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Egyptian Artifacts

Nefertiti and the Princess

This is a sunken relief of Nefertiti π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡π“π“­ and one of her daughters 𓅭𓏏𓏦. A hand 𓂝𓏀 holding an ankh π“‹Ή can be seen being extended to Nefertiti π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡π“π“­ and the princess, which is a very common representation of the sole sun 𓇳𓏀 god π“ŠΉ, Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³.

The relief is carved in limestone π“‡‹π“ˆ–π“ˆ™π“Œ‰ and some of the paint can still be seen on the relief! One of the things that is unique about the art from the period of Akhenaten’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– rule (referred to by Egyptologists as the Amarna Period) is that a lot of the art depicts the life π“‹Ήπ“ˆ–π“ of the royal family 𓅕𓉔𓅱𓏏𓀀𓁐𓏦 as a unit. Before this time period, royal families π“‚§π“ˆ–π“Œπ“π“…±π“€€π“Έπ“Έπ“Έ were not really depicted together at all – usually it was just the pharaoh 𓉐𓉻 in art and the monuments.

Due to the fact that Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– and Nefertiti π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡π“π“­ were seen as a ruling unit, Nefertiti π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡π“π“­ was seen as being just as responsible for the shift in the Egyptian religion as Akhenaten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“…œπ“π“ˆ– was. Much of the art from this period has sustained heavy damage, because it was purposefully hacked away at and destroyed, or used in other building projects – almost like an ancient Egyptian recycling program!

While Nefertiti’s π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡π“π“­ face 𓁢𓏀 is totally destroyed, the princess’ face 𓁢𓏀 is not. This is illustrative of the violence shown towards images 𓏏𓅱𓏏𓏦 of Nefertiti π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“„€π“‡π“π“­ after her death 𓅓𓏏𓏱 due to her part in the changing religion. The princess’ face 𓁢𓏀 was not touched, probably because she wasn’t seen as responsible. The hieroglyphs π“ŠΉπ“Œƒπ“ͺ have also been totally destroyed, but ironically the word β€œAten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³β€ is the one word that can still be seen! The word for Aten π“‡‹π“π“ˆ–π“‡³ was most likely part of the princess’ name π“‚‹π“ˆ–.