history.Born of King Thutmose II, her mother Huy was a priestess, according to researcher and author Ismail Hamed.

Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut was the wife of King Thutmose III, one of the greatest kings of Ancient Egypt and the one who established the earliest emperor in history.
Being King Thutmose’s second wife, she carried the title of "Great Royal Wife" after the death of King Thutmose III’s royal wife, Queen Satiah, according to “Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary”.

Queen Merytre-Hatshepsut gave birth to King Thutmos’ successor, King Amenhotep II, who ruled Egypt for 25 years and tried to keep his father's empire. After her death, she was celebrated through many scenes painted in several tombs including her husband's and son's ones, as well as a stela that depicts Merytre-Hatshepsut standing before Thutmose III. She is shown holding a fly-whisk in one hand and an ankh in the other, according to the “History of Ancient Egypt Encyclopedia”.


Merytre-Hatshepsut depicted in the Temple of Thutmose III – Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia