THE DISCOVERY OF AKHENATEN continued
Notwithstanding the excised cartouches of the main actors in the drama, it soon became apparent that they were indeed a male pharaoh and his chief queen, whose names did not appear in the official king-lists. His name was read as
Khuenaten, but by the end of the century this version had been corrected to Akhenaten. Further study revealed that the king had at some stage in his career changed his nomen from Amenophis(Amenhotep), a name which was the same as that of his predecessor, though accompanied by a slightly different epithet, "Divine
ruler of Thebes', in place of "Ruler of thebe". This revocation of the name of Amun seemed to have some connection with the excision of the name and figure of this god, wherever they appeared, though they had generally been restored at a later date, apart from oversights.
The chief queen, whose figure appeared inseparably with her husband's in most of their representations, retained her name of Nefertiti without alteration; but after a time she added an epither to it, Neferneferuaten (Fair in the Beauty of the Aten) in an expanded version. The names of their six daughters were also recovered, as was that of the ancient township which had stood in the plain at Amarna and which
was still visible as a straggle of dark sandy mounds dappled with withe pebbles.
This was found to be Akhentaten, "the Horizon (or seat) of the Aten", an appellation not encountered in the records, except for chance scribbles on the rocks at Aswan.
More than a century of study and exploration has torn the veil from the mystery, without however plucking out its heart; and Akhenaten, so far from being execrated and forgotten, bids fair to become the most over-exposed of all the pharaohs, while the features of his wife, Nefertiti, thanks to the much publicized painted bust found at Amarna, are probably more familiar now than Cleopatra's, that 'femme fatale' of the Hellenistic world.
Such a turn of Fortune's wheel would have appealed to the Egyptian of Roman days, who frequently offed his prayers to the gryphon of Nemesis.
FROM
AKHENATEN
King of Egypt
by Cyril Aldred
