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CONTENTS

Volume 31, 2016

ARTICLES

LIU, CHANGYU: Aba-saga’s Activities during the Reign of Šulgi in the Ur III
Dynasty..……………………………………………………………………1

BRAND, PETER J.: Reconstructing the Royal Family of Ramesses II and its
Hierarchical Structure………………………………………………………7

YUE, MENGZHEN: Naming the Greeks in the Archaic Period: “Panhellenes,”

“Hellenes,” “Hellas” and the Notion of Panhellenism…..…………………45

KÜTER, ALEXA: Imitatio Alexandri – the Image of Drusus Minor on Brass Tokens
of the Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin…...……………………85

ABSTRACTS...…...………...………...………...………...………...………...……123
JOURNAL OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
Volume 31, 2016

世界古典文明史杂志
2016 年 第 31 期
JAC Founder: Prof. Zhichun LIN †
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 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II
AND ITS HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE1

Peter J. Brand
University of Memphis

Introduction: The Great Family of Ramesses II2

Among his many achievements that have marked Ramesses II as one of
Egypt’s greatest pharaohs, his multiple wives and his stupendous progeny
of approximately 100 children stands as one of the most remarkable. 3 By
comparison with all other pharaohs, he appears unique, from the surviving
evidence at least. In fact, we know of more royal sons of Ramesses II than of all
the kings of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty.4 Indeed, the numbers of royal children
that appear in the unprecedented monumental processional lists of his sons and
daughters on several of his Egyptian and Nubian temples prompted Marjorie
Fisher in her recent study of his sons to suggest that many of these princes may
have been his grandchildren instead.5
Certainly, Ramesses II’s gigantic royal brood appears unparalleled in the
annals of Ancient Egyptian civilization, but there are a number of unanswered
questions that can place his family in a clearer historical and ideological context.6
Comparison with other Egyptian pharaohs prompts an important question:
was Ramesses II unique in having such a large royal family or rather, was he
remarkable for presenting them as a group on royal monuments? Considering
1
I am grateful to my doctoral student Cristina Rose for her editorial assistance. I would also like
to thank Prof. Anthony Spalinger and my colleague Dr. Chrystal Goudsouzian at the University of
Memphis for reviewing drafts of this article and providing me with useful comments and suggestions.
2
In this article, K. A. Kitchen’s and B. Davies’ hieroglyphic editions, translations and commentary
on Ramesside texts will be abbreviated as follows: KRI II = Kitchen 1979; RITA = Kitchen 1996;
RITANC II = Kitchen 1999; RITANC III = Davies 2013.
3
For detailed surveys of Ramesses II’s wives and children see inter alia Leblanc 1999; Schmidt and
Willeitner 1994; Fisher 2001.
4
A. Dodson’s inventory of Eighteenth Dynasty princes contains only 28 individuals, a couple of
which like Ay’s alleged son Nakhtmin, might be debatable: Dodson 1990, 87–96. The fact that we
know of more sons of Ramesses II than for the entire Eighteenth Dynasty speaks of the fragmentary
nature of our sources.
5
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 41 and 119. She offers no evidence to back up this claim.
6
On the ideological role of representations of royal sons, see Fisher 2001, vol. I, 121–136. See also
Murnane 1995, 202–206; Xekalaki 2011, chapters 3–5. For recent analysis of the problem of the
paucity and ideological aspect of the limited genealogical data for Ancient Egypt see Fitzenreiter 2005.

7 JAC 31 (2016)
8 BRAND, PETER J.
how little we know about the families of many other pharaohs, it may be the case
that large numbers of royal children and wives from throughout Egyptian history
remain hidden from our view due to the lack of preserved records, especially
royal monuments like those that document Ramesses II’s sons and daughters
in such extraordinary numbers. Other pharaohs often avoided presenting their
wives and children on their monuments.7 Royal sons, in particular, appeared
relatively rarely on monuments during the reigns of their fathers, especially
on royal monuments. Even in the case of Ramesses II, it is striking how little
we actually know about his wives and daughters, or even most of his best
known sons. As we shall see, the system of hierarchy and prestige among the
royal women of Ramesses II gave a select few, the Great Royal Wife Nefertari
especially, overwhelming preeminence in a hierarchy of status and prestige
so that an undetermined number of other royal wives who must have given
birth to large numbers of his known sons and daughters are now completely
anonymous. Likewise, the children of the two most favored wives, Nefertari and
Isetnofret, enjoyed greater prominence and higher status than their half-siblings
born to other royal women. Further historical and ideological questions bear
on the question of Ramesses II’s royal family in terms of its size, hierarchical
structure, and the unprecedented way that the king chose to present them on the
monuments.

Reconstructing Ramesses II’s Early Family Growth

Recalling his career as Crown Prince in his Dedicatory Inscription in the temple
of his father Sety I at Abydos, Ramesses II recounts how Sety provided Prince
Ramesses with his own household consisting of multiple wives:8
He furnished me with a female household (pryt) and royal apartments (ipt-nsw) comparable
to9 the beautiful ones of the palace (nfrw n aH). He selected for me wives throughout [the
land(?)]…taking xnrw-women (xnriw) for [me…] his …being suckled (Sdd)…the ‘family
quarters’ (pr-xnrwt)10 of female companions (xnm-st). (KRI II, 328.4–6)

7
Many sons of Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs are known from private monuments, such as those
of their royal tutors and wet-nurses, or even from funerary and votive monuments of the princes,
princesses, or royal wives themselves. See Roherig 1990; Xekalaki 2011.
8
See now the definitive edition and commentary in Spalinger 2009.
9
So m snt. This could also be translated as “surpassing the beautiful female ones of the palace.”
10
The meaning of the term pr-xnrw(t), also attested as the pr-xnit, is much debated. It is often
identified as the so-called “royal harem” in Ancient Egypt along with a related institution called the
ipt-nsw. The term xnr/xni, however, seems to refer to a group of female musicians who could be
resident in the temple of a deity as well as the royal household. See Reiser 1972, with critical reviews
by Lorton 1974, 98–101; Nord 1975, 142–145; Kemp 1976, 191–192. See also Bryan 1982, 35–54;
Callender 1994, 7–25; Haslauer 2001, 76–80; Nord 1981, 137–145; Redford 2002; Roth 2016,
“Harem;” Shaw 2011, 453–464; Ward 1986; Yoyotte 2012.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 9
From the Abydos Dedicatory Inscription we see that Ramesses already had
multiple wives while he was still Crown Prince under Sety I’s rule and that he
had soon fathered children by them. Reliefs carved during Ramesses II’s first
year as king in his Beit el-Wali Temple depict his fourth son Prince Khaemwaset
alongside his older brother Prince Amunhirkhopeshef in military scenes.11 This
indicates that, at the very least, the first four sons of Ramesses II were born
before Sety I’s death. It remains possible, even likely, that other sons were born
while Ramesses was still Crown Prince, especially if his career as a father began
earlier in Sety’s reign. Unfortunately, there are no inscriptions dating to Ramesses
II’s first year that record any of his daughters. The daughters, along with the
majority of royal sons, are first attested in the early monumental lists created
during the first two decades of the reign, but these date after his first regnal year.
Therefore, we have no way of knowing how many daughters had been born by
the time he ascended the throne. It seems likely, however, that some of these girls
had appeared while Ramesses was still a Prince.
Ramesses II became king sometime between the age of 20 and 25, probably
closer to the lower figure. Assuming that he married his first wives shortly after
the onset of puberty, he could have easily been able to father children throughout
much if not all of Sety I’s reign.12 Indeed, it was vital for him to do so. Prince
Ramesses was Sety’s designated royal heir and, as far as we know, his only son.
After the demise of the old Eighteenth Dynasty – and surely with no expectation
that Ramesses would live as long as he eventually did – Sety I sought to ensure
that his son would give him grandsons as soon as possible. Ramesses was
therefore set to work begetting heirs as soon as he was able to shortly after the
onset of puberty, in order to secure the continuity of the new Nineteenth Dynasty
royal line.
During Sety I’s last years and in the first decade of Ramesses II’s own reign, he

Certainly during the New Kingdom, the pr-xnrw(t), “the household of the xnrw(t),” denoted part of
the larger royal estate, pr-nsw, which housed the Pharaoh’s women and children. The ipt-nsw, or “royal
apartments,” is often seen as a synonym for “harem” by Egyptologists but is likely a sub-unit of the
larger pr-xnrw(t) “family quarters.” The ipt-nsw served as the king’s private apartments but could
have housed royal women including the nfrwt, “beautiful young women.”
11
KRI II, 198.14; Ricke et al. 1967, pls. 7–8; Fisher 2001, vol. I, 91–92.
12
It now appears likely that Sety I ruled for 9 or 10 full years. Sety I’s highest known regnal year
date was long considered to be year 11 on his Gebel Barkal stela. J. van Dijk has convincingly argued
that this should be emended to regnal year 2, leaving year 9 as Sety’s highest attested regnal year
date on his two Aswan stelae and his dedicatory inscription at Kanais. Wine jar dockets found in his
tomb are also dated to year nine. See van Dijk 2011, 325–332. Based on the near coincidence of the
accession dates of Sety I (III Smw 24) and Ramesses II (III Smw 27) and on the fact that Sety made
substantial progress in quarrying a number of colossal statues and obelisks that he commissioned
during his ninth regnal year, it is likely the king reigned a mere three days into either his tenth or even
his eleventh year. See Revez and Brand 2015, 258, n. 18.
10 BRAND, PETER J.

