Queen Ankhesenamun.
King Tutankhamun was married when he was very young, probably little more than ten years
old.
The reason for this was that the Egyptian king was expected to have a wife (sometimes more than
one) who would have helped him to carry out some of the official religious duties of his office.
Tutankhamun married Ankhesenaten, one of the daughters of
his father Akhenaten and his stepmother Queen Nefertiti, so she was his half-sister! She was a
little older than
Tutankhamun himself. Later, Ankhesenaten changed her name to Ankhesenamun, "She lives
(ankhes) for
(en) the god Amun (amun)".
The photograph shows Queen Ankhesenamun and King Tutankhamun, a detail of
the decoration on the golden shrine found in Tutankhamun's
tomb. Burton photo. 314A. © Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford.
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