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Royal Women in Ancient Egypt and their Titles
Symbols play a very important role in Ancient Egypt. A lot of what Egyptologists found, makes us understand how important for Egyptians symbols were and how they used them in a lot of aspects of life. The name, for Egyptians, was more than just a name; it symbolized the connection to a god or to someone royal; names and titles had meanings and were not selected by coincidence but in fact the opposite, it took them a long thinking process to decide on a name. Names and titles were especially important for royalties and members of the elite, because it was also a symbol of their social status. This belief still exists in modern Egypt as well, the name and title hold great power and are a symbol a status. The name and title is also important for the afterlife, because it will help them to get identified. Having this in mind, it makes it much easier to understand ancient Egypt and especially kings and queens in ancient Egypt and why they have many titles and why the meaning behind these titles are so important. A very interesting aspect about royal titles in ancient Egypt is that there was no word for queen or princess, it was only “mother of the king”, “the king’s wife” or “the king’s daughter”; always in relation to the king; this is why it is sometimes very hard to understand when reading an ancient text, because it is always referring to a king even if at that time the person reigning was in fact a female. This paper will be examining two royal women and their titles, Sobeknefru and Hatshepsut; and the Gods Wife of Amun and her titles. The titles of the king and in relation to that of course the queen were mainly three, the Horus-name, the Nebti-name and the golden Horus-name. The Horus-name is the oldest part of the royal titles. It is a symbol of the king being the embodiment of the god Horus. The title consists of three parts: a palace faced, the name of the king written in the palace frame and Horus standing on it. The Nebti-name symbolizes the king’s relation to two goddesses, the goddess Nekhbet of Upper Egypt and the goddess Uto of Lower Egypt. The connection drawn here from the relationship to the goddesses also connects the king to Upper and Lower Egypt and hence legitimizes his rule over all of Egypt.  The golden Horus-name represents Horus sitting on a symbol that represents gold; this perhaps is shown to connect the king with divinity, because gold in Ancient Egypt represented eternity and gods were said to have golden skin.

Sobeknefru (also known as Nefrusobek)
Sobeknefru means the beautiful of the god Sobek. She was queen of Egypt during the 12th dynasty, after Amenemhet IV had died and ruled for four years. There is not much known about this queen because few monuments of hers survived as they were in less-preserved sites but she is mentioned in Saqqara King list and Manetho talked about her; she is also mentioned in the Turin 'List of Kings', which shows that she in fact was a ruler of Egypt at some point. Portraits and some statues show her wearing both female and male attire, this was done to show that she as a queen was fit to rule as a king. In addition to the attire, Sobeknefru sometimes used masculine titles; this is also to legitimize her rule as “king” and to prove that she is fit for the job. The name Shedty often appears in addition to her titles which links her to the religious movement “Shedet” in Fayoum. Shedet was a cult that worshiped the crocodile god Sobek. This was probably done to further legitimize her reign as queen of Egypt; and this also explains why she has her name “Sobeknefru” in relation to his name.  Her name was grammatically different from anything before her. Just by looking at it someone might understand it as follows “Sobek the ka of Ra” but this does not state that she is “king” or the ruler; this is why her name should be better understood as “the one of Sobek, the Ka of Ra” and thus it would relate her to both Sobek and Ra and make her a legal ruler of Egypt. Sobeknefru’s throne-name was Sobekkare, which means the soul of Ra. This change from the god Sobek to the god Ra, might indicate that she was aiming for the rule of Egypt as a whole and not just that Fayoum area, and she chose the god Ra to indicate that and to follow other kings and legitimize her reign. Her Horus name was Meryt-Ra, which means “The Female Hawk, Beloved of Re”. Here she indicates that she is female but still relates herself to a god to make her reign in the eyes of the people authorized. Her Nebti-name was Sat-sekhem-nebettawy and that means, the daughter of the Gracious one, the mistress of the Two Land. Her Nebti-name is also feminine and shows her as the ruler of Egypt as whole; as for the reference of her father, this was done to show more authority; by stating that she is the daughter of the gracious one she shows that her father approves of her reign and her father was the king that ruled before her. This fact adds to her legal status as queen; that she got the blessing of her father, who was a king himself. Her golden Horus name was Djed-et-kha, and that means stable of appearance, to give out the impression that she is stable and capable of ruling Egypt. 

Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut ruled during the 18th dynasty after the death of her husband Thutmose II because the eligible heir to the throne, Thutmose III, was too young at the time so she took over the government and later she ruled as king. When she was ruling Egypt she took on a male image, wearing male clothing and the false beard but many of her names referred to her as a female and were in relation to goddesses. This was to legitimize her reign over Egypt and to show that she was fit to be a “king” and her titles had feminine participles because the image was more important, because people would look first at the picture before reading so it was more important to be depicted as a male king. As for the reference to goddesses this was to show her divinity. She also wanted to show her divinity by claiming that her god Amun-Ra said to her mother while she was pregnant with Hatshepsut, that she should rule Egypt. The birth name of the queen “Hatshepsut” means “foremost of noble women”, this is uncommon for royalty because it has no reference to a deity. But this changed after she became “king” and she took on names and titles in reference to deities.

Her Horus-name is wsrt-kaw, which means the “powerful of kas”. Before her this symbol was used to represent bulls but she used it to represent the royal because the bull was too masculine; both sound the same. Her Nebty-name is wadjet-renpwt which means the flourishing years. This name was usually uncommon before Hatshepsut; she used it because it indicates that during her reign Egypt would flourish. Her Nebty-name and her Horus name contain references to gods of Upper and Lower Egypt, which shows her reign over all of Egypt. Her golden Horus name was ntjeret-khaw meaning the “divine of appearances” or manifestations, again to show her divinity and her right to rule. Her first Cartouche name is maat-ka-re which means the “true one of the ka of Ra.” The name is written way that might be written to say “Maat is the ka of Ra” because an image of the goddess is next to the name. But this is not intended to be like that; it is actually a feminine participle form that means “to be true” and when read that way it says “the rue one of the ka of Ra. This may be because she was advised to follow Sobeknefru, the last legitimate queen of Egypt; so it could be read in two ways, one that gives the real meaning and one that links her to another queen. By putting the goddess Maat next to her name, Hatshepsut is portraying herself as the embodiment of Maat and the one that will bring order to Egypt. Also Maat is seen as the daughter of Ra, and the link that Hatshepsut is the embodiment of Maat also means that she is the daughter of Ra, which was also a title that she bore. The way the names of Hatshepsut were picked out and written, was done on purpose to put her among the lines of legitimate rulers of Egypt.

The God’s Wife of Amun
The God’s Wife of Amun was a title that was given to some women in Ancient Egypt. Upon receiving the title the God’s Wife of Amun, the God”s Wife of Amun could also get kingly titles but with female participles like female Horus or the Mistress of the Two Lands. There are two other titles that almost always refer to the God’s Wife of Amun are “Divine Adorer” and “God’s Hand”. The title and office of the God’s Wife of Amun were linked to royalty and held were held by the king’s wife or daughter. The title represented the relationship to divinity and had important religious duties and thus the women holding that title was highly thought of and was an important figure. < Ikram 2010, pp.175> Egyptians believed very much in the magical powers of words; be it written or spoken. They believed that if it is written then it will become true. This is why it was very important to choose every title carefully, and it was especially important for female rulers because the titles would reinforce their legitimacy and made their reign a reality.

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