Iset Ta-Hemdjert or Isis Ta-Hemdjert, simply called Isis in her tomb, was an Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian queen of the twentieth dynasty

Twentieth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom. This dynasty is considered to be the last one of the New Kingdom of Egypt, and was followed by the Third Intermediate Period....

; the Great Royal Wife

Great Royal Wife

Great Royal Wife or Chief King's Wife is the term used to refer to the chief wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. While most Ancient Egyptians were monogamous, the pharaoh would have had other, lesser wives and concubines in addition to the Great Royal Wife...

 of Ramesses III

Ramesses III

Usimare Ramesses III was the second Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty and is considered to be the last great New Kingdom king to wield any substantial authority over Egypt. He was the son of Setnakhte and Queen Tiy-Merenese. Ramesses III is believed to have reigned from March 1186 to April 1155 BCE...

 and the Royal Mother of Ramesses VI

Ramesses VI

Ramesses VI was the fifth ruler of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt who reigned from 1145 BC to 1137 BC and a son of Ramesses III by Iset Ta-Hemdjert...

.

She was probably of Asian origin; her mother's name Hemdjert (or Habadjilat or Hebnerdjent) is not an Egyptian name but a Syrian one. One of her children are known to us, Ramesses VI, who succeeded his nephew Ramesses V

Ramesses V

Usermare Sekhepenre Ramesses V was the fourth pharaoh of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt and was the son of Ramesses IV and Queen Duatentopet.- Reign :...

, the short-lived son of Ramesses IV. Other than Ramesses V, the grandchildren of Iset Ta-Hemdjert include Ramesses VII

Ramesses VII

Usermaatre Meryamun Setepenre Ramesses VII was the sixth pharaoh of the 20th dynasty of Ancient Egypt. He reigned from about 1136 to 1129 BC and was the son of Ramesses VI. Other dates for his reign are 1138-1131 BC...

, the God's Wife of Amun Iset

Iset (priestess)

Iset was an ancient Egyptian princess and God's Wife of Amun during the 20th dynasty.Iset was the daughter of Pharaoh Ramesses VI and his Great Royal Wife Nubkhesbed, and a sister to Pharaoh Ramesses VII....

, and princes Amunherkhopsef and Panebenkemyt; these are all the children of Ramesses VI. Ramesses IV was once thought to be this queen's own son too until it was revealed in a recent 2010 Journal of Egyptian Archaeology article that Queen Tyti

Tyti

Tyti was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 20th dynasty. It was uncertain which pharaoh was her husband, but he can now only be Ramesses III based on new evidence published in the 2010 issue of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology . Her titles shown that she was the daughter, sister, wife and mother...

 was most likely to be this king's mother from copies of fragments of the tomb robbery papyri that Anthony Harris made revealing that she was Ramesses III's own wife plus the fact that she is known to have been a king's mother.

Apart from the Great Royal Wife designation, she also held the titles of God's Wife, and, during the reign of her sons, "King's Mother". She is shown on a statue of Ramesses III in the Mut

Mut

Mut, which meant mother in the ancient Egyptian language, was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture. Alternative spellings are Maut and Mout. She was considered a primal deity, associated with the waters from which...

 temple at Karnak

Karnak

The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...

. She was still alive during the reign of Ramesses VI, when her granddaughter Iset became God's Wife of Amun

God's Wife of Amun

God's Wife of Amun was the highest ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important Ancient Egyptian religious institution centered in Thebes during the Egyptian 25th and 26th dynasties...

. She was buried in the Valley of the Queens

Valley of the Queens

The Valley of the Queens is a place in Egypt where wives of Pharaohs were buried in ancient times. In ancient times, it was known as Ta-Set-Neferu, meaning –‘the place of the Children of the Pharaoh’, because along with the Queens of the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties many princes and princesses...

, in tomb QV51.

Sources

• Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité, 1991, Christian Settipani
  Christian Settipani
  Christian Settipani is the Technical Director of an IT company in Paris and a genealogist and historian.He has a Master of Advanced Studies degree from the Paris-Sorbonne University and is currently preparing his doctoral thesis, while he often gives lectures to students undergraduates at the...
  
  , p. 171 and 175