Queen Nefertari
Family
One of Egypt’s greatest and most beautiful queens was Nefertari. She served as Ramses II’s primary wife throughout the 19th dynasty. She lacked royal ancestry. When Queen Nefertari and King Ramses II got married When she was 13 and he was 15. Six children were born to her.
Title of Queen Nefertari
Queen Nefertari is a symbol of beauty in Egypt. Nefertari means the beautiful companion believer of god Mut. She had many titles like Sweet of love, lady of the two lands, God’s wife.
Life of Queen Nefertari
Little is known about Nefertari’s early years. An inscription found in her tomb
connects her to the pharaoh Ay, although Nefertari cannot be Ay’s child. Additionally, there is no proof connecting Queen Nefertari to the 18th-century Royal family. In fact, she belonged to the noble class but was not a royal family member. Nefertari was the first of around seven different queens that Ramses II wed. He had at least forty daughters and forty-five sons, lived for ninety years, and oversaw Egypt for sixty-seven of those years.
On the other hand, Ramsses was married to Nefertari for nearly 24 years. Ramses truly adored Nefertari as evidenced by the tombs and temples he built in her honour. At the base of the enormous monuments of King Ramses II in Luxor are statues of Queen Nefertari. Ramses II waged a fight with the Hittites, but during his reign, a pact was formed with them, giving Nefertari a large deal of influence in the Hittite capital city. Nefertari purchased some presents for the Hittite king and queen, such as a gold necklace and some letters.
Temple of Queen Nefertari
In fact, the Abu Simbel Temple was constructed in Nubia by Ramses II. In the vast Ramsses temple are several representations of Queen Nefertari and her regal offspring. The Egyptian authorities moved the Abu Simbel temples in 1960 because of fear of floods brought on by the Aswan High Dam.
Ramesses erected a modest temple at Abu Simbel to honour Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. There are four huge sculptures of Ramses II, two of the queen, and a few smaller statues of the royal children placed in front of the temple.
Additionally, the temple contains a sizable hypostyle hall with columns whose tops are carved in the form of Hathor’s head. The opposite side of the entrance is where the sanctuary is situated. Queen Nefertari is thought to have passed away shortly after the completion of Abu Simbel.
Facts about Queen Nefertari
Ramses II’s first wife was named Nefertari. She held the throne for 24 years. The most exquisite tomb in the Valley of the Queens is that of Queen Nefertari. Ramses II’s love poetry has been discovered inside her tomb. Ramses II’ erected a modest temple for Nefertari and Hathor.
Queen Nefertari Tomb
The Great Wife of Pharaoh Ramses II‘s tomb, QV66. It is located in Egypt’s Valley of the Queens. Similarly, Ernesto Schiaparelli, the head of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, made the discovery in 1904. The Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt is what it is known as. Ramses II‘s favourite wife was Nefertari.
Whose name means “lovely companion.” He made a special effort to make this clear by referring to her as “the one for whom the sun shines” in his writings, creating the Temple of Hathor to worship her as a goddess, and ordering wall portraits of her.
In fact that Nefertari’s tomb in the Valley of the Queens once included her mummified body and symbolic items, as did most Egyptian tombs. Except for the remaining two-thirds of the 5,200 square feet of wall paintings, everything had been taken by this point. These wall paintings depicted Nefertari as she was in what is left. In order to highlight her attractiveness, her face receives a lot of attention, particularly the shape of her eyes, the blush on her cheeks, and the contour of her eyebrows.
Some paintings depicted fine directions for going through the afterlife to paradise and were filled with lines and the colours red, blue, yellow, and green.
Facts about Queen Nefertari Tomb
In 1904, Queen Nefertari’s tomb was found. After repair work and the removal of saltpetre deposits from the tomb’s walls in the early 1990s, the tomb was formally open. Also, the tomb has undergone a thorough repair by the Egyptian government and is now accessible to the general public. The burial chamber of the tomb was particularly damaged over time as a result of erosion and environmental changes. In truth, it is regarded as one of the Valley of the Queens‘ most exquisite graves.
