A N K H E S S E N

Ankhessen or Ankhesenamun was a queen who lived during the 18th Dynasty of Egypt as Pharaoh Akhenaton's daughter and subsequently became the (teenage and half-sister) wife to Pharaoh Tutankhamun and Coregent pharaoh over all of Upper and Lower Egypt, the wealthiest and most powerful empire on Earth. Born Ankhesenpaaton ("she lives for the Aton”), Ankhessen was the third of six daughters of Akhenaton and his Coregent Pharaoh Nefertiti. The change in her name reflects the change from polytheism to monotheism (worshiping the ATON) in ancient Egyptian religion during her lifetime after her father's death. Her youth is well documented in the ancient reliefs and paintings of the reign of her parents in what once was the majestic tropical paradise and capital city of Amarna.