The Mysterious Life and Death of Egypt’s Queen Nefertiti

Even after more than 3,000 years, the mysteries surrounding Egypt's Queen Nefertiti still fascinate archaeologists and history buffs alike. The reign of Nefertiti and her husband, Amenhotep IV, was a turbulent time in Egyptian history. The couple tossed out the old gods and set up a new religion that gave them absolute power over all their subjects, which didn't go over too well. Known as the Mistress of Lower and Upper Egypt, she was a queen, a priestess, a wife, a mother, a political revolutionary, a beauty icon, and maybe even a pharaoh. Today, we're going to take a look at the mysterious life and death of Egypt's Queen Nefertiti. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel and let us know in the comments below what other powerful historical women you would like to hear about. OK, let's go back to the Egyptian Revolution. While no one knows who Nefertiti's parents were, there are several theories. The most commonly accepted holds that she was the daughter of a top Egyptian advisor named Ai, who himself would go on to become pharaoh after the death of King Tut. Another less accepted take holds that she may have been Akhenaten's sister or cousin. Indeed, like many of history's royal families, it wasn't uncommon for Egyptian rulers to marry their siblings or extended family members. Yet another theory holds that Nefertiti was a Mitanni princess named Tarukippa. The name Nefertiti means the beautiful woman has come, which might suggest a foreign origin. Like the others, however, this theory can't be proven and raises as many questions as it answers. While the exact date of their wedding is unknown, Nefertiti and Amenhotep are believed to have been married when she was only 15 years old. Amenhotep was not yet a pharaoh when they were wed. But he ascended soon enough, and the two are believed to have ruled as equals from 1353 to 1336 BC. They would also have six daughters, Meritaten, Mekataten, Serapenra, Ankasenpeten, Ankasenemen, Nefernefer, and Nefernefereten-Tasheret. They also possibly had one son. The royal families lived in various palaces and complexes in Karnak. One of the most impressive was a temple called the Gempaten, which was devoted to Nefertiti. Records suggest that the couple threw an elaborate festival in the temple during the third year of their reign. One depiction shows Nefertiti and Amenhotep, along with their daughters in the royal court, viewing the crowds at this festival from a special spot at their palace. Artwork of the era generally depicts the couple as inseparable and even shows them kissing in public. Ooh, scandalous. This has led some to believe that the two may have been genuinely in love, a quality not often depicted among the ancient pharaohs and their wives. Nefertiti is believed to have been faithful to her husband, despite the fact that he is known to have fathered children with other women. Including, quite possibly, the future king Tutankhamen. During her reign, Nefertiti held many titles. Hereditary princess, great of praises, lady of grace, suite of love, lady of the two lands, and mistress of upper and lower Egypt, just to name a few. Inscriptions about her describe a queen who was in charge of and heavily involved in all aspects of the royal court. She also held the rank of high priestess, which meant that the faithful could gain access to the god Aten through her. This made her central to religious practices as well. But one of the most unique and interesting facts about Nefertiti is that contemporary art depicted her wearing a pharaoh's crown. This has led some archaeologists to theorize that she may have had the powers of a pharaoh and been seen as an actual equal to her husband. In fact, it's possible that after the death of Akhenaten and prior to the reign of Tutankhamen, Nefertiti herself ruled as a sole pharaoh under the name Neferneferatin. Interestingly, Nefertiti may have been a hands-on kind of boss. Among the countless illustrations of the famous queen that appear on the walls of ancient tombs is one that depicts her about to strike a foreign prisoner with some kind of weapon. This raises the possibility that one of the most powerful women in Egypt, the co-pharaoh and direct female conduit to Aten, may have also acted as a royal enforcer. Of course, it's also conceivable that she just enjoyed beating up prisoners. Hmm. When Amenhotep IV became pharaoh, he inherited a kingdom that was prosperous and powerful. But together with Nefertiti, he would change Egypt in dramatic ways, the most substantial of which was switching the state religion to worship of the sun. The god Amen was replaced with the god Aten, and a new capital called Akhenaten was created over 200 miles north of the previous one. The old gods were slowly removed from society. Their temples were shut down, and their priests were forced to convert. The pharaoh even had the entire city of Tell el Amarna built to worship Aten and demanded the faithful move there. To underscore the importance of the new religion, the ruling couple even changed their own names. Amenhotep became Akhenaten, and Nefertiti became Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, which meant beautiful are the beauties of Aten. A beautiful woman has come. Finally, to shore up their own power, they designated themselves the only two priests of Aten. None of this is believed to have been very popular