The Mysterious Life of the Mighty Queen Nefertiti

On Friday, 6 December 1912, after what seemed like a long search, German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt, together with a team of other archaeologists, discovered the legendary bust of Nefertiti, the royal wife of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten as he later decided to call himself.

Currently displayed at the Neues Museum in Berlin, the vividly coloured, life-size bust is a remarkable work of art that captures Nefertiti’s elegance and her status as an influential Queen. It has placed her as an international beauty icon, making her face one of the most recognised ones in the entire world and becoming one of the most copied and replicated artworks.

The enchanting bust shows realistic facial features of Nefertiti, with thick, arched eyebrows, beautiful eyes shaped like almonds, high cheekbones, a straight nose, delicate lips, and a long, slender neck. The Queen’s mysterious yet mesmerising smile challenges anyone who has ever looked at the bust to interpret it.

Nefertiti is as mighty as she is mysterious. She lived during one of the most controversial periods in ancient Egypt. She had a significant hand in making a radical change in ancient Egyptian society, and this is precisely the story we are telling you today. So bring a big cup of coffee because we are going over three millennia back in time.

Queen Nefertiti

Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten. He was the 10th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, the first of three dynasties that made the New Kingdom of Egypt the most glorious golden age of ancient Egyptian civilisation. Akhenaten ruled for 17 years, from 1353 to 1336 BC, during which he and his beloved wife, Nefertiti, made substantial radical changes in Egypt’s religious system.

Name

Besides the lovely sound of it, the name Nefertiti has two parts. There is Nefer, which means beautiful in the ancient Egyptian language, and it, which means woman. So, all in all, Nefertiti means “a beautiful woman has come,” a claim confirmed by the stunning bust of the mighty Queen.

In addition to that, beautiful Nefertiti had many other names that describe her beauty and how much she was loved. For instance, she was often called Great of Praises, Lady of the Two Lands, usually referring to Upper and Lower Egypt, Sweet of Love, Lady of Grace, and Lady of all Women—sure thing, she was the Queen, after all.

Origin

Nefertiti was born in 1370 BC in Thebes, or modern-day Luxor, during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, which stretched from 1390 to 1353 BC. Amenhotep III was the father of who would later become Nefertiti’s husband and the next-in-line Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten.

Not much is known about Nefertti’s childhood and life before she married Akhenaten. However, scholars could develop some speculations based on scenes and inscriptions found on the tombs of some noblemen. So here is what they theorised about Nefertiti’s origin.

Nefertiti’s parents were Ay and Tey. Ay was a nobleman and the advisor of multiple pharaohs, one was the young King Tutankhamun of the 18th Dynasty. Ay is thought to be the son of Yuya and Thuya, a powerful noble couple who held high positions in the government and were close to the royal family. Ay had a brother called Anen and a sister, Tiye, who later married Amenhotep III, Akhenaten’s father.

Based on this theory, Ay was then Akhenaten’s uncle, making Nefertiti and Akhenaten cousins.

Tey was Ay’s wife and considered Nefertiti’s mother. She held the title “The Nurse of the Great Royal Wife” and was in charge of taking care of Nefertiti’s children. Later, Ay ascended to the throne in 1323 BC, around 13 years and seven years after the deaths of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, respectively. Ay served as the 14th or the second-to-last Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty; therefore, Tey became the Queen.

Based on these speculations, Nefertiti is also believed to have had a younger sister called Mutbenret, a noblewoman and a highly considered personality in society at the time.

Another theory claims that Nefertiti was Ay’s daughter from his first wife, who died while Nefertiti was still young. After that, Ay married Tey, who then became Nefertiti’s stepmother.

Marriage

Nefertiti married Akhenaten at a very young age. She was only 17 when Akhenaten came to power in 1353 BC after the death of his father, Amenhotep III.

Nefertiti and Akhenaten had six daughters, Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, and Setepenre, from oldest to youngest.

Akhenaten also had another son, Tutankhamun, born in 1341 BC. Yet, Nefertiti was not his mother. Akhenaten had at least four other wives than Nefertiti, so one could potentially be the young Pharaoh’s mother, yet this has not yet been confirmed.

Interestingly, Akhenaten’s third daughter, Ankhesenpaaten, would later marry Tutankhamun and become the Queen of Egypt when the latter ascended to the throne a few years after Akhenaten’s death, as we will see in a bit.