would have been at the peak of his sexual virility. We may reconstruct his young
family as consisting of the two most favored wives, Nefertari and Isetnofret, and
an unknown number of other wives. The Abydos Dedicatory Inscription indicates
that he married several women during Sety’s reign. We may estimate that at least
25 of his sons and a similar number of daughters were born to Ramesses while
he was Crown Prince and during the first decade of his own reign. This assumes
that male and female children were born in approximately equal ratios.13 Several
unknowable variables make this only an educated guess. The number of women
who gave birth to his attested children is itself an unknowable number based
on the absence of any data for his early wives besides Nefertari and Isetnofret.
Furthermore, infant and child mortality rates and rates of miscarriage in Ancient
Egypt are unknown, but were likely quite horrific.14 We may conclude, then, that
the children named on the monuments probably all corresponded to live births
and infants that survived long enough to be named and who lived on at least into
early childhood.15 But how many miscarriages, still-births and infant and child
deaths did Ramesses and his various wives suffer? It is likely that these tragedies
were all too frequent. Even Nefertari and Isetnofret may have experienced
unsuccessful pregnancies.
Another important question is: what was the average length of an elite
13
Statistically, the birth rate for boys is approximately one percent higher in human populations than
for girls because male children suffer slightly higher infant mortality rates. On the historical tendency
for infant mortality rates to be slightly higher for males than for females see Pongou 2013, 421–444;
2015, 2053–2056.
Even in modern times, spontaneous miscarriage rates for known pregnancies for women under
the age of 30 are estimated as being between 10% and 20% during the first 20 weeks of gestation.
Miscarriage rates increase dramatically in women after the age of 30–35. After 20 weeks of gestation,
the death of a fetus prior to birth might be called a stillbirth. According to official statistics, in
the United States, stillbirths occur at a rate of 1 per 160 live births while the figure in most of the
United Kingdom and Australia is 1 per 200 live births. See https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-
releases/placental-pregnancy-conditions-account-most-stillbirths (United States); http://webarchive.
nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709; http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/birth-cohort-tables--
england-and-wales/2009/stb-bct-2009.html (England and Wales, United Kingdom) (05.05.2016).
14
No statistically reliable data for infant and child mortality rates exists for pharaonic Egypt. For
pre-modern societies in general, G. Robins quotes an estimate of 20% infant mortality during the first
year after birth and an additional 30% by the fifth year. See Robins 1994, 24–35. T. G. Parkin has
estimated that 30% of infants died during their first year in Roman times. See Parkin 1992, 92–94.
Although Roman census records from Egypt provide our best source for demographic data from the
ancient world, the evidence is highly imperfect and cannot be used without extreme caution. See
Scheidel 2001, 1–81. W. Scheidel notes (23) that: “Ancient historians usually concede that infant
mortality is an intractable problem.”
15
One probable case of a prince who died young is Prince Meryre I, the eleventh son who had a
younger brother, the like named eighteenth son. It seems likely that Prince Meryre II was born after
the death of his older namesake. If so, Meryre I likely died in early childhood, but was posthumously
honored on monuments such as the temples at Abu Simbel, because of the status of his mother
Nefertari and his older brother Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 11

woman’s child-bearing years in antiquity? From monumental sources, we know

that Nefertari had at least eight children16 and Isetnofret six.17 All 14 of these
offspring must have survived infancy and lived on at least into early childhood,
and several are known to have lived until the middle and later years of Ramesses
II’s 67 year long reign and beyond.18 In the case of Nefertari, if we take an
average of 285 days for the normal human gestation period, she would have been
pregnant for a total of at least 2280 days. However, if she had any unsuccessful
pregnancies or delivered other children later in her childbearing years, who
are now unknown to us, we could increase this total further.19 There would be,
too, post-partum intervals between one pregnancy and the next. But Nefertari
would have easily been pregnant for a drastic minimum of at least six years
and probably engaged in child bearing considerably longer.20 Other royal ladies
16
Nefertari’s known sons, with their order of rank on the monumental lists are: Amunhirkhopeshef
(no. 1), Prehirwenemef (no. 3), Meryre I (no. 11), and Meryatum (no. 16). See Leblanc 1999, 73–88.
Kitchen (RITANC II, 573 and 604) assigns Prince Sety (no. 9) to the sons of Queen Nefertari based
on the text of O. Louvre 2261 (KRI II, 914.12–915.2), but this has been effectively refuted by Gomaà
1973, 8. See also Fisher 2001, vol. I, 109. Prince Sety is also conspicuously absent from the façades
of the two temples at Abu Simbel.
Nefertari’s daughters are: Baketmut, Nefertari II, Merytamun, and Henuttawy. See Leblanc 1999,
207–222 (Merytamun) and 237–243 (Henuttawy). The sequence of daughters on the monumental
lists varies, so it is not certain what their order of birth was. See RITANC II, 619–621.
17
Isetnofret’s known sons and their order of birth are: Ramesses Jr. (no. 2), Khaemwaset (no. 4),
and Merenptah (no. 13). See Fisher 2001, vol. I, 71–79 (Ramesses); 89–105 (Khaemwaset); 111–117
(Merenptah). Her daughters are: Bint-Anath, Isetnofret II, and Nebettawy. See Leblanc 1999, 185–
206 (Bint-Anath); 223–236 (Nebettawy).
18
Prince Ramesses Junior and Prince Khaemwaset lived into the 50s of the reign or later while
Merenptah succeeded his father as king.
19
Another factor which is hard to control is the potential that ovulation would be suppressed in a
woman of childbearing years while she was breast feeding an infant. During the Eighteenth Dynasty
female nurses for royal children, mnat, were often selected from among the elite. It is generally
assumed that they served as wet nurses but we have no record of such nurses in the early Nineteenth
Dynasty. It is also unclear if lower status women might serve anonymously in such a capacity. Nor do
we know if royal wives participated in the breast feeding of their own children. See Roehrig 1990.
20
A similar case would be Akhenaten’s Great Royal Wife Nefertiti. She is known to have had six
daughters. The oldest, Meritaten, was born no later than the first year of her father’s reign while
the youngest, Setepenre, is believed to have appeared sometime between the 9th and 11th years
of Akhenaten’s reign. No sons and no other daughters of Nefertiti are known to us, although it
remains possible that the “king’s bodily son,” sA-nsw n xt=f, Tutankhaten was one of her children.
Egyptologists tend to discount this possibility and look elsewhere to identify the famous young
king’s mother, but royal sons rarely appeared on Eighteenth Dynasty monuments, especially royal
ones. Moreover, Akhenaten’s religious and royal ideological program chose to emphasize the female
offspring of the Great Royal Wife. Representations of the six princesses invariably cite their maternal
heritage, a practice which is rarely used by other kings. With six daughters being born in a period
of roughly a decade, there was ample time for Nefertiti to have other pregnancies which could have
resulted both in male offspring as well as miscarriages, stillbirths and cases of infant mortality. As
the most favored wife it seems likely that she would have become pregnant as often as possible,
especially in order to produce a male heir even if male children of the king were less prominent on
12 BRAND, PETER J.

would be bearing their offspring during the same years, accounting for 11 of the
first 20 sons, or slightly more than half of them,21 and an unknown percentage of
the daughters. We can only be relatively certain that seven of the early daughters
were born to the two senior Queens. Our main source of data on the progeny
of Isetnofret and Nefertari are the named images of their presumed offspring
in statuary on the façades of the two Abu Simbel temples22 and the two “family
stelae” of Prince Khaemwaset from Gebel es-Silsila23 and Aswan (fig. 1).24

Monumental Lists of Royal Sons and Daughters

An innovative and unprecedented feature of Ramesses II’s royal ideology and
monumental program are the processional lists of his sons and daughters that
appear on various temple monuments (figs. 2–5). The best preserved examples
come from Abydos, Thebes and temples in Lower Nubia. They typically
represent a file of royal sons or daughters with both genders having a stereotyped
costume and iconographic attributes.25 All children of both genders are shown at
exactly the same scale as their siblings regardless of their respective ages.26 Aside
for a fraction of his offspring, those born to Nefertari and Isetnofret in particular,
these temple lists are often the only sources we have for the existence of the vast
majority of Ramesses II’s sons and daughters. The lists are often so unevenly
preserved that in some cases we have only fragmentary names for some of these
individuals.27
The ideological purpose of such lists of royal progeny was undoubtedly to
promote aspects of the king’s rule such as his masculine virility as the “mighty

the monuments. It is, of course, possible that Nefertiti had only six pregnancies with all of these being
successful and producing only female offspring. But only the paucity of our sources, and their highly
ideological nature coupled with the too often romantic assumptions of modern scholars make this an
inevitable conclusion.
21
Among the first 20 sons, those who cannot be identified as children of Nefertari or Isetnofret are:
Monthuhirkhopeshef (no. 5); Nebenkharu (no. 6); Meryamun (no. 7); Amunemwia (no. 8); Sety (no.
9); Setepenre (no. 10); Horhirwenemef (no. 12); Amenhotep (no. 14); Itamun (no. 15); Nebentaneb
(no. 17); Meryre II (no. 18); Amenemopet (no. 19); Senakhtenamun (no. 20). Their mothers are
completely unknown to us.
22
See Christophe 1956, 107–130.
23
Gomaà 1972, 89, n. 76; KRI II, 384–385; RITANC II, 240–241.
24
Gomaà 1972, 90, n. 79; KRI II, 854; RITANC II, 565–566.
25
Murnane 1995, 203–206; Fisher 2001, vol. I, chapters 4 and 10; Xekalaki 2011.
26
This contrasts with many group representations of Akhenaten’s six daughters by Nefertiti where
older daughters are drawn at a larger scale than their younger sisters.
27
Examples include sons such as […]-Monthu (no. 30); […]r-Pre (no. 31); and [Seth(?)]emnakht (no.
39). So KRI II, 859–860; RITA II, 560. Of the 38 daughters in the monumental lists, the names of two
are completely destroyed while six other names are fragmentary. So KRI II, 916; RITA II, 598–599.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 13

bull,” kA-nxt, and to enhance his prestige.28 While some of the sons held priestly
and/or military titles, it is easy to overestimate the degree of political power any
of them had, even the Crown Prince.29 I suspect Ramesses guarded his power
and royal prerogatives jealously as, indeed, was normal for his predecessors. In
prominently displaying his many offspring, particularly his sons, the Pharaoh
may have been taking a calculated political risk by giving his male offspring
such ideological prominence. Certainly in terms of royal prestige and likely
also for reasons of political security, earlier pharaohs often kept their sons in the
background, at least in terms of their presence on the monuments. But as was the
case with his most favored wives and daughters, the visibility of so many royal
sons enhanced Ramesses’ prestige. The royal family at large served mainly to
reflect and enhance the glory of the king. The different organizational structure
of the monumental lists of sons versus those of daughters highlights the separate
ideological and political roles of male and female offspring.

