Synopses & Reviews
The classic account of Egypt's most famous queennow fully revised For over a decade, Nefertiti, wife of the heretic king Akhenaten, was the most influential woman in the Bronze Age world: a beautiful queen blessed by the sun god, adored by her family, and worshipped by her people. Her image and her name were celebrated throughout Egypt and her future seemed golden. Suddenly Nefertiti disappeared from the royal family, vanishing so completely that it was as if she had never been. No record survives to detail her death, no monument serves to mourn her passing, and to this day her end remains an enigmaher body has never been found. Fully revising her classic biography of Egypt's sun queen, historian Joyce Tyldesley draws on a wealth of scholarly and archeological evidence to investigate the truth behind the life, times, and mysterious disappearance of the legendary Nefertiti.
Synopsis
Nefertiti (c.1350 BC) is widely known from the exquisite painted bust of her in the Berlin Museum. But beyond this image we know little about her. Wife of Akhenaten, the monotheistic pharaoh, adored by her family, blessed by the sun god, and worshipped by her people, Nefertiti suddenly and completely vanished from the record. Was she banished by her husband or raised to rule as his equal? Did she reign, under another name, in her own right? Could she have been the eminence grise' behind the young Tutankhamun, her son-in-law? Tyldesley draws on archaeological, textual and artistic evidence in a detailed discussion of Nefertiti's life and times at the ephemeral and heretical Amarna court.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-220) and index.
Synopsis
Nefertiti, her image forever frozen in the now famous limestone bust, has been hailed as one of the most beautiful and fascinating women of all time.
At a young age Nefertiti married Akhenaten, the enigmatic ruler of the most powerful kingdom of the Bronze Age world. By the age of thirty, Nefertiti had given birth to six daughters and achieved a position of enormous influence as mother-goddess and the living symbol of fertility within the perfect family. Together, she and the king presided over the magnificent Egyptian court of Amarna, acknowledged to be the centre of the civilized world. Then suddenly she disappeared from the official records of the times. Her death and the whereabouts of her body remain a mystery.
In this fascinating tale of detection Joyce Tyldesley draws on evidence from archaeological remains, historical documents and art of the period, to explore beyond the myths and offer illuminating insights into the life and times of the much-loved sun queen and the dazzling court of Akhenaten at Amarna.
About the Author
Joyce Tyldesley is Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies at Liverpool University and a freelance writer and lecturer on Egyptian archaeology. Her books include Hatchepsut: The Female Pharoah and Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt.