If you just admire Nefertiti and she is your ideal of beauty, then you should not continue reading. Perhaps you are shocked by some details of her family life, or you do not want to see the disfigured mummy, possibly belonging to the queen. In this case, just don't open the post - it's not for you.
We often don't think about the fact that Nefertiti was a real woman of flesh and blood. But neither beauty, nor wealth, nor power guarantee cloudless happiness. She went through all the trials, the ascent to power, the death of a child, disgrace, she was idolized during her lifetime, cursed and outraged after death.
But we will always remember her like this:
… calm and beautiful face, mysterious half-smile …
Once upon a time, many years ago, I first saw the bust of Nefertiti and was struck by her almost alien beauty. Unfortunately, then there was little real information in the press - more and more about her husband, the famous heretic pharaoh Akhenaten. Now, over the years, you and I can learn much more about her, but still very little. We don't even know where and when she was born, we don't know how many years she lived and why she died. It is not surprising - three millennia have flown by since then, papyrus scrolls have decayed, a stone has crumbled, empires have disappeared without a trace, rivers have changed channels, and what we know about Nefertiti is more than just a name is a miracle in itself.
She was a great queen and gave birth to six daughters to Akhenaten. You can name the names of each daughter - Meritaton, Maketaton, Ankhesenpaaton, Neferneferuaton-Tasherit, Nefernefrura and Setepenra, but does the listing of names tell us something about her? Many of her statues and images adorned temples, often she was painted next to her husband, often in the circle of her family and even defeating the enemies of Egypt - this was usually only the pharaohs themselves. She reached the pinnacle of power by the 12th year of Akhenaten's reign, when we read about her in the inscriptions not just as the main wife, but as the co-ruler of her royal husband. Shortly thereafter, her daughter Maketaton died of illness, and literally a year or two later, all references to Nefertiti's name disappear. A version was put forward - the queen died during a plague epidemic. However, until recently, the main assumption was thatthat Nefertiti simply fell out of favor, with the rise of one of the younger wives of Pharaoh Kiyi. Historians believed that the reason for the disgrace was the inability of Nefertiti to give birth to an heir. The Pharaoh's own daughter from Nefertiti, Meritaton, became the Pharaoh's next wife, and almost all references to Kiya were destroyed. Perhaps it was the daughter's revenge for the mother. But Meritaton herself could not give birth to a boy to her father, only mentions of two daughters from this marriage are known. However, the assumptions about Nefertiti's disgrace were recently refuted by the discovery in 2012 of a half-erased inscription dating to the 16th year of Akhenaten's reign (his reign lasted 17 years), where the following line was: “The great wife of Pharaoh, his beloved, mistress of both lands (upper and lower Egypt) Neferneferuaton-Nefertiti . This meant that Nefertiti's status as a great wife (queen) remained unshakable,despite the Pharaoh's marriage to Kiya and her own daughter. There is reason to believe that Nefertiti survived her husband and even ruled for another two years under the name of Pharaoh Neferneferuaten.
With the accession to the throne of the heir of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, the priesthood began an all-out attack on the legacy of the heretic pharaoh. Temples of Aton were destroyed or abandoned, references to Akhenaten were destroyed, inscriptions were erased, steles were destroyed. At the same time, the tombs of the pharaoh and his royal wife were probably desecrated or even destroyed.
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Next, we get on the shaky ground of assumptions. What you read below is not supported by all Egyptologists. The point of view is controversial, but it has a right to exist.
I inform you - the mummies of Nefertiti and Akhenaten have been found. The destruction of inscriptions on tombs, ritual objects - from the point of view of the priests, is quite sufficient revenge. Indeed, in their names there was a mention of the god Aton. They took revenge not so much on the pharaoh as on his god Aten, returning the cult of the old gods. The destruction of the mummies of the royal persons themselves, whose divine origin was not in doubt, is an unheard-of sacrilege even in relation to the heretic pharaoh. The discovery of Nefertiti's mummy was reported ten years ago by Joanne Fletcher. The mummy was used to reconstruct the alleged appearance of Nefertiti. I will not talk about the violent reaction of the Egyptological community to this discovery. I will say that many people did not agree with her, everyone was looking forward to the results of the DNA examination, to which the Egyptian authorities did not agree for a long time. Only in February 2010 the expert examination was carried out, but its results were not widely covered in the mass media. The mummy turned out to be the daughter of Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiyya (father and mother of Akhenaten) and the mother of Tutankhamun. Most Egyptologists agreed that the mummy belongs to one of Akhenaten's wives. Egyptologists interpret these results in different ways - some see this as only confirmation that Nefertiti was her husband's sister, since her titularity confirms this, others deny her such an opportunity - after all, Nefertiti is nowhere directly mentioned as the daughter of Amenhotep III. I am inclined to accept the first point of view in this matter, since it is possible that one of the names of Nefertiti is still on the list of Pharaoh's daughters - we just do not yet know that this name belongs to her. But that's not all - DNA analysis of one of the male mummies from the same burial showedthat it belongs to the father of Tutankhamun and the son of Amenhotep III, that is, quite likely, to Akhenaten himself! So, Nefertiti still bore him a son - he became her seventh child.
