Introduction
1 Description of Nefertiti from the tomb of Apy; Davies, N. de G. (1906), The Rock Tombs of el-Amama, vol. 4, London: 19–20.
2 Breasted, J. H. (1924), Ikhnaton, The Religious Revolutionary, The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 2, Cambridge: 109.
3 The modern myths and legends surrounding Akhenaten are fully explored in Monserrat, D. (2000), Akhenaten; history, fantasy and ancient Egypt, London.
4 Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1963), Tutankhamen: life and death of a pharaoh, London: 75.
5. Velikovsky, I. (1960), Oedipus and Akhnaton, New York: 201.
6 Weigall, A. (1922), The Life and Times of Akhenaton, London: 44.
7 Buttles, J. (1908), The Queens of Egypt, London: 131–6.
Chapter 1 The Imperial Family
1 From the legend of the divine birth of Amenhotep III as recorded on the walls of the Luxor Temple. For a full translation of this text consult Davies, B. G. (1992), Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 4, Warminster: 28–31.
2 The conception of Amenhotep III. See Davies, Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 4: 28–31.
3 During the 18th Dynasty it was believed that the sphinx was a representation of the sun god Re-Harakhty.
4 Smith, G. E. (1912), The Royal Mummies, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Egyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Cairo: 42–6.
5 Amarna Letter 19. For a full translation and commentary on this and all other Amarna letters consult Moran, W. L. (1992), The Amarna Letters, Baltimore and London.
6 Mortuary temple stela of Amenhotep III. Translated in Davies, Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 4: 1–5.
7 We know that the marriage was celebrated before Year 2 as one of Amenhotep’s hunting scarabs, dated to that year, includes the name of the queen. It is highly unlikely that Tiy was younger than ten years of age as Egyptian girls were not usually married before they reached puberty.
8 For a full translation of this and other Amenhotep III scarabs consult Blankenberg-van Delden, C. (1969), The Large Commemorative Scarabs of Amenhotep III, Leiden.
9 As suggested by Maspero in Davis, T. M. et al. (1910), The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, London: xv. A parallel may perhaps be drawn with the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981; the future Princess of Wales may have been technically a commoner, but she was certainly not of ‘mediocre extraction’.
10 Aldred, C. (1957), The end of the el-Amarna period, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43: 30–41: 35.
11 It is now recognized that the name Yuya does not bear any resemblance to known Asiatic names of the period.
12 The opinions of Petrie and Budge are quoted and discussed in Davis, T. M. (1907), The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou, London: xviii–xxi.
13 Simon, V. S. (1984), Tiye: Nubian queen of Egypt, in I. van Sertima (ed.), Black Women in Antiquity, Journal of African Civilizations 6:1: 56–63.
14 For a discussion of ‘race’ in ancient Egypt consult Baird, K. A. (1996), Ancient Egyptians and the issue of race, in Lefkowitz, M. R. and Rogers, G. M. (eds), Black Athena Revisited, Chapel Hill and London: 103–11.
15 Davis, The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou: xxviii. See the commentary on Davis’s text given by Dennis Forbes in Forbes, D. C. (1991), Finding pharaoh’s in-laws, Amarna Letters 1, 4–14.
16 Osiris beds were a physical manifestation of the re-creative powers of Osiris, god of the underworld. A seed bed in the shape of the god was planted so that it would sprout with life in the same way that the god himself was reborn after death.
17 Discussed in Troy, L. (1986), Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History, Uppsala: 86.
18 The Epigraphic Survey (1980), The Tomb of Kheruef, Chicago: 42.
19 Buttles, J. (1908), The Queens of Egypt, London.
20 Aldred, C. (1980), Egyptian Art, London: 170.
21 Scott, N. (1957), Amun-Hotpe the magnificent, Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15.6: 149.
22 Amarna Letter EA 4.
23 Amarna Letter EA 1.
24 See Blankenberg-van Delden, The Large Commemorative Scarabs of Amenhotep III, 18, 129–33. Schulman discusses this scarab together with all the evidence for Amenhotep’s diplomatic marriages in Schulman, A. R. (1979), Diplomatic marriage in the Egyptian New Kingdom, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 38: 177–93.
25 Amarna Letter EA 29.
26 Amarna Letter EA 22.
27 Amarna Letter EA 17.
28 Davis, The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou: 37–41.
29 The Epigraphic Survey, The Tomb of Kheruef: 43. For a description of Amenhotep’s festivals consult Kemp, B. J. (1989), Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization, London: 213–17.