Arrangement of Royal Sons in Monumental Lists

by the Principle of Their Birth Order
The first 25 sons of Ramesses II as they appear in the processional lists on the
king’s monuments are almost invariably in the same strict order with each prince
named in the same position from one temple to another (figs. 2–3).30 These lists
always begin with the first born son, Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef whose
mother was Nefertari. Since Nefertari’s youngest known son Meryatum is always
ranked as the 16th son in the processional lists – despite his mother’s status as
the Great Royal Wife – it is likely that the governing principle of the lists of sons
is their order of birth. All these sons are formally entitled sA nswt n xt=f, “king’s
son of his body.”
Princes appearing in the list may have included any viable male offspring of
the king. Or, perhaps only those sons born to women of sufficient rank to hold
either the title Hmt nswt wrt, “great royal wife” or Hmt nswt, “royal wife.” Aside
from 14 known children of Nefertari and Isetnofret, however, the mothers of
most of Ramesses II’s children are unknown to us because no monuments or
artifacts naming other royal wives have ever been discovered dating to the early
years of the reign. By contrast, other known royal wives of Ramesses II – his
five daughter-wives and the two Hittite princesses – are not clearly attested as

28
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 135–135; Xekalaki 2011, chapters 3–5.
29
See Murnane 1995, 205–206.
30
The eighth prince, named Amenemwia in the Ramesseum and Luxor Temple forecourt, is called
Sethemwia at Abu Simbel and Derr. Prince no. 21 is attested both as Ramesses-Merenre and
Ramesses-Meritimire. RITANC II, 573.
14 BRAND, PETER J.

his wives before his regnal year 34, at least a decade or more after most of his
children were born during the first two decades of the reign.31 But it is likely that
the mothers of sons nos. 5–10, 12, 14–15 and, for the sake of argument, nos.
17–20, were producing these children at roughly the same time that Isetnofret
and Nefertari gave birth to their children during the last years of Sety I and the
first decade of Ramesses II’s own reign.
One apparent chronological problem with the birth order of the first several
sons is the fact that the first four are all sons of Nefertari and Isetnofret. The
Abydos Dedicatory Inscription indicates that Sety I selected several wives for
Prince Ramesses, presumably at roughly the same time. If all the sons on the
temple lists are correctly arranged in their actual birth order, we would have to
assume that none of Ramesses’ now anonymous other wives was able to deliver
a son before Nefertari and Isetnofret had each produced two sons. When one also
considers that, at the very least, Isetnofret also gave birth to Ramesses’ eldest
daughter Bint-Anath early in his career as a father, the chronological difficulties
increase. It is possible that Ramesses married Nefertari and Isetnofret two or
more years before any other wives, but this is not what the Abydos Dedicatory
Inscription implies.32 Did all the Prince Ramesses’ other early wives only produce
daughters at first? Did they experience other difficulties in successfully giving
birth to male children such as miscarriages or infants who died soon after birth?
One way to overcome this difficulty while still maintaining the general “rule”
that most of Ramesses II’s sons appear on the monumental lists in the order
of their birth, is to conclude that once Nefertari and Isetnofret had produced
the two eldest sons Amunhirkhopeshef and Ramesses, they gained a degree
of prestige that conferred enhanced prestige to each of their second born sons
Prehirwenemef and Khaemwaset as well. To recognize their enhanced status,
the two younger sons were given priority in the ordering of their names on
monumental lists over any male siblings who had been born to Crown Prince
Ramesses’ other wives before them. This might have included, at the very least,
the fifth ranked son on the lists Monthuhirkhopeshef, and an unknown number

31
The most clearly datable representations of the daughter-wives on royal statuary are those that
coincide with a version of Ramesses II’s Horus name containing the epithet “lord of Sed-Festivals like
his father Ptah-Tatonen” that is first attested in his 34th regnal year. This is most clear with four royal
statues with the name and image of Bint-Anath as royal wife: British Museum 697: KRI II, 401–402;
with her half-sister Henutmire on a limestone colossus from Hermopolis: KRI II, 503.15–504.5; a
colossal statue in front of the Second Pylon at Karnak: KRI II, 554.15–555.7; and a colossus in the
Luxor Temple forecourt: KRI II, 631.3–5. Bint-Anath, along with her sister Merytamun, are depicted
on other royal colossi, but these are less securely dated.
32
Admittedly, like all monumental texts, the Abydos Dedicatory Inscription is a highly ideological
document that must be approached with caution as a historical text. Yet it is our only source for the
origin of Ramesses’ family life. On the religious bent of the text see Spalinger 2009.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 15

of other early sons. Under this scenario, the fact that Nefertari and Isetnofret
had given birth to the two eldest sons insured that their second born sons were
accorded greater prestige and took priority in the lists. At the same time, the strict
uniformity of the processional temple lists of royal sons and the position of the
younger sons of Nefertari and Isetnofret further down the lists strongly suggests
that primogeniture was the chief organizing principle of these lists.

Arrangement of Royal Daughters in Monumental Lists

by the Rank of the Mother
A total of 53 daughters of Ramesses II can be identified in existing sources (figs.
4–5).33 38 princesses are attested at least once in the several temple lists.34 Fifteen
additional daughters appear in a list of royal daughters from O. Louvre 666
who are unknown from any other sources.35 Birth order does not seem to be the
organizing principle behind temple lists of Ramesses II’s daughters.36 Indeed, the
sequence of daughters on the temple lists varies from site to site, sometimes quite
widely.37 Bint-Anath, who received the special title of “female heiress,” iryt-pat
to mark her status as first born daughter, was always named first (figs. 6–7). The
positions of her sisters fluctuate, but a pattern emerges indicating that the seven
daughters of Nefertari and Isetnofret outranked their sisters. This is because these
seven daughters usually appear somewhere within the first 10 positions in the
temple lists, even though the position of a given princess often varies from list
to list.38 The maternal parentage of these seven known daughters of Nefertari
and Isetnofret seems secure because these princesses appear on the façades of
the temples of Abu Simbel39 and/or in graffiti at Aswan and Gebel es-Silsila
naming the family of Isetnofret. This is further reinforced by the fact that five of

33
A 54th daughter listed by Kitchen is due to his misinterpretation of the Abydos list where the
daughter in third position is entitled […] Wrt-HQaw Nbt-tAwy (KRI II, 918.2). This is not a unique
occurrence of a daughter named Weret-Hekau (contra RITANC II, 620, §1127; RITA II, 599, no. 54),
but is more probably part of a title [Smayt n] Wrt-HqAw, “[chantress of] Weret-Hekau,” followed by the
name of Nebettawy, the well-known daughter of Queen Isetnofret. Many of Ramesses II’s daughters
are attested as chantresses of various deities in the Luxor Temple list: KRI II, 919.11–920.3; RITA II,
600–601.
34
KRI II, 916–921; RITA II, 598–599; RITANC II, 619–621.
35
KRI II, 922–923; RITA II, 603; RITANC II, 623.
36
For discussion of these lists see RITANC II, 620–621, §§1126–1129.
37
See chart in RITA II, 598–599.
38
Baketmut is the second daughter at Abu Simbel and third at Derr, but 26th in the first Abydos list.
Henuttawy is in the seventh position at Abu Simbel and Derr and ninth at Abydos but 15th at Wadi
es-Sebua. Other daughters of the two favored wives, as far as their names are preserved in the various
lists, are consistently in the first ten positions even if their order varies. So Isetnofret II is sixth at Abu
Simbel and Derr and eighth at Luxor Temple, and in the two Abydos lists.
39
Christophe 1956, 107–130.
16 BRAND, PETER J.

these women later became Great Royal Wives of their father, perhaps after their
mothers had died.
A handful of other daughters appear at least once in the first ten positions in
various lists, and sometimes before known daughters of the two favored queens,
including the princesses Werel, Nedemmut, Qedmerut, Nebet-Iunu, Nebet-Nuhet,
and Pipuy.40 However, the mothers of these women, and of all the remaining
daughters are unknown to us, although scholars have ascribed some of them
to either of the two chief wives.41 It remains possible that two or more further
daughters were also born to the two senior queens, but we cannot identify them
on the basis of surviving evidence. Barring any such cases, 46 daughters have
unknown mothers. How many mothers is unclear, but these may include one
or more of the daughter-wives if their marriages to their father resulted in any
children.42
In any case, it seems likely that seven daughters frequently named among the
first ten on the lists were given priority because their mothers were the two most
favored wives, Nefertari and Isetnofret. The invariable position of Bint-Anath as
the first ranked daughter is the only constant across ten monumental lists. Since
female offspring had no place in the royal succession, the order of birth, even
for the more privileged daughters, was not an organizing principle of the temple
lists.

Nefertari and Isetnofret as the Most Favored Wives of Ramesses II

But how did Nefertari and Isetnofret come to be the two highest ranking Queens
of Ramesses II, with Nefertari enjoying unique prominence on her husband’s
monuments throughout the first two decades of the reign to the exclusion of all
other royal wives (figs. 8–9)? It may come down to the birth order of Ramesses’
two eldest sons. It is surely no coincidence that Nefertari produced the first
40
Princess Werel is always placed within the first ten names in five lists while her sister Qedmerut is
the fourth princess in both the Abydos lists and at Luxor Temple. Nedjemmut is the ninth daughter
at Abu Simbel and Derr, but 15th at Wadi es-Sebua. Nebet-Iunu is fifth in the two Abydos lists but
tenth at Luxor and 17th at Wadi es-Sebua. Nebet-Nuhet is tenth in both Abydos processions and 16th
at Wadi es-Sebua. Note that Werel, Qedmerut, and Nebet-Iunu all appear at least once in a higher
position in the lists than at least one of the daughters of Nefertari and Isetnofret. Princess Pipuy is
fifth in the Luxor Temple list.
41
So C. J. Manouvrier assigns the daughters Werel and Nedjemmut to Isetnofret, but without citing
any evidence to support her claim. Manouvrier 1996, vol. I, 62.
42
This might be the case with an anonymous “king’s daughter of his body” who stands behind Bint-
Anath in the latter’s tomb (QV 71), assuming she is Bint-Anath’s actual daughter and not merely her
sister. Leblanc 1999, 197, fig. 55. There is no way of knowing with any certainty. Highly dubious is
C. Leblanc’s claim that the daughter-wife Nebettawy had a daughter named “Isisemakh” (Leblanc
1999, 227–229) based on his misinterpretation of an inscribed carnelian amulet naming Nebettawy:
Cairo Journal d’Entrée 27739. See KRI II, 926.11; RITA II, 606; RITANC II, 629–630.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 17

