Bintanath I

Bintanath I and her daughter, the 'King's Bodily Daughter', an anonymous
woman who wears a lotus flower rather than a crown. The paternity of this
daughter has caused intense scholarly debate.

Bintanath stands before her
colossal husband-father
Ramesses II in the first
court of the Karnak temple.
Colossal statues were more
than simple decoration.
Each figure was understood
to be an intermediary between
mortals and the gods.
The statues developed their
own cults and their own
priesthoods, and people of
all classes dedicated stelae
to the colossi.

With both Nefertari and Isetnofret dead by Year 34, Ramesses II had to choose yet another consort. This time, following the precedent established by Amenhotep Ill, he married at least three of his daughters, Bintanath, Meritamun and Nebettawi, plus his 'sister' Henutmire.

Bintanath, eldest daughter of Isetnofret and Ramesses, was the first to become her father's consort. We can see her assuming the role of queen in a late-dating carving on one of the pillars in the great hall of Ramesses' Abu Simbel temple, and at Aswan where she stands alongside her mother and her brothers Ramesses, Khaemwaset and Merenptah.

Now we find our first and only instance of a child apparently born to a queen who is married to her father. A fully-grown woman who is clearly labelled Bodily King's Daughter appears beside Bintanath on the wall of the latter's tomb in the Valley of the Kings (QV 71). Bintanath wears a vulture headdress and modius, and her name is written in a cartouche. Her daughter has a simple lotus flower on her head, and no name. The daughter's title is a vague and confusing one, and her paternity remains unclear. She may indeed be the daughter of Ramesses II. But she may also, with equal validity, be his granddaughter, born to Bintanath and an otherwise undistinguished husband, possibly befor Bintanath became queen. If the latter were the case, it would suggest that Bintanath and her sisters were queen consorts in name only. Bintanath outlived her father, dying during the reign of her brother Merenptah.