Abstract
Between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE, the office of the God’s Wife of Amun reached the height of its religious and political importance. Shepenwepet I, Amenirdis I, Shepenwepet II, Nitocris I, and Ankhnesneferibre are depicted on numerous monuments from the Theban region, where they appear in a remarkably consistent visual style. Yet closer examination reveals significant differences in dress, crowns and regalia that distinguish individual holders of the office.
This talk explores what such variations reveal about the practice of image-making in first-millennium BCE Thebes. Drawing on temple and chapel reliefs, statuary, and representations preserved in elite tombs, it examines how recurring iconographic forms were maintained, adapted, and reinterpreted across successive generations of the God’s Wives. Particular attention is given to visual features that appear closely associated with specific women, including distinctive preferences in dress and headgear, as well as to cases in which the image of a predecessor was reshaped by her successor.
The evidence suggests that the iconography of the office was neither entirely fixed nor entirely standardised. Whilst the God’s Wives shared a common repertoire rooted in the traditions of queenship and female divinity, individual representations reveal a more dynamic process of selection and adaptation. By tracing these patterns, the lecture explores broader questions concerning agency in image creation and the relationship between institutional identity and individual representation. It examines whether close iconographic analysis can help identify not only the collective identity of the office, but also the visual identities of the women who held it.
