Funerary cone for Amenirdis a royal princess - daughter
of a king!

Davies and Macadam (and Dibley and Lipkin!) No. 584

It reads:

dwAt nTr Drt (?) jmn-jr-dj=s mAa-xrw sAt-nswt nb tAwj
kA-S-tA dj anx Dt (?), wbA Drt-nTr [...

Worshiper(sometimes translated as "butler") of
the god's hand (?), Amunirdies, a daughter of the king, lord of the Two Lands,
Kashta given life forever (?). Chief of the court, the god's hand (?)[...].

Had an obviously pretty old but completely faded museum
or collection label still on it: but this removed by last owner.

Unusually complete without any loss of the tip.

A better example than they have on display in the
Metropolitan Museum!(Though they have 
another four of them as well)

125m x 75mm

740 BC â€" 700 BC (25th Dynasty)

Amenirdis (usualy called Amenirdis I) also Khaneferumut,
was titled amongst other things as a "God's Wife of Amun" She was a
Kushite princess, the daughter of the Pharaoh Kashta and Queen Pebatjma. She is
likely to have been the biological sister of the pharaohs Shabaka and Piye.
Kashta, or possibly Piye arranged to have her adopted by the Divine Adoratrice
of Amun, Shepenwepet I, at Thebes as her successor. It is not known when
Shepenwepet I died and when Amenirdis became God's Wife, but it may have been
during the reign of Shabaqa.  If it had
been  in the reign of Kashta it would
suggest that he already controlled Upper Egypt before the reign of Piye, his
successor. These titles are important in understanding the continuation of the
authority and power in ancient Egypt. King Kashta for example wrote on a stele
in the Khnum temple in Elephantine that he was King of Upper and Lower Egypt.
This is supported by the fact that he could legitimately place one of his
daughters, Amenirdis I, as God's Wife of Amun.

She ruled as high priestess approximately between 714 BC
and 700 BC, under the reigns of Shabaka and Shabataka, and she actually adopted
Piye's daughter Shepenwepet II as her successor as high priestess. This high
priestess function was associated with the Temple of Amun at Karnak and was the
highest ranking priestess of the cult. The title developed into one that required
celibacy for its bearers and was thus passed down by “adoption�, the heirs
being chosen  by the king. As heiress she
would have been given the title of Adorer of the God (dwat-netjer) and indeed
this title can be seen on the cone's inscription at the top, right hand side.
Amenirdis held both prestigious titles of God's Wife of Amun and God’s Hand as
is indeed also in this inscription . It is possible that this title was an
intermediate one before the death of the current God’s Wife. Whether these
titles formed a hierarchy or were synonymous is uncertain, but both attest to
the power given to certain women at this time in Egypt.

She was buried in a tomb in the grounds of Medinet-Habu
but the specific tomb has not been identified.

£705

While you are thinking of funerary cones, why not
purchase a copy of our book?

http://www.egyptianfunerarycones.com/