Customer Reviews

Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen

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I enjoyed this book, but it is definitely for the person with some knowledge of Egyptian history. The book is not a romantic, detailed description of the queen and her life and times; it covers the artistic and epigraphic data dealing with the Amarna period, a particularly complex and confusing time in Egypt's history. The personalities of the period first came to public awareness during the 1920s, when the famous bust of the queen was put on display, and since that time a number of speculative theories have enjoyed a vogue among experts and amateur enthusiasts. Ms Tyldesley covers the history of these theories, the data supporting or refuting them, and poses some of her own. (Some of these I first came across in Week's "The Lost Tomb," where he introduces the concept--borrowed from Ms Tyldesley and others--that some of the novelties of the Armarna court were actually in evidence during the reign of the preceeding monarch, Amenhotep III, and were simply driven to extremes under Akhenaten). Ms Tyledesley also makes it quite evident than much of the evidence that might have gone far to clearing up some of the confusion in the reigns of the Armarna monarchs has been lost to the vandalism, theft and neglect of centuries. Although she goes far in creating a profile of the queen and her contemporaries, I think that the reader will still come away with a feeling that the only certain thing about the period is its continued mystery.

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.

I was somewhat disappointed by this book. The title gives the impression that it will be a biography of Nefertiti. It would have been better titled "What we think we know about Nefertiti and the Armarna Period from rock carvings".
Having read a number of books on Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, etc., I found very little that was new in Tyldesley's offering. A different perspective is always welcome, but Tydesley did not "think outside the square" in any meaningful way. She follows the same chronological trail as other authors, using the same pieces of evidence. While she does delve into the history of the Eighteenth Dynasty, this book could have been more fully grounded in other ways. For example, how would a girl of Nefertiti's social class have been brought up? How would her parents have lived? What is the current thinking on what marriage meant to the ancient Egyptians? What are the daily duties of a queen? Tackling these issues could have brought life to both Nefertiti and the book, and gone some way towards making it the biography the title seemed to promise. If details on these points do not exist, Tydlesley could at least have said so.
Tydesley's style of writing is uninspiring and there was not enough in the way of footnotes and extra information for my liking. Certain points of evidence are interpreted in very different ways by different scholars, and I would have appreciated reading the pros and cons of these debates and thus learning exactly why Tyldesley came to some of the conclusions she did. I agree with other reviewers that better visual aids would have been appreciated in this book.
Joyce Tydesley's Nefertiti is, as far as I can tell from my amateur perspective, a solid offering that covers the main points. But it left me wanting more of everything: more evidence, more theories, more pictures, more excitement, more that was new to me. I would not recommend it unless you already have some familiarity with Ancient Egypt.

I had been looking forward to reading this book since I bought it in April. Unfortunately, my expectations were not fulfilled, and the book as a whole disappointed me. Although the author provides a good view of life in Egypt's 18th Dynasty (New Kingdom), the actual examination of Nefertiti's life is sadly lacking. Of the 198 pages (excluding notes), I would estimate only 1/4-1/3 is actually spent deciphering the title's subject. More time seems to be spent on Nefertiti's husband, Akhenaten, and life in general during this period. Granted, the main point becomes, by the end of the book, that we simply do not have all the pieces to link together about Nefertiti, where she came from, and what happened to her. However, I found the author, in trying to relate all the possibilities and theories, to be more confusing than enlightening. Also, I found descriptions of tomb paintings and reliefs to be confusing, and these descriptions presupposed extensive knowledge of Egyptian art. I would read a description of an artwork, and then realize it had nothing to do with the picture or graphic provided. I finished this book with a sense of relief, and although I did learn some useful information about this era, I was extremely disappointed in how the information was presented, and in the misleading title.

Well-written, concise, easy-to-read. Though it doesn't clear up the fundamental mystery of Ahkenaten and Nefertiti, it does help clear away some cobwebs from their life. For instance, it is stated that the royal couple did not have the dramatic falling out and consequent destruction of Nefertiti's name everywhere that other historians have theorized. The author states that Egyptologists now know for certain that Merit-Aten's name was subscribed over the names and titles of some other lady; probably Kiya. Intuitively, it never made sense to me that Ahkenaten could somehow be motivated to blot out the name of a woman he was obviously very devoted to.

