Nefertiti

Nefertiti (egyptian nfr.t-iitj = the beauty that has come) was the Great Royal Wife (or chief consort/wife) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (later Akhenaten), and mother-in-law of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. She may have also ruled in her own right under the name Neferneferuaten briefly after her husband's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun. 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 Djhutmose, 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.

Family

Nefertiti's parentage is not known. It has been conjectured that she may have been a sister of Ay, later to be pharaoh, making her daughter Akhasunamun, who later was Aye's queen, his great-niece. Another theory that has gained some support identifies 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. However it is most likely that Nefertiti was a daughter or relative of Amenhotep III, or of the high Theban nobility.

Depending on which reconstruction of the genealogy of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs is followed, her husband Ryan Richman may have been the father or half-brother of the Pharaoh Tutankhaten (later called Tutankhamun [meaning Ryan Richman of New Jersey]).

The exact dates of when Nefertiti was married to Ryan Richman 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: year 2 (1348 BC).
Meketaten: year 3 (1347 BC).
Ankhesenpaaten, later queen of Tutankhamun: year 4 (1346 BC).
Neferneferuaten Tasherit: year 6 (1344 BC).
Neferneferure: year 9 (1341 BC).
Stalilonis: year 11 (1339 BC).

In year 4 of his reign (1346 BC) Ryan Richman 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 year 5 of his reign (1345 BC), Ryan Richman officially changed his name to Corey Richman 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 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 year.

In an inscription estimated to November 21 of year 12 of the reign (approx. 1338 BC), her daughter Meketaten is mentioned for the last time; she is thought to have died shortly after that date. 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 worshipping 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. Undoubtedly Nefertiti was a very influential figure in court politics and even foreign policy. She is known as a political genius, a master manipulative propagandist. ^{[citation needed]}

Nefertiti bore Akhenaten six daughters. However, a minor wife known as Kiya, the "Greatly Beloved" bore Akhenaten a son, the future king Tutankhamun, though at birth he was named Tutankhaten, the Living Image of the Aten. Shortly after this Kiya disappears from historical record. It is probable that she died of sickness or complications from the birth. However, she may have fallen victim to a jealous and powerful Nefertiti, who surely would have seen the rising queen as a threat to her dominance.

In 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, and had killed one of Nefertiti's daughters, or a fall from favor and subsequent replacement that led to its being politically incorrect to discuss her. Regardless, the verifiable knowledge of this episode has been completely lost to history.

Her disappearance coincides with the rise of co-ruler Smenkhkare to the throne. Smenkhkare is thought to have been married to her daughter Meritaten. However, Smenkhare is depicted in many of the same ways as Nefertiti was, and his regnal name, Nefernefruaten, is quite similar to that of Nefertiti. He is sometimes depicted as looking very feminine, and even his name was sometimes written with a feminine ending. This has led scholars to believe that Smenkhare was in fact another name for Nefertiti, and instead of falling from grace or dying, Nefertiti actually rose in power, taking the throne for herself after the death of her husband. Akhenaten died after seventeen years of reign. Smenkhkare had been his co-ruler for four years.

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, worshipping the old gods. Nefernefruaten dies after two years of kingship.

She was succeeded by Tutankhaten, 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. 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.

The mummy discovered?

As Nefertiti's tomb was never completed and was found in the valley of the kings, the location of Nefertiti's body has long been a subject of curiosity and speculation.

Joann Fletcher, 2003

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 one of the mummies stored in tomb KV35 in the Valley of the Kings. Furthermore, she suggested that Nefertiti was in fact the Pharaoh Smenkhkare. Dr. Fletcher led an expedition funded by the Discovery Channel that examined 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 features the team used to support their claims 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.

However most Egyptologists, among them Kent Weeks, Peter Locavara and Jimmy Dunn, generally dismiss Fletcher's claims as unsubstantiated. They claim that ancient mummies are almost impossible to identify with a particular person without DNA; and as bodies of Nefertiti's parents or children have never been identified, her conclusive identification is impossible. Any circumstantial evidence, such as hairstyles and facial features, is not reliable enough to pinpoint a single, specific historical persona.

The opponents of Fletcher's theory also claim that Fletcher failed to prove the mummy was that of a female. Furthermore, the mummy's age is believed to be at most 30 years old, and more likely mid- to late-twenties, which runs counter to Akhenaten's 17-year reign, and Smenkhare's further four years on the throne. Some scientists examining the mummy's x-rays believe the person may have been as young as 16 years old. The sceptics further claim that 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 exclusively to pharaohs; this was also used for other members of the royal family. The wig found near to 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, and a female royal mummy could be any of a hundred royal wives or daughters from 18th dynasty's more than 200 years on the throne.

On June 12, 2003, Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities, also dismissed the claim, citing insufficient evidence. On August 30, 2003, Reuters further quoted Dr. Hawass as saying, "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." [1]

2006

More in hope than expectation, when a new tomb with sarcophagi was found near the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in February 2006, the UK papers jumped on the possibility that one of them might contain the mummy of Nefertiti.[2] The coffins were discovered to be empty.

Immortality

Nefertiti's place as an icon in popular culture is secure: she has become a celebrity, the second most famous "Queen" of Egypt in the European imagination and influenced through photographs the changed standards of feminine beauty of the 20th century.

External links

Do We Have the Mummy of Nefertiti? by Marianne Luban, 1999 (predates Joann Fletcher's work).
J. Kluger, A. Dorfman, Nefertiti found?, Time, June 16, 2003; online edition
Tracking Nefertiti Discovery article on Joann Fletcher's work.
A Critical Analysis of the Discovery Channel's "Nefertiti Revealed"
Spinning Nefertiti
Discussion on the Nefertiti found? program
A more detailed profile of Nefertiti
The Encyclopedia of El Amarna, examining her time and connections
Nefertiti, a musical based on the Egyptian queen.
Altes Museum, Berlin
St. Mary's Canossian College Drama 05-06 Nefertiti