What do you know about the mystery of Queen Nefertiti?

One of the greatest mysteries of Ancient Egypt is the current location of the woman who is thought to have been the most powerful queen Egyptian civilization ever had. But who was this ruler and why did she disappear from the historical record?

The world got its first glimpse of Nefertiti in 1912 when the German archeologist Ludwig Borchardt unearthed her now iconic bust among the ruins of Amarna, which brought the beautiful queen renown around the world, National Geographic noted. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Philip Pikart, Own Work, CC BY-SA 3.0

National Geographic went on to add that Nefertiti’s bust is considered the most beautiful depiction of a woman in the ancient world and today’s most famous relic of antiquity. So it may come as a surprise that little was known about Queen Nefertiti. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Wikipedia Loves Art participant "stephen_sandoval", CC BY 2.5

Nefertiti’s name was barely mentioned in the twentieth-century histories regarding Egypt by the great Egyptologists such as Arthur Weigall and Will Durant. This is likely because of the queen's husband. However, let’s look at what we currently know. 

We know that Nefertiti lived during the 18th Dynasty, which unfolded in the 14th century, but we don’t know the years of her birth or her death. As the wife of a pharaoh, Nefertiti would have been a very powerful person in Egyptian society at the time. 

Live Science noted that Professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester Joyce Tyldesley wrote in her book ‘Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen’ that Nefertiti’s name means: “a beautiful woman has [arrived].” But that’s not all we know about her. 

Historical records reviewed by Tyldesley indicate that Nefertiti’s parentage is unknown but we do know she probably had six, though she was never graced with a son. If the records are correct that would make King Tutankhamun her stepson. 

Nefertiti was queen consort and the likely stepmother of King Tutankhamun and may have even ruled Egypt at one point according to Live Science. However, her entire life is a near mystery thanks to her marriage to Amenhotep IV, later Akhenaten.  

Amenhotep IV was Pharaoh of Egypt but later changed his name to Akhenaten after he unleashed a religious revolution on the ancient society, altering the civilization’s religion to focus on the worship of Aten, the sun disk god in the Egyptian pantheon. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons CC BY-SA 2.5

National Geographic noted that Akhenaten’s revolution was short-lived. Egypt returned to its old faith and Akhenaten’s successors tried to erase his legacy, his capital was abandoned, and his likenesses and name were defaced—along with those of his family, including Nefertiti. “Their legacy would stay buried for millennia.”

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0

Following Akhenaten’s death, it is thought by some that Nefertiti’s power was so great that she was able to rule as pharaoh. Live Science noted that Egyptian records write of a ‘Neferneferuaten’ who ruled Egypt before the ascension of Tutankhamun. 

Neferneferuaten may have been Nefertiti’s throne name—taking on a new name when ascending to the throne was not uncommon in Ancient Egypt—and some Egyptologists are convinced that we have enough evidence to prove that Nefertiti ruled. 

Photo Credit: By Sat Ra, Own Work, CC BY-SA 3.0

"Personally, I'm convinced that she ruled as a pharaoh, and that her throne name was Neferneferuaten," Athena Van der Perre, an Egyptologist and postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven in Belgium, explained to Live Science about Nefertiti. 

“​​We have evidence for a three-year reign of this 'king', so she will have been on the throne for at least three years,” Van der Perre added, though Live Science noted that Joyce Tyldesley doubted that Nefertiti ever ruled Egypt as pharaoh. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Gérard Ducher, CC BY-SA 2.5

Artnet noted that celebrity Egyptologist Zahi Hawass believes Nefertiti ruled Egypt until Tutankhamun came of age dressed a man named Smenkhkare, though this is only just another theory as to what happened to Nefertiti after Akhenaten’s death.

All of the mystery surrounding Nefertiti has made finding her tomb an exciting prospect for Egyptologists, but so far they haven't had any luck in discovering where the possible pharaoh may have been laid to rest following her death. 

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