Nefertari c. 1279–1255 BC
Queen, wife of Ramesses II
Ramesses II's first and best-loved Great Royal Wife. He built her a temple at Abu Simbel next to his own, with statues of her as tall as his, and her tomb in the Valley of the Queens has some of the finest paintings left from ancient Egypt.
Name: Nefertari
nfrt-iry: “Beautiful companion”
Sign by sign
- Heart and windpipe F35nfr Good, beautiful, perfect.
- Bread loaf X1t The sound t; also the feminine ending.
- Flowering reed M17i The sound i.
- Mouth D21r The sound r; also means 'mouth'.
- Two strokes Z4y The sound y; also marks a dual.
Names of gods (Ra, Amun, Ptah) are written first out of respect, even when they are read later. Dates are approximate; we follow Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000).