Nefertiti was an ancient Egyptian queen consort who was likely King Tut’s stepmother and may have ruled as a pharaoh in her own right. She lived during the 18th dynasty during the 14th century B.C., but the years of Nefertiti’s birth and death are not certain.
She was the wife of Amenhotep IV (who later changed his name to Akhenaten), a pharaoh who unleashed a revolution that saw Egypt’s religion become focused around the worship of the Aten, the sun disk. He built a new capital city called Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna) that had temples dedicated to the Aten.
Nefertiti’s name translates to “a beautiful woman has [arrived],” Joyce Tyldesley (opens in new tab), a professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester in the U.K., wrote in her book “Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun Queen (opens in new tab)” (Penguin Books, 2005). The identity of her parents is uncertain, but her father may have been a man named Ay, a prominent court official who would later become pharaoh, Tyldesley wrote.
Historical records indicate that Nefertiti had six daughters with Akhenaten but did not have a son, Tyldesley noted in her book. If these records are correct that would make Tutankhamun the stepson of Nefertiti. Egyptian pharaohs often had multiple wives and concubines, and Tutankhamun’s mother was likely one of them.
Nefertiti’s Famous bust
Nefertiti is well-known today for a life-size bust that shows her wearing a crown. It was found by a German team led by Ludwig Borchardt in 1912 during excavations of a workshop belonging to an Egyptian sculptor named Thutmose and is now in the Neues Museum (New Museum) in Berlin. The bust is mostly intact, but part of the left eye is missing, leading to a debate as to whether the missing piece fell out or was never put in, according to Tyldesley in her book “Nefertiti’s Face: The Creation of an Icon (opens in new tab)” (Harvard University, 2018). It’s been speculated the missing eye is indicative of a health condition, such as a cataract, Tyldesley writes. There is also disagreement about whether this bust was intended to be a sculptor’s model used for teaching or intended for display.
Despite the bust’s fame, much about Nefertiti remains unknown. “We know far less about Nefertiti and other members of the royal family than is generally realised,” Barry Kemp (opens in new tab), professor emeritus of Egyptology…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Livescience…