viable male child that Ramesses ever sired, Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef.
Isetnofret delivered the second born son, Ramesses Junior. We do not know with
any certainty that primogeniture was an absolute principle of the royal succession
in Egypt, but it seems likely. In a prestige based, hierarchical society, birth order
and status hierarchy were closely related for royal sons. This principle was less
important for girls who were ineligible for the royal succession. As we have
seen, the fact that Nefertari’s younger sons come after their older brothers born
to now anonymous royal mothers in the lists tends to confirm this. Assuming she
was not pre-selected to be Crown Prince Ramesses’ future Great Royal Wife,
and if, as seems likely, she was one of several wives Sety I married to his son
at approximately the same time, Nefertari may have owed her supreme position
among Ramesses’ wives to the fact that she had given him his first son, or at least
his first healthy, surviving son Amunhirkhopeshef.
This was probably her most important accomplishment, and may well have
secured her position as Great Royal Wife once Ramesses II became king.43
It is likely, then, that she won a kind of “baby race” as one of several wives
simultaneously attempting to provide the Crown Prince with his first viable son.44
Likewise, Isetnofret may have owed her position to being mother of the
second born son, Ramesses Junior. Even so, Isetnofret’s status was secondary
to the preeminence of Nefertari and her eldest son Amunhirkhopeshef as long
as they both lived.45 Moreover, Isetnofret is not named on any royal monuments

43
This is admittedly a circumstantial argument. Otherwise, we might conclude that Nefertari was pre-
selected to be the future king’s most favored wife and that she married him before his other wives,
including Isetnofret. In this scenario, Nefertari could have delivered Prince Ramesses’ first born son
before he sexually consummated his relations with other wives. Again, this is not what the Abydos
Dedicatory Inscription implies, and it is doubtful. Moreover, given the nature of royal polygyny in
Ancient Egypt and the particular need for Prince Ramesses to father children as scion of the early
Nineteenth Dynasty royal line, it seems unlikely that Nefertari became his wife for any length of time
before his other early wives.
We should also keep in mind the fact that Ramesses himself was a “king’s son,” sA-nsw, and not a
king prior to Sety I’s death. As such, his early wives, whatever their titles, would not yet have been
Hmt-nsw. This is true even if the first born children themselves were given the titles of sA/sAt-nsw
by virtue of being grandchildren of Sety I while he lived. This is by analogy with the possibility
that Ramesses II’s own grandchildren may have sometimes held the title of “royal son/daughter.” I
continue to maintain that there was no coregency or any kind of equal status between Sety I and his
son and that Ramesses only became king (nsw) after his father’s death. Brand 2000, 312–332.
44
Here again, we cannot rule out the possibility that other wives, including Isetnofret, may have
become pregnant with a male child, only to experience a miscarriage or an infant who quickly died,
prior to the birth of Amunhirkhopeshef.
45
Nefertari addresses two letters in the Egyptian royal correspondence with the Hittite court after the
conclusion of the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty in Ramesses II’s 21st regnal years. She seems to have
died soon afterwards, possibly around year 24 and almost certainly before Ramesses II’s first Sed-
Festival in year 30. See Kitchen 1982, 100; Leblanc 1999, 88–90. Prince Amunhirkhopeshef, under
the alias Sethhirkhopeshef, also addressed letters to the Hittite court around year 21 of his father
18 BRAND, PETER J.

of Ramesses II, and she first appears on monuments dedicated by her son
Khaemwaset at Gebel es-Silsila and Aswan in Ramesses II’s year 30 or later (fig.
1). By this point both Nefertari and Amunhirkhopeshef were dead, and Isetnofret
herself may have also died.46 Since Isetnofret is attested with the titles Hmt-nsw
and Hmt-nsw wrt, it is even possible that she only received the title “great royal
wife” posthumously at a time when her sons, the second Crown Prince Ramesses
Junior and Prince Khaemwaset, who was also the High Priest (sm) of Ptah in
Memphis, both enjoyed the highest status among Ramesses II’s surviving sons.
Indeed, Isetnofret may have achieved a kind of “genetic revenge” against
Nefertari and her sons. For more than two decades, from Ramesses II’s accession
until shortly after the Hittite Peace Treaty was concluded in his 21st regnal year,
Nefertari and her eldest son Amunhirkhopeshef enjoyed supreme status within
the royal family. But both had died by the time Ramesses II celebrated his first
Sed-Festival in year 30 when Isetnofret’s son Ramesses Junior became the new
heir and his younger brother Khaemwaset gained monumental notoriety as
High Priest of Memphis. After prince Rameses died, Isetnofret’s younger sons
Khaemwaset and Merenptah each became Crown Prince in turn, with the latter
eventually succeeding his father once Ramesses II finally died in his 67th regnal
year. None of Nefertari’s younger sons ever became Crown Prince. Her surviving
daughters Merytamun and Henuttawy shared the rank of Great Royal Wife with
Isetnofret’s daughters Bint-Anath and Nebettawy. Bint-Anath, like her younger
brother Merenptah, outlived her father.
But what of the earliest sons of Ramesses II who were not born to either of the
two favored Queens? We have no evidence that sons like Monthuhirkhopeshef,
Nebenkharu and other, older half-brothers of the 13th son Merenptah were
still alive after Princes Ramesses Junior and Khaemwaset had departed for the
underworld. Neither do we have proof that all of them were dead. Egyptologists
usually assume that all 12 of Merenptah’s older brothers predeceased him.
But is this the only possible conclusion? It is possible, although unprovable,

but he probably also died before the first Sed-Festival and no later than the third Sed when Prince
Ramesses is attested as Crown Prince. See Fisher 2001, vol. I, 69–70.
46
So few inscriptions refer to Queen Isetnofret that it is impossible to establish a chronology for
her life. See Leblanc 1993, 313–333. Leblanc (1993, 327–328) believes that Isetnofret died after
Nefertari, sometime between Ramesses 30th and 34th year. Once Nefertari died during the early 20s
of the reign, however, it is the senior living daughters of these two women (Bint-Anath, Merytamun,
Henuttawy and Nebettawy) who are attested as Great Royal Wives on monuments from the early Sed-
Festival period and later. The continued absence of Isetnofret on her husband’s monuments, and the
fact that she never received a tomb in the Valley of the Queens like Nefertari and the daughter-wives,
all suggest Isetnofret was dead before, or no later than shortly after, the demise of Nefertari herself.
Christophe (1965, 118) and Edel (1974, 130) place Isetnofret’s death before Nefertari’s demise.
Despite Leblanc’s objections, it seems more likely that Isetnofret predeceased Nefertari.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 19

that only the sons of the favored Queens were considered eligible to succeed
Ramesses II. Is it mere coincidence that the known Crown Princes of Ramesses
II were only sons of the two most favored wives? Even if this is not the case
and primogeniture was the sole criterion for a surviving son’s eligibility to be
considered heir apparent after the previous holder of that rank had died, not all
sons were of equal status. Given the system of hierarchy within the royal family
and the greater prestige of Nefertari and Isetnofret over Ramesses II’s other early
wives, it comes as no surprise that the children of these women were of higher
status than their other siblings.

The Privileged Status of the Children of Nefertari and Isetnofret

As children of the two most favored Queens and siblings to the two eldest sons
and the firstborn daughter, the younger children of Nefertari and Isetnofret
enjoyed enhanced prestige and higher status in the royal family in comparison
to children born to other wives. Indeed, some of Isetnofret’s children enjoyed a
prominence on royal monuments that she herself did not. The two temples at Abu
Simbel exemplify the superior prestige of the offspring of the two most favored
wives. Although there are twelve representations of Nefertari’s children flanking
the colossal statues of Ramesses II and Nefertari herself on the façade of the
smaller temple at Abu Simbel, only six of her eight offspring are named there,
each one twice: the royal sons Amunhirkhopeshef, Prehirwenemef, Meryre I and
Meryatum and the royal daughters Merytamun and Henuttawy.47
On the façade of the Great Temple at Abu Simbel, there are again twelve
smaller statues of royal women and children by the legs of the four great colossi
of Ramesses (figs. 10–12). Here, the Great Royal Wife Nefertari and the King’s
Mother Mut-Tuya are both represented twice. The remaining eight statues
represent the two eldest sons, Amunhirkhopeshef and Ramesses Junior, and
six daughters: Nebettawy, Merytamun, Bint-Anath, Baketmut, and Nefertari II.
One daughter is now anonymous but may have been Isetnofret II (fig. 10, no.
2).48 Thus eight children of the two most favored wives appear on the façades
of these temples. Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef enjoys the greatest prestige
by appearing once on the façade of the larger temple and twice on the smaller
temple. Likewise, four of Nefertari’s daughters appear on the two façades, with
Merytamun appearing once on the great temple and twice on the smaller temple.
Inside the great temple, two processional lists, abbreviated due to a shortage of
wall space on the east wall of the outer hall, name eight sons and nine daughters.
The first eight sons of the standard lists appear in their usual order, of whom the
47
Christophe 1956, 114–115; KRI II, 766; for images of the sons see Fisher 2001, vol. I, pls. 68–76.
48
Christophe 1956, 110.
20 BRAND, PETER J.

