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What are people's opinions on Nefertiti? She gets a lot of good PR because from her bust she was a beautiful queen but the more I learn about her, the more I learn that she may not have been as beloved in her own time as she is today. Here are some key questions about her:
- Did she convince Akhenaten to close the Amun temples?
- Did she influence Egypt's failed foriegn policy during Akhenaten's reign?
- Did she kill Akhenaten's minor wife, Kia?
[This message has been edited by neo*geo (edited 19 June 2004).]
Automatik Member # 4457
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I hope you get some answers because this is one line that I cannot contribute to but would like to follow
ausar Member # 1797
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The question is where did Neferiti vanish to. We know recently tried to identify her as Younger lady from the cache at the temple of Amenhotep III,but nothing conclusive. We have yet to find her mummy unless either Elder Lady is her or Smekare is really Neferiti. Any opinion on this plot twist?
I heard one of her daughters might have attempted to intermarry with a Hittie. Any truth to this. Kind of rusty about the Amaran age. My interest tend to be more focused around the Middle Kingdom.
Automatik Member # 4457
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I saw a programme about the mummy in Amenhotep's tomb on the BBC - and the evidence to me seemed more than a little thin and more like wishful thinking than fact.
ausar Member # 1797
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I didn't see the program since I don't have cable,but I know that Joann Fletcher recieved alot of heat for making judgements about the identification of the mummy. If you read Kmt magazine you will discover a Egyptologist named Susan James had a theory that Elder Lady was Neferiti instead of the assuption she was Tiye.
Osiris II Member # 3079
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Nefertiti, without doubt, is one of the most questionable figures in history. Must speculation surround her, including her influence on Akhenaten, her disappearance in year 12 of his reign, the emergance of a egmatic figure--Smenkakara, who has been described as Nefertiti with a new name, where her burial could possibly be, do we have her mummy--it just goes on and on. Any speculation concerning her is just that--speculation. Her actual role in the events of the Amarna Age is "up for grabs"--pure guess-work. Any ideas concerning her role have to wait for further developments. One theory says that she was a most-beloved queen, another states that she was the moving force in the surge of Atenism, she died in year 12, she changed her name and co-ruled with Akhenaten, then became a ruler alone after his death. The conjecture is limitless. As far as being responsible for kiya's death, again it's just conjecture--we don't even know for sure that Kiya died, just that she lost favor with Akhenaten, and her name was replaced on all inscriptions with that of one of Akhenaten and Nefertiti's daughters.
And yes, Ausar, one of her daughters--the widow of Tutankhamen, did write to the Hittite king asking for one of his sons to marry. But the plan met a sad end--the Hittite prince was murdered on his way to Aketaten, and Tut's widow married Aye, who became Pharaoh.
[This message has been edited by Osiris II (edited 20 June 2004).]
neo*geo Member # 3466
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I think history has cleaned up Nefertiti's persona very well but it seems she had some personal flaws. She and her husband ruled as tyrants and prohibited some of the religious practices of the common people. Their city, Amarna, became a monument to themselves and they cared little for what went on in Egypt outside their city.
cassia Member # 4594
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"At the death of Tutankhamen, and the lack of an obvious male heir, left Ankhesenamen in a quandrary. Copies of a cuneiform text dating to this period have survived to tell a remarkable tale. A widowed queen of Egypt, without a son, took the highly unusual step of writing to Suppiluli-umas, King of the Hittites, asking that a prince be sent as a husband and future pharaoh:
'My husband has died. I do not have a son. But, they say, many are your sons. If you would give me one of your sons he would become my husband. I shall never pick out a servant of mine and make him my husband.'
... eventually a prince, Zannanza, was dispatched. The unfortunate bridegroom was ambushed and killed on his way to meet his bride, and relations between Egypt and the Hittites plunged to a new low."
... then Ay took over.
This is a quote from Nefertiti, by Joyce Tyldesley, page 182 - 183.
Osiris II Member # 3079
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Let me play devil's advocate here a bit.... It is not known, absolutely, that Ankhensenamen sent the letter to the Hittite King, but only that a widow of a Pharaoh (neither named) wrote and asked for a son to be sent. There is a possiblity--notice emphasis on possiblity--that it was Nefertiti.
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