The mysterious fate of Queen Nefertiti: early marriage, plague, intrigue, and the disappearance of

Queen Nefertiti, wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, can be considered the most famous woman in the history of Ancient Egypt. The priestess, the wife of Pharaoh, and maybe herself Pharaoh — this woman 14 years played a significant role in governing the country, and then disappeared.

Many historians believe that Nefertiti was the Pharaoh after the death of her husband and rule the Kingdom until the power is not switched to Tutankhamun. About appearance of the woman we can judge by the bust of the sculptor Thutmose, Jr., who portrays the Queen in a tall hat.

The bust was discovered by German archaeologists Ludwig Borchardt and Hermann Ranke in the early twentieth century. The artifact was so struck by scientists that in front of his sketches in his work diary borchardt instead of describing just left a note: "to Describe aimlessly — we should look."

Having studied the bust, experts found that the eye was removed intentionally, not accidentally dropped. For this reason there are several different theories. The most plausible of them are two, one of which involves the deliberate desecration of the image of the Queen of one of the descendants, and the other is romantic.

There is an assumption that the sculptor Thutmose was in love with royals and admitted her. Having been refused, the man damaged one the eyes of the bust to show that the original was blind to genuine feelings.

Nefertiti and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten)

It is not known at what age Nefertiti was the wife of the king, but most scientists are inclined to believe that it happened very early in 12-15 years. Immediately need to say that her husband was much older than her and so early in the marriage, the Egyptians considered the most common.Amenhotep IV and his wife remained in the history as the reformers at them, the Kingdom passed from sloppy to ateismo polytheism-worship of the Sun God Aten. In the tomb of the Pharaoh ay, who ruled later, there is an inscription dedicated to the Queen. It reads: "She spends atone for peace sweet voice and gentle hands with the systray, at the sound of her voice, rejoice". This confirms that Nefertiti was not only the wife of the king, but also the high priestess of Aten.

Over the years of living together from Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti were born six daughters and the lives of the spouses were most likely to be happy. But then the Queen suddenly disappears from all the documents as if it never happened. Until 2012, it was believed that the Queen died as a result of a Palace conspiracy, or died during raging at the time of the plague.

Also during excavations it was discovered that some bas-reliefs in Thebes someone erased the names of women. It was assumed that it was the name of Nefertiti, who fell for some reason out of favor. It later emerged that removed the name of another, a minor wife of Amenhotep IV of Qiyi.

Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti with her daughters

In 2012, he found the plate, dated the 15th year of the reign of Amenhotep IV. The text, written in red ochre, there's a mention of some Royal women: the "great Royal wife, his beloved, lady of the two lands, Neferneferuaten". Almost certainly Neferneferuaten is the new name of Nefertiti, which she received, turning from the just wife of the Pharaoh in his coregent.

The burial of Nefertiti, probably not yet discovered. Some archaeologists suggest that the Queen owns the mummy of 45-year-old woman, found the valley of the kings of the New Kingdom era. In life she suffered from curvature of the spine and was clumsy, but full of confidence that it is the Queen, no one. Scientists scanned the skull of a mummy and made the reconstruction of the appearance, but the woman was quite unlike the bust.In one of sculptural workshops during the excavations mask, taken from Nefertiti in his later years. But the mask was repeatedly altered, so it is unlikely it is possible to accurately judge the appearance of the Queen.