Neferneferuaten: The Mysterious Female Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
Neferneferuaten was a mysterious ruler who governed Egypt near the end of the Amarna Period. Many scholars believe she may have been Nefertiti or a royal woman closely connected to the Amarna court. She ruled during a transitional time after Akhenaten and before Tutankhamun. Her identity remains one of the most debated questions in Egyptology.
Aten Neferneferuaten is the name of a queen regnant (‘female king’) of ancient Egypt who reigned in her own right near the end of the Amarna Period during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Her name features feminine gender traces, and one of her epithets was Akhet-en-hyes (“Beneficial for her husband”). This epithet also features in one version of her nomen (birth name) cartouche. The name Neferneferuaten translates as either “(‘Perfect/Beautiful is the perfection/beauty of Aten’)
There is debate among Egyptologists whether Neferneferuaten is to be identified with Pharaoh Smenkhkare (with whom she shared the throne name Ankhkheperure), or whether they were separate individuals, with Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s queen, often proposed as a candidate for her identity.
Golden Nut Pectoral inscribed for the female king Neferneferuaten
A girl apparently named Neferneferuaten is well documented in the reigns of the Prince of the Late Amarna Period. Yet today, many aspects of who Neferneferuaten really was remain uncertain. Her mostly obscure reign in comparison to all the well-documented pharaohs is documented in rather sketchy reports. This evidence indicates that she had a brief stay in the black prince’s vacillating politics and religion.
Her rule followed the death of Akhenaten, whose revolutionary reign abolished traditional faith in Egypt and instigated an Atenist religion.
The Amarna Period
One of the most unique chapters in Egyptian history is the Akhenaten period. With his time on the throne, he brought an entirely new religious system which focused on Aten, the sun disk.
Egyptians heard no word of her traditional deities, especially Amun. Temples in honor of older deities were put to a condition of disuse, and the royal capital was transferred to a brand-new city appropriately referred to as Akhetaten (presently in modern-day Amarna).
Against this background of a Christianity that began with Akhenaten’s death followed a turbulent period for Egypt. The religious system established by the Nekhenydiedquennosene was short-lived, its later rulers being compelled to return to a traditional creed. One notable phase within that transition was Neferneferuaten.
Neferneferuaten Name
The name Neferneferuaten has always been strongly connected with the Aten religion. The translation of the name should be like this: Nefertari.
The name completely expressed the religious thought and ideology of the Amarna Period, which was concentrated around the worship of Aten. This is the most well-known of names paralleling those of Nefertiti with the element entirely intact.
It is strikingly conspicuous how alike the two names are when manipulated, consequently leading scholars to think that Neferneferuaten may have been one of the titles of Nefertiti. Name connotations in ancient Egypt play key functions in the identification of any individual, with respect to status or religion. The use of the name “Neferneferuaten” intrinsically suggests a connection to the royal court of Akhenaten.
Neferneferuaten Identity
By the late twentieth century, there was “‘a fair degree of consensus'” that Neferneferuaten was a female king and Smenkhkare a separate male king, particularly among specialists of the period. Many Egyptologists believe she also served as coregent based on the stela and epithets, although a sole reign seems very likely, given that the Pairi inscription is dated using her regnal years. Opinion is more divided on the placement and nature of the reign of Smenkhkare in relation to her.
Most Egyptologists see the two names as indicating two separate individuals and consider this the simplest and most likely view. Most name changes in the Amarna period involved people incorporating -Aten into their name or removing an increasingly offensive -Amun element.
The focus now shifts to the identity of Neferneferuaten, with each candidate having its own advocate in a debate that may never be settled to the satisfaction of all. Akhenaten is known to have died in his 17th year from wine docket evidence found at Amarna.
Was Neferneferuaten Nefertiti?
Queen Nefertiti
One theory that has received widespread attention is that Neferneferuaten was in fact Nefertiti. Nefertiti was a powerful queen who played an important role in the reign of Akhenaten. Arguments have been put forward suggesting that she had usurped some power after the death of her husband.
Some of the inscriptions that read Neferneferuaten sometimes also contain titles indicating a queen in the female form. These titles along with the similarity of names will evidently suggest that Nefertiti ruled Egypt under a different name. However, not all scholars will concur with this interpretation. Some think that Neferneferuaten was any royal woman, but not Nefertiti.
Neferneferuaten as a Female Pharaoh
In the early 1970s, English Egyptologist John Harris noted in a series of papers that cartouches for Neferneferuaten existed that included feminine indicators. These were linked with a few items including a statuette found in Tutankhamun’s tomb depicting a king whose appearance was particularly feminine, even for Amarna art that seems to favor androgyny.
