Biography_of_Nefertiti

Nefertiti meaning the beauty has come, was one of the best known queens of Ancient Egypt. She was considered to be the most beautiful woman of the ancient world. Nefertiti was born in 1370 BC and was the wife of Akhenaten, a Pharaoh where she became queen in the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty. Archeologists believe she may have been a foreign princess from northern Iraq or may have been the daughter of the previous Pharaoh, Amenhotep III and his chief wife, Queen Tiy, which means Akhenaten was not the son of Amenhotep III therefore, Nefertiti married her brother or half-brother as was custom in Ancient Egypt. Queen Nefertiti joined Akhenaten in reigning and initiated a new religion. She was very experienced in politics and was highly practiced in the skill of persuasion. The new religion celebrated the power of the sun-disk Aten where they began to promote the worship of one god above all others, although, only Nefertiti and Akhenaten were allowed to directly worship the Aten. They lived during a time of religious controversy when the traditional gods of Egypt were abandoned by the royal family. She played a big part by converting the people from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion which is one of her greatest accomplishments. Nefertiti had almost as much influence as her husband. He announced her as a joint ruler and caused all her orders executed where she then destroyed temples and persecuted priests of old religion. Together they had 6 daughters but later, Akhenaten decided for another wife, Kiya and had a son, Tutankhamun to take over the throne. Kiya later died, therefore, Nefertiti was left to raise Tut who then married Ankhesanamum, Nefertiti’s daughter. She arranged this to ensure that she would have considerable influence with the new Pharaoh. Nefertiti is known for appearing in Egyptian art and most importantly, the bust discovered in 1912 in Amarna