30 Davies, Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 4: 36.
31 For a description of the site, its history and its inscribed material see Hayes, W. C. (1951), Inscriptions from the Palace of Amenhotep III, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 10: 35–40, 82–104, 156–83, 231–42.
32 For a comprehensive review of the later sculpture of Amenhotep III consult Johnson, W. R. (1996), Amenhotep III and Amarna: some new considerations, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 82: 65–82.
33 Steindorff, G. and Seele, K. C. (1957), When Egypt Ruled the East, Chicago: 79; for the publication of this stela see Griffiths, F. Ll (1926), Stela in honour of Amenhotep III and Taya from Tell el-Amarnah, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 12: 1–2.
34 Baikie, J. (1926), The Amarna Age: a study of the crisis of the ancient world, London.
35 Some believe that the fact that both kings were depicted in this kind of garment is intended to convey a specific meaning; consult Sourouzian, H. (1994), Inventaire iconographique des statues en manteau jubilaire de l’époque thinite jusqu’à leur disparition sous Amenhotep III, in C. Berger et al., Hommages à Jean Leclant I, Paris.
36 Velikovsky, I. (1960), Oedipus and Akhnaton, New York: 48–9. Velikovsky is the strongest proponent of the idea that Amenhotep was now a bisexual cross-dresser, as this fits well with his theory linking Amenhotep IV with the legend of Oedipus.
37 Baikie, The Amarna Age: 236.
38 Amarna Letter EA 23. W. L. Moran, The Amarna Letters: 61–2, believes that the statue of the goddess was sent to Egypt not to cure the ailing king but so that she could be present as a religious symbol at his marriage to Tadukhepa.
39 Amarna Letter ΕA 59. Tunip was never an official vassal of Egypt and could more properly have expected to receive protection from Mitanni.
40 For a full description of the mummified remains of ‘Amenhotep III’ see Smith, G. E. (1912), The Royal Mummies, Catalogue Général des Antiquités Egyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Cairo: 46–51.
41 See Wente, Ε. F. and Harris, J. E. (1992), Royal Mummies of the 18th Dynasty, in Reeves, C. N. (ed.), After Tutankhamun: research and excavation in the royal necropolis at Thebes, London and New York: 2–20.
Chapter 2 A Beautiful Woman Has Come
1 Text taken from the colonnade of the ‘Mansion of the Benben-Stone’, Karnak. Translated in Redford, D. B. (1984), Akhenaten: the heretic king, Princeton: 77.
2 See for example Redford, Akhenaten: the heretic king: 57: ‘It may well be that he [Amenhotep] was kept in the background because of a congenital ailment which made him hideous to behold.’
3 Dodson, A. (1990), Crown Prince Djhutmose and the royal sons of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 76: 87–96. See also Dodson, A. (1991), Two who might have been king, Amarna Letters 1: 26–30.
4 Davis, T. M. (1907), The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou, London.
5 See for example Petrie, W. M. F. (1894), Tell el Amarna, London: 38ff.
6 Redford has given a detailed account of all the evidence presented in favour of a joint reign. Consult Redford, D. B. (1967), Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, History and Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt: seven studies, Toronto: 88–169.
7 Amarna Letter EA 26.
8 The question of Nefertiti’s parentage is discussed in Seele, K. C. (1955), King Ay and the close of the Amarna Age, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 14: 168–80, and in Aldred, C. (1957), The end of the el-Amarna period, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43: 30–41. These two experts employ the same evidence but draw different conclusions.
9 The suggestion that the two women could be Tey and Nefertiti was first made by Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt and accepted by Julia Samson: see Desroches-Noblecourt, C. (1978), Une exceptionnelle décoration pour ‘la nourrice qui devint reine’, La Revue du Louvre et des Musées de France 28: 20–27; Samson, J. (1985, revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra: queen-monarchs of ancient Egypt, London: 57–8. The equally plausible suggestion that they may in fact be Nefertiti and Meritaten is made by Dorothea Arnold in Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 91–3.
10 The suggestion that ‘God’s Father’ should be translated as ‘King’s father-in-law’ was first made by L. Borchardt (1905), Der Agyptische Titel ‘Vater des Gottes’ als Bezeichnung für ‘Vater oder Schwiegervater des Königs’, Berichte über die Verhandlungen, Leipzig: 254.
11 For a review of all the evidence for Mutnodjmet at Amarna consult Hari, R. (1964), Horemheb et la Reine Moutnedjemet, Geneva.
12 As suggested by Aldred, The end of the el-Amarna period, JEA 43: 30–41, 39.
13 Davies, N. de G. (1908), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 6: Tombs of Parennefer, Tutu and Ay, London: 21.
