By Mag. Karin Silvina Hiebaum

Neferti is considered one of the most enigmatic queens in ancient Egypt. And as one of the most beautiful. Not only her bust in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, but also her history has long been world-famous

Who was Nefertiti?

Desert sand as far as the eye can see. Heat, drought and dust make Ludwig Borchardt quite a problem. He is an archaeologist and travelled specifically to Egypt to track down the mysterious city in Amarna. 80 ancient houses were already uncovered in 1912 when Ludwig Borchardt was looking for finds there. In the workshop of a sculptor who may have worked for the royal court in 1300 BC.

Because many works of art were produced and also stored in this workshop – and it is precisely in this workshop, over 3,000 years later, that Ludwig Borchardt made a very special find: He discovered the life-size bust of a queen – the Neferti, as it turned out later.

Who was Nefertiti?

Up to this point, no one had ever heard of Nefertiti before. Nobody knew that the legendary queen, who is so well known today, lived at all. Only when Ludwig Borchardt found the famous bust in the excavation site in Amarna did the researchers try to explore the history of this beautiful woman. That’s why they continued to dig in the desert sand and made more and more excavation finds.

Some of the ruins of the temples and palaces can still be seen today. And in it they have not only found the bust: inscriptions and paintings show Neferti together with her husband Akhenaton, the ruler of Achet-Aton. That was the name of the city, which is located in today’s area of Amarna. The archaeologists know all this from the images found, from which they can derive the story of Nefertiti.

Neferteti

Neferteti has not always lived in Achet-Aton. She was born in 1370 BC in Mitanni, in the area of today’s Syria, as a king’s daughter. At that time she was still called Taduschepa, only later did she get the name “Nefertete”. Even as a young girl, she is brought to Egypt because she is to marry the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenophis III. But shortly after the wedding, the king dies. Taduschepa therefore marries his son and successor, Amenophis IV. Her name will be changed to “Neferti”, which means: “The beauty who comes there.”

The invention of a new God

Nefertiti is no more than 15 years old when her husband Amenophis IV ruled from Thebes from Egypt. Amenophis IV himself is only a little older when he ascended the throne.

Pharaohs in ancient Egypt are more than just kings; they are God and ruler in one person. Amenophis is majestically revered as the representative of God on earth – but there are also many other gods that the Egyptians worship at this time. But Amenophis wants to have all respect for himself – and quickly abolishes all other gods. For this he creates a new god: the sun god Aton. A new royal cult is emerging.

Only he and Nefertiti stand between Aton and ordinary people – and thus have much more power than if there were still several gods. That’s why Amenophis also has all other gods deleted from the inscriptions; their names are simply chiseled from the stone tablets and thus removed forever.

Achet-Aton and the Palace of the Nefertiti stood in this area in Amarna over 3,000 years ago

Amenophis changes his name to Echenaton (“He who serves the Aton”), Nefertiti becomes Noferneferuaton-Nefertite (“Beautiful is the beauty of the Aton – the beauty comes). The daughters of the two also get names that ended with the last syllable on the name of the sun god: Meretaton, Meketaton and Anchesenpaaton.

Moving from Thebes to Achet-Aton

After reigning the country from Thebes for five years, Ekhenaton moves to Achet-Aton with his family and his people. In the middle of the desert, magnificent palaces and temples are being built; within a short time, an entire city is created from which Akhenaton and Nefertiti rule. With the new kingdom, Akhenaton wants to start a new beginning, because in Thebes there are some people who do not want to believe in his new God.

“The Beautiful”

Nefertiti is of breathtaking beauty. Akhnaton admires his wife – and she supports him in his religion and rule. She is the first woman to make it into the position of queen and goddess.

“The beauty who is coming” is not only admired by her husband. The people also pay great respect to her. She is proud, self-confident and beautiful – and her beauty is important to her. She also does a lot for this. A normal day in her life was therefore determined by body care, baths, ointments and make-up.

Nefertite also always wears the latest head splendor. Either huge crowns or heavy, mostly black, wigs. Among them, Nefertite does not have a long hair, as you would expect. On the contrary: her head is shaved; she is bald. The reason for this is the heavy head fashions, the hot weather and possibly also vermin such as lice. It’s just more practical not to have hair.

History

Ancient Egypt

Pyramids, pharaohs and hieroglyphs – that’s probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of ancient Egypt. But the high culture on the Nile had much more to offer: In our quiz you can put your knowledge to the test and we can tell you what the ancient Egyptians ate!

What has become of Nefertiti?

Nefertiti rules together with her husband in Achet-Aton for 17 years. Then Akhenaton dies – and Nefertiti takes over his rule.

That’s how it could have been. But maybe it was completely different – because no one knows exactly what has become of the beautiful queen today. After 12 years of rule, her track is lost. Maybe she also died before her husband? Maybe she fell out of favor with him and was violated? Or she was replaced by Ekhnaton’s lover, Kija, on the throne.

The fact that the rulers in ancient Egypt had several women was not uncommon at that time. Ekhnaton already had a whole harem of side wives during the past few years – but Nefertiti was his favorite. Until Kija came. Neferti’s mummy was never found. Even today, archaeologists are looking for her – in vain.

The bust of the Nefertiti, which Ludwig Borchardt tracked down in 1912, is now world famous. Many people are still captivated by the beauty of the Nefertiti and its legendary history – and make a pilgrimage to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, where visitors can marvel at the over 3,000-year-old bust of the beautiful queen.