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 he
scene featured on this raised relief features Tutankhamun
and Ankhesenamun hunting in the marshes. Rich with detail
the piece conveys a glimpse of teenage royal life as the sport
of hunting is embraced as a favoured past time. Tutankhamun
has brought with him his pet lion cub, bow and arrows with
holster, cushions, footrests and a folding stool with animal
pelt. The feet of the stool are carved to indicate stylised
lions paws. The couple wear elaborate collars, fine pleated
linen garments, arm bands, golden sandals and a uraeus diadem
on their foreheads. The queen has in addition to her cobra
uraeus a cobra crown surmounted by miniature red sun discs.
Her wig is adorned with a thick plait of hair which was a
custom reserved exclusively for royal offspring.
 hile
Ankhesenamun offers yet another arrow, a wild duck has already
taken a blow from Tutankhamun's archery prowess as it dives
above a papyrus thicket. Directly in front of Tutankhamun's
face you will see the cartouche containing the hieroglyphs
of his Horus name Neb-kheperu-ra. The hieroglyph for beauty
(nefer) has been placed next to the cartouche. Below his arm
the hieroglyph for life and fertility (ankh) appears and again
in the fragmentary remains of the queens cartouche directly
above her crown. Here it is used phonetically in conjunction
with the remaining glyphs Ankh-s-n… The inspiration for this
relief has been derived from one of the many shrines found
in Tutankhamun's tomb.
he
collapse of "Atonism"- the short lived monotheistic solar
religion of the late 18th dynasty, brought with it a return
to the worship of Amun-Ra and the fully reinstated pantheon
of gods and goddesses that existed before Akhenaton's reign.
During the extraordinary religious revolution centred around
the royal couple, Pharaoh Akhenaton and Nefertiti were raising
a family. Six daughters were produced with Nefertiti all of
which were included in various royal portraits. It is the
intimacy of the family portrait that is one of the most profound
images to live on from this period - with unprecedented attention
being doted on the princesses. The premature death of the
princess Maketaton was memorialised and carved with reverence
in the family tomb and conveys the tremendous loss felt by
the king and queen.
he
third daughter, named Ankhesenpa-aton lived and played in
Akhetaton - the city of the horizon of Aton (the sun disc)
and more than likely shared a lotus pool with a young boy
known then as Tutankh-aton. Tutankh-aton was very possibly
Akhenatons son by another subsidiary wife. The names Kiya
and Tadukhippa are possible candidates for the mother figure.
 fter
the death of Akhenaton an ephemeral king known as Smenkhkare
held position for about two years before the city was finally
abandoned and the city of Waset (Thebes) returned as capital
city in the south. What happened to Akhenatons surviving princesses
remains a mystery except for Ankhesenpaaton who we know had
her name changed to incorporate the reinstated Amun. The boy
Tutankhaton also underwent a name change at age nine under
the instruction of Amun priesthood and state officials. Tutankhamun
was the name now adopted by the boy who had become king and
with his young wife Ankhesenamun they were too young to deal
with the complex affairs of state let alone the now tattered
factions of empire.
utankhamun
died before he was twenty years old abruptly ending the bloodline
that linked him to the founders of the greatest most expansive
dynasty in Egypt´s long history. Read more about Tutankhamun
here. Ankhesenamun survived
but with no children to continue the lineage she desperately
tried to find a suitable heir, appealing to a foreign prince
that by marriage to her would legitimise his place on the
throne. He never made it. He was probably murdered along one
of the ancient trade routes that connected the civilised world
of the time. Ankhesenamun herself finally fades into oblivion
shortly after this with kingship being passed into the hands
of Aye, her fathers 'master of chariotry' and a prominent
figure from the abandoned city of Akhetaton.
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