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Egyptian Artifacts Reading Hieroglyphs

Cartouches of Akhenaten and Nefertiti

While this may just seem like the broken fragment of a statue 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓀾 (and I guess it is), I love this piece at the MET because it contains the cartouches of Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– and Nefertiti π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“‡π“˜π“»π“—!Β 

The Amarna Period, and the reign π“‹Ύπ“ˆŽπ“ of Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– and Nefertiti π“„€π“π“‡π“˜π“— has always fascinated me, ever since I was a child π“π“‡Œπ“€”. Professional Egyptologists have tried to piece together the series of events that shaped this tumultuous time period of Egyptian history, mostly by looking at the hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ themselves.

Fragmented statue containing the cartouches of Akhenaten and Nefertiti

Let’s read some hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ! Let’s start at the right column, since the directional symbols point that way!

π“†₯ – King of Upper and Lower Egypt

π“‹Ή – Life

𓐝 – On

𓁧 – Maat

π“ŽŸπ“‡Ώπ“‡Ώ – Lord of the Two Lands

π“‡³π“„€π“†£π“‡³π“¦π“Œ‘π“ˆ–- Neferkheperura-waenre which means “Beautiful are the Forms/Manifestations of Re, the Unique one of Re” (Akhenaten’s throne name)

𓏙𓋹 – Given Life

Now on to the left column! This first part is cut off, but it’s probably a variant Nefertiti’s title of β€œKing’s Great Wife, as you can see the ending of the word β€œ great 𓅩𓂋𓏏”

π“ˆ˜π“π“†‘ – His Beloved

π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“‡π“˜π“»π“— – Nefertiti (Neferneferuaten Nefertiti)

𓋹𓏏 – May She Live/The Living

𓆖 – Everlasting/Eternal/Eternity

π“Ž›π“‡³π“Ž› – Eternity

What always gets me is Akhenaten’s throne name of π“‡³π“„€π“†£π“‡³π“¦π“Œ‘π“ˆ–- Neferkheperura-waenre. This particular spelling of the throne name is only seen after he changed his given name from Amenhotep IV π“‡‹π“ π“ˆ–π“Š΅π“ŠΉπ“‹Ύπ“Œ€ to Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ–. The original spelling, before the name π“‚‹π“ˆ– change was β€œπ“œπ“„€π“†£π“¦π“‡³π“Œ‘π“ˆ–.” The name π“‚‹π“ˆ– is still pronounced the same and has the same meaning, but the falcon glyph π“œ was changed to just the sun disc 𓇳 (both pronounced Re/Ra).Β  Also, all of Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– other names (Horus name, etc) underwent a change, to remove the other deities π“ŠΉπ“ŠΉπ“ŠΉ, but this one didn’t.Β 

I wonder why Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– didn’t change the throne name (π“‡³π“„€π“†£π“‡³π“¦π“Œ‘π“ˆ–) to represent the Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³, just like how all of his other names π“‚‹π“ˆ–π“¦ were changed.Β  Nefertiti’s name also underwent a change; her name π“‚‹π“ˆ– went from just Nefertiti π“„€π“π“‡π“˜π“— to Neferneferuaten Nefertiti π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“‡π“˜π“»π“— around year 5 of Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…žπ“π“ˆ– reign. Year 5 in the reign π“‹Ύπ“ˆŽπ“ of Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…žπ“π“ˆ– is significant, because that is when we see most of the changes to Atenism begin to take place. Year 5 is when Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³ became the supreme and only god π“ŠΉ, and the other deities π“ŠΉπ“ŠΉπ“ŠΉ could not be worshipped 𓇼𓄿𓀒.

Since this piece contains the β€œupdated” version of Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– throne name and the longer version of Nefertiti’s π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“‡π“˜π“»π“— name π“‚‹π“ˆ–, we can assume that this piece was made during or after year 5 of Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– reign π“‹Ύπ“ˆŽπ“.