Nefertiti (the beauty that has come, whose nickname was also 'Titi') was the Great Royal Wife (or chief consort/wife) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (later Akhenaten). She was the mother-in-law and probable stepmother of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. One of her daughters married Tutankhamen. Nefertiti may have also ruled in her own right under the name Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti (meaning, the Aten is radiant of radiance because the Beautiful has arrived) briefly after her husband's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is doubted by the latest research.[citation needed] Her name roughly translates to "the beautiful (or perfect) woman has come". She also shares her name with a type of elongated gold bead, called nefer, that she was often portrayed as wearing. She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlin's Altes 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 was found in his workshop. The bust itself is notable for exemplifying the understanding Ancient Egyptians had regarding realistic facial proportions.
She had many titles; at Karnak there are inscriptions that read Heiress, Great of Favour, Possessed of Charm, Exuding Happiness, Mistress of Sweetness, beloved one, soothing the king's heart in his house, soft-spoken in all, Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, Great King's Wife, whom he loves, Lady of the Two Lands, Nefertiti.
| Nefertiti in hieroglyphs | ||||||||||||||||
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Family
- See also : Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree
Nefertiti's parentage is not known with certainty, but it is now generally believed that she was the daughter of Ay, later to be pharaoh.[1] Another theory that gained some support identified Nefertiti with the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa. The name Nimerithin has been mentioned in older scrolls, as an alternative name, but this has not yet been officially confirmed. It has also been suggested that Nefertiti was a daughter or relative of Amenhotep III, or of the high Theban nobility. Another theory places Nefertiti as the daughter of Sitamun, half-sister of Amenhotep III. Queen Iaret was Sitamun's mother. Iaret held important hereditary titles that ceased to exist after the ascension of Amenhotep III. Sitamun is elevated to Great Royal Wife beside Tiye but there is no indication that she ever had children and if so with whom. There is some evidence based upon the titles of each of these women that suggests that three were somehow related to one another.
Depending on which reconstruction of the genealogy of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs is followed, her husband Akhenaten may have been the father or half-brother of the Pharaoh Tutankhaten (later called Tutankhamun).
The exact dates of when Nefertiti was married to Amenhotep IV and later, promoted to his Queen are uncertain. However, the couple had six known daughters. This is a list with suggested years of birth:
- Meritaten: Before year one or the very beginning of year one.(1350 BC).
- Meketaten: Year 1 or three (1349 BC).
- Ankhesenamen, later queen of Tutankhamun
- Neferneferuaten Tasherit: Year 6 (1344)
- Neferneferure: Year 9 (1341 BC).
- Setepenre: Year 11 (1339 BC).
In Year 4 of his reign (1346 BC) Amenhotep IV started his worship of Aten. The king led a religious revolution, in which Nefertiti played a prominent role. This year is also believed to mark the beginning of his construction of a new capital, Akhetaten, at what is known today as Amarna. In his Year 5, Amenhotep IV officially changed his name to Akhenaten as evidence of his new worship. The date given for the event has been estimated to fall around January 2 of that year. In Year 7 of his reign (1343 BC) the capital was officially moved from Thebes to Amarna, though construction of the city seems to have continued for two more years (till 1341 BC). The new city was dedicated to the royal couple's new religion. Nefertiti's famous bust is also thought to have been created around this time.
In an inscription estimated to November 21 of year 12 of the reign (approx. 1338 BC)[citation needed], her daughter Meketaten is mentioned for the last time; she is thought to have died shortly after that date. Circumstantial evidence which shows that she predeceased her husband at Akhetaten include several shabti fragments of the Queen's burial which is now located in the Louvre and Brooklyn Museums.[2] A relief in Akhenaten's tomb in the Royal Wadi at Amarna appears to show her funeral.
During Akhenaten's reign (and perhaps after) Nefertiti enjoyed unprecedented power, and was perhaps the most powerful woman on earth. Some time during the reign she was made co-regent: the pharaoh's equal. She was depicted on temple walls the same size as the king, signifying her importance, and shown worshiping the Aten alone. Perhaps most impressively, Nefertiti is shown on a relief from the temple at Amarna which is now in the MFA in Boston, smiting a foreign enemy with a mace before the Aten. Such depictions are reserved for the pharaoh alone, and yet Nefertiti was depicted as such.
[edit] Death
Around Year 14 of Akhenaten's reign (1336 BC), Nefertiti herself vanishes from the historical record, and there is no word of her after that date. Theories include a sudden death by a plague that was sweeping through the city or a natural death. A previous theory that she fell into disgrace is now discredited since the deliberate erasures of the monuments belonging to a queen of Akhenaten has now been shown to refer to Kiya instead.[3] Regardless, the verifiable knowledge of this episode has been completely lost to history.
In keeping with the theory above, Nefertiti is perhaps responsible for abandoning the Aten religion, and moving the capital back to Thebes. This would have been the only way to please both the people and the powerful priests of Amun. Nefertiti would have prepared for her death and for the succession of her daughter, now named Ankhasunamun, and her stepson, Tutankhamun. They would have been educated in the traditional way, worshiping the old gods. Nefernefruaten dies after two years of kingship.
She was succeeded by Tutankhamen, who is thought to have been a son of either Amenhotep III or Akhenaten. He married Nefertiti's daughter Ankhesenpaaten. The royal couple were young and inexperienced, by any estimation of their age, and Ankhesenpaaten bore two still born (and pre-mature) daughters whose mummies were found by Howard Carter in Tutankhamen's tomb. Some theories believe that Nefertiti was still alive and had an influence on them. If this is the case that influence and presumably her own life would have ended by year 3 of Tutankhaten's reign (1331 BC). In that year, Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun, as evidence of his worship of Amun, and abandoned Amarna to return the capital to Thebes.
As can be seen by the suggested identifications between Tadukhipa, Nefertiti, Smenkhkare and Kiya, the records of their time and their lives are largely incomplete, and the findings of both archaelogists and historians may develop new theories vis-à-vis Nefertiti and her precipitous exit from the public stage.
[edit] Immortality
Nefertiti's place as an icon in popular culture is secure as she has become somewhat of a celebrity. After Cleopatra she is the second most famous "Queen" of Egypt in the Western imagination and influenced through photographs the changed standards of feminine beauty of the 20th century.
[edit] In Fiction
- Nefertiti appears as Akhenaten's successor (also known as Smenkhare) in the first of a trilogy of historical novels by P.C. Doherty, "An Evil Spirit Out of the West".
- She is in the new book called The Book of the Dead: Nefertiti and is missing during the events in year 12 and Akhenaten sends one of his courtiers to locate her.
- She is in a new book called Nefertiti: Queen of Egypt, Daughter of Eternity. It is told in first person by Munodjemet.