first four are sons of Nefertari and Isetnofret. On the list of daughters inside the
great temple, seven of the nine princesses are the known daughters of the two
favored Queens.49 In sum, the two Abu Simbel temples highlight the privileged
position of the children of the two major wives, with Nefertari’s offspring
enjoying the greatest prominence. Queen Nefertari’s status and prestige as Great
Royal Wife completely eclipses that of her colleague Queen Isetnofret who is
not named on either of the Abu Simbel temples, or indeed, any of Ramesses II’s
royal monuments.
During the first two decades of the reign, the firstborn son Amunhirkhopeshef
ranked well above all his younger brothers by holding the titles “hereditary
prince” (iry-pat) and “king’s first-born son” (sA-nsw smsw) which effectively
marked him out as Crown Prince (fig. 13).50 After Amunhirkhopeshef’s death,
all three succeeding Crown Princes were sons of Isetnofret: Princes Ramesses
Junior,51 Khaemwaset52 and Merenptah.53 It is usually assumed that this is because
they were the eldest surviving sons at each point at which the previous Crown
Prince had died. This is especially true for the eventual successor, Merenptah,
who was himself an old man in his 60s by the time his aged father died. It is
quite possible, however, that one or more elder brothers of Merenptah were still
alive but were considered ineligible because they were not born to Nefertari or
Isetnofret. Admittedly this is speculation since we do not have evidence when
any of those princes may have died, and even our chronology for the careers and
deaths of the first three Crown Princes is unclear.
Further evidence for the special status of the children of Nefertari and Isetnofret
comes from the careers of their daughters. As the first born of all the king’s
daughters, Princess Bint-Anath enjoyed the unique title of “female heiress,” iryt-
pat. Ramesses II also named five of his daughters as royal wives (Hmt-nsw) and/
or great royal wives (Hmt-nsw wrt): Bint-Anath, Merytamun (fig. 15), Nebettawy,
Henuttawy and Henutmire. Except for Henutmire, whose maternal heritage

49
KRI II, 917. Werel and Nedjemmut are also depicted.
50
On the use of iry-pat as a marker of the current heir to the throne during the later New Kingdom,
beginning with Horemheb and Pramessu (the future Ramesses I) during the late Eighteenth Dynasty,
see Murnane 1995, 193. The title is used in an identical fashion to mark the future Ramesses II as his
father Sety I’s heir in reliefs from Sety’s Abydos Temple (iry-pat sA nsw smsw, “hereditary prince and
king’s eldest son”). Although iry-pat sometimes occurs among the titles of Ramesses II’s sons when
they were not the current heir apparent (Fisher 2001, vol. I, 125) it appears prominently in the titles
of known Crown Princes like Amunhirkhopeshef whose titles and name usually begin with iry-pat sA-
nsw smsw (Fisher 2001, vol. I, 62–63).
51
Gomaà 1973, 16; Fisher 2001, vol. I, 76 and 78–79.
52
It is uncertain but likely that Khaemwaset acted as heir for a brief period in the later years of his
father’s reign, but prior to Merenptah. Gomaà 1973, 18–19; Fisher 2001, vol. I, 97–98; Christophe
1951, 335–372; Janssen 1963, 30–36.
53
Christophe 1951, 335–372; Fisher 2001, vol. I, 114–117; Sourouzian 1989; RITANC II, 610.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 21

is unknown, all these women are known to be daughters of either Nefertari or

Isetnofret. Indeed, although entitled as sAt-nsw, “royal daughter,” Henutmire does
not appear in any of the lists of princesses.54 All five received their own tombs
in the Valley of the Queens alongside the tombs of the Queen Mother (mwt-
nsw) Mut-Tuya and Queen (Hmt-nsw wrt) Nefertari (fig. 14).55 In some respects
these women held greater prestige in their lifetimes than Isetnofret, who did not
receive a tomb in the Queen’s Valley. Her burial place remains unknown.56 It
also remains unclear why the remaining daughters of Nefertari (Baketmut and
Nefertari II) and of Isetnofret (Isetnofret II) never became royal wives and did
not receive tombs in the Queen’s Valley, but it is possible that they had died
before their father decided to bestow these honors on their sisters, perhaps after
their mothers were dead.

The Missing Mothers: How Many Wives Did Ramesses II Have

and Who Were the Mothers of Most of His Children?
Precisely when Isetnofret and Nefertari retired from their childbearing years is
unknown. Nefertari is known to have had at least four sons and four daughters,
while Isetnofret had three known sons and three daughters. It remains possible
that both Queens had other children who appear in the processional lists, which
never mention the name of the mothers, but it is unlikely to have been a large

54
Earlier scholars concluded that Henutmire was a daughter of Sety I and his wife Queen Tuya – and
therefore Ramesses II’s sister – based on the fact that she appears on a statue of Tuya made during
Ramesses II’s reign. Henutmire, however, is never attested as having the title “king’s sister,” snt-nsw,
on this or any other monument. See Sourouzian 1983, 365–371; RITANC II, 569–570; Leblanc 1999,
244–256. Given her prominence as a daughter-wife of Ramesses II, her absence from the processional
lists of princesses is difficult to explain.
55
Their tombs in the Queen’s Valley (QV) are as follows: Tuya (QV 80); Nefertari (QV 66); Bint-
Anath (QV 71); Merytamun (QV 68); Nebettawy (QV 60); Henuttawy QV 73); Henutmire (QV 75).
See Leblanc 1989; 1999, passim. For a recent analysis of the decorative program of the tombs of
Ramesside royal women in the Valley of the Queens see McCarthy 2011. See also Leblanc 1986,
203–225 on Henuttawy and Leblanc 1988, 131–146 on Henutmire.
56
An additional Queen’s Valley tomb (QV 74) was prepared for another royal woman by Ramesses
II’s reign but was not used until the Twentieth Dynasty when its decorative program was adapted for
the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses IV, Duatentipet. See McCarthy 2001, chapter 6. H. L. McCarthy
describes it as one of three “prefabricated” royal women’s tombs in the Valley of the Queens prepared
by Ramesses II.
It is highly unlikely that Ramesses II’s wife is to be equated with the burial of a woman named
Isetnofret referred to in a papyrus as being buried in the King’s Valley, O. Cairo Journal d’Entrée
72460: KRI II, 855–856; RITA II, 558; RITANC II, 567–568. The document does not give her the
appropriate title of Hmt-nsw (wrt) that would be expected of a senior royal wife, and the ostraca likely
refer to the daughter of Khaemwaset or Merenptah who may have been buried in King’s Valley tomb 5,
the huge tomb of Ramesses II’s royal children, and perhaps his grandchildren as well. See Dorn and
Polis 2016, 129–162.
22 BRAND, PETER J.

number. In any case, it remains a fact that aside from the 14 known offspring
born to these two favored wives, we simply do not know the maternal heritage
of the vast majority of approximately 48 sons and 53 daughters who can be
confidently identified from the ancient sources. But who were the mothers of the
approximately 87 other known offspring of Ramesses II?
The true total number of Ramesses II’s wives, i.e., women bearing the titles
Great Royal Wife (Hmt-nsw wrt) and/or Royal Wife (Hmt-nsw), remains unknown
and almost certainly unknowable. From surviving sources we can estimate,
however, that he had at least nine, and probably more than a dozen wives. In
addition to the earliest known wives, Nefertari and Isetnofret, we know that the
Pharaoh eventually married four of his senior daughters by these two senior
Queens, and their half-sister Henutmire, as well as two Hittite Princesses, giving
us a total of nine wives attested firmly in Egyptian sources. A diplomatic letter
from the Hittite Queen Pudukhepa addressed to Ramesses II implies that he
had also married at least one Babylonian Princess and possibly others from the
kingdoms of Assyria, Zublai and Hanigalbat.57 These diplomatic sources might
increase the number of potential wives to as many as 13, or even more.58
It is not enough, however, to divide the 101 known royal children by the
roughly 10 attested wives and thereby arrive at a satisfactory explanation of
the maternal descent of most of Ramesses II’s offspring. Although the Abydos
Dedicatory Inscription informs us that the king already had multiple wives while
he was still Crown Prince under Sety I, all of these women remain anonymous
except for Nefertari and Isetnofret. There must have been several other early
wives whose names are now lost to us. Seven of Ramesses’ known wives are
not securely attested in this role until after the first two decades of the reign

57
Edel 1994, vol. I, no. 105. Pudukhepa recalls that Babylonian diplomats, sent to visit a Babylonian
Princess in Egypt, were not permitted to see her. This makes it almost certain that Ramesses had
married at least one Babylonian princess during his long reign. By comparison, Amenhotep III
married two. Pudukhepa also says of her own daughter: “shall I compare her to the daughter of
Babylonia, of Zublai or of Assyria?” If this statement is not merely rhetorical, it might hint at further
diplomatic marriages by Ramesses II.
In another letter addressed by Ramesses II to the Hittite king Hattusils III, the Pharaoh informs his
counterpart that the kings of Babylonia and Hanigalbat had also offered their daughters as potential
brides. Edel 1994, vol. I, no. 37.
58
It is entirely possible, even likely, that Ramesses II married multiple foreign women, especially
the daughters of other Great Kings (see previous note). Of these, only the first Hittite bride, renamed
Maahorneferure in Egyptian fashion and given exceptional status as a Great Royal Wife, is attested
on Egyptian monuments. For the First Hittite Marriage Stela, see: KRI II, 233–257; RITA II, 86–99;
RITANC II, 146–159. On Maahorneferure as Ramesses II’s Great Royal Wife in Egypt see KRI II,
857; RITA II, 559; RITANC II, 570–571; Fisher 2013, 75–119. While Ramesses eventually married a
second Hittite Princess and commemorated the fact on royal stelae, she remains anonymous. KRI II,
282–284; RITA II, 110–112; RITANC II, 163–165.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 23

had elapsed, and therefore they cannot have been the mothers of the majority
of his children. His five daughter-wives may not have achieved this status until
sometime between year 21 and 30, once the Great Royal Wife Nefertari had died
during this interval.59 It is unknown how long into the reign the second Great
Royal Wife Isetnofret lived, but she was probably dead by the king’s year 30 as
well. We do not know if Ramesses II’s marriages to five of his daughters led to
any children.60 The earliest datable attestations of the daughter-wives come no
earlier than his fourth decade of rule, when he celebrated his second Sed-Festival
in regnal year 34.61 Queen Maahorneferure, the first of his two Hittite Princess-
brides, arrived in the king’s 34th regnal year, the second at some unknown point
after that, perhaps during the 40s of the reign.62 We have no clear evidence as to
when, or even if, Ramesses II may have married a Babylonian princess or any
other foreign wives. Nor can we name any children who may have been born to
any such foreign wives.

