Ancient Egypt
Nefertiti
The Great Royal Wife
Nefertiti was the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten. Akhenaten built a city to honor Aten, his sun god. The city had palaces, temples, gardens and wide roadways. Akhenaten believed all people were equal. He wanted the Egyptians to see the royal family as people, not gods. This made the priests angry.
Nefertiti was married to Akhenaten and while living in Memphis gave birth to six daughters. It is possible that she also had sons, although no record has been found of this. It was a practice in Egyptian art not to portray the male heirs as children, therefore it is possible that Tutankhamun was her son.
Nefertiti is displayed with a prominence that other Egyptian queens were not. Her name is enclosed in a royal cartouche, and there are in fact more statues and drawings of her than of Akhenaten. Some have even claimed that it was Nefertiti, not Akhenaten, who started the one god religion of Aten.
Nefertiti disappeared in the year 15. No one knows if she was banished or died.
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