7 Petrie, W. M. F. (1894), Tell el Amarna, London: 38.
8 Ibid.: 39.
9 This is the solution considered by Aldred in Aldred, C. (1968), Akhenaten: Pharaoh of Egypt: A New Study, London: 133–9.
10 Samson, J. (1985, revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra: queen-monarchs of ancient Egypt, London: 22.
11 See, for example, Samson, J. (1972), Amarna, City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, London: 23. The fact that Mrs Samson has had the courage to reconsider her published opinion does not, of course, make her revised views invalid, and she is certainly not the only egyptologist to interpret the piece as Nefertiti. See, for example, Reeves, C. N. (1990), The Complete Tutankhamun: the king, the tomb, the royal treasure, London: 19.
12 The role of ‘God’s Wife’ and ‘God’s Hand’ is briefly discussed in Robins, G. (1993), Women in Ancient Egypt, London: 152ff.
13 See, for example, Aldred, C. (1980), Egyptian Art, London: 182: ‘She [Nefertiti] is shown in relief and in the round as a woman of great allure, according to the Oriental ideal of voluptuousness…’
14 The changes in Nefertiti’s appearance are discussed in Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 38ff.
15 For a simple description of the revised canon of proportions during this reign consult Robins, G. (1986), Egyptian Painting and Relief, Princes Risborough: 43–52.
16 Arnold, The Royal Women of Amarna: 56.
Chapter 5 Horizon of the Aten
1 This extract, and all subsequent extracts from the Amarna boundary stelae, is based on the translation given in Davies, N. de G. (1908a), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5, London: 28–34. For a more modern translation consult Davies, B. G. (1995), Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 5, Warminster: 5–13.
2 As suggested by Cyril Aldred, in Aldred, C. (1976), The Horizon of the Aten, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62: 184.
3 Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5: 30.
4 I am here making the assumption that the Middle Kingdom capital, Itj-Tawi, was a suburb of Memphis.
5 Estimate given by Barry Kemp; see Kemp, B. J. (1989), Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization, London: 269. Estimates of the population of the city vary between 20,000 and 50,000.
6 Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5: 26.
7 Discussed in Redford, D. B. (1984), Akhenaten: the heretic king, Princeton: 142.
8 Petrie, W. M. F. (1894), Tell el Amarna, London: 1.
9 See, for example, M. Mallinson’s comments on the replacement of brick by stone at the Small Temple of Aten, in Kemp, B. J. (ed.) (1989), Amarna Reports 5, London, 115–42; 138.
10 Discussed in Kemp, B. J. (1977), The city of Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt, World Archaeology 9:2: 123–39.
11 Riefstahl, E. (1964), Thebes in the time of Amunhotep III, Oklahoma: 189.
12 Davies, N. de. G. (1906), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 4, London: 16. Davies’s interpretation of the scene differs slightly from my own: ‘The queen, regardless of the situation, seems to pester the king with talk, though his whole thought is given to the management of his steeds.’
13 Whittemore, T. (1926), The Excavations at El-Amarnah, Season 1924–5, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 12: 3–12.
14 Ibid.: 6.
15 As we have good reason to believe that the Window of Appearance may have been a part of the King’s House, rather than the Great Palace, the women’s quarters here depicted may well have been a part of the House. However, it is apparent that the ancient artists were not averse to combining elements of separate buildings for greater artistic effect. For the mention of eunuchs see Davies, N. de G. (1908b), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 6, London: 20.
16 Discussed in Tyldesley, J. A. (1994), Daughters of Isis: women of ancient Egypt, London: 130.
17 See, for example, Manniche, L. (1991), Music at the court of the Aten, Amarna Letters 1, 62–5: 65: ‘It is possible that invisible essence (sound) emanating from the tangible object (the musician or his instrument) was interpreted as symbolic of the immaterial substance transferred to the deity [the Aten] from the actual food offerings presented in the temple or palace.’
18 Sandman, M. (1938), Texts from the time of Akhenaten, Brussels: 13:11.9–13.
19 See Kemp, B. J. (1976), The Window of Appearance at el-Amarna and the basic structure of this city, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62: 81–99.
20 Petrie, W. M. F. (1931), Seventy Years in Archaeology, London: 138.
21 This is discussed with references to the various accounts in Kemp, B. J. and Garfi, S. (1993), A Survey of the Ancient City of El-Amarna, London: 58.
