Neferneferuaten Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh.
Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshiped
one god only, Aten, or the sun disc.
Akhenaten and Nefertiti were responsible for the creation of a whole new religion which
changed the ways of religion within Egypt.
With her husband, they reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of Ancient
Egyptian history.
Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as Neferneferuaten after her husband's
death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of
ongoing debate.
Nefertiti had many titles including Hereditary Princess; Great of Praises; Lady of Grace,
Sweet of Love; Lady of The Two Lands; Main King’s Wife, his beloved; Great King’s
Wife, his beloved, Lady of all Women; and Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt.
She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlin's Neues Museum, shown to the right.
The bust is one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt.
It was attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, and it was found in his workshop.
The bust is notable for exemplifying the understanding Ancient Egyptians had regarding realistic
facial proportions.
Family See also : Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family
Tree
Nefertiti, Egyptian Nfr.t-jy.tj, original pronunciation approximately Nafteta, for.
Nefertiti's parentage is not known with certainty, but one often cited theory is that she was
the daughter of Ay, later to be pharaoh.
Scenes in the tombs of the nobles in Amarna mention the queen’s sister who is named
Mutbenret.
Another theory that gained some support identified Nefertiti with the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa.
The exact dates of when Nefertiti was married to Akhenaten and later promoted to queenship
are uncertain.
Their six known daughters were: Meritaten: No later than year 1, possibly
later became Pharaoh Nefernferuaten.
Meketaten: Year 4.
Ankhesenpaaten, also known as Ankhesenamen, later queen of Tutankhamun
Neferneferuaten Tasherit: Year, possibly later became Pharaoh Nefernferuaten.
Neferneferure: Year 9.
Setepenre: Year 11.
Life
Nefertiti first appears in scenes in Thebes.
In the damaged tomb of the royal butler Parennefer, the new king Amenhotep IV is accompanied by
a royal woman, and this lady is thought to be an early depiction of Nefertiti.
The king and queen are shown worshiping the Aten.
In the tomb of the vizier Ramose, Nefertiti is shown standing behind Amenhotep IV in the
Window of Appearance during the reward ceremony for the vizier.
During the early years in Thebes, Akhenaten had several temples erected at Karnak.
One of the structures, the Mansion of the Benben, was dedicated to Nefertiti.
She is depicted with her daughter Meritaten and in some scenes the princess Meketaten
participates in the scenes as well.
In scenes found on the talatat, Nefertiti appears almost twice as often as her husband.
She is shown appearing behind her husband the Pharaoh in offering scenes in the role
of the queen supporting her husband, but she is also depicted in scenes that would have
normally been the prerogative of the king.
She is shown smiting the enemy, and captive enemies decorate her throne.
In the fourth year of his reign, Amenhotep IV decided to move the capital to Akhetaten.
In his fifth year, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten, and Nefertiti
was henceforth known as Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti.
The name change was a sign of the ever-increasing importance of the cult of the Aten.
It changed Egypt's religion from a polytheistic religion to a religion which may have been
better described as a monolatry or henotheism.
The boundary stelae of years 4 and 5 mark the boundaries of the new city and suggest
that the move to the new city of Akhetaten occurred around that time.
The new city contained several large open-air temples dedicated to the Aten.
Nefertiti and her family would have resided in the Great Royal Palace in the center of
the city and possibly at the Northern Palace as well.
Nefertiti and the rest of the royal family feature prominently in the scenes at the palaces
and in the tombs of the nobles.
Nefertiti’s steward during this time was an official named Meryre II.
He would have been in charge of running her household.
Inscriptions in the tombs of Huya and Meryre II dated to Year 12, 2nd month of Peret, Day
8 show a large foreign tribute.
The people of Kharu and Kush are shown bringing gifts of gold and precious items to Akhenaten
and Nefertiti.
In the tomb of Meryre II, Nefertiti’s steward, the royal couple is shown seated in a kiosk
with their six daughters in attendance.
This is one of the last times princess Meketaten is shown alive.
