She was Nefertiti: the pharaoh who banishes all the ancient gods of Egypt

The bust of Nefertiti exhibited in the exhibition ‘In the light of Amarna’, 100 years after its discovery | Credit: MICHAEL SOHN / POOL / AFP

Nefertiti and her husband had a clear mission: to banish the ancient deities and become the reigning gods of Egypt. This is your story.

Akhenaten had a clear intention: making him and his wife, Nefertiti, the ruling gods of Egypt . As reigning pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty, they brought in the best sculptor in the empire to design busts of themselves: those who I would immortalize them for all eternity like the divine couple that guided the Egyptians.

And so the task was entrusted to Thutmose, one of the most renowned artists of antiquity. As a faithful follower of the god Aten, the deity of the solar disk in Egypt, Nefertiti was the ideal candidate to lead the religious revolution that her husband was undertaking. In a short time it became one of the most powerful pharaohs in the imperial annals . This is your story.

Also read: The ‘Holy Family’ actually comes from the royalty of Egypt, 3,300 years ago.

The one who banned all the gods of Egypt.

GETTY IMAGES

Nefertiti It is translated from ancient Egyptian as “ the beautiful has arrived .” She was born around 1370 BC and from a very young age she spent her days in the palace of Thebes, among the highest branches of Egyptian royalty. As the daughter of the vizier of the daughter of the vizier of Amenhotep III, a general known as ‘Ay’, was educated among members of the ruling elite .

At the age of 11 she was betrothed to Amenhotep IV, son of the reigning pharaoh. Unbeknownst to her, together they would become one of the most powerful duos in ancient times. When they ascended the throne, Nefertiti found it easy to adopt her husband’s plan to ban all the gods that the Egyptians had worshiped for millennia .

HIS GOAL WAS CLEAR: HE NO LONGER WANTS HIS RELATIVES TO BE THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GODS ON EARTH. ON THE CONTRARY, THEY THEMSELVES WOULD BE THE EMBODIMENT OF DIVINITY ON THE EARTH PLANE.

As a faithful believer in the Aten, he explains the encyclopedia of world history, it was easy for nefertiti despise all other sacred Egyptian figures . At the same time, her husband enjoyed the favor of several landowners, who supported agriculture and the Egyptian economy of the time. Therefore, his bet to despise the other members of the sacred pantheon was not so risky: had the support of those who controlled the means of production .

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Nefertiti, the “most beautiful” pharaoh of Egypt

Limestone relief from Tell el-Amarna, c. 1350 BC, New Kingdom of Egypt. | Credit: Egyptian Museum (Berlin) / Encyclopedia of World History

The religious revolution that Nefertiti and her husband led to the creation of a new sacred style for Egyptian palaces. . She and the Pharaoh wanted to be different from all previous rulers, so the representations made of the ‘Holy Egyptian Family’ had to be different too, especially if they were the focus of worship on the altars.

MANY OF THE ELONGATED FEATURES SEEN ON THE ALTARS OF AKHENATON ARE ELONGATED, WITH BODIES THAT ARE ANATOMICALLY INAPPROPRIATE. SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAD NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE IN ANCIENT EGYPT, WHICH MAINTAINED THE SAME AESTHETIC TRADITION FOR AT LEAST 3,500 YEARS.

Bust of Nefertiti / Wikimedia Commons

Not only that: they can identify themselves under the influence of the god Aton (or Aten), the deity of the solar disk. The light of the star caresses their faces. . Sometimes even with small hands at the end of each of the rays. The pharaoh wanted his entire family to share this vision of the new way of running the empire, which is why they were represented together: or Nefertiti and him, or both with their daughters in hand.

His mission earned him the enmity of several political opponents – and, by the way, a large part of the Empire: they considered it a sacrilege that his The new leader should dishonor the gods. who had ruled on high from eternity. Even more so if the new royal couple They were placed in the center of worship of the entire Empire.

Nefertiti and her husband He cared little.

More context: She was Ankhesenamun: the pharaoh who tried to marry Tutankhamun and mysteriously disappeared

A palace ‘carved in gold’

The palace of Nefertiti and Akhenaten was to emulate all the glory of the new royal couple . What’s more, it was about making visitors feel as if they had really entered another plane of existence, beyond the earthly one. For this reason, explains the former Minister of Antiquities of Egypt, Zahi Hawass, The family had the walls of the royal palace of Thebes covered with gold.

Not only that: they had it renovated in the new city of Aketaton, which It is translated from ancient Egyptian as the “horizon of Aten”:

«IT WAS PLACED PARALLEL TO THE RIVER, WITH ITS LIMITS DEMARCED BY STELES CARVED IN THE CLIFFS THAT BOUND THE SITE. THE KING HIMSELF ASSUMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR COSMOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT PLANNING. IN THE CENTER OF THE CITY THE KING BUILT A FORMAL RECEPTION PALACE, WHERE HE COULD MEET FOREIGN OFFICIALS AND DIGNITARIES,” THE SPECIALIST WROTE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IN 2004.

Since their palaces were in the north, Hawass explains, Akhenaten and Nefertiti traveled in golden chariots from one end of the capital to the other. Thus, They were the very image of the Sun traveling across the sky from east to west. . In short, the archaeologist emphasizes for the magazine: “ They were both priests and gods .”

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The couple who ‘unbalanced the order of the Universe’

Detail of a bronze-colored bust of Nefertiti, made of plaster. / GETTY IMAGES

The subjects and faithful believers of the Egyptian pantheon did not like the banishment of all the gods by the new pharaohs. Otherwise, They considered it a despicable sacrilege that no other family in power had dared to commit.

In the Egyptian worldview, The actions of the pharaohs were linked to cosmic balance so their relationship with the deities was of utmost importance. The royal family had disgraced them. Therefore, the The popularity of Akhenaten and Nefertiti plummeted. shortly after:

“BY ABANDONING THE ANCIENT GODS OF EGYPT,” HISTORIAN JOSHUA J. MARK WRITES, “ACENATON WOULD HAVE DESIBILIZED THE BALANCE OF THE UNIVERSE, AND IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT THE ANCIENT PRIESTS OF AMON, AND THE OTHER GODS, DECIDED TO TRY TO RESTORE THE HARMONY OF THE COUNTRY ONLY, WITHOUT CONSULT THE LEADER.”

As the empire lost stability, one of the royal couple’s daughters died in childbirth at just 13 years old. Shortly after, All of Nefertiti’s records were lost: disappeared from the sacred writings, or from any representation of the time. The last time it was represented was in a funerary passage, in which She and Akhenaten were watching over the body of their dead daughter. .

Some historians believe that Nefertiti committed suicide for the deep pain of his loss. Others claim that she may have lost faith in the Aten and was Immediately banished by her husband forever. In other schools of thought, however, she is said to have reigned under the name Smenkhkare, while her stepson, Tutankhamun, ascended the throne.

However, It is not known with certainty what happened to the pharaoh. who expelled the gods from Egypt. His figure was lost among the dunes without leaving a trace.