Nefertari was the chief and best-loved wife of Ramses II. She lived in the 13th century BC, and Ramses honored her as no other Egyptian queen was honored, with her own temple at Abu Simbel and a tomb so beautiful it is often called the Sistine Chapel of ancient Egypt.
Her life
Nefertari married Ramses before he became king and bore him several children. She appears beside him at ceremonies and on monuments, and she took part in diplomacy: a letter she wrote to the Hittite queen Puduhepa, sending gifts after the peace treaty, has survived. She seems to have died around the 25th year of his reign.
Her temple at Abu Simbel
The smaller temple at Abu Simbel was dedicated to Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. On its front, her statues stand as tall as those of the king, which was very rare. An inscription says Ramses made it “for the great royal wife Nefertari, for whom the sun shines”.
Her tomb
Her tomb in the Valley of the Queens, QV66, was found in 1904. Its paintings show the queen in a white robe meeting the gods, under a ceiling of gold stars on a deep blue sky. It was restored in the late 1980s and early 1990s and opens with a separate ticket. Visit it on our Luxor tours.
