Prose

Throughout time, the world had discriminated women, making stereotypes and rules and denying their rights. The mass always talks about bad occurrences of the past and frequently disregards the ones which really matter-the ones about powerful women of history. Being the queen of Egypt, an equal to her king, Nefertiti is one of the world’s most powerful women in history. This is how she did it. This is the story of her success.
 
Nefertiti lived between 1370 and 1330 BC and although her reign was only twelve years long, she still remains the most powerful queen of Egypt. She was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton and was considered his equal. The literal translation of her name is ‘’the beauty has come’’ and she was considered one of the most beautiful women of Egypt. Because of her beauty and power she was given a variety of nicknames. My personal favorite is, without doubt, ‘’The Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt’’, which shows her indefinite power in her kingdom. 
 
One of her first proof of emancipation and establishment as an equal to her husband was the change of the religious system in Egypt. She declared herself and her husband the clergy of Aton, an aspect of Ra, Egyptian god of the Sun. She helped lead the religious revolution that changed Egypt forever. With her husband by her side, Nefertiti made Aton the supreme god, thus disregarding the old gods. She shut down all the temples and forced the priests to change their ways. What she did not think about is how the priests of Amon will react to her deeds. She confronted the priests and made them her worst enemies. This might have been a huge mistake, but if we look at it from her perspective, it seems just right. Nefertiti wanted fame and power, she knew exactly what she was doing and she knew exactly how to achieve her ends. This Egyptian beauty manipulated the situation to her own advantage, which made her a perfect sovereign.
 
With her royal husband, Akhenaton, Nefertiti had six daughters, but was not able to provide him with a son, an heir. Luckily for him, Akhenaton found someone who could. During year eleven of his reign, Akhenaton’s minor wife, Kiya, gave birth to a son, Tutankhamen, after which she disappears from the records. Egyptologists from around the globe have several theories about her disappearance, but the most famous one is indubitably the one saying that Kiya became a victim to a jealous Nefertiti, who was in fear of loosing her husband and her throne.
 
Everybody saw different things in her. Some thought of her as a heroine, a goddess. And some saw her as a conspirator and a traitor.  Nefertiti made a lot of enemies during her reign, which is expectable regarding her royal decisions. She was often shown with a crown of a pharaoh or was depicted in scenes of battle smiting her enemies. She acted like a man, a pharaoh. And that is exactly what she was, because, as time passed by, she managed to overshadow her husband and indirectly take over the throne.
 
After her husband’s death, Nefertiti inherited the kingdom which was destined to fall apart. To prevent such thing from happening, she quickly took charge and married her daughter Ankhesenamun to her stepson, Tutankhamen, who was to become a king of Egypt. After that she left Amarna and returned to Thebes, where she reinstated the priests of Amon, reopened the temples and disregarded her god, Aton, all to save her kingdom.
 
Nefertiti was the ‘’working woman’’ of history and although she made a lot of mistakes, we have to look at certain things from her perspective, through her eyes. Some might say how she was hypocritical and how she did not stand behind her words and actions, because she disregarded her god, the god she loved and so strongly believed in. But, as a queen, she had to do what was right for her kingdom and the people and as a mother she had to do what was best for her children. She also had to leave an heir so her and Akhenaton’s reign was not forgotten. She thought about everything and, again, manipulated her way into people’s minds. She was a woman, wife, mother, queen, king, priestess, priest, everything. She was everything. And she should be a role model for working women today, because of her devotion to her kingdom and her desire to succeed.