Nefertiti: The Egyptian Queen with Beauty and Brains
Nefertiti can be translated to "a beautiful woman has come" (biography.com). The Egyptian queen Nefertiti lived up to her name in more ways than one, as she was renowned for her physical beauty, and also admired for her intellectual prowess.
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| The iconic bust of the beautiful Queen Nefertiti, discovered in Amarna, Egypt in the year 1912
Born in 1370 BCE, Nefertiti was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, and the Queen of Egypt. It is believed that she married Akhenaten when she was 15, and evidence suggests that they ruled together from 1353 to 1336 BCE. Unlike previous Egyptian rulers, the King and Queen seemed to have a "genuine romantic connection" and were often "shown riding in chariots together and even kissing in public", (biography.com). This indicates that Nefertiti was more of an equal to her husband than any Egyptian queen before her.
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"Nefertiti is depicted alongside her husband with a frequency seen for no other Egyptian queen. In many cases she is shown in positions of power and authority—leading worship of Aten, driving a chariot or smiting an enemy." (history.com)
Historians believe that Nefertiti eventually became her husband's official reagent under the name Neferneferuaten. This meant that she was "her husband’s coruler rather than his consort", (Tyldesley).
After the Akhenaten's 12th year as Pharoah, Nefertiti disapears of the historical record. Some historians suggest this is when she died, while others assert that "she outlived her husband, took the name Smenkhkare, and ruled alone as female king before handing the throne to Tutankhamen", (Tyldesley).
Queen Nefertiti was a warrior woman in the sense that she broke the boundaries of what it meant to be a queen in Egyptian culture. It was custom for a queen to not be her husband's equal, but Nefertiti ruled side by side with him. The artifacts depict her as both beautiful and a warrior, because they portray her as both feminine and strong.
Queen Nefertiti can reasonate with women from all over the world. Often times the value of a woman is judged primarily by her looks, and not her accomplishments. While Nefertiti is famous for her beauty, she is also equally as famous for her equal position to her husband and her political and social achievements. Although she lived thousands of years ago, her story still makes her a positive role model for women today.
Works Cited:
Tyldesley, Joyce. “Nefertiti.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 18 Apr. 2017, www.britannica.com/biography/Nefertiti.
History.com Staff. “Nefertiti.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010,
www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/nefertiti.
I personally love your blog post. I loved learning about Egyptian culture in high school and it still fascinates me today. I remember learning about Nefertiti in school and admiring her for her courage and power that she had. She was a woman who wanted the best for her people, and had no problem standing by her husbands side and ruling with him. In her day in time it was not common for the wife to stand by her husbands side and rule with him (as you stated above) but she was someone who was not afraid to step outside the norms of her society and for that I admire her.
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