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http://www.ancientworldcities.com/article-339
By Nefertiti on Tue 31st July 2007
Section: egypt > Topic: Nefertiti - Her marvels and mysteries
From a time of religious controversy strange enough to shock an empire, yet idealistic enough to portray forever the values of family love and adoration, comes the story of one of Egypt's, if not the world's, most beautiful and famous queens.
Nefertiti, chief wife of the king Ahkenaten, was and remains the subject of intrigue and controversy. Her name means "the beautiful one has come", and her husband made a mark on Egyptian history that will never be forgotten. Because of this, her life can best be seen in light of the life of this Pharoah who made her queen. Ahkenaten alone in the lengthy list of Egyptian pharoahs abandoned numerous Egyptian gods to pursue the worship of only one - an action that caused him to be labeled as a heretic by later rulers.
Egypt's religion embraced many Sun-related dieties - Khepri, in the form of a scarab beetle, was the rising sun. Re, as a hawk, was the noonday sun, and Atum , an old man leaning on a stick, was the setting sun. Even Horus and Re-Horakhty, although primarily falcon gods, were also seen as sun gods. But only Aten was represented by an inanimate object, the sun's disc, and had no relation to human, animal or bird forms. It was this god Aten who was chosen by Ahkenaten to be Egypt's supreme being. Ahkenaten was in fact born Amenhotep IV ("Amun is satisfied") but in his decision to abandon the god Amun, as well as all other Egyptian gods except Aten, he changed his name to Ahkenaten ("Beneficence of the Aten").
And what of his queen Nefertiti? What can we unravel from the artifacts and writings of the empire in which she reigned?
To begin with, Nefertiti was not a queen who remained on the sidelines. She reigned as co-regent with her husband Akhenaten, and is credited by many with being the actual initiator of the new religion. In addition to this role, she with her king were set up as the objects of worship of the Egyptian people, and the royal family in turn directly worshipped the Aten. The household shrines throughout the cities had once held statues of the traditional gods, but these were replaced by figures of the king, his wife and children.
Her importance was heralded in the artwork of the monuments as well. During the early part of Ahkenaten's reign, Nefertiti's image appears nearly twice as often as that of her husband's. Her role as mother and wife is honored in numerous etchings of the royal family's life together. She was not only worshipped by her subjects, but in another way also by her king, as evidenced in the words of a song written about her: " ...Heiress,...Fair of Face,...Mistress of Happiness,...at hearing whose voice the King rejoices,...his beloved,..."
When Nefertiti's now-famous limestone bust was discovered during an excavation at Amarna, it's beauty and exquisite charm seemed to confirm her supposed title as perhaps "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World".
A more recent discovery has once again made her the subject of discussion, as well as controversy. In a sideroom of the tomb belonging to Amenhotep II, several mummies were found, most of which were moved to the Cairo Museum for further study. Three were left in the tomb, as their deteriorated condition made necessary. A team of experts from the University of York in England viewed the mummies in 2002 and believed they identified the younger woman mummy as Queen Nefertiti. This was based on the discovery of a wig found near the mummy that was popular among royal women during the Ahkenaten period.
In addition, the older woman mummy nearby was thought to be Queen Tye, Nefertiti's mother- in-law. This was based on tests of hair samples from the older woman. Scientists confirmed that her hair was a "almost identical match" to a strand of hair found in Tutahnkamun's tomb (he would have been Queen Tye's grandson) with Queen Tye's name on it. And perhaps most interestingly, there is an undeniably striking similiarity between the younger woman mummy and the famous limestone bust of Queen Nefertiti.
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On the other hand, Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, isn't convinced. He states that all of the art from the Amarna period has the same facial characteristics, and therefore can't be used to prove anything. He continues that Nefertiti's enemies (which she had quite a few of as her husband was thought to be a heretic) would never have allowed her to be buried in the Valley of the Kings.
Any true egyptomaniac would love to believe that we can gaze into the face (be it mummified and over 3,000 years old) of one of our favorite Egyptian queens. But reason demands that we consider the expert opinions of egyptologists whose experience far exceeds our own. The debate over this mystery promises to continue.
Sources: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nefertiti.htm
"Ancient Egypt", Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin, Barnes & Noble, 2006.