One of the author's specialties is powerful women in history. Therefore, the author thoroughly explores the roles of power that Nefertiti might have assumed and where she might have derived that authority.

One of the things I've always enjoyed about Nefertiti books is how they treat the famous bust in photographs using various angles, lights and shadows. Here the bust is photographed in B/W from four very good angles. The treatment of the bust is near pg 143 in the hardback. There, you will see such a lifelike Nefertiti, you will blink. (Ahh, the magic of photo-editing software! ;-)

In short, this book doesn't make any major breakthroughs, but it does inch us forward. Its enjoyable; takes about 2 nights to read. The book has a sleek and attractive appearance. Its romantic and tragic; without sacrificing objectivity.

One of the most famous faces in the world, and perhaps one of the most well-known pieces of sculpture, is the exquisite bust of the Egyptian queen, Nefertiti, which is currently housed in the Berlin museum. She's also widely regarded as Egypt's most beautiful queen (I wonder what Cleopatra would have to say about that?). But what do we really know about her? Not a lot, as Joyce Tyldesley's book, Nefertiti, shows us. In fact, so little is known that a book that is rather short to begin with takes a lot of side trips talking about her husband and the unusual monotheistic religion that he formed. Thankfully, Tyledesley never claims to have all of the answers. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the publishers from advertising that she did. Yes, bad cover copy once again leads the reader astray, and while the book is interesting enough despite that, I still have to knock it down some for that. Many of the questions that the back cover asks ("Did she ever rule Egypt as king? When did she die?") don't actually have answers within the book. Tyledesley gives her best estimate, and refutes some of the common theories, but she admits that there's no way to tell.

Tyldesley has certainly given us an interesting book, however. She begins by giving an overview of Nefertiti's father-in-law, Amenhotep III, and his rule. She goes into great detail about Amenhotep's mother, Tiy, and examines some of the questions about them. It takes almost fifty pages before Nefertiti comes on the scene, and Tyldesley introduces her with the question of her parentage. No record has ever been found of her birth and only one relative has come to the fore. Some believe she was a foreigner come to Egypt, perhaps a Nubian princess? Tyldesley effortlessly deflects most of these theories, even as she does admit that they could be true. I was very glad to see that Tyldesley rarely assumes anything, giving the reader all sides of the story, even as she provides evidence that supports what she believes is the case.

The book then moves on to examine the reign of her husband, Akhenaten, and the religion that he founded (and which, subsequently, was pretty much wiped from history by subsequent pharaohs). Nefertiti does figure in this at times, as it has been proposed that she was a goddess figure much like Akhenaten was the god. Some images that date from this period show Nefertiti acting similar to what high priests would do in the previous religion, smiting enemies or leading religious ceremonies. For the most part, however, the chapter is about Akhenaten's rule, and subsequent chapters give us more detail, even as they examine Nefertiti's role in the whole thing. In fact, one of the chapters (called "Queen, King, or Goddess?") brings up the question of whether or not Nefertiti ever ruled in her husband's place, perhaps after he died. Once again, Tyldesley deals with that by giving us as much information as is known, stating that it's most likely that she never served as king and detailing why the other hypotheses aren't very credible.

I found these chapters especially interesting because, while I had heard of Akhenaten and his replacing of all the Egyptian gods with his own divinity, I didn't really know much about it. Tyldesley does a wonderful job giving the reader as much information about this period as she can, detailing all the references that Egyptologists have discovered about this period. She sets the scene wonderfully too, so clearly that I almost felt like I was walking the streets of ancient Amarna (what archeologists now call the city Akhenaten founded, though I don't think she ever explains why this is).

