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| Nefertiti |
Let’s
kick off the New Year with our continued episode of the beautiful and enigmatic
Nefertiti. We learnt that she is Akhenaten’s Chief Queen with whom he had six
daughters, that she was accorded a position of great influence and power which
she jointly exercised with Akhenaten, and that she herself might have been a
co-regent. Despite her fame, she completely vanished from historical record
later in Akhenaten’s reign. The most puzzling question is “where is she?”
It
was first widely believed that the Queen disappeared around the twelfth year of
Akhenaten’s reign. Her fall from the Pharaoh’s favour was a popular theory, and
many historians suggested she was replaced by her daughter Merytaten and the
lesser wife Kiya as Akhenaten’s Chief Consorts. There are a myriad of conflicting
evidence showing that either Nefertiti’s or Kiya’s name was removed from inscriptions
and replaced with that of Merytaten. If Nefertiti’s name was indeed removed,
then it either supports her possible fall from grace or even death (which may
cause the Pharaoh so much grief that he did not wish to be reminded of her
memory). However, all of this appears to
constitute a mere speculation.
To
complicate the matter further, new character(s) now enter the scene: Smenkhare
and Neferneferuaten, Akhenaten’s successor(s). The reason for the “(s)” is that
they may be the same person! So are Nefertiti, Smenkhare and Neferneferuaten one,
two or three separate figures? A variety of theories and speculations have been
put forward.
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| Bust of Smenkhare, whose identity remained forever shrouded by mystery |
The
first theory is that Nefertiti is the same person as Smenkhare and Neferneferuaten,
acting as Akhenaten’s co-regent. During such co-regency, Nefertiti’s role as
Chief Queen might have been taken over by her oldest daughter, Merytaten. Moreover,
this triple identity was supported by the fact that both Nefertiti and
Smenkhare used the name "Neferneferuaten" ("the beautiful beauty
of the Aten").
The
second theory is that there were in fact two co-regents: a male son named
Smenkhare and Nefertiti adopting the name of Neferneferuaten, both of whom used
the praenomen Ankhkheperure. Some even suggested that Nefertiti lived on till
the early reign of Tutankhamun. This is supported by the recent discovery of an
inscription referring to "Great Royal Wife, His Beloved, Mistress of
the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti" in a limestone quarry at Dayr Abu Hinnis north of
Amarna (or Akhetaten) dated "Regnal Year 16, month 3 of Akhet, day
15". This proved not only that Nefertiti was alive towards the end of
her husband’s reign, but also that she was still his Chief Wife and not his
co-regent! This may reduce the possibility that she and Smenkhare are the one
and same person, but in no way precludes her from being the female Pharaoh
known as Neferneferuaten who succeeded Akhenaten after his death. Indeed, this female
Pharaoh’s epithet "Effective for her husband" suggested she
was either Nefertiti or Meritaten.
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| Merytaten, Nefertiti's daughter and possibly Smenkhare's Chief Queen |
Nefertiti’s
mystery was fascinating both in life and in death. Her mummy was never found or
truly identified. In 1898, the tomb of Amenhotep II was excavated and both the
Pharaoh and eleven other mummies were
also discovered in intact chambers. Two of the mummies are known as the
"Elder Lady" and the "Younger Lady". It is now generally
believed that the "Elder Lady" is Queen Tiye, mother of Akhenaten,
but there remained much speculation about the identity of the "Younger
Lady". Some believed the mummy was of Nefertiti, while others believed it
may be Kiya’s, Tutankhamun’s mother. The mummy’s face had been badly mutilated
around the time of the burial, and an arm snapped off, but the fingers were
still clasped in the position associated with a pharaoh holding a scepter. Given
that the mummy was tested to be about 30 years old, it is too young at the same
of embalmment to be Nefertiti (who was thought to be around 40 years of age
when she died). Whatever the truth, the whereabouts of Nefertiti’s mummy
remains a deep and dark mystery till this day.
There
is no doubt that Nefertiti’s charm and beauty have continued to marvel all who
have come across her. Those who witnessed her beautiful bust all claimed her to
be of extraordinary beauty. Yet, this seemingly popular Queen remains forever
shrouded by mystery both surrounding her lineage, identity, role, disappearance,
and lastly death. In the end, such is the irony that the woman, whom everyone
professes to know, may in fact turn out to be the one history barely knows at
all.
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