Nitocris I (Divine Adoratrice)’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Intro Ancient Egyptian princess
Is Monarch 
Noble 
Sovereign 
From Egypt 
Type Royals 
Gender female
Death 1 January 586
Family
Father: Psamtik I

Nitocris I (alt. Nitiqret, Nitokris I) (died 585 BC) served as the heir to, and then, as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun or God’s Wife of Amun for a period of more than seventy years, between 655 BC and 585 BC.

Biography

She was the daughter of the 26th Dynasty pharaoh, Psamtik I. During his early reign, Psamtik I dispatched a powerful naval fleet in March 656 BC to Thebes and compelled the serving God’s Wife of Amun, Shepenupet II, a daughter of Piye, to adopt his daughter Nitocris I as her heir to this powerful office. The ceremony of the adoption and elevation of Notocris I is commemorated in the well known Adoption Stela. It is unknown at what date she had assumed the office of Divine Adoratrice of Amun, but she served in this position until Year 4 of Apries in 585 BC. Prior to her career in this office, the Assyrians had invaded Egypt in 671 BC, sacked Thebes, and robbed its temples of their many treasures. The reunification of Egypt by her father was facilitated by her rise.

When she was in her eighties, she adopted her great-niece Ankhnesneferibre, the daughter of Psamtik II, continuing the succession in her family line.

During her tenure, she was attested by several building works around Karnak, Luxor, and Abydos. She was buried in the grounds of Medinet Habu, in a tomb chapel that “she shared with her natural mother and adoptive grandmother.” Her sarcophagus was reused in a Ptolemaic tomb at Deir el-Medina, and today, is located in the Cairo Museum.

The Adoption Stela

A stela often referred to as the “Adoption Stela”, was unearthed in 1897 by Georges Legrain at Karnak and moved to the Cairo Museum. It is made from red granite and measures roughly 6 ft (1.8 m) in height and 4.5 ft (1.4 m) in width.

The beginning of the inscription is lost, but the remainder continues with an inscription relating that pharaoh Psamtik I is reporting to the court of his intention to give his daughter to Amun to be a God’s Wife. Psamtik acknowledged that the current God’s Wife, Shepenupet II, daughter of pharaoh Piye of the 25th Dynasty, already had an heir in Taharqa’s daughter Amenirdis II, who was officiating as Divine Adoratrice of Amun. Psamtik intended to compel Shepenupet to adopt Nitocris as her heir, thus supplanting Amenirdis II in the succession.

The court praised the pharaoh’s decision and, in his regnal “year 9, first month of the first season, day 28” (a date identified with March 2, 656 BC) Nitocris departed from Sais to Thebes on a royal flotilla led by the admiral and nomarch of Herakleopolis Magna, Sematawytefnakht.

After sixteen days the flotilla reached Thebes, whose population acclaimed the arrival of the princess. Both Shepenupet II and Amenirdis II met Nitocris. She was adopted formally and both agreed to convey their properties to her (and, indirectly, to Psamtik I).

Then the stela reports a very detailed list with all the daily donations (mainly food) to Nitocris from several officials such as the mayor of Thebes, Mentuemhat, and his family, from the priesthood of Amun that at this time was led by the High Priest of Amun, Harkhebi, as well as from the king and many temples of the whole Land.

Importance

Shepenupet II and Amenirdis II were the last vestiges of the vanished 25th Dynasty, yet they held this highest position of power in the south and practically controlled the entirety of Upper Egypt. Psamtik I chose not to remove the God’s Wife in charge forcefully – an action that would be unpopular – but to make her adopt his daughter as her successor, thus ensuring the future control of Upper Egypt, as well as receiving a considerable amount of properties and other goods: beyond the “facade” of the adoption of Nitocris, the stela de facto reports the reunification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the aegis of Psamtik, after centuries of fragmentation.

Preceded by
Shepenupet II 		God’s Wife of Amun
655–585 BC		 Succeeded by
Ankhnesneferibre
Preceded by
Amenirdis II 		Divine Adoratrice of Amun
656–586 BC
You May Also Like

