Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen [Hardcover]

There are so many weird and wacky books on the Amarna Period it was a real pleasure to read one written by an author who takes such a well-balanced approach. You feel that you are reading the considered view of a writer who isn't pushing you to believe their latest oddball theory but has the confidence to show you all the evidence for you to make up your own mind.

If this makes it sound like a dry textbook it isn't! I reckon this is a cracking book for both university students and the interested amateur like me!) alike.

More please!

Akhenaton was a heretic in Egyptian terms -- he renounced the worship of old gods in favour of a more monotheistic framework based upon a sun-worship (Aton) which prompted him to change his name (he had been Amenhotep IV). He built a new capital city at Amarna, where he and Nefertiti lived and raised their children. Nefertiti was perhaps the most influential person on Akhenaton, at that time one of the most powerful rulers on earth.

Very little is known of Nefertiti -- her death is not recorded, and her tomb has not been found. Her beauty is renowned from the masks found at Amarna by archaeologists early in this century, having been lost for millenia. It is unusual that such a prominent person's death would not be recorded in the culture of Egypt, symbolised to this day by the monuments to the great who have died in pyramids and tombs.

The mystery deepens, however, with the discovery of stelae at Amarna that shows Nefertiti in glorious array while her husband the Pharoah occupies a lesser position.

'The Berlin stela provides us with the image of a perfect and semi-divine family inhabiting an ideal world far beyond the experiences of most Egyptians. The exact roles played by the principal members of this family are unclear. Akhenaten seems quite happy perched on his lowly, undecorated stool while his wife occupies the more regal seat, yet to him fall the the honour of holding the more important princess while Nefertiti looks after the babies.'

Nefertiti may have been the regnant queen by this point -- unusual but far from unheard of in Egyptian history. Female pharoahs such as Sobeknofru and Hatchepsut had proved this, but it is much more likely that a female would act as regent rather than regnant. She might have served as co-regnant with Akhenaten until his death, and then as a regent for Tutankhamen.

Of course, alternate theories also abound. Some inscriptions have been discovered in which a another name, Meritaten, was inscribed over erased names and titles of another woman -- was this Nefertiti? Did she overstep her position? Did she commit some indiscretion or crime? Meritaten, the daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaton, might have assumed public duties as queen. This was put forward by Egyptologists including Norman de Garis Davies and John Pendlebury.

Tyldesley presents various theories of Nefertiti's life and death side by side with evidence supporting each. Alas, the support is difficult no matter which interpretation is preferred -- Amarna was abandoned shortly after the death of Akhenaten, and the old religious ways reinstituted. Akhenaten's name was deliberately suppressed due to the threat to the 'established religion' that monotheistic ways represented (perhaps a source of animosity between another group, the Canaanite/Israelites, and the Egyptians stems from the fear of this monotheistic tendency latent in Egypt).

It is a sad tale, that Akhenaten and Nefertiti's family was all but destroyed, their capital reduced to a quarry for future pharoahs and builders to use; they and their family, including Tutankhamen and Ay, the following pharoahs of the family, were all deleted from official lists of kings -- in traditional Egyptian theology, for the spirit to live forever, the person's name, body, or image must survive -- and thus the officials of Egypt tried their best to destroy the spirit of these people. But archaeology has managed to resurrect their images and at least part of their story, and the mystery of their lives will continue for a long time to come.

The unfortunate thing is that most of the other glitzy books out there are larger because of irrelevant padding, or wild hypotheses. This is because there's not a lot known about Nefertiti. What information exists is presented very well, and very logically in this book.

Because so little is known, the actual story, end-to-end, would fit into only one, or at most, two chapters, so this book gives (as has been pointed out already) a good beginner's guide to the "Amarna Period", a segment of Egypt's history where a rogue pharaoh tried to overturn the existing dogma, art and culture, within which nefertiti was a major player.

I've read a great many books on this subject, and this is the best for the beginner. However, if you're looking for much more information, seek out the larger Akhenaten-based hardbacks.

I only give it four stars, because I know of many more illustrations which would have worked well in the book, and there are some important artifacts, as well as some other researchers' opinions which are either glossed over, or omitted.