14 Now housed in the Petrie Museum, London.
15 Davies, N. de G. (1923), Akhenaten at Thebes, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 9: 136–45.
16 For the history of the Nubian-style wig, consult Aldred, C. (1957), Hair styles and history, Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15.6: 141–8; Eaton-Krauss, M. (1981), Miscellanea Amarnensia, Chronique d’Egypte 56: 245–64.
17 Petrie, W. M. F. (1931), Seventy Years in Archaeology, London: 138–9.
18 Extract from the second Amarna boundary stela, translation adapted from Davies, B. G. (1995), Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 6, Warminster: 12.
19 See Ray, J. D. (1985), Review article of Redford’s Akhenaten, Göttinger Miszellen 86: 81–93. Ray suggests that Akhenaten may have been celebrating his thirtieth birthday. This would, however, make the king older at the time of his accession than is generally supposed.
20 The origins of the word talatat in this context are obscure, although it may be derived from the Arabic word for three, referring to the fact that the blocks are three hand-spans long.
21 The work of the Akhenaten Temple Project is described in detail in Smith, R. W. and Redford, D. B. (1976), The Akhenaten Temple Project, Warminster. See also Smith, R. W. (1970), Computer helps scholars re-create an Egyptian temple, National Geographic138: 5: 634–55. Younger readers will be amused to find that Smith’s ‘space-age’ computer employed punch cards and magnetic tape.
22 Figures taken from Smith and Redford, The Akhenaten Temple Project: 78.
23 Ibid. 34.
24 See Cooney, J. D. (1965), Amarna Reliefs from Hermopolis in American Collections, Brooklyn.
25 Consult Hall, E. S. (1986), The Pharaoh Smites His Enemies, Berlin: 4.
26 For a discussion of this crown consult Samson, J. (1973), Amarna crowns and wigs, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 59: 47–59; Green, L. (1992), Queen as Goddess, the religious role of royal women in the late-eighteenth dynasty, Amarna Letters 2: 28–41.
27 Discussed with references in Arnold, The Royal Women of Amarna: 107–8.
28 Some Hwt-Benben blocks display the shorter form of her name carved deeply and on a large scale beside the longer name which, scratched lightly and at a smaller scale, appears to have been added as an afterthought by the mason. For a discussion of the development of Nefertiti’s name, see Samson, J. (1976), Royal Names in Amarna, Chronique d’Egypte 51: 30–38.
Chapter 3 The Aten Dazzles
1 From the Great Hymn to the Aten, preserved in the tomb of Ay at Amarna. For a full translation see chapter text.
2 Johnson, W. R. (1993), The Deified Amenhotep III as the living Re-Herakhty; stylistic and iconographic considerations, Sesto Congresso Internazionale de Egittologia, vol. 2, Turin: 231–6.
3 Discussed in Johnson, W. R. (1996), Amenhotep III and Amarna: some new considerations, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 82: 65–82.
4 From the divine conception of Hatchepsut carved on the wall of the Deir el-Bahri mortuary temple. Consult Sethe, K. and Helck, W. (1906–58), Urkunden des 18. Dynastie, Leipzig and Berlin, 4.219, 13–220, 6; Breasted, J. H. (1988), Ancient Records of Egypt, 2nd edition, vol. 2, part 2, Chicago: 187–212.
5 Redford, D. B. (1981), Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar of New York 3: 87ff.
6 Amarna boundary stela. For a full translation of this text consult Davies, B. G. (1995), Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 6, Warminster: 9.
7 Androgyny and creation is discussed in detail in Troy, L. (1986), Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History, Uppsala: 1.2.
8 Even Hatchepsut, whose lack of a husband and son allowed her to step outside the traditional queen’s role, acted as she did in order to preserve her dynasty. Consult Tyldesley, J. A. (1996), Hatchepsut: the female pharaoh, London.
9 Inscription from the Amarna tomb of Panehesy. For a full publication of this tomb consult Davies, N. de G. (1905), The Rock Tombs of el-Amama, vol. 2, London. Davies’s footnote to the quoted text (p. 31) reads: ‘It will be noticed that these court favours, although in the gift of the king, would largely depend upon the goodwill of the queen.’
10 Davies, N. de G. (1905), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 3, London: 18.
11 Consult Ikram, S. (1989), Domestic shrines and the cult of the royal family, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 75: 89–101.
12 As discussed in Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 100. The garden shrines associated with the private houses were believed by their original excavators to be birth bowers.
