Nefertari (Nefertari Merytmut or Mut-Nefertari) (c. 1290 –– 1254 B.C.E.) was one of the Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses the Great. Nefertari means Beautiful Companion. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens, next to Cleopatra, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. Her lavishly decorated tomb, QV66, is the largest and most spectacular in the Valley of the Queens. Ramesses also constructed a temple for her at Abu Simbel next to his col...
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Nefertari (Nefertari Merytmut or Mut-Nefertari) (c. 1290 –– 1254 B.C.E.) was one of the Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses the Great. Nefertari means Beautiful Companion. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens, next to Cleopatra, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut. Her lavishly decorated tomb, QV66, is the largest and most spectacular in the Valley of the Queens. Ramesses also constructed a temple for her at Abu Simbel next to his colossal monument here.
Although Nefertari’s origins are unknown, discoveries from her tomb, including a cartouche of Pharaoh Ay, suggest she may have been related to the 18th Dynasty, which included Tutankhamun, Queen Nefertiti, the so-called "heretic king" Akhenaten and the dynasty's penultimate pharaoh, Ay. Around age thirteen Nefertari married Ramesses II, only fifteen, before he ascended the throne. She became one of his two Great Royal Wives, the other was Isetnofret, but Nefertari is better known from statues and monuments. She remained...
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