Nefertiti is often depicted with her husband and their daughters on the temple walls and royal tombs, always accompanying her husband and sometimes even alone with her daughters.

It is even reported that Nefertiti was depicted more than Akhetaten, the Pharaoh himself. This refers to her significance as a Queen and her power, which allowed her to rule side-by-side with Akhenaten and support him in his new religious approach. 

Akhenaten and Nefertiti dramatically transformed the religious system prevalent in society since the dawn of Egyptian civilisation. This transformation almost erased the royal couple from historic records later on.

The Ancient Egyptian Pantheon

To understand the significance of Akhenaten’s religious revolution and the severe disruption he caused in Egypt during his reign, we need to examine the predominant religious system at the time.

Ancient Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, the belief in many deities, each responsible for one or more aspects of life and controlling the forces of nature. Ancient Egyptians believed in more than 1,400 deities, worshipped them, built temples and shrines for them, performed rituals, and offered sacrifices to please them.

Some of the most famous and powerful deities include Isis, the goddess of healing, magic and wisdom, and Osiris, the God of fertility, the dead and the afterlife. Their famous son Horus, depicted as a falcon-headed man, was the God of sky and war who later married Hathor, the goddess of love, pleasure and beauty.

Ra was the Sun god, the king of all other deities, and the creator of the Universe. During the New Kingdom of Egypt, Ra merged with Amun, the God of air, and gained increasing significance over the years to become Amun-Ra. Amun-Ra then became the chief deity in ancient Egypt and the one all great and small creatures abided with.

Every God and goddess had cults in different cities all across Egypt, where ancient Egyptians built temples to worship them. The cult of Amun-Ra was based in Thebes, the state capital during the New Kingdom, and the magnificent Karnak Temple Complex was built over millennia and a half to worship and celebrate Amun-Ra.

The priests of Amun were in charge of the temples, the official religious establishments in the country. They controlled everything related to them, including the funds they received from the government, the revenue from the land owned by the temples, the donations made by the worshippers, etc.

The priests’ authority grew over the centuries until it reached its peak during the New Kingdom. With power and money, the priests could even have a political influence that could potentially change the course of events in the country.

Well, this is precisely what Akhenaten and Nefertiti threw aside.

Atenism

Akhenaten did not believe in the Egyptian pantheon but instead in the one and only God who created the Universe. He referred to this God as Aten and symbolised him by the Sun’s disc. Nefertiti also believed in Aten.

Unlike other pharaohs who went to war with external powers, Akhenaten’s war was internal.

Gradually, the royal couple introduced the new religion. First, the Pharaoh changed his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten, which meant “beneficial to Aten,” and Nefertiti became Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti. Then, as we have seen earlier, Akhenaten added the name Aten to four of his daughters’ names.

It is even believed Tutankhamun was initially called Tutankhaten. 

Highly supported by his beloved wife, Nefertiti, Akhenaten started making severe changes to position the new religion more firmly. He ditched the cult of Amun-Ra by closing all the temples, withdrawing the power from the priests and redirecting all the funds to support the newly established cult of Aten.

However, all of Thebes was already revolving around Amun-Ra. The temples, shrines, obelisks, and tombs were all in the name of the chief of all deities, and there was no way for Akhenaten to replace all of that. Plus, he probably was not the guy who would destroy the outstanding legacy of his ancestors. So, he did what many leaders would later do. He decided to build a new capital.

Akhetaten

Akhenaten chose a site for his new capital city on the same east bank of the Nile as Luxor but around 400 kilometres to the north, which today accounts for al-Minya Governorate. He named it Akhetaten, which translates to the Horizon of Aten.

Construction started in 1346 BC, mainly using mudbrick for most buildings and stone for the temples and other critical structures. In 1343 BC, the city was developed enough to become the new capital, so the government and the royal family relocated there.

Akhetaten was completed by 1341 BC, the ninth year of Akhenaten’s 17-year reign. All constructions, temples, and tombs featured Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their daughters worshipping, praying, and offering sacrifices to Aten. The way the royals were depicted was as unique as the changes they made in Egypt.

Contrary to the art style that previously portrayed the kings with strong muscular physiques and all queens with fit, slender bodies, Nefertiti and Akhenaten’s physical characteristics were somewhat exaggerated. Akhenaten, in particular, showed more feminine traits that made it hard sometimes to tell him apart from Nefertiti.