22 For a reference to the Heliopolis benben consult Habachi, L. (1971), Beitrage zur Ägyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde 12, 42: fig. 20. Davies illustrates and describes the Panehesy stone in Davies, N. de G. (1905), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 2, London: 24, Plate XIX.
23 Petrie, Tell el Amarna: 18.
24 Discussed and reproduced in Shaw, I. (1994), Balustrades, stairs and altars in the cult of the Aten at al-Amarna, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 80: 109–27: 119. Shaw gives earlier references to this piece.
25 The history of this building is discussed in Badawy, A. (1956), Maru-Aten: pleasure resort or temple?, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 42: 58–64.
26 For references to Kiya consult Harris, J. R. (1974), Kiya, Chronique d’Egypte 49: 25–30; Eaton-Krauss, M. (1981), Miscellanea Amarnensia, Chronique d’Egypte 56: 245–64: 2; Reeves, C. N. (1988), New Light on Kiya from texts in the British Museum, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 74: 91–101.
27 Suggestion put forward in Redford, D. B. (1984), Akhenaten: the heretic king, Princeton: 150.
28 Suggestion made in Manniche, L. (1975), The wife of Bata, Göttinger Miszellen 18: 33–8. For a translation of this story consult Lichtheim, M. (1976), Ancient Egyptian Literature 2: The New Kingdom, Los Angeles: 203–11.
29 A relief in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, shows Kiya apparently standing before an offering table, a role usually taken by a priest.
30 There is no absolute proof that this village was the home of the labourers who worked on the Amarna tombs, although a comparison with the Theban workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina makes this seem very likely. There is, however, an unexcavated village further to the east which may have housed the workers involved on the royal tomb. For a discussion of all aspects of the excavation of the workmen’s village see Kemp, B. J. (ed.) (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987), Amarna Reports 1–4, London: 1.
31 ‘This material, as well as paintings of Bes and Thoeris [Taweret] in other houses in the village, point to the importance placed on womanhood and childbirth in New Kingdom society, including that of the Amarna workmen’s village.’ Kemp, B. J. (ed.) (1986), Amarna Reports 3, London: 25.
32 For the history of and further references to the Amarna chapels consult Bomann, A. P. (1991), The Private Chapel in Ancient Egypt, London.
33 Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford: 223.
34 Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5: 4.
35 Davies, N. de G. (1908b), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 6, London: 10.
36 Ibid.: Plate IV.
37 Discussed in Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 28.
38 Beketaten and the Huya scenes, and their importance with regard to a proposed Amenhotep III–Akhenaten co-regency, are discussed in Redford, D. B. (1967), History and Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt: seven studies, Toronto: 105–9.
39 Discussed in Gabolde, M. (1992), Baketaten fille de Kiya?, Bulletin de la Société d’Egyptologie Genève 16: 27–40.
40 Velikovsky, I. (1960), Oedipus and Akhnaton, New York: 101. Velikovsky, wishing to promote the equation of Akhenaten with Oedipus, had to make Tiy into a knowing Jocasta. Believing Tiy to be of foreign extraction, he speculates that ‘
the kings of Mitanni, being worshippers of the Indo-Iranian gods, must have regarded incest between mother and son as not only a pardonable relation but a holy union.’
Chapter 6 Queen, King or Goddess?
1 Inscription engraved on the foot-end of the coffin recovered from tomb KV 55. Translation based on that of Sir Alan Gardiner, cited in Gardiner, A. (1957), The so-called tomb of Queen Tiye, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43: 10–25: 19.
2 Maspero, G. (1912), in Gauthier, H. (ed.) Livre des Rois II, Cairo: 344:2. The quotation is taken from Samson, J. (1985 revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra, London: 22.
3 Robins, G. (1986), Egyptian Paintings and Reliefs, Princes Risborough: 50.
4 Discussed in detail in Harris, J. R. (1973), Nefertiti Redivia, Acta Orientalia 35: 5–13. See also Tawfik, S. (1975), Aten studies, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 31: 159–168.
5 It is just possible that we have a second representation of Nefertiti wearing this crown in the tomb of Ay. Both scenes are illustrated and discussed in Ertman, E. L. (1992), Is there visual evidence for a ‘king’ Nefertiti?, Amarna Letters 2; 50–55.
6 Described in Martin, G. T. The Royal Tomb at el-Amarna I: the objects, London: section A.
7 For a discussion of Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus consult Eaton-Krauss, M. (1993), The Sarcophagus in the Tomb of Tutankhamen, Oxford. The canopic canopy is discussed in Robins, G. (1984), Isis, Nephthys, Selket and Neith represented on the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun and in four free-standing statues found in KV 62, Göttinger Miszellen 72: 21–5.