Dating the Processional Lists of Ramesses II’s Sons

The 25 eldest royal sons of Ramesses II are represented at least once in what
Kitchen calls the “standard lists.”63 These occur in temple reliefs carved prior to
his 21st regnal year from his monuments at Luxor Temple,64 the Ramesseum65
and in an abbreviated format at Abu Simbel.66 Reused blocks found in the
Ptolemaic additions to the small temple at Medinet Habu almost certainly come
from the Ramesseum.67 They contain the names of six additional sons and it
seems likely that the Ramesseum once contained even more Princes’ names.68
The date of the lists in Sety I’s Abydos temple is less certain and these tallies

59
Nefertari is named in the diplomatic correspondence exchanged between the Egyptian and Hittite
royal courts at the time the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty was concluded in Rameses II’s year 21. Edel
1994, vol. I, nos. 12–13. It is likely she died within a few years of this event and almost certainly
before the king’s first Sed-Festival in year 30. Leblanc 1999, 88–90; Schmidt and Willeitner 1994,
48–50.
60
See note 42.
61
See note 31.
62
RITANC II, 164, §258.
63
See RITA II, 560; RITANC II, 572–573.
64
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 38–40 and pls. 42–58.
65
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 34–36 and pls. 28–38.
66
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 33 and pls. 1–2.
67
For a discussion with references see Fisher 2001, vol. I, 36–38 and pls. 39–42. I am less convinced
by her argument (following Leblanc and Fekri 1990, 91–108) that the Medinet Habu blocks must
have come from the small temple dedicated to Nefertari and the Queen Mother Mut-Tuya instead of
the main Ramesseum temple.
68
RITA II, 563, §324; RITANC II, 574–575, §324; Fisher 2001, vol. I, 36 and pls. 39–42.
24 BRAND, PETER J.

vary from the standard lists, but they are likely to be after year 21.69 Two other
temple lists from Derr70 and Wadi es-Sebua71 can also be dated to well after the
king’s 21st regnal year when his nomen had changed from Ra-ms-s to Ra-ms-sw
in monuments from Upper Egypt and Nubia. Derr was a considerably smaller
monument and there was only enough wall space to represent eight princes in an
abbreviated processional list in its outer pillared hall.72 Wadi es-Sebua appears to
have been completed sometime well after the second Sed-Festival in year 34, no
earlier than year 44.73 Here, along the north and south walls of the inner court, we
find two badly damaged processional lists that name 30 of Ramesses II’s royal
sons and 29 royal daughters.74 It is clear that these later lists include names of
royal sons and daughters who had certainly died prior to their creation.75
In general, Ramesses II’s younger children are less well known to us than their
older siblings. For many, we only know their gender and names. Indeed, Fisher
doubts that many of them are even Ramesses own offspring, suggesting they
might be grandchildren.76 This seems unlikely, however, since we know of a few
of Ramesses II’s grandchildren who are named on the private monuments of their
princely fathers or administrative sources. These individuals, like the children of
Prince Khaemwaset, however, never turn up in the monumental lists even if some
of them may have honorifically held the title of “king’s son/daughter.”77 Nor

69
The order of some of the names is at variance with the standard lists and includes additional names
not attested in them. Fisher also notes that there are significant iconographic variations from other
processional lists, all suggesting that the Abydos lists are generally later in the reign, probably after
year 21 and perhaps as late as the 40s of the reign. RITA II, 562, §322; RITANC II, 573–574, §322;
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 40–41 and pls. 58–63.
70
The decoration in the temple dates to between year 21 and 33, based on the form of Ramesses II’s
royal names and titles. RITANC II, 474. See also Spalinger 1980, 97.
71
The temple at Wadi es-Sebua was constructed and decorated between regnal year 44 and 56. Its
construction was supervised by Setau who served as Viceroy of Nubia during this period. RITANC II,
469.
72
Amunhirkhopeshef, Ramesses, Prehirwenemef, Khaemwaset, Monthuhirkhopeshef, Nebenkharu,
Meryamun, and Amunemwia. Fisher 2001, vol. I, 33 and pls. 3–5.
73
Hein 1991, 112; RITANC II, 469.
74
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 33–34 and pls. 5–28.
75
Certainly in the case of Wadi es-Sebua and possibly Derr as well, the king’s fist born son
Amunhirkhopeshef had died before the temple lists there were carved. Likewise, Prince Meryre I
probably died before his like-named younger brother Meryre II was born. Given the high rates of
infant and child mortality as well as the fact that life expectancy in the ancient world was much
shorter, it is likely that by the late 30s of his reign, more than several of Ramesses II’s sons and
daughters had died.
76
Fisher 2001, vol. I, 41 and 119. She never offers clear evidence or an argument for this claim, and
one suspects she is simply skeptical that one man could have fathered so many children even though
she states(ibid., 12), that taking into account high child mortality rates in antiquity, “the total number
of his offspring could be 200.”
77
Prince Khaemwaset had at least three children, who sometimes bear the title of royal son or royal
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 25

do the monumental lists comprise all of the king’s known offspring. O. Louvre
666 lists 15 princesses that are unknown elsewhere.78 Several of the last names
on Kitchen’s tally of 50 sons are not attested in any of the temple lists. At least
three are highly dubious. Sethhirkhopeshef, as Kitchen himself admits, is almost
certainly an alias for the eldest son Amunhirkhopeshef.79 More of a puzzle is
Prince “Usermaatre,” but this may also be an early alias for Amunhirkhopeshef.80

daughter, but who are absent from the monumental lists. On a granite statue of Khaemwaset (Vienna
5768), his son Ramesses holds the title of sA-nsw (KRI II, 883; RITANC II, 592) where the younger
man is obviously a grandson of the Pharaoh. By contrast, Khaemwaset’s son Hori, also a High Priest
of Ptah, does not hold the title sA-nsw on the only known reference to him, a pillar fragment from
Saqqara (Cairo Journal d’Entrée 43271: Porter-Moss III.22, 703; KRI III, 414–415; RITANC III,
312). Khaemwaset’s daughter Isetnofret is simply titled sAt=f n Xt=f mr=f Ist-nfrt, “his bodily son, his
beloved, Isetnofret” (KRI II, 887.13–15; RITANC II, 593–594).
In the burial shaft of a tomb chapel recently discovered by Japanese archaeologists at Saqqara, a
sarcophagus of this woman identifies her as Spst Ist-nfrt, “the noble woman Isetnofret.” See Kawai
2010, 1–30; Kawai and Yoshimura 2010, 11–14; http://www.egyptpro.sci.waseda.ac.jp/e-abusir.html
(18.06.2016).
Another woman named Isetnofret was the daughter of Prince Merenptah, Ramesses II’s 13th son and
eventual successor. She is referred to two or three times in P. Leiden I, 350 verso. In the first entry
she is entitled Spst Ist-nfrt sAt Mr-n-PtH, “the noble woman Isetnofret, daughter of Merenptah” (KRI
II, 807.13). In a second entry the title Spst is used but the name was left blank and no reference to
her father is given (KRI II, 809.1). A third entry refers to deliveries to sAt-nsw Ist-nfrt, “the king’s
daughter Isetnofret” (KRI II, 812.10). These daughters of Princes Khaemwaset and Merenptah
were named after their paternal grandmother Queen Isetnofret and neither should be confused
with Princess Isetnofret II, the sister of the two Princes, who was their aunt. Dorn and Polis (2016,
149–150) identify the Isetnofret named in the recently discovered Saqqara tomb as the daughter of
Merenptah instead of Khaemwaset. They suspect that O. Cairo 72460 refers to the burial of one of
these granddaughters of Ramesses II and not his wife or daughter.
78
KRI II, 922–923; RITA II, 603; RITANC II, 623.
79
For discussions see RITANC II, 577, §1051; Fisher 2001, vol. I, 57–62
80
Cairo CG 42140. Legrain 1906–1925, vol. II, 4–6, pl. 2. This once beautiful but now headless
schist statue of Ramesses II depicts him seated on a throne. The image and titles of Queen Nefertari,
now damaged, were inscribed on the right side of the throne (KRI II, 586.12–14). On the left side
panel is a fan holding a flabellum who bears the titles “hereditary prince, fan bearer on the king’s
right side, true royal scribe, his beloved, divine seed who issues forth from the victorious bull, king’s
son of his body, his beloved, great general of the army, Usermaatre, justified” (KRI II, 586.15–16).
The final column of the text containing the phrase imy-r mSa wr Wsr-MAat-Ra mAa-xrw, contains a
number of paleographic peculiarities. As Legrain first noted, the hieroglyphs are more crudely shaped
and incised compared to the preceding columns of texts and the other inscriptions on the statue. It
seems likely that they were added by a different hand, probably at a later time. How long afterwards
is another question. It need not have been long afterwards. There is also a blank space to the right of
this column of texts that could have also been inscribed but was left completely blank. By contrast,
the names and epithets of Queen Nefertari occupy all the available space on the other side panel.
The fact that the name given is Usermaatre, written without a cartouche, indicates clearly that the
text refers to the prince and not, somehow, to Ramesses II himself. No other inscription naming
any Prince “Usermaatre” is known to us. CG 42140 was certainly created during Ramesses II’s first
regnal year as the shorter form of his prenomen cartouche written Usermaatre without the epithet
Setepenre proves. This is just one of several statues dating to the very beginning of the reign (KRI
26 BRAND, PETER J.

