The love song quoted below wasn’t written today, but more than 3,000 years ago during ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom Period(1292–1069 BCE).
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The song, taken from the Chester Beatty Library papyri collection, shows that the ancient Egyptians loved and expressed their love with the same emotions as modern people. This article will delve deep into the long history of ancient Egypt to discover five of the greatest love stories that have stood the test of time — from the courtly love of kings and queens to the magical love stories found in Egyptian mythology.
Perhaps one of the most enduring love stories from Ancient Egypt is the marriage between Ramesses II or Ramesses the Great (1279–1213 BCE) and his Queen Nefertari, also known as Nefertari Meritmut. Nefertari means “beautiful companion” and Meritmut means “beloved of the mother goddess Mut”. The origins of Nefertari and her relationship with Ramesses the Great are unknown. However, we know that, like other kings of Egypt, Ramesses the Great had a large harem of wives but only one wife was bestowed with the title “chief queen”. Ramesses the Great had eight of these chief queens during his reign, but Queen Nefertari was his first and the one who left the most significant impression on the King.
Ramesses and Nefertari were married in 1312 BCE, and soon after, the new Queen gave birth to the first of eleven heirs. We know little of Nefertari's origins and of her time as Queen, but what we do know is that after her death, Ramesses committed vast resources, care, and attention towards making sure that his first wife's memory was never forgotten.
Ramesses the Great’s affection for his first chief Queen can be seen painted on the walls of her lavish tomb at the Valley of the Queens. The tomb’s decorations emphasize Nefertari’s personality and intellect, with the Queen depicted conversing with officials and playing the game Senet. The paintings of her face still shine with radiance after thousands of years, and it is clear that the artist gave her features careful attention to accentuate her beauty. Scholars consider these decorations to be some of the best-preserved and most artistic decorations of any Egyptian burial site ever found. Nefertari’s tomb shows us the deep respect and reverence Ramesses the Great had for his first wife.
As well as her lavish tomb, Ramesses the Great ordered the construction of temples to honor Nefertari at Abu Simbel. These colossal temples were built with the same love as her tomb and they were designed to fill any visitor with awe. Two groups of statues flank the temple's exterior, with a large entranceway in between. The figures on the right depict Ramesses the Great and his Queen standing side by side.
What makes Nefertari’s temple so unique is that it remains one of the very few instances in Egyptian architecture in which both statues of the king and his queen are equal in size. In other temples, the Queen’s statue was never taller than that of their king. This shows that Ramesses the Great thought of his wife so highly that he ordered her statue to have the same importance and height as his.