Sunday, October 26, 2008

Favorite Topic in Egyptian History

There are so many different topics that fascinated me throughout last quarter, but the most fascinating was King Tut. This was the most fascinating topic because as you look into all the other pharaohs when we looked into their tombs they were looted and/ or destroyed. Tombs were missing, but King Tut was untouched with all his treasures that included his solid gold sarcophagus and golden throne.

This was amazing because all of the other pharaohs had stolen items and hardly any items in perfect condition do to grave robberies. Another fascinating feat of this pharaaoh was that he became a pharaoh at the age of 9 and supposedly married a 13 year old girl. he died at the age of 19 with only reigning for 10 years which is such a short time compared to all the other pharaohs that would reing on average of 35 years.

King Tut did not do any great achievements himself because since he was so young he was not able to make any decisions, instead his elders and council leaders did all of the ruling and decisions that normally a pharaoh would make for him. Since he died at the age of 19 he was just one year over the age that he "was allowed" to rule so he made very few decisions in that one year.

Another thing that was great about him was that his death is largely debated right now. Some believe that he was probably poisned which was one of the common sudden deaths with pharaohs and elders and council members. Another debate is whether he was hit on the head with a club which means one of his elders, a council members, someone high on the branch of royalty, or someone he trusted highly killed him because noone else ever came near to the pharaoh.

These were some of the fascinating things that i loved about King Tut and why he is one of my favorite topics in Egyptian history.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Nefertiti

Arguably, to those who are not very involved in the study of ancient Egypt, Queen Nefertiti is perhaps better known than her husband, the heretic king Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV). It is said that even in the ancient world, her beauty was famous, and her famous statue, found in a sculptor's workshop, is not only one of the most recognizable icons of ancient Egypt, but also the topic of some modern controversy. She was more than a pretty face however, for she seems to have taken a hitherto unprecedented level of importance in the Amarna period of Egypt's 18th Dynasty. In artwork, her status is evident and indicates that she had almost as much influence as her husband. For example, she is depicted nearly twice as often in reliefs as her husband, at least during the first five years of his reign. Indeed, she is once even shown in the conventional pose of a pharaoh smiting his (or in this case, her) enemy.


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Queen Nefertiti was also significant in a way that she was not of the royal family, but was most likely a daughter of an army officer who later became the pharaoh Ay who might have been brother of Tiye. Nefratiti's name roughly meaning "the beautiful one" or "one has arrived". It is thought that she might have ruled for a little while after her husband died and before anyone could take control of the throne. She also shares her name with a type of beautiful gold bead, called nefer, Nefratiti loved wearing this bead all the time.

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Akhenaten constructed a place to worship Aten, the sun disk god, and named his capitol Akhetaon. This new city was unique and unlike most ancient Egyptian cities. The temples were constructed with no roofs, allowing the rays of the sun to enter the temple. His city had palaces along with villas for the rich, and inhabited almost twenty to fifty thousand villagers.
Supporting her husbands’ beliefs, she changed her name to Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti meaning, “The Aten is radiant of radiance [because] the beautiful one has come.” Nefertiti was more then just a queen, she supported her husband, promoted his religious beliefs, and was depicted more pharaonic, rather then queenly. New findings are proving that Nefertiti was probably one of Egypt’s most powerful queens to ever rule. She was shown with the crown of a pharaoh and was depicted in scenes of battle. Also a large tomb was constructed for her, thought to be a tomb fit for a pharaoh. Although depicted gallantly and heroically, queen Nefertiti loved and cared for her deformed and sickly husband.

source

Haffner, Craig and Donna E. Lusitana. Mummies and the Wonders of Ancient Egypt. A&E Television Network: New York, 1996.

Something alse that is amazing about this lady is that twelve years into Akhanaten's reign she completly disappears from history. no one knows how or why this happens, but suddenly after that Akhanaten goes insane because in the smae month his daughter dies and Egypt goes into complete chaos. Nefratiti's body was never found some believe that she wasn't uried in the Valley of the Kings and that Akhanaten created a seperate place for her to reside so that her resting place does not get disturbed.(Hafner)

Freed, Rita E., Yvonne J. Markowitz, and Sue H. D'Auria, eds. Pharaohs of the Sun. Boston: Little, Brown, 1999.

When Nefertiti was fifteen years old, she married Amenhotep IV, who was a year older and became king upon his father's death. They had six daughters and, according to some, one son. During the first five years of Amenhotep's reign, Nefertiti enjoyed a high profile. Evidence of her political importance is seen in the large number of carved scenes in which she is shown accompanying him during ceremonial acts. She is shown taking part in the daily worship and making offerings. Similar to those of the king—acts quite unlike those usually performed by previous chief queens, all of whom had a secondary role.
In the fifth year of his reign, Amenhotep changed his name to Akhenaten. He went against the beliefs of previous kings by announcing that the sun god Aten was the greatest of all Egyptian gods and the only one who should be worshipped, rather than Amen-Ra, who had long been considered supreme. Nefertiti shared his belief. Largely because of opposition over this issue, Akhenaten built a new capital called Akhetaten and moved the royal family there.



This was a great woman changing her name to match her husbands monotheistic belief and taking part in some acts that normally only pharaohs would do. This was definantly a remarkable woman. Her body never found and unlike other pharaohs maybe buried in a completly different place than the valley of the kings.