Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The First to Preach Monotheism

Akhenaten (the first to preach monotheism)
(Nefertiti's husband)
    Did you know that Akhenaten, Nefertiti's husband was the first Egyptian king to preach monotheism?  Wow!  Akhenaten was one of history's first religious revolutionaries.  He changed ancient Egypt's religious beliefs of polytheism to monotheism.  Akhenaten even began to commission temples to the god Aton, "the sun disk".  Plus he built a city called Akhenaton ("Horizon of Aton"). 

     Although, we cannot forget about Nefertiti.  While her husband was preaching monotheism, she was right up there preaching with him.  Nefertiti was also a big supporter of her husband during this time and did whatever she could to help him.  Just think, without Nefertiti and Akhenaten, the ancient Egyptians would have still been worshiping statues, and many gods. 

The Royal Family

Neferiti (right) and Akhenaten (left)
    Have you ever wondered who was in the Royal Family of Egypt?  The Royal Family included Akhenaten and his chief wife Nefertiti, (the two rulers of  Egypt at the time), and their six children, which were all girls.  Their first born daughter was Meretaten.  She was born before the move to Akhenaton.  Their second born, Meketaten had also been born before the move to Akhenaton.  When their third daughter was born, it was somewhere between the sixth and seventh years of rule of her mother and father, and she was given the name Ankhesenpaaten.  Their next daughter was probably born in 1346 BC, and they called her by the name of Nefernefudten Tasherit, after her mother.  Have you started to notice that a lot of the names in ancient Egypt were pretty weird?  Then they had another daughter, just a year later in 1345 BC, and her name was Nefernefrune.  Their sixth and final child was Setepenre.  She was born in Akhenatena and Nefertiti's tenth year of rule.  Wow, they had a big family!

Who could Nefertit's parents be?

Ay (Nefertit's daddy)

Tey (Nefertit's mommy)
     As you read before, there is nothing known about Nefertiti's past life up until the point where she became queen.  It's almost like she didn't exist.  Because of this, it is not know for sure who her parents were.  Although Scientists do have a theory of who they could be. Can you imagine not knowing anything on someone and trying to some way find out who their parents were?  That sounds pretty hard. They believe that it is possible that she was the daughter of Queen Tiye's brother Ay and his wife Tey.  This would have meant that Nefertiti was Amenhotep's first cousin.

How Nefertiti Gained Power


Queen Nefertiti




    As you know Akhenaten was Nefertiti's husband.  But what you may not know is that he is the one who made her queen.  It's true, Akehenaten adored her so much, he made her a co-ruler.  This meant they ruled Egypt side by side.  You may have read from other sites that Nefertiti possible had some pharaoh blood in her heritage. Essentially, nothing is known about Nefertiti's past life until she became queen.  Therefore, this is not true.

Nefertiti's Fascinating Accomplishments

Queen Nefertiti
     As chief wife and consort of Akhenaten, Nefertiti had many accomplishments.  She supported her husband throughout their religious revolution, which changed the Egyptian people from being polytheistic, to becoming monotheistic.  Thank goodness for that, I would not want to be praising many Gods and statues for my religion.  Nefertiti and her husband, Akhenaten even built a new capital, religious city called Amarna, midway between Thebes and Memphis.  Once this city was built, her and her husband's rule became increasingly autocratic, increasing the great resentment towards the new order even further.  Nefertiti and Akhenaten must have been like celebrities in Egypt.


     Nefertiti also had many children, six to be exact. WOW!  That's a lot of babies.  Although, Nefertiti only had daughters.  Because of this, Nefertiti arranged for her daughter Ankhesenpaaten to marry Tutankhamun, to make sure that she would have considerable influence with the new Pharaoh.  Or, what every one seems to call him today, King Tut.  This and many of the other things I have just mentioned are some of the many accomplishments of Nefertiti.