Since Howard Carter, in 1922, found the tomb of Tutankhamen intact, the interest in this lesser pharaoh, which He died practically in adolescence , has not stopped growing. The recent findings and the modern means applied to archaeological research such as DNA tests or computed tomography images have allowed us to approach many characters that were part of the life of the young pharaoh. We know that the mummies found in tomb KV35 correspond, without any doubt, to the mother and grandmother of Tutankhamun and that they were mother and daughter as well. Also that the body they found in KV55 is that of Tutankhamun's father, who was his mother's brother and therefore he was the result of an incestuous relationship. The progenitor is believed to have been Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep or Amenhotep IV). Among these complicated family relationships arises a new figure: the wife of Tutankhamun. Join us to learn about the tragic history of Anjesenamón.
The tragic story of Anjesenamón
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Amenhotep IV) was the head of the so-called "Schism of Amarna" by which the existence of a single god was proclaimed: Aten. Pharaoh changed his name to Akhenaten and together with his wife Nefertiti left Thebes and founded a new capital: Amarna. Akhenaten and Nefertiti had 6 daughters and the three major ones: Meritatón, Meketata and Anjesenamón They moved from girls to Amarna.
According to most Egyptologists, Akhenaten's obsession with preserving royal blood led him to marry his three oldest daughters. The third one was Ajensenamón. Anjesenamón means "the one who lives by Aten". One thinks that it was born in 4º year of the reign of its father that is to say on the 1348 a.C. and together with his older sisters and his parents, he is frequently seen in paintings and reliefs of this king of the XVIII Egyptian dynasty.
Anjesenamón, married to her own father
Incest was not common in the Old Egypt , but some pharaohs practiced it, among them Akhenaten. At a certain moment Nefertiti stops appearing in the writings of the time and becomes "Great Royal Wife" the eldest daughter of this: Meritatón. He also married his second daughter Meketaton, who died in childbirth, and finally to Anjesenamón . With her, she had a girl who was named Anjesenamón-Tasherit , which means "the little one who lives by Amón".
Her father and husband died shortly after, so she was free to contract again.
Anjesenamón, wife of Tutankhamun
Historians believe that Akenaton was father with Nefertiti of six daughters, but also had many other secondary wives and one of them, who was also his sister, was the mother of Tutankhamun.
Tutankhamun ascended the throne at the age of 8 years, succeeding his father, after an interval of less than a year in which reigned a mysterious pharaoh named Semenejkara. Ansejenamón , was married to her half brother and cousin Tutankhamun, thus becoming Great Royal Wife. The couple apparently had two daughters who died before being born and whose bodies were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. When Pharaoh was 18 years old he died and Anjesenamón , who was 21, was again a widow.
Anjesenamón, the third marriage with her maternal grandfather Ay
The third marriage of Anjesenamón He went with his maternal grandfather Ay. Egyptologists say that it was a political wedding to maintain power in the family, but that granddaughter and grandfather had no offspring. Ay reigned for about four years after which the name of Anjesenamon disappears completely from the documents. What happened to her? Was she murdered as some say? At the moment it is a mystery.
Other historians believe that Anjesenamón she was the heiress of the throne in the absence of a man who could succeed her husband, since she was the daughter of Akhenaten, and who was hanging on to Ay while writing to Subiluliuma I, king of the Hittites, asking her to send to Egypt one of his children to marry her. The woman who signed the letters called herself "Dahamunzu", but from the description she makes of herself she could be her mother Nefertiti or even her sister Meritatón since the three were married to a pharaoh and had no male offspring. If it was her, it is normal to completely disappear from the documents, since the Hittites were declared enemies of the Egyptians and their request would have been considered a betrayal of their country.
Finally, add that you are still looking for the mummy of Ansejenamón and at first it was believed that it was one of the two queens of the XVIII dynasty that was found in the KV21 tomb since by DNA analysis one of them was the mother of the two fetuses found in the tomb of Tutankhamun and it is not known that this pharaoh would have had more wives. However, that mummy does not match the DNA that is believed to be Akhenaten, they are family, but not his father. Most likely, the mummy of the KV55 tomb is not Akhenaten, but Semenejkara. There is also the possibility that the mummy of Ansejenatón I would have been in another grave, the KV63, next to Tutankamon, which is the KV62, but the looters took the mummy that was buried there and can not be verified.
Actually, the life of Ansejenamón It was quite catastrophic. Widow three times before the age of 25 and married on all occasions with members of her family. Did you know this tragic Egyptian princess and queen? What do you think of his unhappy story?
Images: Jerzy Strzelecki , Keith Schengili-Roberts