Nefertari: Egypt's Greatest Queen

Introduction

When one hears of ancient Egypt, they see pyramids. When one hears of a king of ancient Egypt they think Tutankhamun. When one hears of a queen of ancient Egypt they think Nefertiti. But there was another queen of ancient Egypt, one of equal importance and a bigger and more positive legacy at the time of her reign and after her death.

The name of this queen is Nefertari Merytmut, or Nefertari for short. She was the favorite wife and queen of the seemingly mythical King Ramesses II, second to Tutankhamun when it comes to familiarity in the Western world. Nefertari was a loyal and intelligent queen who was always by her husband's side in every aspect of his reign: in court, religious ceremonies, and even battles. Her power and influence during her queenship was nearly unprecedented: she signed peace treaties, oversaw Harems, and was literate.

Perhaps what is most impressive is that Nefertari was one of at least fifty wives. Wives and concubines of pharaohs were the most marvelous women at the time. Being the favorite of one of the strongest, most "handsome" and successful pharaohs among fifty or more women was a very difficult position to get to and obtain. Nefertari was most certainly a beautiful woman, and evidence of this is shown through the inscriptions and monuments Ramesses left her. He dedicated a temple to her in Abu Simbel (in Nubia) and provided her the most beautiful tomb in the Valley of the Queens that it was centuries later regarded as "the Sistine Chapel of ancient Egypt". In her tomb, love poetry has been found authored by Ramesses.

Ramesses clearly showed his love to Nefertari, and he wanted the two of them to be together in both this world and the next. She obviously had no competition when it came to pleasing the Pharaoh. She was his favorite, and she will always be. He said of Nefertari:

"My love is unique - no one can rival her, for she is the most beautiful woman alive. Just by passing, she has stolen away my heart."

Nefertari had an apparent astuteness to her that the people of her time had loved and recorded--and that legacy has continues to this day. She was a wife, queen, diplomat, and priestess who had large beauty and even larger intelligence. In fact, Nefertari was regarded as such a great queen that she was deified before her death in 1254 BCE. According to an excerpt from a Luxor Temple, Nefertari was:

"greatly favored, possessing charm, sweet of love.... Rich in love, wearing the circlet-diadem, singer fair of face, beautiful with the tall twin plumes, Chief of the Harim of Horus, Lord of the Palace; one is pleased with what(ever) comes forth concerning her; who has (only to) say anything, and it is done for her -every good thing, at her wish (?); her every word, how pleasing on the ear - one lives at just hearing her voice..."

Through all of this love, though, we don't seem to actually know that much about the details of Nefertari's life. Parentage is unclear, there is no specific count of all of her children, and we don't know what she felt about certain diplomatic actions.

It would seem as if attempting to write a book on one of the most obscure queens of ancient Egypt would be one of the most rash and impossible actions of any person, Egyptologist or not. Most experts would say little evidence of the life of Queen Nefertari Merytmut has ever been discovered, and the things archaeologists have found are generic, and can be easily applied to almost any queen at any given era of Egypt. However, this is wrong. Any tourist would notice all of the booming monuments covered with the cartouches of Nefertari and her driven and confident husband Ramesses II. And it was because of the Pharaoh's "drive" that Nefertari has been immortalized. Nefertari has left behind much more than we can think possible, and we are able to reconstruct her life using these clues, as well as our basic understanding of ancient Egypt at the time.