8 See, for example, Green, L. (1992), Queen as Goddess: the religious role of royal women in the late-eighteenth dynasty, Amarna Letters I: 28–41.
Chapter 7 Sunset
1 Amarna Letter EA 16, written by the king of Assyria. For a full translation of this and other letters consult Moran, W. L. (1992), The Amarna Letters, Baltimore: 38–41.
2 See El-Khouly, A. and Martin, G. T (1984), Excavations in the Royal Necropolis at El-Amarna, Cairo: 8, 16.
3 Loeben, C. E. (1986), Eine Bestrattung der grossen Königlichen Gemahlin Nofretete in Amarna, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 99–107. Aldred suggests that the shabti would have been inscribed during the embalming period; if he is correct, it would indicate that Nefertiti had indeed died at Amarna. See Aldred, C. (1988), Akhenaten King of Egypt, London: 229.
4 Pendlebury, J. (1935), Tell el-Amarna, London: 28–9. For other references to Nefertiti’s ‘disgrace’ see Seele, K. C. (1955), King Ay and the close of the Amarna Age, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 14: 168–180.
5 Davies, N. de G. (1923), Akhenaten at Thebes, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 9: 132–152: 133.
6 Baikie, J. (1926), The Amarna Age; a study of the crisis of the ancient world, London: 281.
7 Consult Harris, J. (1973), Nefernefruaten, Göttinger Miszellen 4: 15–17; (1973), Nefertiti Rediviva, Acta Orientalia 35: 5–13; (1974), Nefernefruaten Regnans, Acta Orientalia 36: 11–21. See also the work of Perepelkin, Y. Y. (1967), Perevorot Amen-Hotpa IV, i, Moscow: sect 87; idem (1968), Taina Zolotogo groba, translated as The Secret of the Golden Coffin, 120.
8 For a modern description of the opening of this tomb see Romer, J. (1981), Valley of the Kings, London: 211–220. See also Reeves’ introduction to the re-publication of Davis’ 1910 report, in Davis, T. M. et al (1990), The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, San Francisco. For further references to the opening of the tomb see Gardiner, A. (1957), The so-called tomb of Queen Tiye, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43:10–25.
9 Aldred, C. (1988), Akhenaten, king of Egypt, London: 195.
10 Quoted in Gardiner, A. (1957), op. cit.: 25.
11 Most experts are agreed that the gold mask had been torn off the coffin in antiquity, but see the comment in el Mahdy, C. (1999), Tutankhamen; life and death of a boy king, London: 45, that ‘the few surviving photographs of the coffin within the tomb show that at the time of discovery the face was made of gold… later when the coffin lid arrived in Cairo, the golden face was missing…’ This would not be the only gold from KV 55 to go missing post-discovery, but the photograph published by Davis of the coffin lying in situ (op. cit Plate XXX) shows a mummy whose face has been ripped away. Davis’s text (2), tells us that ‘on the floor… lay the coffin made of wood, but entirely covered with gold foil and inlaid with semi-precious stones…’. In contrast, the catalogue of finds compiled by George Daressy and published in the same volume mentions (16) ‘The face was covered by a gold mask… Of this the lower part is missing from below the eyes.’
12 Krauss, R. (1986), Kija–ursprüngliche Besitzerin der Kanopen aus KV 55, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 67–80.
13 Lucas, A. (1931), The canopic vases from the ‘tomb of Queen Tiyi’, Annales du Services des Antiquités: 120–122.
14 Gardiner, A. (1957), op. cit.
15 Translation given in Allen, J. P. (1988), Two altered inscriptions of the Late Amarna Period, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 25: 117–126.
16 Davis, T. M. et al. (1910), The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, London: 2.
17 Tyndale, W. (1907), Below the Cataracts, London.
18 Weigall, A. (1922), The Mummy of Akhenaton, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 8: 193–200: 194.
19 G. Elliot Smith, writing in Davis, T. M. et al. (1910), op. cit.: xxiv.
20 Smith, G. E. (1912), The Royal Mummies, Cairo: 51–56.
21 Weigall, A. (1922), The Life and Times of Akhnaton: pharaoh of Egypt (revised edition), London: xxii.
22 Derry, D. E. in Engelbach, R. (1931), The so-called coffin of Akhenaten, Annales du Service des Antiquités 31: 98–114, 116.
