Women of Ancient Egypt Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cleopatra VII

The woman we know as Cleopatra is fully known as Cleopatra VII and she ruled over Egypt between 51 and 30BC. Cleopatra was a Macedonian queen and she was the last Pharoah of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and in fact the last Egyptian Pharoah prior to Roman occupation. Renowned for her apparent beauty, Cleopatra was far more than a pretty face. She was an intelligent woman, knowing several languages and being perhaps the only Ptolemy who actually learned the Egyptian language.

Cleopatra VI was Cleopatra's elder sister and is believed to have died as a child.

Answer: Ankhesenamun

Ankhesenamun was Tutankhamun's wife and, it is believed, his half-sister. Ankhesenamun was born Ankhsenpaaten and was a daughter of Egypt's heretic Pharoah, Akhenaten, and Queen Nefertiti. She was married to her half-brother Tutankhamun at the age of 13 and remained his wife until Tutankhamun's death at the tender age of only 18 or 19 in 1333BC. Upon his death, Ankhesenamun was forced to marry Ay, an elderly official who wanted to be the successor to the throne. Soon after this marriage, Ankhesenamun disappears from history.

It is thought by many Egyptologists that she wrote a letter to a Hittite king asking for a son to marry as she did not wish to marry a servant (possibly Ay). Her plans, however, failed as the Hittite prince was killed before reaching the palace and Ankhesenamun is forced to marry Ay before she vanished without a trace from Egyptian history.

Her image lives on in the form of beautiful images that can be seen on a number of treasures found in her husband Tutankhamun's tomb.

Answer: "The beautiful one has arrived"

The name "Nefertiti" means "the beautiful one has arrived". Queen Nefertiti, wife of the heretic Pharoah Akhenaten, first appears in Egyptian history on her marriage to the Pharoah. Little is known about her early life, though some agree that she was not likely to have been of Egyptian royal blood, while some other believe that she was a foreign princess. Nefertiti fully embraced her husband's monotheistic religion, the worship of the Aten, and changed her name to Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, meaning "The Aten is radiant of radiance [because] the beautiful one has come", as a sign of respect to the God.

A number of Egyptologists believe that Nefertiti held a powerful position within the new religion and indeed may have strongly influenced her husband's rule of the country. Nefertiti gave birth to around 6 daughters but in the 12th year of Akhenaten's rule, she disappers from all records.

Her disappearance from history, like that of her daughter Ankhesenamun, remains a mystery and it is not known whether she died, had been killed or had simply fallen out of favour with the Pharoah.

Answer: Ramses II

Nefertari was among one of many wives of the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh, Ramses II, also known as Ramses the Great. She is seen depicted standing next to the Pharoah on a significant number of monuments, which shows that she was of high importance to the Pharoah and may have exerted some political influence.

The temple of Abu Simbel at Aswan was dedicated to Nefertari and the goddess Hathor by her husband Ramses II, who had a large number of monuments built around Egypt during his 67 year rule.

Answer: True

It is true! Hatshepsut had been sharing the throne as Queen Dowager with a young nephew, Tuthmose III, who would be the heir to the throne when he came of age. Not willing to wait for her nephew to take the throne from her, Hatshepsut declared herself Pharoah of Egypt in 1473BC. Since Pharaohs needed the ability to speak with the Gods, Hatshepsut devised a story that her pregnant mother, Queen Ahmose, had been visited by the god Amun-Ra and therefore she was a divine child. An account of this story can be found at her temple at Deir-el-Bahri.

Despite being female, Hatshepsut is widely depicted wearing male clothing and accessories on her monuments, possibly as a way of overcoming any problems that priests may have had with having a woman as ruler of Egypt. During her reign, Hatshepsut proved herself to be a master politician and leader, one success being the expedition to Punt (now in modern-day Somalia), in which she brought back vast amounts of riches and other commodities.

She died in 1458BC after 15 years as Pharaoh. Upon her death, her nephew and successor, Tuthmose III began a campaign of destroying all records of Hatshepsut's existence and rule by damaging monuments built by her and erasing her name were possible.

Despite all his efforts, Hatshepsut's memory has lived on.

Answer: Neithikret

Neithikret was Egypt's first female Pharaoh. Not much is known about her but she was Pharoah circa 2148-2144 BC. Later records state that she was "the bravest and most beautiful woman of her time" and the historian Manetho wrote about her vengeance on those who were responsible for her brother's death.

Sobeknefru was the second female Pharaoh, who was ruler of Egypt between 1787 and 1783 BC.

Tawosret took over the throne after the death of her husband, the Pharaoh Seti II in 1194BC. She was responsible for a number of expeditions to the Sinai and Palestine.

Tiy was never a Pharaoh or even a full ruler, but she played an instrumental role in the policy-making of her husband, Amenhotep III (who ruled from 1390 to 1352 BC and who was the father of Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten).

Answer: The world's first female physician

Lady Peseshet was the world's first known female physician. She was a practicising physician during the Old Kingdom period (2650-2134 BC).
One of her titles was the "Overseer of the Doctors" and it is believed that she was the director of a number of other female physicians. Egyptologists have identified over 100 prominent female physicians in Ancient Egyptian history.

Answer: False

Nitocris was not known to be the head of the Egyptian civil service but she did live and rule during the 6th Dynasty. She was otherwise known as Neithikret, the first female pharoah who was mentioned in a question above. According to Manetho, Nitocris became the ruler of Egypt when her brother, the Pharoah, was executed for blasphemy after defiling a temple of Osiris. To avenge her brother's death, Nitocris built a large chamber below the water level of the Nile and invited those responsible for her brother's death to a banquet there. During the banquet, Nitocris let water from the Nile into the chamber and thus drowning them.

She then committed suicide before anyone could seek vengeance on her. Manetho believes that she was the last ruler of the 6th Dynasty.

Answer: Vizier

Lady Nebet was given the title "Judge and Vizier", among others, and was one of few women who were given the title of vizier, which would have made her the second most powerful person in Egypt at the time and the Pharoah's "right-hand woman". It is believed, however, that her husband Huy was the person who actually carried out the job while Lady Nebet merely had the title. Huy was endowed with the title "Overseer of the Pyramid City" and also held a position of power within society.

Answer: Writing

Seshat was the goddess of writing and was the wife of the Ibis-headed Scribe god, Thoth. She is also the goddess of accounting, mathematics and historical records, as well as being responsible for recording the time alloted to Pharoahs for their stay on Earth.

The Egyptians believed that Seshat created writing, while her husband Thoth was responsible for teaching it to mankind. Her name itself means "female scribe" ("sesh" is the male form). Seshat is depicted as wearing a panther-skin dress and her headdress is shown as a stylised flower or star underneath a pair of down-turned horns.

Some of her other titles include "Mistress of the House of Books", indicating that she took care of Thoth's store of spells and scrolls, and 'Mistress of the House of Architects', highlighting her importance in helping the pharoahs set foundations for their monuments according to astronomical markers.