The use of epithets or lack of them to identify the king referenced in an inscription eventually became widely accepted among scholars and regularly cited in their work although a case for exempting a particular inscription or instance will occasionally be argued to support a larger hypothesis. The “female king” identity is also supported by the feminine form of “the justified” under the prenomen Ankhkheperure-Mery-Waenre
Some attestation insinuates at her being a rule-keeping queen. These messages consist of royal titles and royal phrases, meaning that her complete authority could have been implied. Female rulers were scarce in Egypt, but there had been previous instances before, such as Hatshepsut, who was the most powerful female ruler during Thutmosis III’s reign in the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Thus Neferneferuaten as a female pharaoh could have stood as yet another exceptional articulation of females on the highest threshold of power in Egyptian society. The reign, however, appears to have been short, and the scantiness of the sources presents a question as to what extent her authority was limited.
The Relationship with Smenkhkare
Another important figure from this period was Smenkhkare. His association with Neferneferuaten is uncertain; still the pair epitomizes contexts in continuous flux.
It is possible that some scholars contend that Smenkhkare and Neferneferuaten were two different individuals who reigned in succession, and some experts convey that they ruled concurrently as co-regents.
The very scant evidence has caused what could be called confusion among scholars—a lot of ongoing conjecture as to how these figures actually fit into the timeline of the Amarna Period.
Neferneferuaten and the Transition to Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun
As the period of Tutankamon immediately followed that of Neferneferuaten, it seems that he succeeded her shortly, despite there being no available evidence to support the idea.
So, the religion of Aten was gradually declining, and the traditional one was regaining status. Tutankhamun is celebrated for his reversal of many of Akhenaton’s deeds.
If Neferneferuaten reigned during this change, then perhaps she played a role in shaping the conditions toward these events.
Her place on this timeline also makes her a noteworthy figure for understanding how Egypt emerged from the Amarna Period to go back into its orthodox ways to some extent.
Reuse of Neferneferuaten’s funerary equipment for Tutankhamun’s burial
The tomb of Tutankhamun
According to Nicholas Reeves, almost 80% of Tutankhamun’s burial equipment from KV62 was derived from Neferneferuaten’s original funerary goods, including the gold funerary mask, middle coffin, canopic jars, several of the gilded shrine panels, shabti-figures, boxes and chests, and royal jewellery, and adapted for use after his unexpected early death.
In 2015, Reeves published evidence showing that an earlier cartouche on Tutankhamun’s famous gold mask reads, “Ankheperure mery-Neferkheperure” or (Ankheperure beloved of Akhenaten); therefore, the mask originally was made for Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s great royal wife, who used the royal name Ankheperure when she assumed the throne after her husband’s death.
This development implies that either Neferneferuaten was deposed in a power struggle, possibly deprived of a royal burial as a king by Tutankhamun’s officials, or that she died a natural death but was not buried with her own funerary equipment—by Tutankhamun’s officials when Tutankhamun succeeded her as king since Tutankhamun was the officially recognised heir to the throne but Neferneferuaten (ie. Nefertiti) refused to step aside due to the Boy King’s relative youth.
Monuments and Evidence of Neferneferuaten
The evidence for Neferneferuaten comes from fragments of inscriptions, names in cartouches, and a few small finds. These documents are often fragmentary and even damaged.
Specific inscriptions mention a female ruler with references like “those who are effective for her husband.” These scanty details provide small hints about her actual identity and role.
Still, her rules were too brief to have left a legacy owed to too few monuments to ascertain her full role.
The Erasure of the Amarna Period
Following the Amarna Period, later pharaohs worked assiduously to obliterate traces linking them with Akhenaten and his successors. This campaign extended to Neferneferuaten.
Statues and inscriptions were defaced, names kept dropping off, and entire sections in the history texts had to be rejiggered. This calculated erasure/site obliteration is among the main reasons so little is known about her.
The loss of records has made Neferneferuaten one of the most enigmatic figures in Egyptian history.
Legacy of Neferneferuaten
Upon the precarious ruins is built the immense importance attached to Neferneferuaten in the minds of some, and the rest must muddle through the wildfire that hovers around her life and tomb. The essence of her tale becomes one of painting a personage from the minutest of evidences.
The narrative contends her life to be changed by politics and religion. This aura of Neferneferuaten, be she, Nefertiti… Meritaten, or any other amnesic royal figure, tells the history of one of the most revolutionary transitions of Egypt.
Conclusion
Neferneferuaten stands as one of the most enigmatic figures of ancient Egypt. Her identity, role, and reign continue to be subjects of debate among historians.
Finding Neferneferuaten in the source of history depicts a period of transformation from the radical dimension of the Amarna Period, tugging Egypt back to its more traditional religious beliefs.
Even with ambiguity over their identity, there will be no getting around the place of Neferneferuaten in the critique of this age in Egyptian history.
