Your guide to Egypt’s sun queen Nefertiti

Nefertiti is one of the most recognised figures from ancient Egypt, but how much is known about Egypt’s sun queen? Was she a pharaoh? Was she the mother of Tutankhamun? And when and how was her bust discovered? This interview is taken from an episode of the HistoryExtra podcast and has been edited for clarity.

What do we know about Nefertiti with certainty?

The only thing we know with certainty is that she was the pharaoh Akhenaten’s wife.

• She wasn’t a royal princess, and is not believed to have had any titles other than that of ‘king’s daughter.’

Was Nefertiti Tutankhamun’s mother?

Most scholars agree that Akhenaten’s father was definitely not her husband, but her cousin, Kiya.

• The problem is that we have pictures of Kiya with her child who is a girl, and there are no signs of her with anybody other than one single daughter.
• So, it is difficult to deny the possibility of being his mother on the basis he’s never shown with her.

The Myth of Neferneferuaten

Most of what we think we know about Egyptian history is wild guesswork based on a couple of little bits of information. One little discovery can make a huge difference.

• We knew that there was a ruler who had ruled alongside Akhenaten and then had continued on after his death. But all the evidence seemed to suggest that this was a male individual.
• Finally, a French colleague was looking very closely at some jewellery which had been found in the tomb of Tutankhamun and had been originally made for Akherenaten’s co-ruler. He realised that their name, which was “Beneficial for her Husband”, included an epithet that was “Nefertiti”.
• When this new reading of the name, with the epithet, was read out in a conference that my views changed immediately.

What do we know about Nefertiti’s death and the end of her life?

According to the mummy, she suffered a massive blow to the face, smashing many of the bones.

• The fact that she was denied burial as a female pharaoh suggests that her attempts to square the circle between the reform initiated by her husband and an ensuing revolution failed.
• It’s possible, however, that her death was simply an accident.

Other female pharaohs

Sobekneferu, a few centuries earlier, is the only other known example of a woman pharaoh.

• Hatshepsut, a woman who was the regent for King Thutmose III in the 18th Dynasty, is another notable exception to this rule.

What was happening in Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten and Nefertiti?

The late 14th century BC was a very interesting time, both in Egypt and more widely across the ancient world.

What sort of role would Nefertiti have undertaken as pharaoh?

As someone ruling alongside and for an under-age king, she would have been carrying out the full role of pharaoh.

• In this sense, she’s doing the full range of what pharaohs do – everything from foreign policy to home policy.

The Story of Nefertiti’s Bust

In the years from 1905-1914, a German archaeological team worked at Amarna, excavating the remains of the capital city built by Akhenaten.

• Among the finds was a bronze bust of the queen, meant to be used as a master portrait, but it is unusual for an Egyptian bust to be found in situ

What are some misconceptions Egyptologists have had about Nefertiti that have been largely disproved?

Some have insisted that she was a royal princess, or a foreign princess.

• Her name does mean ‘the beautiful woman has arrived’.
• It’s a perfectly common Egyptian name of that period.
• Until recently, she was regarded almost as a cypher – an international ‘glamour **** .

Was she a pharaoh?

During her period as Akhenaten’s wife, we find Nefertiti depicted smiting Egypt’s enemies, which is something which is never found for any other queen of Egypt.

• She is also depicted on the corners of her husband’s sarcophagus, rather than the figures of the traditional goddesses of the dead, who you normally find in that position.
• So she was held in enormously high regard and may have actually survived as a fully-fledged female pharaoh.

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