A phantom is “Ramesses-Sethhirwenemef” who appears only in Kitchen’s

“synoptic list” but he cites no actual inscriptions for such an individual. 81
Attestations of other, more credible individuals documented in scattered sources
include Ramesses-Paiotnuter,82 Ramesses-Maatptah,83 Ramesses-Nebweben,84
and Ramesses-Userpehty.85

Naming Patterns among Royal Sons

One can find an evolutionary pattern in the names of Ramesses II’s sons. Starting
with Prince Ramesses-Merenre, the 21st prince in the processional lists, and
occurring with increasing frequency beginning with the 33rd son Ramesses-
Userkhepesh, nine of the younger sons have names formed on the pattern
Ramesses + epithet.86 Indeed, the increasing tendency to give Ramesside princes

II, 586–587.1–4; RITANC II, 399). CG 42140 is also one of a number of royal statues from the early
years of Ramesses II that depict the first Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef.
From all this we may conclude that for some reason the work of inscribing the Prince’s names and
titles on the statue was interrupted or left incomplete before the first sculptor had carved his name.
When the work stopped, there was room for two additional columns of texts while all other texts
on the statues various surfaces were complete. Later, a sculptor did a crude job of adding the final
column of text. The sculptor may have been a less talented individual, but why should an amateur
been given the job? It is more likely the sculptor was well trained but working quickly, perhaps on a
short time deadline. It may have been none other than the same master craftsman who had completed
the rest of the statue.
But why was this unique alias “Usermaatre” inscribed for a Prince who can be none other than
Amunhirkhopeshef, the king’s eldest son and designated heir? One possibility is that Ramesses II
in the first year of his reign was experimenting with variations for the name of his eldest son just as
he was doing with the hieroglyphic spellings of his own cartouche names at this time. During the
Eighteenth Dynasty, both Thutmose III and Amenhotep II gave one of their sons a name based on his
royal prenomen. Dodson 1990, 76 and 92, n. 9, and 94, n. 16. CG 42140 may have been the result of
a brief trial in which Amunhirkhopeshef, as the Crown Prince, was given a name that more explicitly
connected with his father’s kingship. It is noteworthy in this regard that the Prince had two other
aliases, Amunhirwenemef and Sethhirkhopeshef. See Fisher 2001, vol. I, 57–62.
81
KRI II, 860.5; RITA II, 560, no. 48. At KRI II, 914, sources for Kitchen’s Prince no. 47 Ramesses-
Userpehty are directly followed by those for his Prince no. 49, Sethhirkhopeshef. See previous note.
82
Ostraca Cairo Journal d’Entrée 72503; KRI II, 868; RITA II, 563; RITANC II, 575.
83
P. Leiden I, 366–367; KRI II, 910–911; RITA II, 594–595; RITANC II, 615.
84
An anthropoid sarcophagus found at Medinet Habu was originally made for the Vizier Pramessu
but he discarded it upon becoming Ramesses I. Another sarcophagus of the Vizier Pramessu was
found at Gurob. Both were reinscribed for Pramessu’s great grandson Prince Ramesses-Nebweben.
He is also attested from an alabaster fragment from Gurob and a bronze statue of Amun. KRI II,
912–914; RITANC II, 615–616; Polz 1986, 145–166.
85
Attested from a column base inscription and a steatite plaque. KRI II, 914; RITANC II, 616–617;
Fisher 2001, vol. II, catalog nos. 49.1–49.2.
86
The reliable individuals with names compounded with that of their father Ramesses are: R-Merenre
(no. 21); R-Userkhepesh (no. 33); R-Merysutekh (no. 34); R-Sikhepri (no. 35); R-Merymaat (no.
36); [R]-Meryastarte (no. 37); R-Paiotnuter (no. 44); R-Nebweben (no. 46) and R-Userpehty (no.
47). Highly doubtful is a certain Prince R-Siptah attested from objects now in the Louvre in Paris
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 27

names compounded with the prefix “Ramesses” led ultimately to no less than
nine kings of that name during the Twentieth Dynasty. Under Ramesses II, the
practice was still something of a novelty.
Such princely “loyalist” names may have served to make the individual son
a living subset of the Pharaoh’s royal identity just as he was genetically a part
of the king’s physical being: a “royal son of his body,” sA nsw n xt=f. This
ideological criterion for princes’ names is not entirely new. During the Eighteenth
Dynasty, and in addition to all the princes with names like Ahmose, Amenhotep
and Thutmose, we find sons named after their father’s prenomen like Thutmose
III’s son Menkheperre and and Amenhotep II’s son Aakheperure.87 The sheer
paucity of surviving evidence for Eighteenth Dynasty sons makes it hard to
compare. But here as with other components of Ramesses II’s kingship practices,
his innovations were not so much ones of form as matters of scope and intensity.

Conclusions: Hierarchy and Status in the Royal Family of Ramesses II

It is clear from the Abydos Dedicatory Inscription that Ramesses II already had
several wives while he was still Crown Prince during the reign of his father
Sety I. His earliest children were born before Sety had died. Most of his early
wives are now anonymous to us. Two among them, Nefertari and Isetnofret,
gained the highest status and prestige because they gave birth to Crown Prince
Ramesses’ first two sons. As the mother of the future king’s first viable son
Amunhirkhopeshef, Nefertari became Great Royal Wife and his most favored
spouse upon Ramesses II’s accession and eclipsed all other wives until her
death around Ramesses II’s 24th regnal year. Nefertari’s paramount status and
prestige among the Pharaoh’s wives is exemplified by her prominence on royal
monuments which culminated in the king’s dedication of the temple of Hathor
at Abu Simbel to her honor. She also received numerous titles that signaled her
privileged status.88 By contrast, the complete absence of other wives on royal
monuments during Ramesses II’s first two decades, which included the second
ranked consort Isetnofret, further demonstrate Nefertari’s dominant status in the
status hierarchy of royal spouses. Nefertari’s overwhelming prestige, with wrt
Hsw, “great of favor” being one of her more common titles, is directly linked
to the corresponding lack of prominence of all other royal wives for as long as

(KRI II, 907–909; RITANC II, 613–614). His mother was a royal wife named Suterery and his father
one of the late Nineteenth Dynasty successors of Merenptah. See Vandier 1971, 165–191. M. Fisher
(2001, vol. I, 118–119) is rightly skeptical of claims of other scholars that Ramesses-Siptah is a son
of Ramesses II. I am less convinced of her conclusion that Prince Siptah (no. 26) attested from the
Abydos processional list is also not a son of Ramesses but, she claims, a grandson.
87
See Dodson 1990.
88
For a list of these titles and epithets see Manouvrier 1996, vol. I, 44.
28 BRAND, PETER J.

Nefertari remained alive. While Kitchen and others speculate that the two Queens
were rivals, there is no direct evidence for this.89
Isetnofret herself may not have possessed the title of Great Royal Wife until
after the death of her colleague Nefertari. Indeed, she may have only received
this honor posthumously if, as seems likely, she died before Nefertari. Isetnofret
is best known from monuments created by her children, especially the king’s
fourth son Khaemwaset. These monuments do not appear until the king’s first
Sed-Festival in regnal year 30 and later, at a time when Isetnofret herself was
likely deceased. Isetnofret’s inferior status is further reflected by the fact that she
did not receive a tomb in the Valley of the Queens and her burial place remains
unknown. Over the course of his 67-year reign, Ramesses II had at least nine
wives. Diplomatic sources hint at additional foreign brides. To this number must
be added several anonymous early wives who gave birth to the majority of his
children. The total number of wives could have easily surpassed 20.
Ramesses sired at least 48 sons and 53 daughters who can be securely
identified from the ancient sources. Many of them are attested only in the
monumental processional lists of royal sons and daughters that appear on temples
in Thebes, Abydos and Nubia. Later monumental lists, like those form Wadi es-
Sebua, named sons and daughters even if they had previously died, such as the
Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef and Prince Meryre I. Beyond the temple lists
and administrative sources like O. Louvre 666 and O. Cairo Journal d’Entrée
72503, it is possible, even likely, that other children were sired by Ramesses
besides those attested in surviving sources. Some of these will have been failed
pregnancies and cases of infant mortality. However, it is quite possible that
further sons and daughters were born in the third decade of his reign or later and
simply could not fit in the monumental lists due to limitations of wall space.
Royal sons usually appear to have been listed strictly by the order of their birth,
regardless of the status of the mother. The only exceptions may be the third son
Prehirwenemef and the fourth son Khaemwaset who were probably named before
one or more of their older brothers born to lower ranked mothers. In this way,
the third and fourth sons benefited from the prestige of their older brothers, the
first born son Amunhirkhopeshef and the second born Ramesses Junior, and that
of their mothers Nefertari and Isetnofret. Because they had no place in the royal
succession, Ramesses II’s daughters were not listed by their birth order. Only the
eldest princes Bint-Anath is consistently placed at the head of all the temple lists
of his daughters. The positions of her younger sisters varies from list to list. In
89
So Kitchen 1982, 98. In any case, Nefertari held the decisive advantage in any such rivalry.
Janssen’s view (1966, 30–36), that this rivalry led Isetnofret’s son Merenptah to take revenge on the
long dead Nefertari by defacing her image on two statues of the king late in Ramesses II’s reign is
highly doubtful.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 29

most cases, however, the daughters of Nefertari and Isetnofret are placed among
the first ten names on a given list. Thus the prestige of their mothers seems to
have been the deciding principle in the organization of the lists of daughters, with
those of the two most favored wives coming before most of their half-sisters.
The privileged status of the children of Nefertari and Isetnofret over other sons
and daughters born to lower status wives is reflected by their prominence on royal
monuments like the two temples at Abu Simbel. After Nefertari and Isetnofret
had died, Ramesses took two daughters of each favored wife as daughter-wives
along with a fifth daughter Henutmire whose mother remains unknown to us.
All five daughter-wives received tombs in the Valley of the Queens along with
the Queen Mother Mut-Tuya and the Great Royal Wife Nefertari. It is also
noteworthy that of the four sons who served as Crown Prince, all were born to
Nefertari or Isetnofret. In sum, all of these sources clearly indicate that the two
senior wives and their offspring enjoyed greater status and prestige in the royal
family than the now anonymous other wives and their numerous lower-ranked
offspring.90 The most significant exceptions to this pattern were the two Hittite
wives of Ramesses II, especially the first whom he married in his 34th regnal
year when she was given the Egyptian name Maahorneferure. The second Hittite
bride is now anonymous. The king may have married other daughters of foreign
kings including a Babylonian princess, but they too, if they existed, are only
hinted at in the diplomatic correspondence between the Egyptian and Hittite
courts.
As befits a traditional, monarchical society, there was a clear pattern of status
hierarchy among members of the royal family of Ramesses II. Enhanced prestige
was enjoyed by the highest ranking wives and children. Central to this hierarchy
was probably the simple fact that the most favored royal wife Nefertari and the
second ranked wife Isetnofret owed their superior positions to the fact that they
gave Ramesses his two first viable male offspring. Nefertari seems to have won a
kind of “baby race” among several wives Sety I gave to Crown Prince Ramesses.
But this was enough to guarantee her supreme status among all contemporary
wives once Ramesses became king.
After reconstructing the vast royal family of Ramesses II and demonstrating
90
Aside from the tombs of the five daughter-wives in the Valley of the Queens, the burial places
of the remaining daughters are not known. It may be that the famous King’s Valley tomb no. 5 was
the final resting place of most of Ramesses II’s sons and also of his daughters. In the record of the
tomb robberies in the Valley of the Kings during the late Twentieth Dynasty, KV 5 is referred to
as the “tomb of the royal children,” pA is n nA msw-nsw, of Ramesses II. The term msw-nsw can
indicate children of both genders (P. Turin 1880 recto 4, 13). The few poorly preserved traces of wall
decoration that survive in the first two chambers of the tomb once again attest to the higher status of
the sons of Nefertari and Isetnofret, with Princes Amunhirkhopeshef and Ramesses Junior appearing
prominently.
30 BRAND, PETER J.

