Who is nefertitis father

Some comentators have rather outlandishly suggested that Nefertiti was in fact the famous Queen Jezebel from the Old Testement. They suggest she left Israel on the death of her husband, King Ahab, and returned when Akhenaten rejected her for failing to provide him with a male heir. Proponents of this view further suggest that Jehu who caused the death of Jezebel was in fact the general Horemheb.

He became pharaoh after the death of Ay, and destroyed the monuments and inscriptions of the Atenist regime. However, the orthodox chronology would place years between Nefertiti and Jezebel.

Jezebel was an avid defender of the Phonecian Goddess Astarte, which does not tie in too well with Atensim, as Astarte was a war and fertility goddess, while her consort Baal was a rain and storm god. It is tempting to see a similarity between Sekhmet and Astarte because the later also took the form of a lion from time to time as a connection between the Phonecian gods and Atensim, but where is the all powerful sun god described by Akhenaten himself?

In any case, Jehu was the son of Jehoshaphat who became the tenth King of the northern kingdom of Israel, and the only one of the nineteen kings of Israel to receive glowing praise from Jehovah for his obedience. Finally, it is suggest that Nefertiti was in fact the Tadukhipa, the daughter of Tushratta also known as Dasharatha King of the Mitanni, but most scholars consider it more likely that Tadukhipa was actually Queen Kiya.

They had six daughters and, according to some, one son. During the first five years of Amenhotep's reign, Nefertiti enjoyed a high profile. Evidence of her political importance is seen in the large number of carved scenes in which she is shown accompanying him during ceremonial acts. She is shown taking part in the daily worship and making offerings Nefertiti. Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc. In the fifth year of his reign, Amenhotep changed his name to Akhenaten.

He went against the beliefs of previous kings by announcing that the sun god Aten was the greatest of all Egyptian gods and the only one who should be worshipped, rather than Amen-Ra, who had long been considered supreme. Nefertiti shared his belief. Largely because of opposition over this issue, Akhenaten built a new capital called Akhetaten and moved the royal family there. After the fourteenth year of Akhenaten's rule, there are no more pictures of Nefertiti; she simply disappears from view.

Some believe she was the power behind the throne and thus responsible for the changes during the rule of Akhenaten until being dismissed from her position and banished to the North Palace at Amarna. This would mean there was a conflict within the royal family, with Nefertiti favoring the continued worship of Aten while Akhenaten and his son-in-law Tutankhamen c.

Most scholars, however, now suppose that Nefertiti's disappearance may simply be due to the fact that she died, and one of the king's other wives took her place at his side.

A more dramatic, if less accepted, theory holds that she assumed a new, masculine identity toward the end of Akhenaten's rule—that Nefertiti and the young Smenkhkare, who ruled briefly either with or after Akhenaten and is believed by some to have been his son, were in fact the same person. Freed, Rita E. It vividly illustrates the harmonious life of the royal family, protected by the rays of Aten.

She is presented at the same scale as her husband, her name is given equal status with that of Akhenaten and the god Aten in the royal cartouche, and the hands at the ends of the rays hold the symbol of the ankh equally in front of the noses of both the king and the queen. Film "Hingeschaut! One detail from the family altar which supports the hypothesis that Nefertiti had at least the same political status as Akhenaten, if not higher, is the decoration of the chair on which she sits.

This symbol of unification is usually reserved for the reigning monarch alone. No further written sources, however, confirm that Nefertiti held a higher position than her husband.

Her prominent appearance more likely derives from the new theological precept. Aten is the sole god who, while merciful to all people, only stands in direct contact with the royal couple. Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Aten form a divine trinity, based on the ancient Egyptian theological principle of the creation of the world. On this basis Akhenaten and Nefertiti can enter into a dialogue with the Aten, either together or individually.

Little is known about the origins of Nefertiti, but her legacy of beauty and power continue to intrigue scholars today. Her name is Egyptian and means "a beautiful woman has come. Other theories have suggested that she was born in a foreign country, possibly Syria. It is believed she was 15 when they wed, which may have been before Akhenaten assumed the throne.

They apparently ruled together from to B. Their daughter Ankhesenamun would eventually marry her half brother Tutankhamun , the future ruler of Egypt. Artwork from the day depicts the couple and their daughters in an unusually naturalistic and individualistic style, more so than from earlier eras.

The king and his head queen seem to be inseparable in reliefs, often shown riding in chariots together and even kissing in public. It has been stated that the couple may have had a genuine romantic connection, a dynamic not generally seen in depictions of ancient pharaohs. Nefertiti and the pharaoh took an active role in establishing the Aten cult, a religious mythology which defined Aten, the sun, as the most important god and the only one worthy of worship in Egypt's polytheistic canon.

Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten also seen as "Akenhaten" in some references to honor the deity. It is believed that the king and queen were priests and that it was only through them that ordinary citizens could obtain access to Aten.