13 See Silverman, D. P. (1982), Wit and Humour, Egypt’s Golden Age, Boston Museum, Boston: 277–81.
14 Woolley, C. L. (1922), Excavations at Tell el-Amarna, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 8: 48–81.
15 Kemp, B. J. (1979), Wall paintings from the workmen’s village at el-Amarna, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 65: 47–53.
16 For a discussion of the role of Bes at Amarna consult Bosse-Griffiths, K. (1977), A Beset Amulet from the Amarna Period, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 63: 98–106.
17 Weigall, A. (1922), The Life and Times of Akhenaton, revised edition, London: 136.
18 Aldred, C. (1968), Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt: A New Study, London: 189.
19 This interpretation of the Great Hymn to the Aten is based on a translation suggested by Steven Snape. Many versions of this hymn have been published, some literal, others more lyrical. See, for example, Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford: 225–7; Lichtheim, M. (1976), Ancient Egyptian Literature II: the New Kingdom, Los Angeles: 96–100; Simpson, W. K. (ed.) (1973), The Literature of Ancient Egypt, New Haven and London: 289–95.
20 Translation given in Martin, G. T. (1986), Shabtis of private persons in the Amarna Period, Mitteilungen der Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 109–29.
21 Weigall, The Life and Times of Akhenaton: 166.
22 Samson, J. (1985, revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra: queen-monarchs of ancient Egypt, London: 27.
23 Redford, D. B. (1984), Akhenaten: the heretic king, Princeton: 235.
24 Davies, N. de G. (1923), Akhenaten at Thebes, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 23: 132–52: 150.
Chapter 4 Images of Amarna
1 Extract from the rock stela of father and son sculptors Men and Bak, at Aswan. For a full translation of this stela consult Davies, B. G. (1994) Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 5, Warminster: 71.
2 Weigall, A. (1922), The Life and Times of Akhenaton, London: 51–2.
3 Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford: 214.
4 Grimal, N., A History of Egypt, translated by I. Shaw (1992), Oxford: 233.
5 Aldred, C. (1973), Akhenaten and Nefertiti, London: 11.
6 The more louche of Amenhotep’s representations may well have been carved some time after his death.
7 Petrie, W. M. F. (1894), Tell el Amarna, London: 38.
8 Ibid.: 39.
9 This is the solution considered by Aldred in Aldred, C. (1968), Akhenaten: Pharaoh of Egypt: A New Study, London: 133–9.
10 Samson, J. (1985, revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra: queen-monarchs of ancient Egypt, London: 22.
11 See, for example, Samson, J. (1972), Amarna, City of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, London: 23. The fact that Mrs Samson has had the courage to reconsider her published opinion does not, of course, make her revised views invalid, and she is certainly not the only egyptologist to interpret the piece as Nefertiti. See, for example, Reeves, C. N. (1990), The Complete Tutankhamun: the king, the tomb, the royal treasure, London: 19.
12 The role of ‘God’s Wife’ and ‘God’s Hand’ is briefly discussed in Robins, G. (1993), Women in Ancient Egypt, London: 152ff.
13 See, for example, Aldred, C. (1980), Egyptian Art, London: 182: ‘She [Nefertiti] is shown in relief and in the round as a woman of great allure, according to the Oriental ideal of voluptuousness…’
14 The changes in Nefertiti’s appearance are discussed in Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 38ff.
15 For a simple description of the revised canon of proportions during this reign consult Robins, G. (1986), Egyptian Painting and Relief, Princes Risborough: 43–52.
16 Arnold, The Royal Women of Amarna: 56.
Chapter 5 Horizon of the Aten
1 This extract, and all subsequent extracts from the Amarna boundary stelae, is based on the translation given in Davies, N. de G. (1908a), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5, London: 28–34. For a more modern translation consult Davies, B. G. (1995),Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, fascicule 5, Warminster: 5–13.
2 As suggested by Cyril Aldred, in Aldred, C. (1976), The Horizon of the Aten, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62: 184.
3 Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5: 30.
4 I am here making the assumption that the Middle Kingdom capital, Itj-Tawi, was a suburb of Memphis.
5 Estimate given by Barry Kemp; see Kemp, B. J. (1989), Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization, London: 269. Estimates of the population of the city vary between 20,000 and 50,000.
6 Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5: 26.
7 Discussed in Redford, D. B. (1984), Akhenaten: the heretic king, Princeton: 142.
8 Petrie, W. M. F. (1894), Tell el Amarna, London: 1.
9 See, for example, M. Mallinson’s comments on the replacement of brick by stone at the Small Temple of Aten, in Kemp, B. J. (ed.) (1989), Amarna Reports 5, London, 115–42; 138.
