Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen Book

She was the beloved wife of "heretic king" Akhenaton, who defied ancient custom by practicing monotheism and by elevating Nefertiti far above the role of subservient consort previously played by Egyptian queens. Her image has ravished Western viewers ever since a magnificent limestone bust unearthed at the royal retreat of Amarna went on display in Berlin in 1924. But frustratingly few facts are known about this woman who lived more than three millennia ago. As she did in Hatchepsut: The Female Pharaoh, British archeologist Joyce Tyldesley makes a virtue of necessity by writing a book that is as much a cultural history as a biography. As Akhenaton swept away the plethora of old gods, dismaying many of his subjects, he needed a strong female figure to soften the abstract austerity of Aten, the sun deity; his beautiful queen was celebrated in official art and inscriptions that focused on the domestic life of the royal family. Tyldesley meticulously analyzes this iconography to evaluate Nefertiti's position in Egypt and her importance to her husband, who clearly cherished her beyond the demands of propriety or political necessity. The author cannot give readers a strong sense of Nefertiti's personality--the evidence simply isn't there--but she paints a wonderfully evocative picture of life at the civilized heart of the ancient world. --Wendy SmithRead More

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  • Product Description

    The first full-scale biography of one of the most mysterious, powerful, and beautiful women of the ancient world.

    In the tradition of her intriguing Hatchepsut, Joyce Tyldesley rescues another female ruler from the shadows of history: Queen Nefertiti (c. 1350 b.c.). We know her from the exquisite painted bust in the Berlin Museum, discovered in 1912, which has made her ancient Egypt's most recognizable queen. Until now, however, her contributions to Egyptian society have remained largely neglected. Wife of Akhenaten, the monotheistic pharaoh, adored by her family, and worshiped by her people, Nefertiti suddenly vanished from the historical record. Was she exiled by her husband or promoted to rule alongside him as an equal? Tyldesley synthesizes archaeological, textual, and artistic evidence to re-create the dazzling court at Amarna and its captivating and influential queen.

  • 0140258205
  • 9780140258202
  • Joyce A. Tyldesley
  • 2 September 1999
  • Penguin Books Ltd
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 272
  • New edition
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