Amanikhalika

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Relief of the Kushite ruler buried in Beg N. 32, often identified as Amanikhalika

Amanikhalika is the name often[1][2][3][4] attributed to a Kushite queen regnant buried in pyramid Beg N. 32 in Meroë. If the attribution is correct, Amanikhalika would have reigned in the second half of the 2nd century CE based on her known relations to other monarchs.

Sources and chronology[edit]

Amanikhalika's name is known only from the offering table of the later king Aritenyesbokhe, which identifies Aritenyesbokhe's parents as Tarekeniwal and Amanikhalika. Tarekeniwal is presumably identical to the Kushite king of the same name, buried in pyramid Beg. N 19.[5] If Amanikhalika is to be identified with the queen in Beg. N 32 she was thus originally Tarekeniwal's queen consort.[5] Identification with Amanikhalika would place this queen's reign in the second half of the 2nd century CE, since the reigns of both Tarekeniwal and Aritenyesbokhe are dated to this time.[6]

Beg. N 32 is the tomb of a Kushite queen regnant,[5][6][7] dated to some point between the mid-2nd century CE and the mid-3rd century CE.[6] The tomb does not preserve the name of the queen buried but was speculatively attributed to Amanikhalika in the 1950s.[7] Although hypothetical, this identification is maintained by a large number of modern scholars.[1][2][3][4] Some scholars, such as Kuckertz (2021) and Droa-Krupe & Fink (2021) have doubted the identification and consider Beg. N 32 to be the tomb of an otherwise unknown queen.[6][7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Edwards, David N. (2004). The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan. Routledge. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-134-20087-0.
  2. ^ a b Eder, Walter; Renger, Johannes; Henkelman, Wouter; Chenault, Robert (2007). Chronologies of the Ancient World: Names, Dates and Dynasties. Brill. p. 55. ISBN 978-90-04-15320-2.
  3. ^ a b Yellin, Janice W. (2020). "Prolegomena to the Study of Meroitic Art". The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Nubia. Oxford University Press. p. 616. ISBN 978-0-19-049627-2.
  4. ^ a b Rilly, Claude (2007). La langue du royaume de Méroé: un panorama de la plus ancienne culture écrite d'Afrique subsaharienne (in French). Champion. p. 210. ISBN 978-2-7453-1582-3.
  5. ^ a b c Eide, Tormod; Hägg, Tomas; Holton Pierce, Richard; Török, László (1998). Fontes Historiae Nubiorum: Textual Sources for the History of the Middle Nile Region Between the Eighth Century BC and the Sixth Century AD: Vol. III: From the First to the Sixth Century AD. University of Bergen. pp. 939, 954. ISBN 82-91626-07-3.
  6. ^ a b c d Kuckertz, Josefine (2021). "Meroe and Egypt". UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology: 6.
  7. ^ a b c Droa-Krupe, Kerstin; Fink, Sebastian (2021). Powerful Women in the Ancient World: Perception and (Self)Presentation. ISD LLC. p. 313. ISBN 978-3-96327-139-7.