10 Discussed in Kemp, B. J. (1977), The city of Amarna as a source for the study of urban society in ancient Egypt, World Archaeology 9:2: 123–39.
11 Riefstahl, E. (1964), Thebes in the time of Amunhotep III, Oklahoma: 189.
12 Davies, N. de. G. (1906), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 4, London: 16. Davies’s interpretation of the scene differs slightly from my own: ‘The queen, regardless of the situation, seems to pester the king with talk, though his whole thought is given to the management of his steeds.’
13 Whittemore, T. (1926), The Excavations at El-Amarnah, Season 1924–5, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 12: 3–12.
14 Ibid.: 6.
15 As we have good reason to believe that the Window of Appearance may have been a part of the King’s House, rather than the Great Palace, the women’s quarters here depicted may well have been a part of the House. However, it is apparent that the ancient artists were not averse to combining elements of separate buildings for greater artistic effect. For the mention of eunuchs see Davies, N. de G. (1908b), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 6, London: 20.
16 Discussed in Tyldesley, J. A. (1994), Daughters of Isis: women of ancient Egypt, London: 130.
17 See, for example, Manniche, L. (1991), Music at the court of the Aten, Amarna Letters 1, 62–5: 65: ‘It is possible that invisible essence (sound) emanating from the tangible object (the musician or his instrument) was interpreted as symbolic of the immaterial substance transferred to the deity [the Aten] from the actual food offerings presented in the temple or palace.’
18 Sandman, M. (1938), Texts from the time of Akhenaten, Brussels: 13:11.9–13.
19 See Kemp, B. J. (1976), The Window of Appearance at el-Amarna and the basic structure of this city, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62: 81–99.
20 Petrie, W. M. F. (1931), Seventy Years in Archaeology, London: 138.
21 This is discussed with references to the various accounts in Kemp, B. J. and Garfi, S. (1993), A Survey of the Ancient City of El-Amarna, London: 58.
22 For a reference to the Heliopolis benben consult Habachi, L. (1971), Beitrage zur Ägyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde 12, 42: fig. 20. Davies illustrates and describes the Panehesy stone in Davies, N. de G. (1905), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 2, London: 24, Plate XIX.
23 Petrie, Tell el Amarna: 18.
24 Discussed and reproduced in Shaw, I. (1994), Balustrades, stairs and altars in the cult of the Aten at al-Amarna, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 80: 109–27: 119. Shaw gives earlier references to this piece.
25 The history of this building is discussed in Badawy, A. (1956), Maru-Aten: pleasure resort or temple?, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 42: 58–64.
26 For references to Kiya consult Harris, J. R. (1974), Kiya, Chronique d’Egypte 49: 25–30; Eaton-Krauss, M. (1981), Miscellanea Amarnensia, Chronique d’Egypte 56: 245–64: 2; Reeves, C. N. (1988), New Light on Kiya from texts in the British Museum,Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 74: 91–101.
27 Suggestion put forward in Redford, D. B. (1984), Akhenaten: the heretic king, Princeton: 150.
28 Suggestion made in Manniche, L. (1975), The wife of Bata, Göttinger Miszellen 18: 33–8. For a translation of this story consult Lichtheim, M. (1976), Ancient Egyptian Literature 2: The New Kingdom, Los Angeles: 203–11.
29 A relief in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, shows Kiya apparently standing before an offering table, a role usually taken by a priest.
30 There is no absolute proof that this village was the home of the labourers who worked on the Amarna tombs, although a comparison with the Theban workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina makes this seem very likely. There is, however, an unexcavated village further to the east which may have housed the workers involved on the royal tomb. For a discussion of all aspects of the excavation of the workmen’s village see Kemp, B. J. (ed.) (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987), Amarna Reports 1–4, London: 1.
31 ‘This material, as well as paintings of Bes and Thoeris [Taweret] in other houses in the village, point to the importance placed on womanhood and childbirth in New Kingdom society, including that of the Amarna workmen’s village.’ Kemp, B. J. (ed.) (1986),Amarna Reports 3, London: 25.
32 For the history of and further references to the Amarna chapels consult Bomann, A. P. (1991), The Private Chapel in Ancient Egypt, London.
33 Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford: 223.
34 Davies, The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 5: 4.
35 Davies, N. de G. (1908b), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 6, London: 10.
36 Ibid.: Plate IV.
37 Discussed in Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 28.
38 Beketaten and the Huya scenes, and their importance with regard to a proposed Amenhotep III–Akhenaten co-regency, are discussed in Redford, D. B. (1967), History and Chronology of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt: seven studies, Toronto: 105–9.
