Akademik

    In the later periods of Egypt's history, the role of Divine Wife of Amun was held at Thebes by the king's daughter and was designed to prevent the emergence of a rival to the king. Montemhet (who was the Fourth Prophet in the Temple of Amun at Karnak), managed to gain considerable practical if not outright political power at Thebes, at the side of the Divine Wife Shepenopet II, who was King *Piankhy's daughter and the successor of *Amenardis I as the God's Wife.

    Egypt was currently passing through troubled times and the Ethiopian rulers were in combat with the *Assyrian forces in Egypt during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Montemhet was mentioned in the Rassam cylinder of *Ashurbanipal as 'King of Thebes', but although he undoubtedly wielded considerable influence there, no evidence indicates that he attempted outright to seize royal power. He came from a distinguished family (his grandfather was Vizier), and he built extensively at Thebes. He was a dutiful subject: a scene in the Temple of Mut at Karnak shows him, with his father and son, following the figure of King *Taharka as they worship the goddess Mut. Nevertheless in the accompanying inscription, he takes full credit for the programme of construction and repair of the divine buildings which customarily would have been ascribed to the king's own initiative.

    Montemhet's tomb, one of the largest private tombs in the Theban Necropolis (no. 34), is located in front of Deir el Bahri and is currently under restoration.