Facts about Ancient Egyptian Royalty?

Question

Do you know any facts about Ancient Egyptian Royalty?

Answer 1

among others, try this site:

http://www.royalty.nu/Africa/Egypt/index...

Answer 2

Pharaoh was a name for the office of kingship in the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Meaning "Great House", it originally referred to the king's palace, but the meaning loosened over the course of Egyptian history until it became interchangeable with the Egyptian word for king. Although the rulers of Egypt were generally male, the pharaoh was used on the rare occasions when a female ruled.

Great Royal Wife or Chief King's Wife is the term used to refer to the chief wife of an Egyptian pharaoh on the day of his coronation. The Great Royal Wife was an official state consort and would often be a sister or even daughter of the king. The pharaoh would marry his step-sister or daughter in order to keep the royal bloodline pure. While most Egyptians were monogamous, the pharaoh would have had other, lesser wives (and concubines) in addition to the Great Royal Wife. This would allow the pharaoh to enter into diplomatic marriages with the daughters of allies, as was the custom of kings.

The order of succession in Ancient Egypt passed through the royal women. Marriage to a queen of the royal lineage was necessary, even if the pharaoh came from outside of the lineage as happened occasionally. Secondary unions to other women in the royal family assured that there would be heirs from the lineage and women who could become the royal wives. This is the reason for all of the intermarriages. The royal women also played a pivotal role in the religion of ancient Egypt. The Great Royal Wife officiated at the rites in the temples, as priestess, in a culture where religion was inexorably interwoven with the roles of the rulers.

The mother of the heir to the throne was not always the Great Royal Wife, but once a pharaoh was crowned, it was not unknown to grant his mother the title of Great Royal Wife, along with other titles, even if she was not entitled to it during her husband's lifetime. The greatest summit of power reached by any Great Royal Wife was by Hatshepsut, who after the death of her husband, Thutmose II became regent during the minority of her stepson, Thutmose III, eventually assuming the title of pharaoh herself and ruling in her own right as a true queen regnant. Though other queens had ruled Egypt, Hatshepsut was the first woman to actually take the title of pharaoh.

During the Amarna period, the pharaoh Akhenaten elevated his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti to a position very near his own, so that she could be said to be a co-regent with him, and shared much more prominently in religious rituals than any other Great Royal Wife before or since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharaoh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Royal...