39 Discussed in Gabolde, M. (1992), Baketaten fille de Kiya?, Bulletin de la Société d’Egyptologie Genève 16: 27–40.
40 Velikovsky, I. (1960), Oedipus and Akhnaton, New York: 101. Velikovsky, wishing to promote the equation of Akhenaten with Oedipus, had to make Tiy into a knowing Jocasta. Believing Tiy to be of foreign extraction, he speculates that ‘the kings of Mitanni, being worshippers of the Indo-Iranian gods, must have regarded incest between mother and son as not only a pardonable relation but a holy union.’
Chapter 6 Queen, King or Goddess?
1 Inscription engraved on the foot-end of the coffin recovered from tomb KV 55. Translation based on that of Sir Alan Gardiner, cited in Gardiner, A. (1957), The so-called tomb of Queen Tiye, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43: 10–25: 19.
2 Maspero, G. (1912), in Gauthier, H. (ed.) Livre des Rois II, Cairo: 344:2. The quotation is taken from Samson, J. (1985 revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra, London: 22.
3 Robins, G. (1986), Egyptian Paintings and Reliefs, Princes Risborough: 50.
4 Discussed in detail in Harris, J. R. (1973), Nefertiti Redivia, Acta Orientalia 35: 5–13. See also Tawfik, S. (1975), Aten studies, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 31: 159–168.
5 It is just possible that we have a second representation of Nefertiti wearing this crown in the tomb of Ay. Both scenes are illustrated and discussed in Ertman, E. L. (1992), Is there visual evidence for a ‘king’ Nefertiti?, Amarna Letters 2; 50–55.
6 Described in Martin, G. T. The Royal Tomb at el-Amarna I: the objects, London: section A.
7 For a discussion of Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus consult Eaton-Krauss, M. (1993), The Sarcophagus in the Tomb of Tutankhamen, Oxford. The canopic canopy is discussed in Robins, G. (1984), Isis, Nephthys, Selket and Neith represented on the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun and in four free-standing statues found in KV 62, Göttinger Miszellen 72: 21–5.
8 See, for example, Green, L. (1992), Queen as Goddess: the religious role of royal women in the late-eighteenth dynasty, Amarna Letters I: 28–41.
Chapter 7 Sunset
1 Amarna Letter EA 16, written by the king of Assyria. For a full translation of this and other letters consult Moran, W. L. (1992), The Amarna Letters, Baltimore: 38–41.
2 See El-Khouly, A. and Martin, G. T (1984), Excavations in the Royal Necropolis at El-Amarna, Cairo: 8, 16.
3 Loeben, C. E. (1986), Eine Bestrattung der grossen Königlichen Gemahlin Nofretete in Amarna, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 99–107. Aldred suggests that the shabti would have been inscribed during the embalming period; if he is correct, it would indicate that Nefertiti had indeed died at Amarna. See Aldred, C. (1988), Akhenaten King of Egypt, London: 229.
4 Pendlebury, J. (1935), Tell el-Amarna, London: 28–9. For other references to Nefertiti’s ‘disgrace’ see Seele, K. C. (1955), King Ay and the close of the Amarna Age, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 14: 168–180.
5 Davies, N. de G. (1923), Akhenaten at Thebes, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 9: 132–152: 133.
6 Baikie, J. (1926), The Amarna Age; a study of the crisis of the ancient world, London: 281.
7 Consult Harris, J. (1973), Nefernefruaten, Göttinger Miszellen 4: 15–17; (1973), Nefertiti Rediviva, Acta Orientalia 35: 5–13; (1974), Nefernefruaten Regnans, Acta Orientalia 36: 11–21. See also the work of Perepelkin, Y. Y. (1967), Perevorot Amen-Hotpa IV, i, Moscow: sect 87; idem (1968), Taina Zolotogo groba, translated as The Secret of the Golden Coffin, 120.
8 For a modern description of the opening of this tomb see Romer, J. (1981), Valley of the Kings, London: 211–220. See also Reeves’ introduction to the re-publication of Davis’ 1910 report, in Davis, T. M. et al (1990), The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, San Francisco. For further references to the opening of the tomb see Gardiner, A. (1957), The so-called tomb of Queen Tiye, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 43:10–25.