Queen Pharaoh

Life seemed to have settled in Akhetaten somehow, yet still yielded many changes in all aspects that would forever highlight his period in ancient Egyptian history. Then, as you may have guessed, it was time for life to take a turn. In 1336 BC, Akhenaten died, but no one knows how, as his mummy was never found, and the tomb he built for himself in Akhetaten was empty.

The period between Akhenaten’s death in 1336 BC and his son Tutankhamun’s rule in 1332 BC, who returned to Thebes and brought back the cult of Amun, is highly controversial.

Records state that Smenkhkare, who is believed to be either Akhenaten’s younger brother or son, though he was not Nefertiti’s, came to power after Akhenaten’s death and ruled for only one year. Evidence found in Tutankhamun’s tomb confirmed Smenkhkare’s successor as a female named Neferneferuaten. But this Queen Pharaoh’s identity has long been confused between Meritaten, Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s eldest daughter, and Nefertiti herself.

That said, many Egyptologists believe Nefertiti succeeded Smenkhkare. They even assume that both Smenkhkare and Nefertiti were Akkhenaten’s co-regents during the last four years of his reign and that this is how they came to power.

According to that theory, Nefertiti returned to Thebes and ruled Egypt for the next two years before her death in 1332.

Fading

Yet, the controversy does not stop here.

When the Rosetta Stone was deciphered in the 1830s, and a new understanding of ancient Egyptian civilisation emerged, the feverish search for the mummies of royals was initiated and has been ongoing. The mummies of some of the most famous Pharaohs were discovered—some of those, by the way, are currently residing in the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Cairo after they were moved there in a lavish ceremony, the Pharaohs’ Golden Parade, that Egypt held in 2021.

But other Pharaohs seem like they have faded. 

The excavation of the modern-day site of Amarna, which used to be Akhetaten 3,500 years ago, started in the early 20th century. Archaeologists found Tomb 29, which seems to have the exact dimensions as Akhenaten’s tomb. So they suggested it was probably dedicated to Nefertiti. However, the tomb was unfinished at its discovery and is missing a burial chamber, which somewhat disqualifies it from being the Queen’s.

The search then turned to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. Four unidentified female mummies were discovered in tombs KV21 and KV35 in the Valley, and speculations that one may belong to Nefertiti were made. However, CT scan analysis and DNA testing proved otherwise.

As of August 2023, neither Nefertiti’s mummy nor her tomb have yet been found.

Bust 

Thutmose was an ancient Egyptian master sculptor who lived during Akhenaten’s reign and is believed to have been the Pharaoh’s official sculptor. In December 1912, a team of German archaeologists led by Ludwig Borchardt was excavating the site of Amarna when they discovered what they identified as the workshop of Tuthmose, where they found the bust of Nefertiti.

Borchardt was blown away by the bust’s beauty and ridiculously well-preserved condition, even though it had been hidden underground for over three millennia. He tried to put it into words, but eventually, he gave in and wrote in his diary, “Description is useless; it must be seen.”

The bust was made from a single piece of limestone and coated with stucco. It is 48 centimetres tall and weighs 20 kilograms. It is almost entirely intact except for some damaged, tiny parts of both ears.

Ever since its discovery, the bust has placed Nefertiti as a beauty icon, with its high cheekbones, long slender neck, and beautiful eyes. Even the missing left-eye iris is charming—by the way, scholars believe this is not an artist’s mistake but an infection the Queen suffered that caused her to lose her left eye.

A year later, Borchardt succeeded in smuggling the bust outside of Egypt by concealing it with a layer of clay. The bust was moved around until it arrived at Berlin’s Neues Museum and was displayed to the public for the first time in 1924.

During World War II, the museum was partially destroyed and was not renovated until over 60 years later. In 2009, the Neues Museum was reopened, and the bust was displayed once again. It was given the entire North Dome Room on the second floor of the museum, most probably to honour the Queen by allowing more and more visitors to get hypnotised by her enchanting bust for as long as they could stand.

Queen Nefertiti is indeed one of the most interesting characters in ancient Egypt. She will forever charm the world with her striking beauty and the controversies that surround her life. Yet other Queens, such as Hatshepsut, the first female Pharaoh, and Nefertari, for whom the most alluring tomb was built, also influenced the ordinary course of things in ancient Egypt and left a stupendous legacy that guaranteed they would live for eternity.