Beketaten

Beketaten (14th century BCE) was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 18th Dynasty. Beketaten is considered to be the youngest daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife Tiye, thus the sister of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Her name means "Handmaid of Aten". However, no evidence proves that they are the same person.

It has also been suggested that she might be the daughter of Akhenaten and his secondary wife, Kiya. Kiya is shown on a few occasions with a princess whose name ends in -aten. However, the full name of the princess has been lost. It has been speculated that this daughter is Beketaten partially because Beketaten was never named King's Sister in the scenes from Amarna, but only King's Bodily Daughter. After the death of her mother, Beketaten may have been raised by Tiye. Because a wine docket of Year 13 mentions Beketaten, it has been proposed that she inherited Kiya's estates after her death.

Appearance in Amarna Tomb 1

Beketaten is only known from the Amarna tomb of Huya, who was Queen Tiye's steward. She is depicted in two scenes. In the first, Queen Tiye is shown seated opposite Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. In one scene Beketaten is shown seated on a small chair next to her mother Tiye, and in the other banquet scene Beketaten is shown standing next to Tiye. On the east wall of Huya's tomb Akhenaten is shown leading his mother Tiye to a temple. They are accompanied by Beketaten as they enter the temple. In 2024, based on archaeological and scientific evidence, the Egyptologist Martin Bommas identified the father of Tutankhamun as Smenkhkare and his mother as Beketaten, The Younger Lady.