Iset Ta-Hemdjert

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Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis Ta-Hemdjert was an Ancient Egyptian queen of the twentieth dynasty; the Great Royal Wife of Ramesses III and the Royal Mother of both Ramesses IV and Ramesses VI.^[1].

She was probably of Asian origin; her mother's name Hemdjert (or Habadjilat or Hebnerdjent) is not an Egyptian name but a Syrian one,^[2]. Two of her children are known to us, Ramesses IV, who succeeded his father, and Ramesses VI, who succeeded his nephew Ramesses V, the short-lived son of Ramesses IV. Other than Ramesses V, the grandchildren of Iset Ta-Hemdjert include Ramesses VII, the God's Wife of Amun Iset, and princes Amunherkhopsef and Panebenkemyt; these are all the children of Ramesses VI.^[1].

Apart from the Great Royal Wife designation, she also held the titles of God's Wife, and, during the reign of her sons, King's Mother. She is shown on a statue of Ramesses III in the Mut temple at Karnak. She was still alive during the reign of Ramesses VI, when her granddaughter Iset became God's Wife of Amun. She was buried in the Valley of the Queens, in tomb QV51.^[2]

[edit] Sources

• Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité, 1991, Christian Settipani, p. 171 and 175