The Regnant Queens Of Egypt

Queen Nefertari with Horus, the Falcon head God (painting at Nefertari's tomb in Luxor)

Nefertari - The Deified Queen from the 19th Dynasty (13th century BC):

I visited Nefertari's gorgeous tomb in Luxor's Valley of Queens last January during my seven-day trip to Egypt. The entry fee was pretty steep and only a limited number are allowed entry per day. The tomb's exquisiteness is evidence that Nefertari. was no ordinary queen. Initially, I thought Nefertari was Nefertiti but the guide cleared my doubts regarding the same. Nefertari was the beautiful wife of Pharoah Ramesses II. In fact, her name means 'beautiful companion'. She was considered one of the most powerful royal wives who was highly educated, for those times. Ramesses II bestowed upon her one of the highest honors ever received by any Royal Consort. He built her a temple alongside the Sun Goddess, Hathor in Aswan, known as the temples of Abu Simbel today. 

Temple of Hathor and Nefertari at Abu Simbel. The entrance facade has colossal statues of Ramesses II and his deified Queen Nefertari

The temple of Abu Simbel was originally built on the second cataract of the Nile in Aswan which currently is submerged under Lake Nasser after the Aswan High Dam was built. To conserve the temple, it was relocated to another site on the western bank of Lake Nasser, now called Abu Simbel. 

The original Abu Simbel temples were relocated from Aswan to Abu Simbel

Interesting Fact: The name Abu Simbel was actually the name of a Nubian Boy who showed the mound under which the temple was buried to Swiss explorer Burckhardt. Burckhardt, however, was not successful in excavating the temple. It was Italian archaeologist and the pioneer of Egyptology, G. Belzoni who later excavated it. The site was named after the boy who discovered the site.

Nefertiti - The Reformer Queen from the 18th Dynasty (1351-1336 BC):

The famous limestone bust of Nefertiti, currently displayed in Berlin Museum

Nefertiti was the wife of Pharoah Akhenaten. Her name meant "The beautiful one has come". Some say she ruled for a few years after the Pharoah's death before Tutankhamun took over the reign of Egypt. She is known for religious reforms in Egypt. Akhenaten and Nefertiti introduced monotheism in the earlier polytheist Egypt. They established The Sun, Aten, as their sole GOD. Some studies suggest she may have been Akhenaten's blood sister. Some researchers suggest she may have been the mother of Tutankhamun. However, the recent, discovery of a mummy in KV35 whose DNA matches that of Tutankhamun and Amenhotep III negates the former theories.

Hatshepsut - The Pharoah Queen from the 18th Dynasty (1479 - 1458 BC)

Hatshepsut is the only queen whose tomb is in the Valley of the Kings. She was considered the most powerful female Pharoah however, chronologically, she was the second female Pharoah after Queen Sobekneferu (12th Dynasty) or perhaps the third considering Queen Merneith (First Dynasty) may have been a Pharoah as well.  She was the consort of her half-brother Thutmosis II and daughter of Thutmose I. She became a regent to the two-year stepson Thutmose III post the death of her spouse. Eventually, after a few years, she established herself as the Pharoah in her own right and even assumed the dress code and traits of male Pharoahs. She changed her name to Maatkare (Maat - Truth, Ka - Soul, Re - Sun God) to affirm, that she like any other Pharoah could communicate directly with God. While her original tomb was destroyed several times and her mummy relocated by her predecessors, her grand mortuary temple at the Valley of Kings proclaims her power and position. She and her achievements were almost erased from the history of Egypt by her predecessors considering her reign was one of the most prosperous and attributing success to a woman ruler was not acceptable to some of them for political reasons. Ironically, she trained her predecessor Thutmose III to become a skilled warrior, a scribe, and a priest as expected of a thoroughbred Pharaoh. He in turn ensured her name was obliterated for reasons still unexplained. Yet after all, the attempts to wipe out the existence of this great woman, she stands today as perhaps the most progressive Pharoah Queen of Egypt, and as her befitting name, Hatshepsut means 'The foremost of nobel women' who expanded trade relations to as far as Punt, led many infrastructure projects, and patronaged many great temples and buildings like the Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, Deir El Bahari, and many others.

Deir El Bahari - The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Luxor

Merneith, The first Regent Queen from the First Dynasty (31st Century BC)

Bust of Merneith. Photograph source: National Geographic website

Merneith whose name means 'The beloved of Neith (the Ancient Egyptian goddess of home and feminity)' was the consort of Pharoah Djet and mother of Pharoah Den. She reigned as the Regent when Djet died and her son Den was too young to take over the responsibilities of a Pharoah. Some historians debate She may have established herself as a Pharoah in her own right and thus may have been the First Pharoah Queen of Egypt. Some historians believe she was the second regent queen, after Neithhotep, who ruled as regent for her baby son Hor-Aha after the death of her spouse, the first Pharoah of Egypt Narmer.

Sobekneferu - The first Regnant Queen of Egypt from the Twelfth Dynasty ( 18th Century BC)

Bust of Sobekmeferu at Berlin Museum. Photograph Source: Wikipedia

Sobekneferu was the daughter of the Pharaoh Amenemhat III and the last Pharoah of the 12th dynasty. She is considered the first woman Pharoah of Egypt, considering there is no clear evidence of Merneith being a Pharoah. She ascended or usurped the throne of Egypt after the death of Pharoah Amenemhat IV, who may have been her spouse or half-brother, or both. Her name means 'Beauty of Sobek (the ancient crocodile god of Egypt).

Cleopatra VII - The most Celebrated Queen and the Last Pharoah of the Last Dynasty, The Ptolemaic Dynasty (69 0 30 BC)

Statue of Cleopatra VII in Altesh Museum. Picture source: Wikipedia

Perhaps, Cleopatra is the most famous and most celebrated Egyptian queen. For a very long time as a kid, I thought Elizabeth Taylor was the actual Cleopatra. Cleopatra was the last queen, the last regnant of Egypt. I am not sure why popularly the title of Pharoah is not associated with her but technically, she is also the Last Pharoah of Egypt before the Romans took over Egypt. She was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes. Her name means 'The father loving godess'. After her father's death, she ascended the throne along with her brother Ptolemy XIII as a co-ruler. However, they did not get along and civil war engulfed the empire. Meanwhile, Triumvir Julius Caesar occupied Alexandria in the process of chasing his enemy Pompey who sought refuge in Egypt but was betrayed by Ptolemy III. Caesar's army defeated and killed Ptolemy III and established Cleopatra and Ptolemy IV as the joint rulers of Egypt. Caesar had a famous brief affair with Cleopatra till his assassination. Cleopatra had a son Caesarion with Caesar. Later Cleopatra married Triumvir Mark Anthony and they had two sons and a daughter. Cleopatra was highly ambitious and had plans to expand her empire to far south and north with the alliance of Mark Antony. Unfortunately, her dreams were squashed when Octavian / Augustus Caesar, Caesar's Nephew ascended the throne of the Roman Empire, rather laid the foundation of the Roman Empire. Octavian manipulated Anthony into marrying his sister Octavia as a political strategy which angered Cleopatra but she eventually steered the divorce of Octavia and Anthony brought him back to Alexandria and proclaimed her children as successors to her throne. This led to the final war between the Roman and Egyptian Army. The Egyptian army was defeated, and Anthony committed suicide. There are stories, that Anthony committed suicide on hearing the rumor of Cleopatra's suicide. Cleopatra was hiding in her tomb when Octavian took over Alexandria. Fearing her capture, she got herself killed by a snake bite and thus ended the 3200 years of Pharoah rule in Egypt.