The Theban tomb (No. 55) of the vizier Ramose contains what is probably the rarest sight in the history of Amarna Art: Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti completely barren of princesses. The painting was soon to be outdated by the birth of the first "King's Daughter of His Flesh," Meritaten. The oversight in Ramose's tomb--completed during the first months of the reign--was never to be repeated, for Meritaten and her future siblings were to become staples in the iconography of the times. Her tiny figure toddles behind that of her mother in the "Mansion of the Ben-Ben" Amenhotep IV built at Karnak, and the far more candid nature of the Amarna artists leave little doubt that the eldest daughter was also the family favorite. She is the one always placed closest to her parents, particularly Akhenaten, who can be seen lifting her to bestow a kiss or tempting her with a dangling ornament.

The Aten had good reason to love Meritaten, for she was certain to become the next Lady of the Two Lands. It was a title and postion she need not necessarily wait to acquire; in the last years of his reign, Akhenaten elevated the status of his favorite daughter to that of "The Chief Wife, his beloved, the Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lady of the Two Lands, Meritaten." The marriage may have been an honorary affair meant to enhance Meritaten's standing, but it may also have been a union to be consumated. The intimacy of an unfinished sculpture of Akhenaten holding and kissing a young woman most often identified as Meritaten hints at the extant of the relationship; perhaps the sculpture was commissioned to celebrate the union. Regardless of the exact nature of the relationship between Meritaten and her "husband", she was granted palace quarters befitting a queen and gains prominence on the monuments just as her mother, the beloved and stunning Nefertiti, fades away completely. There is an undercurrent of thought and theory that states Nefertiti disappeared only to reappear under an assumed, male name as her husband's co-ruler. It may be that Meritaten was not her father's queen, but her mother's, in which case it would have been a purely honorary role, creating a situation similiar to that of Pharaoh Hatchepsut and her daughter Neferure. The arrival of Meritaten-Tasherit--"Meritaten the Younger"--is then a result of Meritaten's later marriage to the ephemereal Smenkhkare, and not her father's need for an heir. Contradicting this is the death of her younger sister Meketaten in childbirth. Nothing survives to suggest that Meketaten ever had a male guardian and/or husband other than her father, and the same can be said concerning princess Ankhesenapaaten and the infant born to and named after her. Akhenaten and his dynasty were wanting for an heir and, after their mother, the royal daughters were politically and geneoligically the best candidates for conceiving the next pharaoh. Unfortuantely, the royal daughters had only more daughters.

Without a son born to better than a secondary wife, Smenkhkare was the heir apparent; his wife's future as Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt was assured. Akhenaten was quick to honor his daughter by ordering a vast remodeling of the Maru-Aten, a Sunshade temple originally built for and dedicated to Akhenaten's secondary wife Kiya. Leaving the Favorite's features intact, the craftsmen sheered away the front of her Nubian wig and elongated her skull to create the distinct profile of the Amarna princesses; the replacement of Kiya's name and titles with those of Meritaten and Ankhesenapaaten would make good any remaining differences. One relief from Amarna even shows Kiya in the presence of her young protegés, whose positions in the relief are more prominent and honored than that of the secondary queen and her infant daughter.

Refurbished temples at home, though lovely, were of no compare to prominence abroad. The Amarna Leters reveal that the rulers Burnaburias, King of Babylon, and Abimilki of Tyre both refer to Akhenaten's Mistress of the House, Mayati. Mayati was a nickname for the princess, now a queen who was honored even when her political skills seemed less than shining:

I send ten lumps of genuine lapis lazuli as your greeting gift, and to the mistress of the house I send twenty crickets of genuine lapis lazuli. I know that Mayati alone did nothing to ensure that I was restored to health, and showed no concern for me.

Burnaburias, King of Babylon
Amarna Letter EAII.

Abimilki of Tyre was somewhat more appreciative; his city may have been dedicated to Meritaten, with Nefertiti having enjoyed the privilige beforehand.

Just as the Theban tomb of Ramose attested to the accession of Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti, so does the Amarnan tomb of Meryra II bear witness to the installation of Smenkhkare and Meritaten as Lord and Lady of the Two Lands. The tomb's decoration had originally shown Akhenaten and a queen whose identity is now lost, but was later altered to show his successor and daughter in full royal capacity. Presumably, the change would only had been considered if Akhenaten were dead. Had the artists in Meryra II's tomb kept working, the image of Smenkhkare and Meritaten might have been converted to show their successors, for both king and queen passed away early on in their infantile reign.

TThe Royal Tomb at Amarna had in its plan a chamber meant to hold the person and possessions of Meritaten for all eternity. But eternity is not immune to compromise. No tomb specific to Meritaten and her husband could have progressed further than the threshold, so short was their time on the throne. An unused tomb might have been pressed into service, as there would be a reluctance to break the seals of the Royal Tomb even for a once intended interment. Regardless of where she lay, Meritaten's rest was not to be an undisturbed one. The abandonment of Akhetaten also brought forth the dismantling and relocation of any existing burials. A few of Meritaten's posessions travelled as far as Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, where seals bearing her names and titles as queen were found in the entrance rubble of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun. Also found in her half- brother's tomb was her ivory painting pallette, which had been carefully placed between the forepaws of the guardian figure of Anubis; a pair of ivory clappers inscribed for she and her grandmother Tiye; and two boxes, one naming her and her parents and the other naming her and the pharaoh (?) Neferneferuaten. The names on the latter box were later changed to those of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, forshadowing the erasure of all their names from talatat and other monuments. Such was the fate of Meritaten's name, but what of her body? The boundary stelae surrounding her father's city have always known the answer to that:

If the King's Daughter Meritaten should die in any city of north, south, west or east, she shall be brought and buried at Akhetaten.