Prayer and Power: Proceedings of the Conference on the God's Wives of Amun in Egypt During the First Millennium BC

The God's Wife of Amun was the highest-ranking priestess in Ancient Egypt. During the 8th-6th century BC the institution of the God's Wife of Amun gained religious, political and economic influence. A woman of the royal family is the earthly wife of the highest god in the contemporaneous Egyptian pa [...]
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The God's Wife of Amun was the highest-ranking priestess in Ancient Egypt. During the 8th-6th century BC the institution of the God's Wife of Amun gained religious, political and economic influence. A woman of the royal family is the earthly wife of the highest god in the contemporaneous Egyptian pantheon. Her religious influence was based on the concept of purity, and during processions on the occasions of festivals, she played an active role in the contact between god and humankind. As head of the Theban priesthood, she controlled one of the largest economic authorities in Egypt; furthermore, the institution of the God's Wife seems to have acted as the royal power base in the south. The conference "Prayer and Power. The God's Wives of Amun during the First Millennium BC," which took place on June 25th-27th 2015 in Munster focused on the development of the institution of the God's Wife, the investigation of the entanglement of the religious and political aspects, the underlying concept of feminity and the cultural background of the God's Wives.