Kate Phizackerley on Ancient Egypt

Akhenaten is one of the best known and most interesting pharaohs. Dubbed "the Heretic King", he broke with established conditions and largely abandoned the state polytheistic religoin in favour of monotheistic worship of the Aten, the sun disk. Hymns to the Aten are strangely similar to some Biblical psalms so that many theorise that Juadaism and Christianity were influenced by Akhenaten's Atenism.

Akhenaten also moved the capital to a brand new site in Middle Egypt, a location we know today as Amarna. The religous freedom also brought about a cultural renaissance and Amarna art is highly prized, with the famous stautue of Nefertiti being one of the world's greatest objets d'art.

Akhenaten himself is a strange figure. He is often shown with breasts and broad, feminine hips. It is unclear whether this represenation was based on fact, or an intent to portray a male-female duality. This could be resolved if his mummy was found, but that raises another mystery. Some Egyptologists believe his mummy was found in enigmatic tomb 55; still others believe this mummy was somebody else, perhaps even a woman.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti had six children, all daughters. There is a theory that Nefertiti was also the mother of Tutankamun. It's unlikely, but if you are interested then in this lens I present the evidence for and against the theory. If you would like to read about all of the daughters, then the best jumping off point is my summary lens, which then links to a lens for each of the daughters:

The three eldest daughters, Meritaten, Meketaten and Ankhesenpaaten were the senior princesses and went on to become queens in their own right. Meketaten died young, probably in child birth and was buried in the Royal Tomb at Amarna; the fate of Meritaten is something of a mystery. She disappears but it is possible she became pharoah - a feat only match in the New Kingdom by Hatshepsut.

The most successful daughter was Ankhesenenpaaten. She married Tutankhamun and changed her name to Ankhesenamun. As Queen Ankhesenamun, she reigned as Tutankhamun's consort for nearly ten years, disappearing from history shortly after the death of her husband.

The most famous pharoah of all is Tutankhamun, largely because his tomb (KV62) was found largely undisturbed from the time of his burial and literally stuffed full of treasures. In fact,he was a relatively minor pharoah. He reigned for less than ten years and because of his age (he probably ascended the throne aged 8 or 9), probably ruled under a regency for much of that time. His tomb is small, and cramped. It is by far the smallest kingly tomb of the New Kingdom yet found. Perhaps it is that modesty which permitted it to remain hidden from the attendion of tomb robbers for 3,500 years.

Images suggest that he was close to his with Ankhesenamun; however, her tomb has never been found. It is not even clear that she was burried in state as the outlived Tutankhamun and seems to have fallen quickly into disfavour under his successor, Ay, even though Ay is believed to have married her to consolidate his own claim to the throne.

Tutankhamn was succeeded by his vizier, Ay. Ay was probably not himself of royal birth, but could have beeen the father of Nefertiti. Certainly he had strong links to the royal family; however, his accession suggests that all men of the direct royal lineage had died before Ay took the throne.

Ay was an old man and reigned for only 3 years. His tomb is a lage one, WV23 in the Western Valley of the Kings. It is often thought that he probably usupered the tomb Tutankhamun had usupred for his own use so it is ironic that his tomb was plundered but Tutankhamun, shunted into a small, obscure tomb, slept the millenia in peace.

There are several royal burial grounds in the Theban Hills on the West Bank of the Nile near Luxor. The best know is the Valley of the Kings used from the early middle of the 17th Dynasty through to the end of the 20th Dynasty. The Valley of the Kings is one of Egypt's top tourist destinations. It is also the subject of my blog News from the Valley of the Kings.

If you have any extra information or questions about this lens you can contact Kate Phizackerley, the lensmistress, using the contact form I have provided.

You can also follow Kate Phizackerley on Twitter or just follow News from the Valley of the Kings .

Kate has written many Squidoo lenses. If you are interested in reading more of them, please visit this lens where they are all listed by subject and category eg Ancient Egypt, Book Reviews etc..

And if you would like to know more about Kate then please visit her personal lens on Squidoo or Kate's main personal hub and web site.

And finally, I'd like to thank a few developers whose icons I feature on my lenses: Dry Icons for the Portfolio icon; Gopal Raju for the Twitter Bird; Icons-Land for Sweet Angel; Maja Benic for the Contact & Home icons.