Nefertiti was born in Thebes, Egypt and may have been the daughter of Ay, a top advisor of the court, who succeeded King Tut after his death in 1323 BC. An alternate theory says she was a princess from the Mittani kingdom, in Northern Syria. But it is most commonly accepted she was Egyptian and not her husband's sister, which was very common during the Egyptian dynasties. She was 15 when she married Amenhotep and became her husband's "Great Royal Wife" (favored consort), when he ascended to the throne in Thebes, as Amenhotep IV. In the 5th year of his reign, Amenhotep made the official religion of Egypt monotheistic; now there was only one god, Aten, the sun disc. Amenhotep also moved the capital to Amarna and changed his name to Akhenaten. While Nefertiti took on another name "Neferneferuaten", her full name meant, "Beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a beautiful woman has come".
Akhenaten's upheaval of the country's religion also brought about drastic changes in Egyptian art. Abandoning the idealized depictions of earlier pharaohs, Akhenaten was often portrayed with feminine hips and exaggerated features. Early portrayals of Nefertiti show a typically beautiful young woman but later images portray her as nearly identical to Akhenaten. On the walls of temples and tombs built during Akhenaten's reign, Nefertiti is depicted alongside her husband more frequently than any queen in Egyptian history. In many cases she is shown in positions of power; leading worship of Aten, driving a chariot or smiting an enemy. She is credited as one of the most enigmatic and beautiful women in Egyptian history. Nefertiti and her husband, Akhenaten were regarded at the time as a force to be reckoned with and have gone down in history as one of the world's earliest examples of a power couple.
After she gave birth to six daughters, Ankhesenamun (later known as Ankhesenpaten), Meritaten, Meketaten, Setepenre, Neferneferuaten Tasherit and Neferneferure; Akhenaten took other wives, including his sister with whom he fathered the future pharaoh, Tutankhamen. Nefertiti's third daughter, Ankhesenpaten, would go on to become her half-brother, Tut's queen.
Nefertiti disappears from records in the 12th year of Akhenaten's 17 year reign. It's possible she died at that point but it has often been speculated that she became regent after her husband's death. Akhenaten's reign was followed by a pharaoh by the name of Smenkhkare, which some scholars have speculated was another name for Nefertiti. It is also believed she may have become regent in place of Akhenaten's heir, Tutankhamen, who was too young at the time to ascend to the throne. If she did maintain power after her husband's death, it's possible she began reversing changes made in religion, that were completed during her stepson's reign; she may have made offerings to the god Amun, pleading with the deity to "return and lift Egypt's darkness".
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/nefertiti
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Women who Ruled
Non-FictionThese women were rare examples of women holding power in a male-dominated world. Many went on to became beacons of hope, strength and perserverance to their respective peoples. They are remembered for their beauty, intelligence, bravery and unwaveri...
