Queen Tiye and Nefertiti or not Nefertiti,
Lørdag d. 3. maj, kl. 14 – ekstra foredrag i København. Lokale 22.0.11.
Tiye and Nefertiti – Egyptian queens at a time of change, v. Dr. Christian Bayer, Kurator Ägypten und Antike, Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim
Queen Tiye
Nefertiti
During the middle of the second millennium BCE, significant developments occurred in Egyptian religion, society, and foreign policy. The rule of King Amenhotep III and his son Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten, was a pivotal era in this period. Noteworthy is the fact that both kings were married to influential women: Queen Tiye and Nefertiti.
This lecture will examine the art and iconography associated with these royal women and its development over time. The study will focus on the evolution of the royal headdresses and crowns worn by the two queens, which served as a symbol of their shifting roles within the royal hierarchy and their representation of the empire. A particular focus of this examination will be the bust of Nefertiti, which is currently housed in Berlin. While the bust is widely regarded as a significant exemplar of ancient Egyptian sculpture, its role and function as a portrait remain subjects of ongoing debate.
The lecture will evaluate whether Nefertiti’s bust is an idealised depiction or a true likeness of the queen, utilising archaeological evidence and new three-dimensional scanning technologies to propose a resolution to this long-standing question.