Neferneferure
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Neferneferuré (14th century BCE) was an Ancient Egyptian princess of the 18th dynasty. She was the fifth of six known daughters of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Great Royal Wife Nefertiti.
She was born in the 8th or 9th regnal year of her father in Akhetaten. Her name ("Beauty of the Beauties of Re" or "Most Beautiful One of Re") is almost the same as the name of her elder sister Neferneferuaten; also, she is the one who doesn't have Aten in her name. This indicates that there was a shortage of acceptable names for royals, since most Egyptian names had the names of gods mentioned in them, and most of those gods fell out of favor under Akhenaten's reign. Her name also indicates that the discontinuation of the cults of other gods did not affect the cult of Re, who was thought to be identical to Aten.
Neferneferure died in the 13th or 14th regnal year, possibly in the plague that swept across Egypt during this time. On Wall C of the Alpha chamber of the royal tomb her name was mentioned among the five princesses (the list excluded the youngest, Setepenre, who was possibly dead by this time), but was later covered by plaster. On Wall B of the Gamma chamber she is missing from the scene which shows her parents and three elder sisters – Meritaten, Ankhesenpaaten and Neferneferuaten Tasherit – mourning the dead second princess, Meketaten. Her absence from this scene and her name being plastered in the Alpha chamber means that she is likely to have died shortly before the decoration of these chambers were finished.
A small box bearing her picture on its lid was found among the treasures of Tutankhamen. It shows the princess crouching, with a finger pressed to her mouth, as children were often depicted. Interestingly, on this box lid Re's name in her name was written phonetically instead of the usual circled dot.
[edit] Sources
- Joyce Tyldesley: Nefertiti – Egypt's Sun Queen
- Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt: Tutankhamen – Life and Death of a Pharoah