9 Aldred, C. (1988), Akhenaten, king of Egypt, London: 195.
10 Quoted in Gardiner, A. (1957), op. cit.: 25.
11 Most experts are agreed that the gold mask had been torn off the coffin in antiquity, but see the comment in el Mahdy, C. (1999), Tutankhamen; life and death of a boy king, London: 45, that ‘the few surviving photographs of the coffin within the tomb show that at the time of discovery the face was made of gold… later when the coffin lid arrived in Cairo, the golden face was missing…’ This would not be the only gold from KV 55 to go missing post-discovery, but the photograph published by Davis of the coffin lying in situ (op. cit Plate XXX) shows a mummy whose face has been ripped away. Davis’s text (2), tells us that ‘on the floor… lay the coffin made of wood, but entirely covered with gold foil and inlaid with semi-precious stones…’. In contrast, the catalogue of finds compiled by George Daressy and published in the same volume mentions (16) ‘The face was covered by a gold mask… Of this the lower part is missing from below the eyes.’
12 Krauss, R. (1986), Kija–ursprüngliche Besitzerin der Kanopen aus KV 55, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 67–80.
13 Lucas, A. (1931), The canopic vases from the ‘tomb of Queen Tiyi’, Annales du Services des Antiquités: 120–122.
14 Gardiner, A. (1957), op. cit.
15 Translation given in Allen, J. P. (1988), Two altered inscriptions of the Late Amarna Period, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 25: 117–126.
16 Davis, T. M. et al. (1910), The Tomb of Queen Tiyi, London: 2.
17 Tyndale, W. (1907), Below the Cataracts, London.
18 Weigall, A. (1922), The Mummy of Akhenaton, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 8: 193–200: 194.
19 G. Elliot Smith, writing in Davis, T. M. et al. (1910), op. cit.: xxiv.
20 Smith, G. E. (1912), The Royal Mummies, Cairo: 51–56.
21 Weigall, A. (1922), The Life and Times of Akhnaton: pharaoh of Egypt (revised edition), London: xxii.
22 Derry, D. E. in Engelbach, R. (1931), The so-called coffin of Akhenaten, Annales du Service des Antiquités 31: 98–114, 116.
23 Harrison, R. G. (1966), An anatomical examination of the pharaonic remains purported to be Akhenaten, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 52: 95-119. Connoley, R. C., Harrison R. G. & Ahmed, S. (1976), Serological evidence for the parentage of Tutankhamun and Smenkhkare, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 62: 184–6. See also Costa, P. (1978), The frontal sinuses of the remains purported to be Akhenaten, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 64: 76–9.
24 Wente, E. F. and Harris, J. E. (1992), Royal Mummies of the Eighteenth Dynasty, in C. N. Reeves (ed.) After Tutankhamun: research and excavation in the royal necropolis at Thebes, London and New York, 2–20.
25 Filer, J. M. (2002), Anatomy of a Mummy, Archaeology March/April 2002, 26–9. See also the discussion of this analysis in J. Tyldesley (2000), Private Lives of the Pharaohs, London, Study 2.
26 Discussed in Ray, J. (1975), The parentage of Tutankhamun, Antiquity 49: 45–7.
27 Martin, G. T. (1989), The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna II, London: 37–48.
28 Or could the feminine form have been deliberately adopted by Smenkhkare’s wife, as suggested in Krauss, R. (1978), Das Ende de Amarnazeit, Hildesheim?
29 Allen, J. P. (1994), Nefertiti and Smenkh-ka-re, Göttinger Miszellen 141: 7–17: 13. Allen provides a detailed summary of the evidence for and against a joint reign.
30 Arnold, D. (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 74. Arnold is writing about a brown quartzite head of Nefertiti, recovered from Memphis but almost certainly created by an artist of the Amarna school.
31 Discussed in Arnold, D. (1996) op. cit.: 115.
32 Discussed in Redford, D. B. (1975), Studies on Akhenaten at Thebes II, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 12, 9–14; Robins, G. (1981), Hmt nsw wrt Meritaten, Göttinger Miszellen 52: 75–81.
33 Davies, N. de G. (1905), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna 2, London: 36–45.
34 See discussion in van Dijk, J. and Eaton-Krauss, M. (1986), Tutankhamun and Memphis, Mitteillungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Kairo 42: 35–41.
35 Gardiner, A. (1961), Egypt of the Pharaohs, Oxford: 236–7.
36 Carter, H. and Mace, A. C. (1923), The Tomb of Tut-ankh-Amen, London: 119.
37 These scenes are discussed with further references in Troy, L (1986), Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History, Uppsala: 100ff. See also Bosse-Griffiths, K. (1973), The Little Golden Shrine of Tutankhamen, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology59: 100–108.