Robert Plant’s net worth, biography, fact, career, awards and life story

Robert Plant Net Worth: Robert Plant CBE is an English musician, singer, and songwriter who has a net worth of $200 million. Plant is best known as Led Zeppelin’s lead vocalist, but he has also enjoyed great success in his solo endeavors as well as with Strange Sensation, the Band of Joy, the Sensational Space Shifters, and Alison Krauss. His signature, powerfully wide vocal range and his trademark high-pitched singing have led to Plant being regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll, and in 2009, a poll conducted by radio station Planet Rock named him The Greatest Voice in Rock. Robert was named the Greatest Metal Vocalist of All Time by “Hit Parader” magazine in 2006, and he came in at #15 on “Rolling Stone” magazine’s 2008 list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; additionally, when “Rolling Stone” asked readers to vote for their favorite lead singers of all time in 2011, Plant took the #1 spot. Early Life: Robert Plant was born Robert Anthony Plant on August 20, 1948 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England. He grew up with mother Annie, father Robert (a civil engineer and Royal Air Force veteran), and sister Alison in Halesowen, Worcestershire. Robert loved singing and music as a child and wanted to be like Elvis Presley, trying to emulate him at just 10 years old. Plant attended King Edward VI Grammar School for Boys but left in his mid-teens and became interested in blues music. At his father’s behest, Robert began training to be a chartered accountant but quit after 2 weeks and moved out of his parents’ home at the age of 16 to attend college and explore the local blues scene. He worked for Woolworth’s in Halesowen and Wimpey construction company in Birmingham, and he recorded 3 singles with CBS Records. Plant began singing with the Crawling King Snakes and other bands, which led to him meeting future Led Zeppelin bandmate John Bonham. Robert and John were in Band of Joy together before they both joined Led Zeppelin. Career: Plant met Jimmy Page in 1968 when Page was looking for a lead singer for his band, the New Yardbirds; Jimmy asked Robert to join the band after hearing him sing “Somebody to Love” by Jefferson Airplane. The New Yardbirds later became Led Zeppelin and included Plant on lead vocals, Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, and John Bonham on drums. The band signed with Atlantic Records and in 1969, they released their debut album, “Led Zeppelin,” which reached #6 on the U.K. charts and #10 on the U.S. charts. They followed up their debut with 8 more studio albums, including “Houses of the Holy” (1973), “Physical Graffiti” (1975), and “In Through the Out Door” (1979), as well as the 1976 concert film “The Song Remains the Same.” Led Zeppelin’s 1971 classic “Stairway to Heaven” is considered one of the greatest songs of all time, and the band released several other popular singles, such as “Whole Lotta Love” (1969), “Ramble On” (1969), “Black Dog” (1971), and “Rock and Roll” (1972). The band went on to sell an estimated 200 to 300 million records, and they disbanded after Bonham died of pulmonary aspiration in 1980. In the decades since Bonham’s passing, Plant, Page, and Jones have occasionally performed together with John’s son, Jason, on drums, and Page and Plant released 2 albums (“No Quarter” and “Walking into Clarksdale”) and toured together in the 1990s. Robert released his first solo album, the certified platinum “Pictures at Eleven,” in 1982, and recorded 5 more solo albums before forming the band Strange Sensation; he recorded 2002’s “Dreamland” and 2005’s “Mighty ReArranger” with Strange Sensation, then collaborated with bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss on 2007’s “Raising Sand,” which went on to win 5 Grammys. In 2010, Robert Plant and the Band of Joy released the album “Band of Joy,” which earned Robert 2 Grammy nominations, and he released “Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar” (2014) and “Carry Fire” (2017) with the Sensational Space Shifters. In the early 1980s, Plant formed The Honeydrippers with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck; the band released the EP “The Honeydrippers: Volume One” in 1984, and it reached #4 on the “Billboard” 200 chart. Robert’s most commercially successful post-Zeppelin album was 1988’s “Now and Zen,” which went triple platinum in the U.S. and gold in the U.K. Robert launched “Digging Deep – The Robert Plant Podcast” in June 2019; on each episode, he discusses a different track from his back catalog. Personal Life: Robert was married to Maureen Wilson from 1968 to 1983. The couple welcomed daughter Carmen in 1968, son Karac in 1972, and son Logan in 1979. Sadly, Karac passed away from a stomach virus in 1977 while Plant was on tour with Led Zeppelin; a devastated Robert wrote “All My Love” in tribute to his beloved son. In 1975, Plant and his family were injured in a car accident in Greece; he broke his elbow and his ankle, leading to the cancellation of the remaining dates of Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti” tour. In 2010, Plant began a relationship with singer-songwriter Patty Griffin and moved into her Austin, Texas, home; they split up in 2014, and Robert returned to England. Plant has been a fan of the Wolverhampton Wanderers football club since the age of 5 and was named their Vice-President in 2009. Awards and Honors: Plant has won 2 NME Awards (World Male Singer and Best Male Singer) and 8 Grammy Awards, including Best Hard Rock Performance for “Most High” (1998), Album of the Year for “Raising Sand” (2008), and Best Rock Album for Led Zeppelin’s “Celebration Day” (2013). In 2009, he received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and Robert and his former Led Zeppelin bandmates received Kennedy Center Honors in 2012.
Read More