Thursday, November 18, 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Disappearing Nefertiti!

After Pharaoh Akhenaten died  Queen Nefertiti mysteriously disappeared! Uh-oh! No one can figure out for sure, but there are some reasonable and really weird theories. One of the most popular theories is that she died of illness hmmm.......boooorrrrinnnggg! Now let's get to the good stuff! One of the weirdest theories I've heard was that Nefertiti died then came back as King Tut because Nefertiti's daughter married King Tut so Nefertiti wanted to be with her daughter forever. Again, these are not facts they are theories, I don't doubt that some weird guy made that theory up anyways because they're so weird! Another one is that Nefertiti had fallen out of favor and was killed by a jealous citizen. So far they think Nefertiti died in 1360 B.C.E.  There are even more theories I'm just not going to name them all because that would take FOREVER! Although these are some weird and entertaining theories we may never know the truth about what happened to famous Queen Nefertiti.

The Unique Family In The Chain Of Royalty


You can see in the picture that her children look very different.
 You may be thinking  that Nefertiti was just a self-centered and selfish woman, but she really cared about her family. How do I know? Well, in monuments and artifacts Nefertiti, Pharaoh Akhenaton and their six alien-looking daughters where always shown together. The monuments showed Nefertiti kissing her daughters on the cheek , and the Pharaoh and her hugging,carrying and playing with their daughters. Now, I know this is normal now in modern times but back then in Ancient Egypt it was different and unique. Royal families were never shown doing these things with their children. Besides that are you wondering why I said six alien-looking daughters? It's because they had swollen bellies, stretched out heads and extremely long arms and legs. The deformities might be genetic but Nefertiti never had these traits. One of her daughters actually married King Tut! I that I think that this royal family was very......unique!

Neffertiti and Her Royal Life!


Okay,so I know I've been saying how Akhenaten and Nefertiti always make their decisions together, but Pharaoh Akhenaten is not who you think he is! Pharaoh Akhenaten.......is a cheater!! The Pharaoh had two wives, Nefertiti (his royal wife) and Kiya (his lower class wife). If you ask me....THAT'S JUST WRONG!!

Akhenaten-Nefertiti's husband

Kiya-Akhenaten's lower wife
But Nefertiti didn't mind because this was actually normal in Ancient Egypt....yeah I know it's crazy! Even though Nefertiti was only one out of two wives of Pharaoh Akhenaten,  she was the principle wife so she had the most power. She ruled a cult of monotheistic religion and made the cult protect HER. From the remains of the Egyptian temples her picture showed up 2x more than her daughters and husband,the king/Pharaoh! So whenever you think your little brother or sister is spoiled think about how spoiled  Queen Nefertiti was!

Did the People of Ancient Egypt Like or Hate Her?

Although Nefertiti and her husband the Pharaoh Akhenaten took away polytheistic worship Ancient Egyptians didn't hate Nefertiti until little King Tut's reign. Nefertiti represented elegance, power, great fashion sense and everlasting beauty. I think of Nefertiti of like a Audrey Hepburn of Ancient Egypt (only more powerful)! Citizens of Ancient Egypt really admired Nefertiti and gave her nicknames like the Goddess of Favor, Beloved One and the Lady of Two Lands. So I guess you could say  in the eyes of the Egyptians, Nefertiti really was the perfect lady!
                                      

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Nefertiti?! What did she do for Ancient Egypt?!

Nefertiti offering Aten a gift (usually done by King).
QUEEN Nefertiti and her husband the Pharaoh Akenaten brought the idea of monotheism to Ancient Egypt. No, they didn't worship Jesus but rather something I've never worshiped in MY life. They worshiped the sun! That's right the sun, they've even named it Aten which means old sun (hahaha that's blatant). Of course, since the queen and the Pharaoh were in power they could make all the citizens do what they want....can you see where I'm going with this? They banned polytheistic worship, kidnapped the rebels and tore down the polytheistic worship places. I guess you could say they were pretty violent. Oh! And listen to this, Queen Nefertiti worshiped herself and made everyone else in town worship her too! After their reign ended Egypt returned to their polytheistic ways. Hahaha, so I don't think Nefertiti really did anything good for Ancient Egypt!