Tuesday, 16 August 2011

What Was The Fate of Queen Nefertiti?

Nefertiti is regarded as being one of the most beautiful of the Ancient Egyptian Queens, but she is also a very enigmatic Queen. Although today the image of Nefertiti is famous the world over, with the bust of Nefertiti in the Berlin museum being one of the most famous sculptures of the ancient world and her exquisite face adorning everything from jewelry, to scarves to tea towels, we still do not know the origins of Nefertiti or what happened to her at the end.

There has been much speculation among Egyptologists as to who the parents of Nefertiti were and how she came to marry a future Pharaoh.  Was she an Egyptian royal princess, or was she a foreign princess who had been sent from a foreign court? Or was she the daughter of a noble Egyptian family, who were somehow well connected enough to the royal family to be able to wed their daughter to Pharaoh's son?

Nefertiti became an exceptionally influential figure during the Amarna period of Egypt's history, and was shown in equal stature to her husband, the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten, and seems to have enthusiastically promoted his new beliefs in the single god Aten. The royal couple had six daughters, but are not recorded as having had a son.

What happens to Nefertiti at the end of her life is as mysterious as where she came from, so read on to find out more about the mysterious fate of Queen Nefertiti.

Bust of Queen Nefertiti in Berlin Museum