ANKHESENAMEN

flourished 2nd millennium BC original name Ankhesenpaaten queen of Egypt (reigned 13321322 BC), who attempted a diplomatic coup after her husband Tutankhamen's death. The third daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, the rulers of the Amarna revolution, Ankhesenamen probably was married to her father about the 16th year of his reign. Although the marriage was primarily political, to secure Akhenaton's throne, a daughter was evidently born to Ankhesenamen. At Tutankhamen's accession, Ankhesenamen was married to him, possibly in order to safeguard her position. When the king's name was altered to include Amon's name, so was hers. At Tutankhamen's unexpected death, Ankhesenamen entered into international negotiations to secure her position. According to Hittite archives, unwilling to associate herself with either of the likeliest Egyptian candidates, she sent a secret letter to the Hittite king, asking him for a son whom she would make pharaoh. Because the Hittites had just completed a season's campaign against Egyptian forces in Syria, their ruler was astounded. Suspecting treachery, he sent an ambassador to learn the queen's true intent. In the spring of 1321 BC, his envoy and an Egyptian emissary arrived in the Hittite capital with Ankhesenamen's assurances and another more urgent plea. The Hittite ruler dispatched a son to Egypt, but the prince was intercepted and murdered, perhaps by Horemheb, Egypt's commander of armies and an aspirant to the throne. An inscribed ring seen in Cairo in 1932 associates Ankhesenamen with Ay, her husband's former vizier and close adviser, who succeeded Tutankhamen. On Tutankhamen's stela of restoration, Ankhesenamen's figure was thoroughly erased a few years later by King Horemheb, who usurped the monument.