Since the history of humanity was founded by wars, this order gave birth to a male-dominated society. However, even in the tens of thousands of years of human history dominated by men, many women have emerged and they have become important figures to be remembered even today. Everyone has heard of one of them, Nefertiti. Nefertiti, the queen of ancient Egypt, was a very intelligent woman, but more importantly, she was very, very beautiful.
The reason why Nefertiti’s beauty stands out so much is that the events took place thousands of years ago. Such a beautiful woman could easily impress others, and was also quite intelligent and was sometimes even thought to have magical powers. The end is not known for sure, but unfortunately it is thought to be not a very happy ending. Let’s take a closer look at who Nefertiti is and see the events that made her one of the most famous women in history.
Who is Nefertiti? The young princess who came to Egypt with her magical hands:
It is known that Nefertiti, whose real name is Tadukhepa, lived and died in the 14th century, but her date of birth is not certain, but it is thought to be 1370. It is not possible to give precise information about the details such as where Tadukhepa came from, where he is from, who his family is, but we can accept that some of the theories that have survived until today are correct.
It was thought that the daughter of the king of a state called Mitanni, located in today’s Syria, named Tadukhepa, had healing hands. Neighboring state Egypt’s pharaoh III. When Amenhotep fell ill one day, the young princess went to heal him in order to strengthen their friendship. This young princess, whom everyone admires as soon as they see it, is IV. She was married to Amenhotep.
Tadukhepa’s beauty was so mesmerizing that she took the name Nefertiti, which means ‘she came beautiful’ in Egyptian. IV. When Amenhotep came to the throne, he took the name Akhenaton. There was a passionate love affair between Akhenaton and Nefertiti. Since the pharaoh was already considered one of the gods, his wife, the queen, was also considered a goddess. Nefertiti did justice to this belief.
Nefertiti lays the foundations of a new religious structure:
Without understanding Akhenatenian Egypt, it will be difficult to understand how Nefertiti was so important. Ancient Egypt had a polytheistic understanding of religion. Depending on this understanding, there were many different temples and each temple had many priests. Pharaoh was one of these gods, but not the most powerful. This situation began to change during the reign of Akhenaten.
In the fifth year of Akhenaten’s reign, a monotheistic religion consisting of the main god Aton, the pharaoh Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti began to emerge and gain strength. This disturbed the other temple priests because their wealth came from so-called offerings to the gods. Nefertiti, who laid the foundations and strengthened this new understanding of religion, could influence everyone.
The kneeling beauty of Nefertiti:
It is possible to talk about many false myths about Nefertiti. The constant point of all these legends is its beauty. Nefertiti was a very, very beautiful woman, moreover, she knew how to use this beauty. She was already well educated, being the daughter of a king, her intelligence, ambition, and passions reinforced by training; she turned him into a force that would impress everyone he met.
Nefertiti spoke in a particularly low voice to the men before her. This made even the strongest of men involuntarily bend over to hear him. Men who were already fascinated by her beauty, even with a slight bow, inevitably felt a magical effect. Since she was a smart and educated woman, the words that came out of her tongue were also extremely meaningful.
Nefertiti was strong, and she was aware of that power. She wanted to become a goddess by marrying a god. In fact, she saw everything that happened to her as punishments given by the gods for her greed. She did not stop, however, and under the influence of both her husband, the pharaoh and everyone around her, she was signing unprecedented reforms in Ancient Egypt. The number of his enemies was increasing day by day.
Nefertiti’s sad end:
Frankly, we do not have certain information that Nefertiti has a really sad ending. However, when the stories of that period are examined and we consider that he especially confronted other temple priests because of his reformist movements, we can say for sure that he was killed. According to a rumor, she left Akhenaten and lived a peaceful retirement in Thebes. But it is now known that this rumor is not true.
Nefertiti and Akhenaten had six children. However, none of them was a male heir who would become a future pharaoh. Both the people and Nefertiti thought that this was the punishment of the gods. Akhenaton married once again and after that marriage, he ascended the throne under the name of Tutankhamun and became a son, whose name is mentioned even today with his curse.
Three mummies were found in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. These mummies were anonymous. One with a severed arm caught the attention of experts. This female mummy in her 30s had two earring holes in her ear. Since it was known that only Nefertiti wore such earrings at that time, this unnamed mummy was thought to belong to Nefertiti. The details are creepy.
The mummy, thought to have belonged to Nefertiti, was killed by being hit on the head with a hard object. It was a normal situation for that period, but according to the investigations, even his dead body was not left alone. The mummy’s face and mouth were heavily damaged, which was obviously done later. Grave robbers had stolen Nefertiti’s items that would show her fame in the other world, and worse, they had smashed her face so that the gods would not recognize her, and by tearing her mouth, she could not speak her name to the gods. The idea of Nefertiti being an unhappy soul wandering in the void is an extremely harsh attitude even for that period.
Bust of Nefertiti and Mona Lisa likeness:
German archaeologist Ludvig Brochardt found a bust during excavations in 1912 in the region where Akhenaten established a capital. He was so impressed with the bust that he smuggled it to Germany, recording it as an insignificant object. This insignificant object was the bust of Nefertiti, known to everyone today. The bust was later donated to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.
Although it was made by the famous Egyptian sculptor Thutmose thousands of years ago, the bust of Nefertiti reflects her beauty and impressiveness in all details. Nefertiti in this bust, which is said to have admired even Adolf Hitler; He has sunburned skin, a shaved head, red lips, and high cheekbones. More importantly, it is not fully understood which emotion it reflects from the facial expression.
For this reason, it is thought to bear a great resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting, which is another important work whose facial expression is not clear which emotion it reflects. Although Nefertiti is a strong woman, she always has an expression on her face where she is not entirely happy because she thinks the gods are punishing her. We don’t know why the Mona Lisa is like that. However, the Nefertiti bust is considered much more valuable because it can tell this through a sculpture.
Answering the question of who is Nefertiti, one of the most powerful female figures of Ancient Egypt and even the world, we talked about important details known about her. You can share your thoughts about Nefertiti and other powerful female figures in history in the comments.
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