Akhenaten & Nefertiti - The Great Royal Wife - the Beautiful One has Come

Nefertiti was the great royal wife of King Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) her name translates to 'A beautiful One has Come, and indeed she was stunningly beautiful as a portrait bust of her was found on the 6th December 1912 by  a German archaeological mission led by Ludwig Borchardt during an excavation at Armarna, when the bust of Nefertiti was found lying in the ruins of the Amarna workshop of the sculptor Thutmose. despite a missing left eye on the bust, Nefertiti is still the  most beautiful female figure from Ancient Egypt. Nefertiti had many titles including:

Hereditary Princess 

Great of Praises 

Lady of Grace 

Sweet of Love 

Lady of The Two Lands 

Great King's Wife, his beloved 

Lady of all women

Mistress of Upper & Lower Egypt

It is believed that Nefertiti was daughter of the courtier Ay, who became pharoah after Tutenkhamun, Ay was the brother of Akhenaton’s mother, Tiy. 

Nefertiti bore six daughters within the 10 years of her marriage, to Akhenaten

Meritaten

Their eldest child Meritaten was born at Malkata towards the beginning of his reign, her name means, ‘She who is beloved of Aten'

Her name appears on an ivory writing palette – which probably belonged to her, in the tomb of Tutankhamun – her younger half-brother. Also a sarcophagus belonging to her was found within KV55 – which has recently been proven to house the mummy of Akhenaten.

Meketaten

Their second daughter Meketaten's  name means, ‘Behold the Aten’. Meketaten is frequently depicted in artworks from Amarna, and features with Meritaten and Nefertiti along boundary stelae of the new city of Akhetaten. She features with all of her sisters at the Parade of Foreign Tributes, and it has been said that she was married to her father – and died, presumably in childbirth 

Ankhesenpaaten (later Ankhesenamun)

The third royal daughter was born around Year 5  she later became the wife of her younger half-brother Pharaoh Tutankhamun, In Tutenkhamun's tomb two small foetus were found,  following his death she was married to his successor, Pharaoh Ay, who was also her maternal grandfather.

Neferneferuaten Tasherit

Was the first princess to be born at Amarna, Neferneferuaten was named after her mother, Nefertiti, whose name was changed to Neferneferuaten when the royals changed their names to embrace the Atenist religion. Her name means ‘Beauty of the Beauties of the Aten’, with the epithet ‘Tasherit’ meaning ‘Junior

Neferneferure

Princess Neferneferure's name means, ‘Beauty of the Beauties of Re’. who died  about the age of five, as she is not depicted at the mourning scene for Meketaten. Neferneferure is depicted on a crouching position upon a box-lid discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Setepenre

Princess Setepenre's name means ‘Chosen of Ra’, she was the youngest daughter and was about the same age as Tutankhamun. Akhenatens son by a minor wife. Setepenre is depicted with her sisters at the Parade of Foreign Tributes. It is likely that Akhenaten and Nefertiti’s youngest child died aged around three years of age, shortly before Meketaten, as she does not appear in the mourning scene.

Soon after Akhenaton’s 12th regnal year, one of the princesses died, three disappeared (and are also presumed to have died), and Nefertiti vanished. The simplest inference is that Nefertiti also died, but there is no record of her death and no evidence that she was ever buried in the Amarna royal tomb.

During his reign, Akhenaten enacted a series of shocking religious and societal changes, he instructed the Egyptians that they should only worship one God, The Aten, he closed all the temples of the Gods, and moved the capital to Akhetaten (Armarna, a completely deserted area with no influences of the previous religeon.) here  Nefertiti and Akhenaten are shown worshipping the Aten, or bathing in its radience with their children, Akhetaten grew quickly into a large, sprawling city on the east bank of the Nile River. Vast temples were dedicated to the Aten, left unroofed to be filled with light - thus eliminating the need for cult statues of the god. Offerings of bread, beer, cattle, fowl, wine, fruit and incense were given to the sun god on open-air altars. As the sun moved east-west over the temples, Akhenaten traveled north-south through the city in a golden chariot as the Aten’s representative on earth. Many layers of history have tried to destroy and eradicate this most unusual pharaoh, a man of peace, a man who made his own rules and defied the priests of Amun, a king not interested in following the traditions of dominance,  a man  that was eventually  broken by the overwhelming forces against him, enemies on his frontiers and a plague within his Capital that took the life of two of his beloved young daughters, his hopes were diminished and after his death his religion and the sanctuary he had created at Akhetaten was abandoned by his people,  the lonely life he had lead as a child, and his vision of one god, the Aten was rejected, he had brought Egypt to the brink of economic disaster with his non violent policy and his life of seclusion, his only interests in life had been the love of his wife Nefertiti his children and the worship of the Aten

The thing that is most unusual about Akhenaten and Nefertiti's relationship is that Akhenaten are shown in reliefs together and seem to appear as inseperable, Akhenaten and Nefertiti are often shown riding in chariots together and even kissing in public, they are shown as a happy couple enjoying the love a a family with their daughters, no other pharaoh has ever portrayed himself in this manner, occasionally queens were shown with their husbands, but in much smaller scale, and never with their children. I feel that Akhenaten and Nefertiti must have had a genuine romantic connection, a dynamic not generally seen in depictions of ancient pharaohs. In this image both Akhenaten and Nefertiti are bathed in the rays of life from the Aten

On arrival at Akhetaten Nefertiti changed her name to Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, meaning "beautiful are the beauties of Aten, a beautiful woman has come," as a show of her absolutism for the new religion. 

Akhenaten went to great lengths to display Nefertiti as his  equal. In several reliefs, she is shown wearing the crown of a pharaoh or smiting her enemies in battle, no other pharaoh has ever portrayed his wife as an equal, their marriage and portrayal of their relationship is unique in ancient Egyptian culture.

If you would like to see an image of Nefertiti and Akhenaten when in Luxor, you must I would definitely recommend you to visit the Tomb of Ramose (TT55).  Ramose was the Vizier of both Amenophis 111, and Amenhotep1V (Akhenaten) the tomb is  situated on the hillside of Gurna based in an area known as the tombs of the nobles, in this tomb you can see the traditional tomb art and the amazing transformation that Armarna art brought to Egypt,  

The banquet scene for the funeral of Ramose is outstanding and stretches across the whole inner wall, this is so beautiful, there is no colour, just the eyes have kohline, the carvings and wigs are stunning. Akhenaten and Nefetiti are shown on the opposite wall beneath the Aten greeting envoys from other countries, the above image shows work in progress inside the tomb, it is dignitaries from other countries before Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the image of Nefertiti and Akhenaten has been vandalized as Akhenaten was known as a heretic king who had suppressed the worship of the God Amun, and by vandalizing their images it would symbolically deny them an afterlife, it is a mystery as to  what happened to this couple who defied thousands of years of the worship of Amun, and openly expressed their love and family.