Nefertiti

“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.”

Neferneferuaten Nefertiti (heads up I spelt it wrong so often I couldn't be bothered to correct it i'm so sorry!) (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BC) was an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal Wife of Pharoah Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband are remembered for a religious revolution, in which they worshipped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc. With her husband, she 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. She was immortalised by her bust, attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, which is one of the most copied Ancient Egyptian works.

Nefertiti's name, can be translated as "The Beautiful Woman has Come". Her parentage is subject to debate but the most common theory is that she was the daughter of the pharaoh Ay. It has also been suggested that Nefertiti was her husband Akhenaten's full sister, though this is contradicted by her titles which do not include those usually used by the daughters of a Pharaoh.

The exact dates when Nefertiti married Akhenaten and became the king's Great Royal Wife are uncertain. They had six known daughters together. Her image first appears in Themes, shown in a tomb mural worshipping the sundisc alongside her husband.

During the early years in Thebes, Akhenaten erected many temples including one dedicated to Nefertiti, the Mansion of the Benben. Here she is depicted with her daughter. 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. However, more excitingly, she is also depicted in scenes that would have normally been the prerogative of the king – for example capturing and smiting her enemies.  

In the fourth year of his reign, her husband decided to move the capital to Akhetaten (modern Amarna) where they lived with their family in the Great Royal Palace where they featured prominently in the scenes at the palaces and in the tombs of the nobles. In his fifth year, his name officially became Akhenaen, and hers became Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti. Their name changes siginified the increasing significance of the cult of Aten. Thus, Egypt’s polytheism was transformed into a henotheistic one (worship of one god who is not the only god). In year 13 or 14, their daughter Meketaten died and Nefertiti and her family are depicted mourning her.

Many scholars believe Nefertiti had a role higher than that of Great Royal Wife, and was promoted to co-regent by her husband before his death. There is persuasive evidence for this. Many sites depict her in equal stature to the king and performing “kingly” duties including smiting Egypt's enemies, riding a chariot, and worshipping the Aten in the manner of a Pharaoh. When Nefertiti's name disappears from historical records, it is replaced by that of a co-regent named Neferneferuaten, who became a female Pharaoh. It seems likely that Nefertiti, in a similar fashion to the previous female Pharaoh Hatshepsut, assumed the kingship under the name Pharaoh Neferneferuaten after her husband's death. It is also possible that, in a similar fashion to Hatshepsut, Nefertiti disguised herself as a male and assumed the male alter-ego of Smenkhkare. Further evidence supporting the idea that she ruled as Pharoah comes from the ushabti and other feminine evidence of a female Pharaoh found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Regardless, it is known that during Akhenaten’s reign (and perhaps after), Nefertiti enjoyed unprecedented power.

Pre-2012 Egyptological theories thought that Nefertiti vanished from the historical record around Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign, dying of illness. This theory was based on the discovery of several ushabti fragments inscribed for Nefertiti. However, in 2012 an inscription was discovered which suggests 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,^[24] which means she was either Nefertiti or her daughter Meritaten (who was married to king Smenkhkare).

Nefertiti's burial was intended to be made within the Royal Tomb ,  however, given that Akhenaten appears to have predeceased her it is highly unlikely she was ever buried there. One shabti is known to have been made for her.  In 1898, French archeologist Victor Loret found two female mummies in the Valley of the Kings. These two mummies, known as 'The Elder Lady' and 'The Younger Lady', were identified as likely candidates of her remains.

The Elder Lady was believe dto be in her mid-thirties or early forties – around the estimated age of Neferititi’s death. The mummy’s face also bore a resemblance to busts made of Neferititi. However, it eventually became apparent that the 'Elder Lady' is in the mother of Akhenaten. A lock of hair found in a coffinette bearing an inscription naming Queen Tiye proved a near perfect match to the hair of the 'Elder Lady'

Others have suggested that Nefereti is the Younger Lady. The excavation team claimed that the mummy they examined was damaged in a way suggesting the body had been deliberately desecrated in antiquity. Mummification techniques hinted at 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 however generally dismiss this idea as unsubstantiated arguing that mummies are impossible to identify as a particular person without DNA, and some argue that this mummy is not even female! Other possibly idetiications have been suggested, but as yet her final resting place remains a mystery!

With so much of Neferetiti’s life (and death) shrouded in controversy, it is surprising that she has remained one of the most memorable and well-recognised faces of Ancient Egypt. However, I worked in a museum shop for 5 years and one of our best selling items was a tiny model of the Nefertiti bust proving that she remains an ever-popular icon of the Egyptian age. I like to believe that she did infact rule as Pharoah, but even if she didn’t the evidence shows that she held unprecented power and respect in her society and was seen as a political and spiritual equal to her husband. The prominence of her daughters in her story is further testament to the importance of women to Egyptian life at all levels of society during this time. She stands as an eternal reminder that women have been steering the path of history for THOUSANDS of years, not just as wives and mothers, but as powerful rulers in their own right too.