Amanitore

Amanitore, also spelled Amanitere or Amanitare, was a queen regnant of the Kingdom of Kush, ruling from Meroë in the middle of the 1st century CE. She ruled together with her son, Natakamani. The co-reign of Amanitore and Natakamani is a very well attested period and appears to have been a prosperous time. They may have been contemporaries of the Roman emperor Nero. Life Amanitore and Natakamani are known from their tombs and from numerous monuments where the two are depicted together. Older scholars assumed that Amanitore was Natakamani's wife, though they are now conventionally assumed to have been mother and son; an ancient graffito found at the Temple of Dakka strongly suggests that Amanitore was Natakamani's mother. During their co-reign, only Natakamani was explicitly titled as ruler (qore), with Amanitore being titled only as kandake (queen consort/mother). They are however clearly depicted as co-rulers with equal power given that both are shown with the regalia and attire of kings. Neither Natakamani nor Amanitore are ever attested to have ruled on their own without the other. Amanitore is buried in her own pyramid in Meroë, Beg. N 1. The tomb is approximately six metres square at its base, and not a pyramid in the mathematical sense. Amanitore's royal palace was at Gebel Barkal in modern-day Sudan, which now is a UNESCO heritage site. The area of her rule was between the Nile and the Atbara rivers.