38 Elliot Smith, G. (1912), The Royal Mummies, Cairo: 38.
39 Harris, J. E. et al. (1978), Mummy of the ‘elder lady’ in the tomb of Amunhotep II, Science 200:9: 1149–1151.
40 Quoted in Luban, M. (1999), Do We Have The Mummy of Nefertiti?, www.geocities.com.
41 Luban, M. (1999) op. cit.
42 Fletcher, J. (2004), The Search for Nefertiti; the true story of a remarkable discovery, London. The quotation is taken from the cover of the Sunday Times Magazine 8th June 2003.
43 See Harrison R. G. et al (1979), A Mummified Foetus from the tomb of Tutankhamun, Antiquity 53: 19–21.
44 Translation after H. G. Guterbock, as quoted in Schulman, A. R. (1978), Ankhesenamun, Nofretity and the Amka Affair, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 15: 43–8.
45 Suggestions that Ay had consolidated his claim to the throne by marrying his widowed granddaughter Ankhesenamen are now known to be based on a single piece of doubtful evidence.
46 See Schaden, O. J. (1992), The God’s Father Ay, Amarna Letters 2, 92–115: 108. Schaden gives a full discussion of Ay’s known career.
47 See Hari, R (1965), Horemheb et la Reine Moutnedjemet, Geneva.; Hari, R. (1976), La reine d’Horemheb était-elle la soeur de Nefertiti?, Chronique d’Egypte 51: 39–46.
Epilogue The Beautiful Woman Returns
1 Pendlebury, J. D. S. (1935), Tell el-Amama, London: ix.
2 Accounts of the history of the archaeology of Amarna are given in Aldred, C. (1988), Akhenaten, King of Egypt, London; Kemp, B. J. and Garfi, S. (1993), A Survey of the Ancient City of el-Amarna, London.
3 Jomard, E. (1818), Antiquités de l’Heptanomide, Déscription de l’Egypte, Antiquités, Déscriptions, vol. 2, Paris: XVI: 13.
4 Wilkinson, J. G. (1837), Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London: Plate VI.
5 Edwards, A. B. (1877, revised 1888), A Thousand Miles up the Nile, London: 69.
6 Ibid.: 85.
7 Chubb, M. (1954), Nefertiti Lived Here, London: 75.
8 Pendlebury, Tell el-Amarna: x.
9 Davies, N. de G. (1903), The Rock Tombs of el-Amarna, vol. 1, London: 3.
10 Peet, T. E. (1921), Excavations at Tell el-Amarna: a preliminary report, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 7: 169.
11 Letter written by Breasted from Cairo, dated 24 January 1895. Quoted in Larson, J. A. (1992), Other Amarna Letters, Amarna Letters 2: 116–25: 124.
12 Published by the Egypt Exploration Society, London.
13 Sayce, A. H. (1990), [Letter from Egypt] Luxor: Feb. 26, 1890, The Academy 933: 195. This letter and its subsequent postscript is quoted in full in Martin, G. T. (1989), The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna 2: the reliefs, inscriptions and architecture, London: 1.
14 Martin, The Royal Tomb at El-Amarna 2.
15 For a full description of this workshop and its contents consult Arnold, D. (ed.) (1996), The Royal Women of Amarna: images of beauty from ancient Egypt, New York: 41–83. See also Phillips, J. (1991), Sculpture Ateliers of Akhetaten, Amarna Letters 1: 31–40. A second sculptor’s workshop, specializing in inlay work and tentatively attributed to ‘Ipu’ was also excavated by Borchardt.
16 Roeder, G. (1941), Lebensgrosse Tonmodelle aus einer altägyptischen Bildhauerwerkstatt, Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 62:4: 145-70: 154–60.
17 The history of the discovery of the bust is briefly discussed by Wiedemann, H. G. and Bayer, G. (1982), The Bust of Nefertiti, Analytical Chemistry 54:4: 619–28. It was also the subject of a television programme presented by Nicholas Ward Jackson for Channel 4, produced by Brian Lapping Associates.
18 For a review of the influence of the Tutankhamen discovery on contemporary society see Frayling, C. F. (1992), The Face of Tutankhamun, London.
19 Vandenberg, P. (1978), Nefertiti: an archaeological biography, translated by R. Hein, London.
20 Baikie, J. (1926), The Amarna Age: a study of the crisis of the ancient world, London: 242–3.
21 Samson, J. (1985, revised 1990), Nefertiti and Cleopatra: queen-monarchs of ancient Egypt, London: 7.
22 Discussed in Krauss, R. (1991), Nefertiti – a drawing-board beauty, Amarna Letters 1, 47–9.
23 Borchardt, L. (1923), Porträts der Königin Nofret-ete, Leipzig: 33.
24 Paglia, C. (1990), Sexual Personae; art and decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, Yale and London: 68.