Of Aspelta, king of Kush (6th century B. C. E.)

2012 

 

 

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cession system»,

55

 replaced each other in the office of 

sistrum player (in their capacity of Amun’s priestess, 

the most important function of a king’s wife) having 

«their priestly role in the renewal of the royal power 

of their husbands».

56

 

The priesthood of each of the «queens», Török 

maintains, corresponded to the period of kingship 

of her wife, the procedure of induction into the prie-

stess’ office, like the one described in the Dedication 

Stele, corresponding to the procedure of enthrone-

ment of the king. He concludes with the statement 

that «in Kush the office of the king’s wife as sistrum-

player of Amûn was modeled on the institution of 

the Theban God’s Wife of Amûn», although in some 

aspects «the priesthood of the royal wife functioned 

<…> similarly to the priesthood of New Kingdom 

queens».

57

 In general Török’s considerations appear 

to be strongly influenced by the elaborate study Pat-

terns of Queenship by Lana Troy,

58

 yet the attempts 

to fit the Kushite material into the Egyptian models 

(sometimes rather debatable themselves), upon clo-

ser investigation, do not seem altogether successful.

First, it must be stressed that it is only Madiqen, 

one of the three royal ladies referred to in the Dedi- 

cation Stele, who may be supposed (but not asserted) 

to have been admitted into the office of sistrum-

player of Amun of Sanam at about the time of an 

enthronement of a king of Kush (Anlamani, Aspelta’s 

predecessor). The time and circumstances of this 

event are known only very roughly, the only source 

being one passage in the text of the Gematen stele of 

Anlamani stating that: «His Magesty gave/placed his 

4 sisters as sistrum-players - one to Amun of Napata, 

one to Amun-Re of Finding the Aton, one to Amun 

of Pnubs, one to Amun-Re, Bull of the Land of the 

Three-Curved Bow - (in order) to rattle the sistrum 

before them, to pray for life, soundness, health (and) 

a long life for the king, every day» (Kawa VIII, lines 

24-25).

59

 Because this statement has something in 

common with those of the Dedication Stele (refe-

rence to King Anlamani, to (the temple of) Amun 

of Sanam and to the dedication of a «king’s sister» 

as sistrum-player) scholars usually identify Madiqen 

with the last of the four sisters «given» to the gods.

60

 

55  Török, ‘Adoption Stela’, p. 268.

56  Török, ‘Adoption Stela’, p. 267.

57  Török, ‘Adoption Stela’, p. 268.

58  Cf. L. Troy, Patterns of Queenship in ancient Egyptian 

myth and history (Uppsala, 1986), p. 132 (II.7).

59 Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, pls. 15-16.

60  It is noteworthy that although the text refers to four hypo-

stases of Amun, these are verbally treated as different gods, 

since both the word nTr «god» in line 24 and the relevant 

pronoun of 3rd pers., replacing it in line 25, are used in 

plural.

The problem with Török’ hypothesis, however, is 

the fact that it is impossible to ascertain the time when 

the described dedication took place. The reference to 

the king’s sisters’ consecration is in the closing part 

of the text of Anlamani and is preceded not only by 

a) an account of his council with «friends», in which 

some probable hints at (but not explicit references 

to) his enthronement may be found (lines 2-7), but 

also by: b) an account of the king’s journey through 

his kingdom (lines 7-9); c) an account of his visit to 

Gematen (lines 9-10), establishing a new priestly 

office of the «Third god’s servant» in the Amun 

temple there (lines 9-10), and celebrating the «First 

Festival» of Amun (lines 11-16); d) an account of 

the military expedition to the land Bulahau, and its 

returning with rich spoils and captives (lines 16-21); 

and e) an account of the queen-mother’s arrival to the 

royal court, escorted by the king’s «friends» sent to 

fetch her (lines 22-24).

From this list it is clear, first, that in the eyes of the 

chronicler, the four king’s sisters’ consecration to the 

gods was by no means the most important event in 

the life of the kingdom (as it is mentioned even after 

the reference to the introducing of a new position of 

the «Third god’s servant» in Gematen), and, second, 

that it is practically impossible to date this event, 

because the beginning of the text is destroyed. Thus, 

any link between this consecration of sisters (which, 

according to Török’s logic, implied their marriage 

with the king, which would also have taken some 

time) and the enthronement procedure of Anlamani 

needs to be verified. In fact, these events could be 

separated not only by months, but even by years, as 

some analogies (e.g., the visit of the queen-mother 

- which is often considered as an element of the 

enthronement procedure - in the 6th (!) regnal year 

of king Taharqa) in the royal annals of Kush.

As for the other two royal ladies referred to in the 

Dedication Stele, the information about their conse-

cration to gods in their capacity of temple musicians 

is scanty. Unfortunately, no relevant information is 

available about queen Nasalsa, but it is interesting 

to note that in the relief on the Anlamani Stele she is 

depicted, with a sistrum in her hand, standing, tog-

ether with the king, before Amun-Re of Gematen.

61

 

On the Election Stele of her son Aspelta she rattles 

the sistrum before Amun-Re of Napata,

62

 and on 

the Dedication Stele, of the same period, she plays 

to Amun-Re of Sanam. Because the Kushites seem 

61 Macadam, The Temples of Kawa, pls. 15-16.

62  N-C. Grimal, Quatre stèles napatéennes au Musée du 

Caire. JE 48863-48866. Textes et Indices (Études sur la 

propagande royale égyptienne, II; le Caire, 1981), pls. 

V-Va.

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