Meritamen

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Other Egyptian royal ladies called Meritamen include a sister-wife of Amenhotep I and a daughter of Thutmose III

Meritamen in hieroglyphs

Meritamen (also spelled Meritamun, Merytamen, Merytamun, Meryt-Amen; Ancient Egyptian: Beloved of Amun) was a daughter and later Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great.

Meritamen was the fourth daughter of Ramesses and possibly the third of his favourite wife Nefertari. It is likely that she was the eldest of Nefertari's daughters to survive childhood. After her mother died (around the 24th or 25th regnal year), Meritamen became Great Royal Wife, along with her half-sister Bintanath.

Meritamen was a singer of Amun, priestess of Hathor, sistrum-player of Mut and a dancer of Horus, and held several titles including Magnificent in the Palace; the Beloved of the Lord of the Two Lands; The One Who Fills the Forecourt with the Scent of Her Fragrance; Superior of the Harem of Amun-Ra and She Who Stands by Her Master like Sothis is Beside Orion.

She is mostly known for her beautiful limestone statue, the White Queen found at the Ramesseum, the temple complex her father had built. She also appears on the walls of temple of Abu Simbel, along with other family members.

Meritamen was buried at QV68 in the Valley of the Queens.

Meritamen appears in the historical fiction novel Pharaoh's Daughter by Julius Lester as one of the main characters. Spelled "Meryetamun", she is the princess that saves Moses from the Nile and brings him up as her son. Later, she changes her Egyptian name to the Hebrew name Batya (daughter of God) as she adapts her way of life to fit in with Hebrew culture.