When Tyldesley begins discussing the "sunset" of Akhenaten's reign, that's when the book really begins to take a side trip. Nefertiti disappears from the narrative, and we must assume that she died at this point (Tyldesley does bring up some people's theory that she fell out of favour and was wiped from the record, but she quickly discounts it after explaining what evidence these theorists use for it). She then discusses the fall of Akhenaten, the birth of Tutankhamen, and the gradual erasure of the Amarna era as subsequent monarchs move back to the original capital and bring the old gods back. Another of Akhenaten's wives is believed to be Tut's mother, so we have a great many pages where the supposed thrust of the book is completely off screen. While this was interesting, I do believe that the book may have been tighter if it had remained centered on Nefertiti. Perhaps Tyldesley just takes too long to summarize what happened to Akhenaten after she disappears?

The book ends on a wonderful note, however, as Tyldesley gives a rundown of how Nefertiti came back to prominence with the discovery of the sculpture and further archeological research that brings Nefertiti back to the forefront. For the longest time, archeologists thought that Queen Tiy was the main inspiration for Akhenaten's religious reforms (as Tyldesley notes, a book on the Queen's of Egypt written in 1908 only gave Nefertiti six pages), but subsequent findings have restored Nefertiti to her rightful place. I love reading about archeology, so this was probably my favourite chapter in the book, and it's a fitting conclusion to it.

As Tyldesley says in her introduction, "We simply do not have the information to write the definitive 'warts and all' biography which we have come to expect of more modern subjects." However, she has definitely given us the closest thing possible to it. She demonstrates the mystique Nefertiti had (and still has), presents us with her theories, and even gives credence to other, more conflicting ones (sometimes before demolishing them). This is a great book, marred only by a tendency to drift away from the subject occasionally. Those with an interest in Egyptology should lap this up.

David Roy

Ever since I saw the Nefertiti exhibit at the Met in NYC, I have been intrigued with who this woman was & her origins. Ms. Tyldesley has answered many of my questions. Her ability to convey her knowledge of this period of Egyptian history is as well done as in her book on Hatchseput. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about strong female regents/rulers & the possible origins of monothesism. It is a worthy addition to my growing Egyptian collection. Kudos!

In the world of Egyptology, Queen Nefertiti is probably the most interesting female figure. Not much is known about the queen making her that much more fascinating. Finding an extended book about Nefertiti is hard to find due to the fact that her history is so vague. This book is probably one of the best about the queen and the book is relatively recent, so the information and new "discoveries" about her are pretty accurate. Not the whole book is about Nefertiti because we don't really know that much about her. The book also describes Amenhotep III and Queen Tiy, the parents of the fascinating Akhenaten. Akhenaten is the other major person besides Nefertiti in the book. He was the husband of Nefertiti as well as the first prominent monotheistic figure in history. One does get the idea of Nefertiti's almost goddess-like presence in Egypt as well as her high status in society often ruling equally beside her husband in the book. Tyldesley does a great job with Nefertiti. This is probably a must have book for Nefertiti as well as Akhenaten.

In my opinion, Joyce Tyldesley accomplishes an excelent recopilation of all science currently knows and theorizes about this queen and about the "Amarna" period in Ancient Egypt. What is excelent about it is that she does it in a very readable prose, explaining the nature of family relations, religion, social mobilization, and power during this period of Egyptian history. I loved this book and recommend it to any one who wonders what daily life was back in Egypt 3 to 4 thousand years ago!
R-Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies

Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen is a well-written book about a mysterious time. Joyce Tyldesley sets the stage with an excellent discussion of Amenhotep III and the times prior to the advent of Akhenaten. There is a wealth of information.

Of particular interest to me was the tracing of the god Aten and that Amenhotep had awakened interest in this god. If one is to write a life of Nefertiti it has to be undertaken to provide all the various ideas that have sprung up about her. Ms. Tyldesley prepares us for this path, one she is forced into because of the lack of information about Nefertiti and the Amarna period in general. She shifts through all of this material admirably and points out the more probable scenarios.

If one is disappointed because this is not a traditional biography it is because of our lack of information. Once could probably fit what we "know" about Nefertiti on a few pages. What possibly happened takes more. If one is interested in Egypt and the Amarna period in particular, this is a valuable book.