So, the most famous royal couple in the history of ancient Egypt has been found (with varying degrees of probability). However, in the same 2010, a study of the alleged mummy of Nefertiti gave another unexpected discovery. The mummy was significantly damaged, as it was believed, by tomb robbers. The researchers' attention was drawn to damage to the mummy's head - its cheek, mouth and jaw. The study showed that the wound was inflicted during life and was fatal. Nefertiti was killed. By whom? Probably those who benefited from it, who put the young Tutankhamun in power and ruled in his place. This is the dignitary of Akhenaten Eye, who, after the sudden death of the young pharaoh, himself became a pharaoh by marrying his wife Ankhesenamon (Ankhesenpaaton, daughter of Nefertiti).
The story about Nefertiti could have ended there. But the research is again surprising. The famous painted bust of Nefertiti, well-known to everyone, revealed another secret after a tomography scan carried out not so long ago. It turned out that the stone bust, covered with a thin layer of plaster, had undergone minor adjustments. The wrinkles were removed, the shape of the cheekbones was emphasized, and most noticeable - the shape of the nose was changed. The original sculpture on the nose has a slight hump and a small saddle below it, which makes the tip of the nose slightly snub. It is these characteristic features that we can observe in the alleged mummy of Nefertiti.
All known sculptural images of the queen were found in Thutmose's workshop in Amarna. Usually, speaking of Nefertiti, the material is illustrated with two of the most famous images - the famous bust made of painted limestone and a small head made of quartzite. You and I will be able to see a few more statues of our heroine, less known. But that's not all. Are you wondering if her body was as beautiful as her face?
In the summer of 2003, a scandal erupted. Two Hungarian artists created a nude bronze statue as "a model of Nefertiti's physical beauty," as they claimed, from real ancient reliefs of it. The reconstructed "body" and the famous bust of the queen were combined and exhibited in the Berlin museum. The Egyptian Antiquities Service, led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, protested, in their opinion such an image offends the Egyptian queen, and the treatment of the unique ancient bust was called barbarism, bordering on vandalism.
In fact, the artists who presented the queen in an image close to the canons of modern top models clearly flattered Nefertiti. Judge for yourself, how could the queen look, the ruler of millions of subjects, who did not know physical effort, diet and moved on a palanquin? Thin legs, fat thighs, a round tummy and a rather big ass are provided with this lifestyle. If we recall Nefertiti's swan neck extended forward, then we can add a stoop to the portrait.
You do not like? Well, don't look at the photos of Nefertiti's sculptures and you won't be disappointed. One of them is the body of a young beauty, slightly covered with a thin transparent cloth. But not everyone knows that there is also a statue of an aged, middle-aged Nefertiti. Time left traces on her face, her eyes are tired and sad, but despite all this, she is still beautiful.
Nefertiti means "Beautiful has come." She came to this world and brought her incredible beauty into it. And after three thousand years we still bow our heads before her regal beauty.
The famous painted limestone bust:
Quartzite head:
"Young Lady" from KV35, alleged mummy of Nefertiti:
Color photo of the mummy:
Reconstruction of the image of Nefertiti from the mummy:
Results of a tomographic study of the limestone bust of Nefertiti:
Reconstruction of the image of Nefertiti after bust tomography:
The German bandit looks at his crime. "This is how this illustration was signed in an article on the first page of the Egyptian state newspaper. The article itself is called" Queen Nefertiti was naked in the Berlin Museum. "In fact, the body on the bronze statue was covered with a thin cloth, just like and on other real statues of Nefertiti:
Young Nefertiti's torso (?):
Back view:
Middle-aged Nefertiti:
