Meritaten | ||||||
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Great Royal Wife, King's Daughter | ||||||
![]() Bust of a daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, perhaps the young Meritaten, in the Louvre, Paris | ||||||
Born | Possibly Thebes | |||||
Spouse | Smenkhkare | |||||
Issue | Meritaten Tasherit | |||||
Egyptian name |
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Dynasty | 18th of Egypt | |||||
Father | Akhenaten | |||||
Mother | Nefertiti | |||||
Religion | Ancient Egyptian religion and Atenism |
Meritaten, also spelled Merytaten, Meritaton or Meryetaten (Ancient Egyptian: mrii.t-itn)[1] (14th century BC), was an ancient Egyptian royal woman of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Her name means "She who is beloved of Aten"; Aten being the sun-deity whom her father, Pharaoh Akhenaten, worshipped. She held several titles, performing official roles for her father and becoming the Great Royal Wife to Pharaoh Smenkhkare, who may have been a brother or son of Akhenaten. Meritaten also may have served as pharaoh in her own right under the name Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten.[2]