Ahmose-Meritamun

Ahmose-Meritamun in hieroglyphs
Ahmose Meritamun Child of Iah, Beloved of Amun

Ahmose-Meritamun
Fragmentary colossal bust of Ahmose-Meritamon, wearing a wig fashioned after a style associated with Hathor - British Museum
Resting place	TT358 in Thebes
Spouse(s)	Amenhotep I
Parent(s)	Pharaoh Ahmose I Queen Ahmose-Nefertari

Ahmose-Meritamun (or Ahmose-Meritamon) was a Queen of Egypt during the early Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. She was both the sister and the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep I. She died fairly young and was buried in tomb TT358 in Deir el-Bahari.

Ahmose-Meritamun was the royal daughter of Ahmose I and Ahmose Nefertari, and became the Great Royal Wife of her brother Amenhotep I, pharaoh of Ancient Egypt in the eighteenth dynasty.

Meritamun took over the role of God's Wife of Amun from her mother Ahmose Nefertari. Other titles recorded for Meritamun include: lady of the two lands (nbt-t3wy), (Great) King’s Wife (hmt-niswt(-wrt)), mistress of the entire two lands (hnwt-t3wy-tm), god’s wife (hmt-ntr), united with the white crown (khnmt-nfr-hdjt), king’s daughter (s3t-niswt), and king’s sister (snt-niswt). The title king’s mother (mwt-niswt) is also recorded in later sources, even though she was never the mother of a king.

A limestone statue of this queen was discovered by Giovanni Belzoni while he was working in Karnak in 1817.

Ahmose-Meritamun is depicted in the tomb of Inherkau (TT359) which dates to the 20th dynasty as one of the "Lords of the West". She is shown in the top row behind Queen Ahhotep I and in front of Queen Sitamun.

Her remains were discovered at Deir el-Bahri in TT358 in 1930 by Herbert Eustis Winlock. Her mummy was found in two cedarwood coffins and a cartonage outer case. Her mummy had been rewrapped and reburied by priests who had found her tomb that had been vandalized by robbers. It appears that she died when she was relatively young, with evidence of being afflicted with arthritis and scoliosis.