Nefertiti: Unlocking The Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous And Beautiful Queen (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
The bust of Nefertiti that is housed in Berlin’s museum is one of the most famous icons in popular culture. Because of her beauty, she has become the symbol of Ancient Egypt. Her face is on key-rings, iphone cases, post-cards, t-shirts, etc. Aside from her image, who was the mysterious Nefertiti? How much power and influence did she actually have? What were her accomplishments besides being merely beautiful? Joyce Tyldesley’s biography seeks to answer these questions. There are few known details about the life of Nefertiti. This is not only because of the long gap of time between our world today and Nefertiti’s world, but because she is mostly in the background in Ancient Egypt. Nefertiti does not only stand behind the pharaoh, but she is glimpsed over by her formidable mother-in-law, Queen Tiy, who has much more power and influence as the Akhenaten's mother. However, Nefertiti gained some influence as the pharaoh's wife, she took on duties of priesthood, that was usually assigned to the pharaoh. She was also known as a dutiful and faithful wife. Overall, the novel gives us a tiny glimpse into the life of Nefertiti. Because not much is known about her, the author mostly focuses on Akhenaten and his reign. This novel is more of an archeological work and how Nefertiti has been interpreted. Tyldesley mentions the popular theories about Nefertiti and then debunks them as she goes along. I felt that she gave us thorough and comprehensive answers and did her best with the evidence she had. The conclusions about her birth and disappearance made sense. However, after reading this book, I found myself more interested in Queen Tiy than I was in Nefertiti. I felt that this biography knew more about Queen Tiy than it did of Nefertiti because of her prominence at court. I found it fascinating how Tiy, a commoner, had risen to become one of the most powerful women at court. While the writing is dry as a textbook, it is very comprehensible to the reader. The book has a lot of interesting pictures of Nefertiti. I also like how she incorporates how Nefertiti has been perceived in popular culture. This novel is a great introduction for those who want to learn about the Armana period of Ancient Egypt.
Very, very interesting book which shows the factual documents and works of art we have about Nefertiti and her time, and shows in fact how little we know; it doesn't give a definitive answer to the many enigmas surrounding the Queen and her husband but gives a good deal of food for thought, posing so many questions. An excellent ´work of investigation bt Tyldesley, didactic and easy to read, a pleasure for Ancient Egypt lovers.
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