Her name means, "The beautiful one is come." Anyone contemplating the famous bust of her, now in a museum in Berlin (see p. 23), would have to agree that she was well-named. But Nefertiti is important for more than mere beauty. Unlike many wives of male rulers, Nefertiti took an active role in the life and politics of her time. With her husband, Akhenaten, she advocated the monotheistic worship of Aton. With her family, she dared to be portrayed artistically as she really was, rather than as a remote ideal. For uncertain reasons, her husband removed her from power in favor of her own daughter, whom he married. The cult of Aton did not outlast the rulers, and their great palace at Amarna, abandoned after their deaths, was rediscovered only in the last century. Nefertiti nonetheless stands out as one of the most singular individuals, male or female, of the ancient world.

1. At http://www.duke.edu/~mcd3/, you will find information on Queen Nefertiti, including a relief carving of her and Akhenaten worshiping their deity.
2. Go to the clickable mummy at http://www.akhet.co.uk/clikmumm.htm to view a digitized mummy and its various parts. Although this mummy dates from the Roman era, it gives a sense of the importance placed on preserving the body and of the values and techniques of mummification of earlier ages. Follow the links on this web page to the National Museum of Scotland, which has a fine collection of ancient mummies.
3. On this web site, a researcher argues that a mummy found in the tomb of the pharaoh Amenhotep II may be that of Nefertiti: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/3102/do_we_have_.htm
4. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts presented an exhibition of over 250 objects, from museums in the U.S., Europe, and Egypt, that document the age of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. The online version, with twenty scanned art objects, includes a bust of the young Nefertiti: http://www.mfa.org/egypt/amarna/ex_hi_ind.html