Latest / Ramses the Great: Egypt's Most Powerful Pharaoh — Fexingo History / Ramses the Great's Family: The Women Behind the Pharaoh
Transcript
- Lucas: We've spent a good while on Ramses the Great — his battles, his buildings, his mummy. But there's a whole layer of his reign we've barely touched: the women around him. Luna: Oh, the queens? We've mentioned Nefertari a few times, but never really dug in. Lucas: Exactly. And they're fascinating — because in Ramses' Egypt, royal women were more than just decorative. They held real titles, managed estates, performed key rituals. And some of them left marks that we can still trace today. Lucas: Let's start with his mother, Tuya. She was the wife of Seti I, and when Ramses came to the throne, she became King's Mother — a title that put her above even the chief queen in some ways. She's depicted at Abu Simbel, and she had her own tomb in the Valley of the Queens. Luna: So she was still around during his reign? Lucas: She lived well into Ramses' rule — she likely died around his twenty-second year. And she wasn't just a figurehead. She had her own chapel at Karnak, and she was associated with the goddess Mut. You get the sense she was a matriarch in the truest sense. Lucas: Then there's Nefertari — probably the most famous of his wives. Her tomb, QV66, is one of the most beautiful in Egypt, and Ramses built her a temple at Abu Simbel, which is almost unprecedented. She's called 'the one for whom the sun shines,' and she was clearly beloved. Luna: But she wasn't his only chief wife, right? Lucas: Right. Isetnofret was the other — less celebrated in monuments, but she was the mother of some of his most important sons, including Merenptah, who eventually became pharaoh. She may have been more politically influential, even if Nefertari got the glamour. Lucas: And then there's a whole bunch of daughters who also became queens. Ramses was not shy about marrying his own daughters — Bintanath and Meritamen both held the title of King's Wife. It sounds odd to us, but it was a way to keep the royal bloodline pure and consolidate power. Luna: Hmm, that is a bit strange. But I guess it makes a certain kind of sense if you're trying to keep the throne in the family. Lucas: Exactly. And these daughters weren't just passive consorts — they appear in temple scenes, they held ritual roles, they managed their own estates. Some of them even had sons who might have been contenders for the throne. Lucas: One of the most intriguing figures is Maathorneferure — the Hittite princess. We talked about the peace treaty with Hattusili III, and as part of that, Ramses married a Hittite princess. She was given an Egyptian name, Maathorneferure, which means 'she who sees Horus, the visible beauty of Ra.' Luna: Wow, that's a mouthful. And she actually came to Egypt? Lucas: She did. It was a huge diplomatic event — the Hittite king sent her with a massive entourage, and Ramses went out to meet her personally. The marriage stela celebrates it as a triumph of peace. But after that, she kind of vanishes from the record. We don't know where she was buried or what happened to her. Lucas: All these women — they weren't just footnotes. They were players in a complex court. Think about it: Ramses had dozens of wives, hundreds of children. The palace must have been a hive of alliances, rivalries, and behind the scenes maneuvering. Luna: That sounds like a soap opera. How do we know anything about them? Lucas: Good question. A lot comes from their tombs — like Nefertari's — and from temple inscriptions. We have letters and administrative documents, but they're mostly about the men. Still, we can piece together their titles and their ceremonial roles. It's a puzzle, but a fascinating one. Lucas: And before we go deeper, I want to say — if you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, the reason we can keep doing these deep dives is the folks who support the show over at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going. Luna: Yeah, it really does make a difference. Every little bit helps us keep the research going. Lucas: So, back to the women. One thing that strikes me is how much agency they had in a system that was fundamentally patriarchal. Take Nefertari, for example. She has her own temple, her own tomb, and she's depicted making offerings to the gods — that's not just a queen, that's a priestess. Lucas: Royal women also had significant economic power. They controlled their own estates, which were staffed by officials and servants. They could commission their own monuments. They were patrons of the arts, in a way. Luna: So they were more than just baby-makers. Lucas: Definitely. And some of them might have even had political influence. Tuya, the King's Mother, would have had direct access to Ramses. Nefertari, too — we have letters she wrote to the Hittite queen, which suggests she was involved in diplomatic correspondence. Lucas: But there's a limit to what we can know. For every Nefertari with a tomb stuffed with paintings, there are others who are just a name on a list. Like Henutmire, who might have been Ramses' sister or his daughter — we're not even sure. The records are frustratingly incomplete. Luna: So it's a mix of clear evidence and a lot of guesswork. Lucas: Exactly. And that's part of what makes it so compelling. We're trying to reconstruct the lives of women who lived three thousand years ago, and every clue matters. Their titles, their images, their burial goods — they all tell us something. Lucas: Take the title 'God's Wife of Amun.' It was a role given to royal women, and it gave them a religious authority that was pretty much on par with the high priests. Ramses' daughter Meritamen held it, and it gave her a kind of independent power within the temple hierarchy. Luna: Wow, that's a big deal. So they had spiritual clout, too. Lucas: Absolutely. And that role would later become even more powerful in the Third Intermediate Period, but Ramses' era was when it was really being solidified. So these women weren't just passive symbols — they were active participants in the religious life of Egypt. Lucas: There's also the question of how they navigated the politics of the harem. We know from later episodes that there were conspiracies — the harem conspiracy under Ramses III, for instance. But under Ramses II, we don't hear of any serious plots. Maybe he had a more stable household, or maybe they were just better at keeping things quiet. Luna: That's a good point. We hear so much about the pharaoh, but the palace was full of people with their own ambitions. Lucas: Right. And Ramses was king for sixty-six years. That's a long time to keep a large family in check. He had over a hundred sons — we found that in KV5. And probably a similar number of daughters. You've got to wonder how he kept track of them all. Lucas: But I think the most moving thing is seeing these women through their own monuments. Nefertari's tomb, for example — the paintings are so vibrant, they show her playing senet and making offerings. It's a glimpse of her personality, or at least how she wanted to be remembered. Luna: That's beautiful. And it makes you feel like you can almost reach out and touch that time. Lucas: It does. And it's a reminder that history isn't just about the men who built empires. It's about the people — women included — who shaped the culture, the religion, and the daily life of a civilization. Ramses gets the glory, but he didn't reign in a vacuum. Lucas: So next time you see a statue of Ramses, remember there were women behind him — his mother, his wives, his daughters — who made his reign possible in ways we're only beginning to understand. Luna: I'll never look at him the same way again. Lucas: And that's a good thing. History is richer when we look at the whole picture.