- Author : Joyce Tyldesley
- Binding : Paperback
- EAN : 9780141017242
- Edition : Revised
- ISBN : 0141017244
- Is Eligible For Trade In? : Yes
- Label : Penguin UK
- List Price : CDN$ 21.00 (CAD)
- Manufacturer : Penguin UK
- Number Of Pages : 256
- Package Dimensions : 0.79 inches (Height) x 7.56 inches (Length) x 22.40 pounds (Weight) x 5.04 inches (Width)
- Publication Date : 2005-04-26
- Publisher : Penguin UK
- Release Date : 2005-04-26
- Studio : Penguin UK
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 Smith
- From Amazon.com
Customer Reviews:
Customers rated Nefertiti 4.0 stars out of 5.0 based on 19 reviews:Remarkable Read
by Zadius Sky (USA) - 2007-12-04
An Oxford-educated Joyce Tyldesley, with the use of the historical and archaeological evidence from various places in Egypt, has written an interesting and well-detailed biography book entitled "Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen." The book drives the readers to experience and to understand the history and the mysteries that surrounded the Egyptian queen named Nefertiti, including her husband, Akhenaten, and his historical family background, the background of the royal Amarna court, and the theories of historical scholars who have studied her. There are eight chapters in the book with the addition of the "Introduction," which highlights Nefertiti as the most influential woman in Egyptian history and reveals briefly the history of the 18th Dynasty and the New Kingdom period. This book explores the relationship between Queen Nefertiti and her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, which was seen as very positive and loving in the eyes of ancient Egyptians and the historical scholars. From looking at this relationship, one might see that Nefertiti had influences over her husband to which she had played an active role in Akhenaten's public affairs instead of being passive observer during his reign. As politics was an essential part of the ancient Egyptian government, Nefertiti's political role portrayed an important piece of her strong influence in the royal government. An impression from the book is that Nefertiti acted as a second-in-command to her husband and played a role of a pharaoh occasionally. For example, there were scenes in the ancient Egyptian arts of Nefertiti slaying her enemies, which was supposed to be a duty of a pharaoh and not the function of a queen (p. 141-2). Since Nefertiti clearly had authority in Egypt, Akhenaten obviously did not seem to oppose her actions. Throughout Tyldesley's "Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen," one can acknowledge that Queen Nefertiti was considered to have had powerful influences over the ancient Egyptian government during the New Kingdom period by looking at Nefertiti's relationship with her husband, her religious role, and her political role. The author holds the reader's interest with clear writing and vivid understanding when it comes to historical biography, archeology, and theories. The book is well-organized with the visual aspects of maps, figures, and pictures. The author has presented a historical analysis that was not very technical or stale, and it should be very beneficial for readers' knowledge of Nefertiti and her surroundings during the mid-18th Dynasty. Tyldesley's book is recommended only to general readers who have begun to understand the Armana period because the author has written more information and focuses on Nefertiti's surroundings rather than on Nefertiti herself. However, "Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen" is a very readable and interesting book.The disappearing queen...
by FrKurt Messick (Bloomington, IN USA) - 2005-12-14
Joyce Tyldesley's book, `Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen' is a fascinating study of a very important but mostly misunderstood figure in Egyptian history. Perhaps it was due to the confusion of names (another queen, Nefertari, is popularly known due to the use of her name in Biblical epic films), and largely historically due to Nerfertiti's marriage to Akhenaton, a pharoah who was almost erased from history.Akhenaton was a heretic in Egyptian terms -- he renounced the worship of old gods in favour of a more monotheistic framework based upon a sun-worship (Aton) which prompted him to change his name (he had been Amenhotep IV). He built a new capital city at Amarna, where he and Nefertiti lived and raised their children. Nefertiti was perhaps the most influential person on Akhenaton, at that time one of the most powerful rulers on earth. Very little is known of Nefertiti -- her death is not recorded, and her tomb has not been found. Her beauty is renowned from the masks found at Amarna by archaeologists early in this century, having been lost for millenia. It is unusual that such a prominent person's death would not be recorded in the culture of Egypt, symbolised to this day by the monuments to the great who have died in pyramids and tombs. The mystery deepens, however, with the discovery of stelae at Amarna that shows Nefertiti in glorious array while her husband the Pharoah occupies a lesser position.`The Berlin stela provides us with the image of a perfect and semi-divine family inhabiting an ideal world far beyond the experiences of most Egyptians. The exact roles played by the principal members of this family are unclear. Akhenaten seems quite happy perched on his lowly, undecorated stool while his wife occupies the more regal seat, yet to him fall the the honour of holding the more important princess while Nefertiti looks after the babies.'Nefertiti may have been the regnant queen by this point -- unusual but far from unheard of in Egyptian history. Female pharoahs such as Sobeknofru and Hatchepsut had proved this, but it is much more likely that a female would act as regent rather than regnant. She might have served as co-regnant with Akhenaten until his death, and then as a regent for Tutankhamen. Of course, alternate theories also abound. Some inscriptions have been discovered in which a another name, Meritaten, was inscribed over erased names and titles of another woman -- was this Nefertiti? Did she overstep her position? Did she commit some indiscretion or crime? Meritaten, the daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaton, might have assumed public duties as queen. This was put forward by Egyptologists including Norman de Garis Davies and John Pendlebury. Tyldesley presents various theories of Nefertiti's life and death side by side with evidence supporting each. Alas, the support is difficult no matter which interpretation is preferred -- Amarna was abandoned shortly after the death of Akhenaten, and the old religious ways reinstituted. Akhenaten's name was deliberately suppressed due to the threat to the 'established religion' that monotheistic ways represented (perhaps a source of animosity between another group, the Canaanite/Israelites, and the Egyptians stems from the fear of this monotheistic tendency latent in Egypt).It is a sad tale, that Akhenaten and Nefertiti's family was all but destroyed, their capital reduced to a quarry for future pharoahs and builders to use; they and their family, including Tutankhamen and Ay, the following pharoahs of the family, were all deleted from official lists of kings -- in traditional Egyptian theology, for the spirit to live forever, the person's name, body, or image must survive -- and thus the officials of Egypt tried their best to destroy the spirit of these people. But archaeology has managed to resurrect their images and at least part of their story, and the mystery of their lives will continue for a long time to come.The Mysterious Queen
