**Nitocris II** (or **Nitokris II**,[^1] **Nitocris B**,[^2] [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]]: *Nt-jqrt*, **Nitiqret**) was an [[Ancient Egypt|ancient Egyptian]] princess and priestess during the reign of [[Pharaoh|pharaoh]] [[Amasis II]] of the [[26th Dynasty]].

## Biography

Daughter of Amasis II,[^2] Nitocris II is mainly attested by an inscription on a [[Bronze|bronze]] sitting statuette of [[Amun-Ra]] now in the [[University of Chicago Oriental Institute]] (registration no. E10584A-B[^3]) on which she is called *[[High Priest of Amun]]*; the same object also claims that the [[God's Wife of Amun]] [[Ankhnesneferibre]] was her "mother". Nitocris' title is notable because she is the last attested holder of the once influential office of High Priest of Amun at [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]], as well as one of only two known female holders;[^4] she may have reached this office around 560 BCE.[^2]

The fact that Ankhnesneferibre is called her "mother" suggests that Nitocris also held the office of [[Divine Adoratrice of Amun]][^1] which usually led to the charge of [[God's Wife of Amun]] after the adoptive mother's death. However, it seems that Nitocris never managed to reach the latter position because these offices were abolished soon after the [[Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt|Persian invasion of Egypt]] in 525 BCE.[^5]

## Notes

[^1]: Dodson, Aidan (2002). "The problem of Amenirdis II and the heirs of the office of God's Wife of Amun during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty". *Journal of Egyptian Archaeology*. **88**: 179–186\. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:[10.1177/030751330208800112](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F030751330208800112). [[S2CID (identifier)|S2CID]] [190737173](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:190737173). pp. 179; 186
[^2]: [[Kenneth Kitchen|Kitchen, Kenneth A.]] (1996). *The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)*. Warminster: Aris & Phillips Limited. p. 608\. [[ISBN (identifier)|ISBN]] [0-85668-298-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-85668-298-5). § 365 n. 951; table 13A
[^3]: [Picture of the statuette on the Chicago Oriental Institute website](https://oi-idb-static.uchicago.edu/multimedia/854/Object%20Photo%20OIM%20E10584A-B.001.1920x1200.jpg)
[^4]: Dodson, Aidan, Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson (2004). [[ISBN (identifier)|ISBN]] [0-500-05128-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-500-05128-3), p.246
[^5]: ["God's Wife of Amun"](http://euler.slu.edu/~bart/egyptianhtml/kings%20and%20Queens/God%27s_Wife_of_Amun.html). *Ancient Egypt by Anneke Bart*. Retrieved May 31, 2015.