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Amenemhet III

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Jochen:
The names of Amenemhet III.

When I came across the name of the Pharaoh Ny-maat-Re in the article about Premarres (the name of Amenemhet II as a deity in Fayum) by Bresciani&Giammarusti, I was a little confused. Was there another pharaoh?  But the explanation is very simple: the pharaohs always had several names. Amenemhet III had the following:

(1) the Horus name Aa-bau meaning "with great power"
(2) the Nebti name Itschi-iaut-taui, meaning "the one who grips the heritage of the two countries"
(3) the gold name Wah-anch with the meaning "with lasting life"
(4) the throne name Ni-maat-Re, meaning "who belongs to Maat, a Re", and
(5) the proper name Amen-em-het with the meaning "Amun is on the top"

The Horus name was intended to show that the Pharaoh represented the distant heavenly god Horus. The hieroglyph was the Horus falcon sitting on the Serech, the rectangle of the royal palace. Since Amenemhet II (about 1877/76-1843/42 B.C.) the meaning of this name decreased, but was still found until Antoninus Pius (138-161).

The secondary name symbolised the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt and meant "the two countries". Therefore the hieroglyph consisted of the vulture for the goddess Nechbet of Upper Egypt and the erect cobra for the goddess Wadjet of Lower Egypt. Nebti is the dual form of Nebet (Lady) and Neb (Lord) and means "the two Mistresses".)

The gold name was probably intended to equate the ruler with the sun. His sign was the Horus falcon sitting on the hieroglyph for gold.

The throne name was the most important name of the pharaoh since the 4th dynasty. It was placed in a cartouche next to the proper name. The title was given to him when he ascended the throne during a journey on the Nile on the king's barque and was of course meant to remind of the journey of the sun god across the sky. Afterwards the coronation was carried out. The name "the one belonging to Maat, the Re" refers to Maat, an ancient Egyptian goddess of justice and truth. She was regarded as the daughter of Re and embodied the concept of world order. Re, the sun god, was the main god in Heliopolis since the 6th dynasty.


The proper name was given to him at birth. The proper names of the first pharaohs are not known. These names come from later royal lists. At first the proper name was not in a cartouche. This was added only at the accession to the throne.

Best regards

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