with the people of Egypt. But to find the pharaoh was a quick way of getting oneself killed, so most went along with it. Over time, however, Akhenaten became intolerant of old religions and other beliefs and began a long, expensive campaign to destroy them. The kingdom sank into debt and turmoil. Things probably would have gotten a lot worse, but luckily for the people, Akhenaten died before things spun completely out of control. After 16 years of ruling Egypt alongside her husband, Nefertiti disappears from the historical record. No one knows why, but there are several theories. Akhenaten and Nefertiti caused a substantial amount of political turmoil during their reign, so their successors made every effort to erase their legacy. Records and artifacts were destroyed, and the end of Nefertiti's story may have simply been destroyed along with them. On the other hand, some archaeologists believe Nefertiti vanished from the record because she died. Supporting this theory is the fact that the couple's daughter, Meritaten, is known to have served at court as the great royal wife during the final years of Akhenaten's reign. This might suggest that Meritaten replaced her dead mother as Akhenaten's consort. Still others theorize that she became co-regent and ruled under the name Smenker. These historians hold that Nefertiti was co-pharaoh in her husband's later years and then continued to rule after his death until Tut was able to assume the throne. Interestingly, Nefertiti's daughter, Meritaten, was Smenker's consort as well. When the tomb of King Amenhotep II was excavated in 1898, three mysterious mummies were discovered behind a hidden wall. Located in the Valley of the Kings, the tomb was found to contain the mummy of the king as well as a young lady who archaeologists suspected of being Nefertiti. Over a century later, in 2010, Zahi Hawass, who is Egypt's minister of state for antiquities affairs, announced the results of a series of DNA tests that he said proved the mummy, known as the Younger Lady, was actually Akhenaten's sister. But that wasn't all. The test also showed the Younger Lady was the mother of King Tut. The matter seemed settled until 2013 when French Egyptologist Marc Gabold disputed Hawass' conclusions. Gabold claimed the mummy of the Younger Lady was, in fact, Nefertiti. If correct, this would mean that Tut was Nefertiti's son. One of the most intractable mysteries of Nefertiti concerns a famous bust that depicts the queen with one blank eye. It's a strange artistic choice for a sculpture of a person whose name literally refers to her beauty, and its meaning has been debated since the bust was first discovered. One theory is that the queen may have possessed a natural fold of skin over her eye, something that was not uncommon in Egypt at the time. Alternatively, the blank eye could have been meant as an insult, or might even be nothing more than accidental damage to a bust that once had both eyes. The most romantic theory, however, concerns the sculptor, whose name was Tutmosa. Some believe that he fell in love with Nefertiti, but after she refused him, he decided to leave the eye blank as a symbol of her inability to see the nature of his love. Nefertiti is famous for her beauty. All known busts and paintings of her depict a person with features that would have been highly sought after at the time. But some researchers are beginning to think this image may not be so accurate. Using CT scans of the famous 3,400-year-old Tutmosa bust of Nefertiti, scientists were able to get a look at the original mask of the queen that was hidden beneath all the layers. Differences noted include a bump on the ridge of the nose, wrinkles on the cheeks and near the corners of the mouth, and less depth at the corners of the eyelids. This has led some experts to conclude that the royal sculptor used his vast skills to create an idealized version of the queen. Equally plausible is that Akhenaten himself insisted that his wife be portrayed as more physically beautiful than she was in real life. Whatever may have occurred, the face we know as Nefertiti today did not likely match the reality of her appearance. In 1912, German archaeologists excavated the famous Tutmosa bust of Nefertiti and took it with them back to Germany under a license from the Egyptian government. How they got that license is a bit of a mystery, though. At the time, the country was dominated by the Ottoman Empire but was under British rule. Complicating the matter even further was that Egypt's antiquities department was being headed up by the French. Whatever the case, by 1913, the bust was being displayed at the Neues Museum in Berlin. After the Nazis took power, they seized the bust, along with numerous other priceless works of art, and hid them away. When asked about the bust of Nefertiti, Hitler himself said, I will never relinquish the head of the queen. After Hitler's death, however, American troops finally located the bust in a salt mine and placed it in a museum in West Berlin. In 2009, it was returned to the Neues Museum, which had finally been rebuilt after being bombed in World War II. The government of Egypt, for its part, considers the statue looted property and disputes Germany's claim to any kind of legal ownership. So what do you think? What is the most intriguing part of Nefertiti's story? Let us know in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos from our Weird History.