by - 2004-06-01
Nefertiti was the most influential woman in ancient Egypt. Her entire life, where she came from and how she died, in shrouded in mystery. She married in her early teens to Amenhotep IV who may have been sixteen or seventeen. After marrying she became a mother to six daughters and became a member of the Royal Court of Amarna. She was the first queen to be equal with the king. They lived at Thebes where they ruled the upper and lower kingdoms. The one thing I did not like about this book was how it seemed to go into more detail about Amenhotep IV and his family than Nefertiti. That was probable do to the fact that we know so little about her. Nothing of her life is know before she was married and very little is know after Amenhotep IV dies. The book gave Amenhotep IV inter family line and went on for too long. It took you away from the central topic. The best thing is the attention to detail. Every little factor, from family history to the culture is given. It gives the reader a since of what life was like and makes you feel as if you were actually there. The artier takes evidence from archeological remains to make this God like queen more like a real person. This was a book that you could get in to.A Stale Retread of Old Theories
by Robert St. James (Salem, OR) - 2004-05-07
I swear, it takes a steam shovel to get Egyptologists out of their rut! More of the same old nonsense: Ankeaten "married" his two daughters, blah, blah. Nefertiti was a foreign princess, bleh-bleh. Amenhotep III married his daughter too (Sitamun) and fathered Tut and Smenkhare, blabbity-blah. Tyldesley just rehashes the same old crap. Nothing new here.The disappearing queen...
by FrKurt Messick (Bloomington, IN USA) - 2003-05-16
Joyce Tyldesley's book, 'Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen' is a fascinating study of a very important but mostly misunderstood figure in Egyptian history. Perhaps it was due to the confusion of names (another queen, Nefertari, is popularly known due to the use of her name in Biblical epic films), and largely historically due to Nerfertiti's marriage to Akhenaton, a pharoah who was almost erased from history.Akhenaton was a heretic in Egyptian terms -- he renounced the worship of old gods in favour of a more monotheistic framework based upon a sun-worship (Aton) which prompted him to change his name (he had been Amenhotep IV). He built a new capital city at Amarna, where he and Nefertiti lived and raised their children. Nefertiti was perhaps the most influential person on Akhenaton, at that time one of the most powerful rulers on earth. Very little is known of Nefertiti -- her death is not recorded, and her tomb has not been found. Her beauty is renowned from the masks found at Amarna by archaeologists early in this century, having been lost for millenia. It is unusual that such a prominent person's death would not be recorded in the culture of Egypt, symbolised to this day by the monuments to the great who have died in pyramids and tombs. The mystery deepens, however, with the discovery of stelae at Amarna that shows Nefertiti in glorious array while her husband the Pharoah occupies a lesser position.'The Berlin stela provides us with the image of a perfect and semi-divine family inhabiting an ideal world far beyond the experiences of most Egyptians. The exact roles played by the principal members of this family are unclear. Akhenaten seems quite happy perched on his lowly, undecorated stool while his wife occupies the more regal seat, yet to him fall the the honour of holding the more important princess while Nefertiti looks after the babies.'Nefertiti may have been the regnant queen by this point -- unusual but far from unheard of in Egyptian history. Female pharoahs such as Sobeknofru and Hatchepsut had proved this, but it is much more likely that a female would act as regent rather than regnant. She might have served as co-regnant with Akhenaten until his death, and then as a regent for Tutankhamen. Of course, alternate theories also abound. Some inscriptions have been discovered in which a another name, Meritaten, was inscribed over erased names and titles of another woman -- was this Nefertiti? Did she overstep her position? Did she commit some indiscretion or crime? Meritaten, the daughter of Nefertiti and Akhenaton, might have assumed public duties as queen. This was put forward by Egyptologists including Norman de Garis Davies and John Pendlebury. Tyldesley presents various theories of Nefertiti's life and death side by side with evidence supporting each. Alas, the support is difficult no matter which interpretation is preferred -- Amarna was abandoned shortly after the death of Akhenaten, and the old religious ways reinstituted. Akhenaten's name was deliberately suppressed due to the threat to the 'established religion' that monotheistic ways represented (perhaps a source of animosity between another group, the Canaanite/Israelites, and the Egyptians stems from the fear of this monotheistic tendency latent in Egypt).It is a sad tale, that Akhenaten and Nefertiti's family was all but destroyed, their capital reduced to a quarry for future pharoahs and builders to use; they and their family, including Tutankhamen and Ay, the following pharoahs of the family, were all deleted from official lists of kings -- in traditional Egyptian theology, for the spirit to live forever, the person's name, body, or image must survive -- and thus the officials of Egypt tried their best to destroy the spirit of these people. But archaeology has managed to resurrect their images and at least part of their story, and the mystery of their lives will continue for a long time to come.
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