Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt: The Secret History Hidden in the Valley of the Kings (9 page)

It has always been a mystery why Akhenaten should have made such an uncharacteristic concession. However, if Nefertiti was a Minoan princess, her influence may well be behind it. Wherever it is found, Minoan art is dominated by the image of the bull. Its representations occur everywhere at the palace of Knossos, and there are numerous illustrations of young men jumping over the animal's back in an important religious rite. As the culture's main totem, the bull almost certainly represented the chief Minoan god. Indeed, many scholars believe that the bull-cult continued on Crete well after the collapse of
Minoan civilization. It may even have been responsible for the legend of the Minotaur, which in later Greek mythology was a bull-headed man who inhabited the Labyrinth at Knossos.

Not only might the bull be explained by Minoan influence via Nefertiti, but also the flowing, naturalistic style of Amarnan art. The thrust of Minoan art, and also to some degree its subject matter, is strikingly similar to the revolutionary art at Amarna. In the luxuriant wall paintings at Knossos we see scenes of serenity and naturalistic motifs of flowers and animals, so like those favoured by Akhenaten.

Whatever her nationality, Nefertiti had enormous influence at Amarna, and once she had gone everything seems to fall apart. Some scholars have dated her death to as early as the year 11 of Akhenaten's reign, based on the cessation of wine deliveries to her estate at that time. However, she appears in scenes of a ceremony specifically dated as the year 12 in tombs of the high steward Huya and the harem overseer Meryre. In fact, she is still alive in two other scenes which must post-date this ceremony by a couple of years. All six daughters are pictured at the ceremony, and in funeral scenes from two of their tombs, Nefertiti is shown mourning their deaths. Both of these funerals can be dated after the year 14. As the Queen Mother, Tiye, is not present in the royal entourage, she must be presumed dead, and as she is recorded receiving wine in the year 14 these funerals must have occurred after that time. Nefertiti not receiving wine deliveries does not prove she is dead, but Tiye receiving such deliveries certainly suggests that she is alive. Accordingly, Nefertiti must have been alive after Tiye's death in the year 14. Nefertiti, however, appears in no scenes that can be dated after the year 14, so must, it seems, have died about that time.

Upon her death the once vigorous Akhenaten seems to have
lost all interest in expounding his precious religion and even relinquished the reins of power: artists increasingly abandon the new style of art, seemingly without reprisals, and Smenkhkare is appointed co-regent with full pharaonic power. There seems to have been no palace revolt or military coup, simply a case of chronic apathy on the part of the pharaoh. It is abundantly clear from Amarnan art that Akhenaten was an extraordinarily emotional man, who dearly loved his family and doted over his queen. The loss of his mother, two daughters and his beloved wife within a year or so must have been just too much for such a man to bear.

Arthur Weigall (left), Theodore Davis (center) and Edward Ayrton (right) in 1907, the year they opened Tomb 55. Their strange behavior during the excavation of the tomb has never been satisfactorily explained. (
Birmingham City Library.
)

Tomb 55 - perhaps the most mysterious Egyptian tomb ever discovered – seems to have been constructed to keep someone or something trapped inside. (From Weigall’s
The Glory of the Pharaohs
.)

The Tomb 55 entrance corridor at the time the tomb was opened, with the gilded shrine panels resting on top of the limestone rubble that filled the passage. (From Davis’s
The Tomb of Queen Tiyi
.)

The Tomb 55 shrine panel which depicted Queen Tiyi and her son Akhenaten. Akhenaten’s figure had been erased from the panel before the tomb was sealed. (From Davis’s
The Tomb of Queen Tiyi
.)

The Tomb 55 burial chamber as it was first discovered. The shrine panels are stacked against the wall to the left of the picture and the niche containing the Canopic jars is set in the rear wall, below which lies the coffin. (From Davis’s
The Tomb of Queen Tiyi
.)

The mysterious coffin lying
in situ
in Tomb 55. All evidence of the mummy’s identity had been deliberately erased. (From Davis’s
The Tomb of Queen Tiyi
.)

Above:
The face mask on the Tomb 55 coffin had been
ripped away leaving only one eye. (
Cairo Museum
.)
Right:
The restored Tomb 55 coffin now on display in the
Cairo Museum. The cartouche containing the occupant’s
name had been cut from its hieroglyphic texts.
(
Cairo Museum.
)

Above:
Although the Tomb 55 mummy was male, the
stoppers of the accompanying Canopic jars depicted a
woman. (
Metropolitan Museum, New York.
)
Right:
One of the Canopic jars from Tomb 55 which
contain the removed internal organs of the mummy.
Inscribed panels on the jars revealed that they had been
made for Akhenaten’s secondary Queen Kiya, before
being altered to accommodate the remains of Akhenaten
himself. (
Metropolitan Museum, New York.
)

Above:
The plaster-cast head of Akhenaten found
during the Amarna excavations in 1911 probably
depicts Akhenaten’s true features. (
Berlin Museum.
)
Right:
A typical profile of Akhenaten as he is depicted
in the Amarna reliefs, with malformations to the skull,
face and neck. The exaggerated features have long been
a mystery to Egyptologists. (
Cleveland Museum of Art.
)