Two representations of Nefertiti that were excavated by Flinders Petrie appear to show
Nefertiti in the middle to later part of Akhenaten's reign 'after the exaggerated style of the
early years had relaxed somewhat'.
One is a small piece on limestone and is a preliminary sketch of Nefertiti wearing her
distinctive tall crown with carving began around the mouth, chin, ear and tab of the
crown.
Another is a small inlay head modeled from reddish-brown quartzite that was clearly intended
to fit into a larger composition.
Meketaten may have died in year 13 or 14.
Nefertiti, Akhenaten, and three princesses are shown mourning her.
Nefertiti disappears from the scene soon after that.
Death
Old Theories Pre-2012 Egyptological theories thought that
Nefertiti vanished from the historical record around Year 14 of Akhenaten's reign, with
no word of her thereafter.
Explanations included a sudden death, by a plague that was sweeping through the city,
or some other natural death.
This theory was based on the discovery of several shabti fragments inscribed for Nefertiti.
A previous theory, that she fell into disgrace, was discredited when deliberate erasures of
monuments belonging to a queen of Akhenaten were shown to refer to Kiya instead.
During Akhenaten's reign, Nefertiti enjoyed unprecedented power.
By the twelfth year of his reign, there is evidence she may have been elevated to the
status of co-regent: equal in status to the pharaoh — as may be depicted on the Coregency
Stela.
It is possible Nefertiti is the ruler named Neferneferuaten.
Some theories believe that Nefertiti was still alive and held influence on the younger royals.
If this is the case, that influence and presumably Nefertiti's own life would have ended by year
3 of Tutankhaten's reign.
In that year, Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun.
This is evidence of his return to the official worship of Amun, and abandonment of Amarna
to return the capital to Thebes.
New Theories Discovered in 2012, a Regnal Year 16, month
3 of Akhet, day 15 inscription, dated explicitly to Akhenaten's reign, mentions the presence
of the "Great Royal Wife, His Beloved, Mistress of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti".
The badly legible five line text "mentions a building project in Amarna".
This means that Nefertiti was alive in the second to last year of Akhenaten's reign,
and demonstrates that Akhenaten still ruled alone, with his wife by his side.
Therefore, the rule of the female Amarna pharaoh known as Neferneferuaten must be placed between
the death of Akhenaten and the accession of Tutankhamun.
This female pharaoh used the epithet 'Effective for her husband' in one of her cartouches,
which means she was either Nefertiti or her daughter Meritaten.
Burial There are many theories regarding her death
and burial but, to date, the mummy of this famous queen, her parents or her children
has not been found or formally identified.
In 1898, archeologist Victor Loret found two female mummies inside the tomb of Amenhotep
II in KV35 in the Valley of the Kings.
These two mummies, named 'The Elder Lady' and 'The Younger Lady', were likely candidates
of her remains.
The KMT suggested in 2001 that the Elder Lady may be Nefertiti's body.
It was argued that the evidence suggests that the mummy is around her mid-thirties or early
forties, Nefertiti's guessed age of death.
More evidence to support this identification was that the mummy's teeth look like that
of a 29-38 year old, Nefertiti's most likely age of death.
Also, unfinished busts of Nefertiti appear to resemble the mummy's face, though other
suggestions included Ankhesenamun.
Due to recent age tests on the mummy's teeth, it eventually became apparent that the 'Elder
Lady' is in fact Queen Tiye, mother of Akhenaten and that the DNA of the mummy is a close,
if not direct, match to the lock of hair found in Tutankhamun's tomb.
The lock of hair was found in a coffinette bearing an inscription naming Queen Tiye.
Results have discovered that she was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya, who were the parents of
Queen Tiye, thus ruling her out as Nefertiti.
"Younger Lady"
On June 9, 2003, archaeologist Joann Fletcher, a specialist in ancient hair from the University
of York in England, announced that Nefertiti's mummy may have been the Younger Lady.
Fletcher suggested that Nefertiti was the Pharaoh Smenkhkare.
Some Egyptologists hold to this view though the majority believe Smenkhkare to have been
a separate person.
