Period: 5
October 20th, 2012
Tyldesley, Joyce A. Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen. London: Viking, 1998. Print.
In the times of Ancient Egypt women did not have a prominent role in society. Women rarely had power and most systems were patriarchal. Queens in Ancient Egypt were mainly observers and supporters of their husband. In Joyce A. Tyldesley's Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen the wife of Amenhotep IV and Queen of Egypt, Nefertiti, played a more dominant role in her marriage as well as in society. Nefertiti was seen as an equal to her husband as the women who came before her had not been seen before.
The book Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen covered a time span of 1386 BCE to about 1330 BCE. The book begins by explaining the royal family history of Egypt before Nefertiti and Amenhotep IV. It gives background on the parents of Amenhotep III the father of Amenhotep IV, which helps to explain ideas discussed later on in the book. Amenhotep's III mother supposedly at that …show more content…
Nefertiti was seen as a power figure just as much as her husband was. She was even apart of Akhenaten's religion with the main god being Aten. Also Akhenaten and Nefertiti were seen as two halves of one whole. The two completed each other as seen in statues. Nefertiti was also the same size as her husband in pictures and statues which had never been done before. Queen's were usually women who just supported their husband and gave him children, as well as observing what he does. But Nefertiti played an active role in making decisions and could perform sacrifices just like a man. In some pictures she is even seen in a clothing that a king would wear. Akhenaten's mother had also played a major role and had a larger handle on Egypt than Amenhotep III who had easily let his wife take over his role. But even Queen Tiy was not seen as a complete equal as Nefertiti