its hierarchical structure and the favored status and prestige of an elite core, we
return to the question of the uniqueness of his family and the ideological reasons
he chose to feature them so prominently on his monuments. The unparalleled
visibility of the royal family on Ramesses II’s monuments makes it difficult to
compare him with his royal ancestors and descendants, who did not display so
many of their wives and children so prominently or abundantly. Was Ramesses
II unique in having such a large royal family or, rather, was he exceptional in
naming them on his monuments? The answer could be either, or both. Even
among his successors, only Ramesses III and the High Priest of Amun and
“king” of Upper Egypt, Herihor, chose to replicate his presentation of royal
children in processional lists, and these were much fewer in number than those
of Ramesses II. We are likewise in the dark in trying to assess how typical or
unusual Ramesses was in terms of the number of wives he had compared to his
predecessors. Amenhotep III is the best standard of comparison. Like Ramesses
II, Amenhotep had a highly prominent Great Royal Wife, Queen Tiy, and at
least two high ranking foreign wives, the Mitannian princesses Gilukhepa and
Tadukhepa. He also took at least two of his daughters, Sitamun and Iset, as royal
wives.
Among Ramesses II’s innovations was his construction of elaborately
decorated tombs for members of the royal family. During the Eighteenth
Dynasty, royal wives and children often had to make do with burial in an
anonymous undecorated tomb shaft or at best internment within the king’s own
tomb. Ramesses II, however, prepared splendid tombs for several of his highest
ranking royal women in the Valley of the Queens and a vast family mausoleum,
the gargantuan King’s Valley Tomb number 5. In addition to housing most of
the king’s sons after death, KV 5 probably also served as the final resting place
of many of his daughters and even his grandchildren. The issue of hierarchy and
privilege in the royal family asserts itself in the identity of the tomb owners in
the Queen’s Valley and in what little remains of the wall decoration of KV 5.
The Queen Mother Mut-Tuya and Nefertari, along with the five daughter-wives,
each received a tomb. Four of the latter were the most favored daughters of the
correspondingly favored wives, Nefertari and Isetnofret. The absence of a tomb
for Isetnofret suggests that she died and was buried elsewhere prior to Nefertari’s
death. The only anomaly is the daughter-wife Henutmire whose mother is
unknown and who does not even appear in the processional temple lists of
princesses. The prestige of the two eldest royal sons is evident in their exclusive
presence in the surviving wall decoration in the two outermost chambers of KV
5. Ultimately, the paramount station in the royal family’s often rigid hierarchy
was the Pharaoh himself. All members of the family, even the Great Royal Wives
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 31

and Crown Prince, were merely supporting players in a royal spectacles in which
Ramesses II was the undisputed star. As such, the ideological role of the many
members of the royal family was to serve as mirrors reflecting and magnifying
his own brilliant glory.

Figures

Figure 1: The two “family stelae” of Prince Khaemwaset from Aswan (right) and
Gebel es-Silsila (left). Both stelae represent his mother Isetnofret, his elder sister
Bint-Anath, and his brothers Ramesses Junior and Merenptah.
32 BRAND, PETER J.

Figure 2: Ramesses II’s two eldest sons Amunhirkhopeshef (left) and Ramesses
Junior (right) from a processional list on the south wall of the Ramesside court at
Luxor Temple.

Figure 3: Processional list from the south wall of the Ramesside court at
Luxor Temple showing the third through the sixth eldest sons of Ramesses II.
Appearing from left to right are: Prehirwenemef (no. 3); Khaemwaset (no. 4);
Monthuhirwenemef (no. 5); and Nebenkharu (no. 6).
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 33

Figure 4: One of Ramesses II’s daughters from a monumental list in the temple
of Sety I at Abydos.

Figure 5: Detail of figure 4.

34 BRAND, PETER J.

Figure 6: Relief showing Bint-Anath offering flowers to Anuket in the larger Abu
Simbel temple of Ramesses II. She holds the titles “King’s Daughter” and “King’s
Wife.”

Figure 7: Scene from Queen’s Valley 71, the tomb of Bint-Anath. Behind her
stands an anonymous “King’s daughter, of his body.” It is unknown if this
princess is a daughter of Bint-Anath or simply her sister.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 35

Figure 8: Statue of Nefertari from a colossal statue of Ramesses II in the

Ramesside Court of Luxor Temple.
36 BRAND, PETER J.

Figure 9: Relief from the south face of the pylon of the Ramesside court at Luxor
temple showing Nefertari playing the sistrum behind her husband Ramesses II.

Figure 10: Diagram showing the members of Ramesses II’s family represented as
statues by the legs of the four royal colossi on the façade of the Great Temple at Abu
Simbel. Only the higher status members of the family appear.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 37

Figure 11: Statues of royal family members between the legs of royal colossi in
the Great Temple of Abu Simbel. From left to right are: an anonymous princess,
possibly Isetnofret II; Princess Bint-Anath; the King’s Mother Mut-Tuya; and
Crown Prince Amunhirkhopeshef.

Figure 12: Queen Nefertari flanking one of the colossi of her husband Ramesses
II on the façade of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel.
38 BRAND, PETER J.

Figure 13: A relief of Ramesses II from the “Corridor of the Bull” in the temple
of Sety I at Abydos. The king is accompanied by his eldest son and Crown Prince
Amunhirkhopeshef as the present and offering of ducks.

Figure 14: Plan of the tombs of Ramesses II’s royal women in the Queen’s Valley
in western Thebes. Along with the King’s Mother Mut-Tuya and the Great Royal
Wife Nefertari, the five highest ranking daughter-wives received tombs here,
while Queen Isetnofret did not. QV 74 was not used for any of Ramesses II’s
women but later served as the burial of the Twentieth Dynasty queen Duatenipet.
 RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II 39

Figure 15: A colossal limestone statue of Princess Merytamun in the temple of

Min at Akhmim. She appears as a Great Royal wife of her father Ramesses II.

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 ABSTRACTS

Changyu LIU (Institute of East China Sea Rim and Borderland, Department of
History, College of Humanities, Zhejiang Normal University)
ABA-SAGA’S ACTIVITIES DURING THE REIGN OF ŠULGI IN THE
UR III DYNASTY (pp. 1–6)

Aba-saga (Ab-ba-sa 6 -ga) was a significant official in the Puzriš-Dagan

organization during the Third Dynasty of Ur. Although his main administrative
practices date to the reign of Amar-Suen, Aba-saga is also attested in texts dating
to the reign of Šulgi. As his father Nasa’s auxiliary, Aba-saga played an important
role in the Puzriš-Dagan organization during Šulgi’s second half of regnal years.

Peter J. BRAND (University of Memphis)

RECONSTRUCTING THE ROYAL FAMILY OF RAMESSES II AND ITS
HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE (pp. 7–44)

A systematic examination of Ramesses II’s large family of over 100 children

and at least a dozen wives reveals that the Great Royal Wives Nefertari and
Isetnofret, along with their children, enjoyed a privileged status within the
hierarchical structure of the royal family. Nefertari owed her supreme status to
being mother of Ramessse II’s first born son Amunhirkhopeshef, while Ramesses
II was still crown prince under Sety I. Isetnofret’s sons and daughters were
also favored because she gave birth to the second born son Prince Ramesses Jr.
Isetnofret herself did not enjoy prominence on the monuments until after the
death of Nefertari, nor was she buried in the Valley of the Queens. The remaining
offspring of these wives also benefited from the prestige of their mothers and
eldest brothers. Other early wives gave birth to the majority of Ramesses II’s
children, but these women are now completely anonymous. Other attested wives
of the king include his five daughter-wives and two Hittite Princess-brides. No
other Egyptian wives are known for Ramesses II. Monumental sources that
privilege Queen Nefertari, and the children of both Nefertari and Isetnofret,
reveal a hierarchical structure of the royal family.

123 JAC 31 (2016)

124 ABSTRACTS

Mengzhen YUE (University College Dublin)

NAMING THE GREEKS IN THE ARCHAIC PERIOD: “PANHELLENES,”
“HELLENES,” “HELLAS” AND THE NOTION OF PANHELLENISM (pp. 45–84)

The labels “Hellenes” and “Hellas” are often considered to be collective names
for the Greeks and have a close connection with the term “Panhellenes.” This
article studies the process of naming the Greeks in the Archaic period and the
relationship between these collective names and the notion of Panhellenism. By
a literary and etymological examination of the relevant sources, it suggests that
the designation “Hellenes” probably did not evolve from that of “Panhellenes”
and that the terms “Hellenes” and “Hellas,” but not “Panhellenes,” probably have
generic significance in the sixth century. Furthermore, with the Olympic Games
and the Hellenion, a Greek sanctuary in Naucratis, as two study cases, the article
shows the complexity of the development of Greek identification. On the one
hand, collective names like “Hellenes” and “Hellas” have a centripetal force on
trans-regional occasions, and on the other, those events also feature competition,
privilege and express civic identities of both individual and community, which
seems to be divisive.

Alexa KÜTER (Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)

IMITATIO ALEXANDRI – THE IMAGE OF DRUSUS MINOR ON BRASS
TOKENS OF THE MÜNZKABINETT, STAATLICHE MUSEEN ZU BERLIN
(pp. 85–122)

Within the group of Roman brass tokens with numerals on the reverse, one type
depicting a youthful commander on the obverse stands out. Obviously, it depicts
a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The young male is seen from the back,
holding a spear. The paper not only discusses this peculiar iconography but also
tries to give a new identification: while the commander is usually identified with
Tiberius or Germanicus, there are strong reasons to connect the portrait to Drusus
minor.