Did anyone see the Discovery Channel Special on Nefertiti ? I got the opportunity to and it was very interesting.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/53583/1.ashx
Dr. Joan Fletcher who specialized in ancient wigs found a Nubian Wig from the KV35 Tomb. This tomb was found in 1898 the person who made the discovery took this wig out of the tomb to study. But it did not go anywhere and was put away for a while.Dr. Fletcher began looking at it closely it was the wig only royals wore.
Nefertiti~ grew up in the palace harem of Amenhotep III in Malquata. The Chief Wife Tiye( pronounced TIE) picked Nefertiti for her son Tutmosis the eldest son. But he died at an early age.. so she was married to Ankhenaten.
Nefertiti
Her name, meaning "the beautiful (or perfect) woman has come," prompts some scholars to think that Nefertiti traveled to Egypt from a foreign land. Others theorize she was an Egyptian royal by birth. Still others think it unlikely that she was of royal blood, but that her father was a high government official, a man named Ay, who went on to become pharaoh after Tutankhamen (and, incidentally, may have had a hand in the boy king's death!).
The Royal Couple proceeded to change the religion and faze out the Cult of Amune by removing priests and tearing down temples in Karnac. They were taking the power away from the priest and the many gods and godesses, an by placing themselves as the direct link to Aten the Sun God had thier subjects worship them as gods themeselves. They moved the capital of Egypt from Thebes to Amarna which was in the middle of the desert. To build Amarna they ravished the temples in Karnac.
She bore Akhenaten six daughters, two of whom may have died in a plague. She was the stepmother of Tutankhamen. Some Egyptian scholars theorize that around year 12 of Akhenaten's reign Nefertiti may well have become his co-regent, and immediately after his death became a pharaoh in her own right, ruling alone for a short time. As Akhenaten disposed of the plethora of old gods, enraging his priests and subjects, he likely needed a strong female figure to soften the abstract austerity of the sun deity, according to British archeologist Joyce Tyldesley, who wrote a biography of Nefertiti.
So, here is Nefertiti and Ankhenaten shaking up all of Egypt by placing them selfs as intercessior between the people and the one sun god Aten. Nefertiti began performing the duties that would be the Kings place such as the ritual killings, she performed them which scandalized the people. The Royals were more accessable to the people than their ancestors and the artwork depicts them in more natural ways and in a loving manner. In a nobleman's tomb there is a wall painting depicting 2 Charriot Riders racing one is the King and the other Nefertiti~ it shocked people to see the Queen in such an active role in Court and as equal to the King. The other thing though this wall depicted is they had an army around them ~ basically the first secret service.
Nefertiti had six daughters and the King wanted a son. Her rival Kia gave Ankhenaten the son he always wanted. Two years later all writing about Kia ends.. did a jealous Nefertiti do away with Kia ?
After the King dies~ ( they don't know how he did) but a plague was mentioned ~ it took two of Nefertiti's daughters. Nefertiti's name is not mentioned after his death. They wonder if she changed it to Smscara ( Sounds like M-Scara) and ruled as pharaoh.
Nefertiti's mummy has a 12 inch wound in her side that suggest foul play. During her husband's turbulent reign the couple's renegade practice of monotheism —they worshipped the sun disc god over all others, and seem to have outlawed their subjects' polytheistic devotion — threatened Egypt's priesthood and ensured they would have no shortage of powerful enemies.
Some Egyptologists think it was Nefertiti who actually instigated this new religion and catalyzed a rift between the royals and the priests.
With so many enemies, the obvious question is whether Nefertiti died naturally, or was she murdered? The reason they question this is there is a 12 inch wound that was done before mummification. This wound would of been fatal and that is where the question comes in. The mummy that Joann Fletcher believes could be Nefertiti was mutilated in the years after her death. Perhaps, Fletcher says, it was done to prevent this figure from "living" even in the afterlife. The mummy is embalmed in the a way that is interesting too. It matches the time period~ they did not remove the brain. So it is a definate match to the techniques of that time period.
So in the end~ she had to return to the old ways and raise her children to incorporate them. I think the priest did away with her in the end.
They did a compost of Nefertiti:
Compare the faces.
If you get the chance to watch this do so.
X.