Fletcher led an expedition funded by the Discovery Channel to examine what they believed to have
been Nefertiti's mummy.
The team claimed that the mummy they examined was damaged in a way suggesting the body had
been deliberately desecrated in antiquity.
Mummification techniques, such as the use of embalming fluid and the presence of an
intact brain, suggested an eighteenth-dynasty royal mummy.
Other elements which the team used to support their theory were the age of the body, the
presence of embedded nefer beads, and a wig of a rare style worn by Nefertiti.
They further claimed that the mummy's arm was originally bent in the position reserved
for pharaohs, but was later snapped off and replaced with another arm in a normal position.
Most Egyptologists, among them Kent Weeks and Peter Locavara, generally dismiss Fletcher's
claims as unsubstantiated.
They say that ancient mummies are almost impossible to identify as a particular person without
DNA.
As bodies of Nefertiti's parents or children have never been identified, her conclusive
identification is impossible.
Any circumstantial evidence, such as hairstyle and arm position, is not reliable enough to
pinpoint a single, specific historical person.
The cause of damage to the mummy can only be speculated upon, and the alleged revenge
is an unsubstantiated theory.
Bent arms, contrary to Fletcher's claims, were not reserved to pharaohs; this was also
used for other members of the royal family.
The wig found near the mummy is of unknown origin, and cannot be conclusively linked
to that specific body.
Finally, the 18th dynasty was one of the largest and most prosperous dynasties of ancient Egypt.
A female royal mummy could be any of a hundred royal wives or daughters from the 18th dynasty's
more than 200 years on the throne.
In addition, there was controversy about both the age and sex of the mummy.
On June 12, 2003, Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council
for Antiquities, also dismissed the claim, citing insufficient evidence.
On August 30, 2003, Reuters further quoted Hawass: "I'm sure that this mummy is not a
female", and "Dr Fletcher has broken the rules and therefore, at least until we have reviewed
the situation with her university, she must be banned from working in Egypt."
On different occasions, Hawass has claimed that the mummy is female and male.
In a more recent research effort led by Hawass, the mummy was put through CT scan analysis.
Researchers concluded that she may be Tutankhamun's biological mother, an unnamed daughter of
Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, not Nefertiti.
Fragments of shattered bone were found in the sinus, and blood clots were found.
The theory that the damage was inflicted post-mummification was rejected, and a murder scenario was deemed
more likely.
The broken-off bent forearm found near the mummy, which had been proposed to have belonged
to mummy, was conclusively shown not to actually belong to it.
Scholars think that, after Tutankhamun returned Egypt to the traditional religion, he moved
his closest relatives: father, grandmother, and biological mother, to the Valley of the
Kings to be buried with him.
Iconic status
Nefertiti's place as an icon in popular culture is secure as she has become something of a
celebrity.
After Cleopatra she is the second most famous "Queen" of Ancient Egypt in the Western imagination.
In the arts Novels
Mika Waltari, The Egyptian.
Allen Drury, God Against the Gods.
Story of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.
Naguib Mahfouz, Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth Nefertiti is one of the characters who reflects
on Akhenaten and the Amarna period Michelle Moran: Nefertiti: A Novel..
Music Nefertiti is a classical ballet by American
composer John Craton "Nefertiti, Sun Goddess" appears on the demo
album compact disc, "The Aten Shines Again" by Leo-Neferuaten Boyle.
A subsequent YouTube video was created for the track in November 2012.
"Nefertiti" is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in December
1967.
Film (1954) The Egyptian, played by Anitra Stevens
(1961) Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile, played by Jeanne Crain
(1994) Nefertiti, figlia del sole, played by Michela Rocco di Torrepadula
Television Doctor Who, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", played
by Riann Steele The Loretta Young Show, "Queen Nefertiti",
played by Loretta Young.
Alternate title "Letter to Loretta" Nefertiti was also cited as inspiration for
the character Cortana in the Halo video game series.
Gallery
References
External links Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Egyptian Museum
and Papyrus Collection