DIVINE WIFE OF AMUN

    This title was carried by the king's chief wife during the earlier New Kingdom, and she enacted the role of consort to the chief god Amun in religious ceremonies. Later, the title became an instrument of political policy to ensure that the king gained control over Thebes and that no male rival seized power there (as had occurred in the Twenty-first Dynasty). The title was now transferred to the king's daughter who became a priestess—the Divine Wife of the god Amun at Thebes— with great religious and political power which was nevertheless limited to Thebes. Also, she was not allowed to marry, but was obliged to adopt the daughter of the next king as her 'daughter' and the heiress to her title and position.