23 Harrison, R. G. (1966), An anatomical examination of the pharaonic remains purported to be Akhenaten, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 52: 95-119. Connoley, R. C., Harrison R. G. & Ahmed, S. (1976), Serological evidence for the parentage of Tutankhamun and Smenkhkare, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62: 184–6. See also Costa, P. (1978), The frontal sinuses of the remains purported to be Akhenaten, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 64: 76–9.
24 Wente, E. F. and Harris, J. E. (1992), Royal Mummies of the Eighteenth Dynasty, in C. N. Reeves (ed.) After Tutankhamun: research and excavation in the royal necropolis at Thebes, London and New York, 2–20.
25 Filer, J. M. (2002), Anatomy of a Mummy, Archaeology March/April 2002, 26–9. See also the discussion of this analysis in J. Tyldesley (2000), Private Lives of the Pharaohs, London, Study 2.
26 Discussed in Ray, J. (1975), The parentage of Tutankhamun, Antiquity 49: 45–7.
27 Martin, G. T. (1989), The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna II, London: 37–48.
28 Or could the feminine form have been deliberately adopted by Smenkhkare’s wife, as suggested in Krauss, R. (1978), Das Ende de Amarnazeit, Hildesheim?
29 Allen, J. P. (1994), Nefertiti and Smenkh-ka-re, Göttinger Miszellen 141: 7–17: 13. Allen provides a detailed summary of the evidence for and against a joint reign.
30 Arnold, D. (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 74. Arnold is writing about a brown quartzite head of Nefertiti, recovered from Memphis but almost certainly created by an artist of the Amarna school.
31 Discussed in Arnold, D. (1996) op. cit.: 115.
32 Discussed in Redford, D. B. (1975), Studies on Akhenaten at Thebes II, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 12, 9–14; Robins, G. (1981), Hmt nsw wrt Meritaten, Göttinger Miszellen 52: 75–81.
33 Davies, N. de G. (1905), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna 2, London: 36–45.
34 See discussion in van Dijk, J. and Eaton-Krauss, M. (1986), Tutankhamun and Memphis, Mitteillungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 35–41.
35 Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford: 236–7.
36 Carter, H. and Mace, A. C. (1923), The Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, London: 119.
37 These scenes are discussed with further
references in Troy, L (1986), Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History, Uppsala: 100ff. See also Bosse-Griffiths, K. (1973), The Little Golden Shrine of Tutankhamen, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 59: 100–108.
38 Elliot Smith, G. (1912), The Royal Mummies, Cairo: 38.
39 Harris, J. E. et al. (1978), Mummy of the ‘elder lady’ in the tomb of Amunhotep II, Science 200:9: 1149–1151.
40 Quoted in Luban, M. (1999), Do We Have The Mummy of Nefertiti?, www.geocities.com.
41 Luban, M. (1999) op. cit.
42 Fletcher, J. (2004), The Search for Nefertiti; the true story of a remarkable discovery, London. The quotation is taken from the cover of the Sunday Times Magazine 8th June 2003.
43 See Harrison R. G. et al (1979), A Mummified Foetus from the tomb of Tutankhamun, Antiquity 53: 19–21.
44 Translation after H. G. Guterbock, as quoted in Schulman, A. R. (1978), Ankhesenamun, Nofretity and the Amka Affair, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 15: 43–8.
45 Suggestions that Ay had consolidated his claim to the throne by marrying his widowed granddaughter Ankhesenamen are now known to be based on a single piece of doubtful evidence.
46 See Schaden, O. J. (1992), The God’s Father Ay, Amarna Letters 2, 92–115: 108. Schaden gives a full discussion of Ay’s known career.
47 See Hari, R (1965), Horemheb et la Reine Moutnedjemet, Geneva.; Hari, R. (1976), La reine d’Horemheb était-elle la soeur de Nefertiti?, Chronique d’Egypte 51: 39–46.
Epilogue The Beautiful Woman Returns
1 Pendlebury, J. D. S. (1935), Tell el-Amama, London: ix.
2 Accounts of the history of the archaeology of Amarna are given in Aldred, C. (1988), Akhenaten, King of Egypt, London; Kemp, B. J. and Garfi, S. (1993), A Survey of the Ancient City of el-Amarna, London.
3 Jomard, E. (1818), Antiquités de l’Heptanomide, Déscription de l’Egypte, Antiquités, Déscriptions, vol. 2, Paris: XVI: 13.
4 Wilkinson, J. G. (1837), Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London: Plate VI.
Nefertiti Page 24