Meritaton The title of the book refers to Meritaton as the unknown Queen of Akhet-Aton. Indeed, she is difficult to define, one of her trademarks in iconographic art is the bald head and often she does not wear any cloths. The book tries to collect important information and images of the Queen that might have played a pivotal role in the transition of the falling Amarna period back to the conventional state concept under King Tutankhamun. Ankhesenamun The book deals with the life and death of Ankhesenamun, the queen consort at Tutankhamun's side, which can be reconstructed from historical sources. The question of whether she was the mysterious Dahamunzu, who wrote a strange letter to the hostile king of the Hittites, is discussed in detail. On the basis of the images that can be attributed to her, an attempt is also made to define the appearance of Ankhesenamun and to suggest possible mummies, which are discussed in the research (KV 21A or CG 61076). It is possible, however, that the burial of Ankhesenamun has not yet been found, for there are no traces that would indicate a looted tomb.

The move to a new capital, Akhenaten/Amarna, brought essential changes in the depictions of royal women. It was in their female imagery, above all, that the artists of Amarna departed from the traditional iconic representations to emphasize the individual, the natural, in a way unprecedented in Egyptian art.

An accompaniment to the Egyptian Museum of Berlin’s special exhibition celebrating the discovery of the Nefertiti bust in 1912, this catalog presents never-before-seen artifacts and objects from the Amarna period of Egyptian history. The book also explores religion, craftsmanship, daily life, and sculpture in Amarna and the world famous Nefertiti bust.

Little is known about Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen whose name means “a beautiful woman has come.” She was the wife of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who ushered in the dramatic Amarna Age, and she bore him at least six children. She played a prominent role in political and religious affairs, but after Akhenaten’s death she apparently vanished and was soon forgotten. Yet Nefertiti remains one of the most famous and enigmatic women who ever lived. Her instantly recognizable face adorns a variety of modern artifacts, from expensive jewelry to cheap postcards, t-shirts, and bags, all over the world. She has appeared on page, stage, screen, and opera. In Britain, one woman has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on plastic surgery in hope of resembling the long-dead royal. This enduring obsession is the result of just one object: the lovely and mysterious Nefertiti bust, created by the sculptor Thutmose and housed in Berlin’s Neues Museum since before World War II. In Nefertiti’s Face, Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley tells the story of the bust, from its origins in a busy workshop of the late Bronze Age to its rediscovery and controversial removal to Europe in 1912 and its present status as one of the world’s most treasured artifacts. This wide-ranging history takes us from the temples and tombs of ancient Egypt to wartime Berlin and engages the latest in Pharaonic scholarship. Tyldesley sheds light on both Nefertiti’s life and her improbable afterlife, in which she became famous simply for being famous.

Cunobelin, Shakespeare's Cymbeline, ruled much of south-east Britain in the years before Claudius' legions arrived, creating the Roman province of Britannia. But what do we know of him and his rule, and that of competing dynasties in south-east Britain? This book examines the background to these, the first individuals in British history. It explores the way in which rulers bolstered their power through the use of imagery on coins, myths, language and material culture. After the visit of Caesar in 55 and 54 BC, the shadow of Rome played a fundamental role in this process. Combining the archaeological, literary and numismatic evidence, John Creighton paints a vivid picture of how people in late Iron Age Britain reacted to the changing world around them.