Page 71 - All About History - Issue 26-15

Nefertiti: The Queen who killed the gods

Nefertiti: The first woman to be airbrushed?

CT scans of the famous bust have revealed that prominent cheekbones, a slight bump on the
Nefertiti may not have been as beautiful as was ridge of the nose and even wrinkles around the
first believed. Scientists have been able to analyse mouth and cheeks. Just like modern airbrushing,
the layers of stucco below the outer one and it is likely that the queen’s sculpture was altered
have discovered that the original model had less to adhere to contemporary ideas of beauty.

Images of the royal family
were more intimate then
ever seen before

Amarna art depicts
Nefertiti racing chariots
and smiting enemies

“After millennia of polytheism, they declared co-regent? And if so, could this explain the identity
of the mysterious pharaoh who came to power
after the death of Akhenaten?
that there was now only one god, and the only These are questions that we will likely never
know the answer to, as in the years following
way to reach Him was through the pharaoh” his death, nearly all evidence of Akhenaten’s
reign was destroyed by the people he had so
inherently wounded. Deemed a heretic, his name
wasonthebrinkofbankruptcy.Largepartsofthe and palaces, from the year 1339 BCE, all records was scratched from the walls of the temples and
Egyptian empire had fallen under the control of and depictions of her stopped being made. What depictions of the beautiful Nefertiti mutilated
the expanding Hittite kingdom, after the pharaoh hadhappenedtothequeen–thewomanthe with chisels. But Akhenaten’s legacy lived on in
hadrefusedtolistentotheadviceofhisgenerals pharaoh seemed to worship? Some historians the form of a son, the identity of who’s mother is
andsendmilitaryenforcementstothenorth. believe that she fell out of favour, perhaps because still contested. The boy was called Tutankhaten,
Notonlywasthereaneconomiccrisis,butthe she was unable to bear Akhenaten the son he meaning ‘the living image of Aten’, and he
spiritualcrisisthathadbeenbubblingbeneaththe so desperately wanted. Others believe she died, succeeded to the throne when he was about nine
surface was ready to explode. The pharaoh’s new avictim,perhaps,ofthefluepidemicthatwas years old. Despite his tender age, he immediately
religion had destroyed all the ancient traditions plaguingthecountry,orevenajealousmemberof set about reversing the changes made during
thattheEgyptiansheldsodear,andveryfewwere Akhenaten’s harem. his father’s reign. Amarna was abandoned and
preparedtoletgooftheirtrustedandmuch-loved Butonepieceofart,knownasthe Coregency fell into ruin, the old gods were brought back
gods.Revoltsbrokeoutacrossthenation,spurred Stela,suggeststhatNefertitididn’tdisappear from the dead and the priests of Amun were
onbythebitterpriestsandmilitaryofficialswho at all, rather that she became someone else; reinstated. But there remained one remnant of the
weredesperatetotakebackthepowersthat someone far more powerful. In the piece, old religion, one that couldn’t be destroyed with
hadbeensoruthlesslystolenfromthem.Bythe Nefertiti and Akhenaten are depicted with one a hammer or chisel. The remnant was the boy’s
time of his death around 1334 BCE, Akhenaten’s of their daughters, but Nefertiti’s name has been name. Just like his father and stepmother before
countrywasabrokenone. chiselled out and replaced with a different one – him, Tutankhaten gave himself a new name, a
It is unlikely that these revolts came as a ‘Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten’. This was the name that would honour the glory of Amun and
surprise,butwhattheEgyptianscouldnever name of Akenhaten’s co-regent, who was crowned the gods that his people loved so dearly. It was
havepredictedwasthedisappearanceofNefertiti aroundthesametimethatNefertiti’sname one that thousands of years later would be pasted
inthe12thyearofherhusband’sreign.Whereas disappeared from history. Could Nefertiti have across newsstands and known to people in every
before her face had adorned the walls of temples takenonanewnameandbecomeherhusband’s corner of the globe. The name was Tutankhamun.
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