Best known for being called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World," and one of Egypt Berlin 's Altes Museum
The lovely sculptured face of Queen Nefertiti was found in the workshop of the famed sculptor Thutmose. In 1913, the German archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, listed it among his findings but mentioned that it was a worthless piece of gypsum and hid it in a box, in an attempt to smuggle it out of Egypt. It now attracts half a million visitors yearly and is regarded as a supreme artifact of the Pharaonic era.
The bust is in fact made of limestone and the queen's features were painted on and still exhibit their vivid colors. She is depicted with full lips embellished with bold red. The perfectly preserved sculpture is flawed except for a broken left ear and the missing crystal inlay of the left eye. Both her eyelids and brows are outlined in black. A significant feature of the bust is her gracefully swan-like elongated neck and the yellow-brown color of her smooth skin. The flat-top crown on her head and her necklace display vibrant colors that set this bust apart from any other.
Queen Nefertiti (1370 BC - 1330 BC) became queen when she was fifteen years old, when she married King Amenhotep IV (later changing his name to Akhenaton). She reigned along side her husband for a mere 12 years but together they managed to make many fundamental changed to Egyptian history.
Little is known about Queen Nefertiti before she came to the thrown, yet she continues to captivate the world with her beauty! Although her parentage is not known for certainty but it is generally believed that she was the daughter of Kheperkheprure Ay, who later became pharaoh after the sudden death of the boy king Tutankhamen.
The name Nefertiti means, "The beautiful, one has arrived," and when she later changed it to consolidate her husband's newly adopted religion, she called herself, Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti meaning, “The Aten is radiant of radiance [because] the beautiful one has arrived". She carried many titles, as seen from an inscription at the Temple of Karnak
Heiress, Great of Favors, Possessed of Charm, Exuding Happiness, Mistress of Sweetness, beloved one, soothing the king's heart in his house, soft-spoken in all, Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, Great King's Wife, whom he loves, Lady of the Two Lands, Nefertiti'.
The major change that Pharaoh Akhenaton and his Queen Nefertiti brought to their people was a new religion. Different from their polytheistic religion, they introduced only one god, Aten, the sun disc, and only through the royal pair could the full blessings of the god bestow the people. They also moved the capitol of Egypt from Thebes
King Akhenaton was known to have suffered form Marfan Syndrome (characterized by unusually long limbs), but Queen Nefertiti devoted herself to loving and caring for her deformed and sickly husband. It was very evident that the pair was inseparable and very much in love, shown in many pictures to be embracing. Nefertiti bore six daughters within 10 years of her marriage. Two of her daughters became queens of Egypt
Queen Nefertiti was like no other queen of Egypt
But after the 14th year of Akhenaton's rule, Nefertiti disappears from view. To date, the mummy of this famous and iconic queen has not been found. The ultimate fate of Nefertiti's body has long been a subject of curiosity and speculation. There maybe several assumptions for this, the most simple of which is that she died. It is also thought that she may have assumed a male identity and ruled after her husband's death until his predecessor Tutankhamen came of age and took the thrown.
Mystery surrounds Nefertiti, the Sun Queen, but with the many still undiscovered treasures hidden in Egypt
About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
In ancient times, Alexandria was one of the most famous cities in the world. Founded around a small pharaonic town it became and remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo).
During Alexandria's heydays it was the leading cultural centre of the world, housing people of different religions and philosophical orientations. It was famous for the extensive library, which in the 3rd century BC was said to contain 500,000 volumes. Additionally, Alexandria was renowned for the lighthouse of Pharos, listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as antiquity. Alexandria's Mouseion was a centre of research, with laboratories and observatories. Alexandria was the very first centre for Biblical studies, and it was where the Old Testament was assembled in a form very similar to its present one. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, was produced there too plus it was also home to the largest Jewish community in the world, but most have now migrated to Israel. It was (and remains today) the seat of a patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Although Alexandria witnessed a 1,000 years of prosperity, it then fell into decline over a time span covering centuries, and when Napoleon landed, he found a sparsely populated fishing village. It wasn't until in 1819 the city gradually regained importance, when the Mahmudiyah Canal to the Nile was completed by Muhammad Ali Pasha (the Ottoman Governor of Egypt), who developed Alexandria as a deepwater port and a naval station.
Through out its history Alexandria has been invaded by many a different culture. Starting with Julius Caesar in 47 BC and was under Roman influence for more than a hundred years. With the persecution of pagans by newly Christian Romans, in 391 Emperor Theodosius I ordered the destruction of all pagan temples in Alexandria. In 619, Alexandria fell to the Sassanid Persians but was recovered by the Byzantine Emperor Heracles in 629, and in 641 the Arabs under the general Amr ibn al-As, captured it after a siege that lasted fourteen months. Napoleon's troops stormed the city on July 2, 1798 and it remained in their hands until in 1801 when the British expedition won a considerable victory over the French at the Battle of Alexandria, but after 6 months and a siege of the city it fell back to the French.
The city gradually regained some of its former glory after Mohammed Ali Pasha rebuilding the city around 1810. During the 17th century, the plague killed many of the cities inhabitants. Then again in July 1882 the city came under bombardment from British naval forces and was occupied. In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the Lavon Affair. Although during the 19th century many foreigners settled in Alexandria, and in 1907 they made up about 25% of the population. During World War II, as the chief Allied naval base in the Mediterranean, Alexandria was bombed by the Germans.
Although the cause of his death is still a mystery, Alexander the Great, the Macedonian King and great conqueror, died at the age of 33, on June 10, 323 BC in Babylon (modern Iraq).
Yes the cause of his death was a puzzle but the real enigma was the actual disappearance of Alexander the Great’s mummified body and tomb! No one can claim to have seen this tomb after the end of the 4th century and locating the place where Alexander is buried seems to have become an impossible mission for archeologists.
By which time Ptolemy Lagos, one of Alexander’s generals, had secured the wealthy territory of Egypt for himself, attacked the funerary procession carrying Alexander's body and redirecting it to Memphis in Egypt, where Alexander was initially buried. It was later moved by Ptolemy II Philadelphos, the son of the first Ptolemy, to Alexandria. After an elaborate ceremony, the body was laid to rest in a Mausoleum called Soma or Sema, an ancient Greek word meaning “dead Body”.
The tomb was eventually closed to the public by Septimus Severus (early third century AD) out of concern for its safety on account of the hoards of tourists who came to visit the site. By the 4th century, the location of Alexander's tomb was lost. The oblivion lasted until the 19th century, when the Egyptian astronomer Mahmud el-Falaki attempted to locate the tomb. According to El-Falaki the tomb would have been located under the mosque of Prophet Daniel, where he was not allowed to dig. But most archaeologist are convinced that he was buried in Alexandria, the city that he founded in Egypt.
Until today no one can be sure where the tomb of one of the greatest men who changed history lies, but besides Alexandria, there have been claims that he rests in Asia, Macedonia, and the Siwa Oasis. There has even been a wild allegation that Alexander the Great could be buried "down under" in Broome in Western Australia!
