otes a eulogy of Nefertiti's found on the boundary stelae of Akhetaten. The inscription reads: And the Heiress, Great in the Palace, Fair of Face, Adorned with the Double Plumes, Mistress of Happiness, Endowed with Favors, at hearing whose voice the King rejoices, the Chief Wife of the King, his beloved, the Lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten-Nefertiti, May she live for Ever and Always. Together Akhenaten and Nefertiti transformed the religious practices of ancient Egyptian society. The limestone relief found in the Royal Tomb at Amarna depicts Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and two of their daughters making an offering to the sun disk Aten. Akhenaten and Nefertiti carry flowers to be laid on the table beneath the "life-giving" rays of the Aten. The figures are carved in the grotesque style, a characteristic of the early half of the Amarna period. Nefertiti, sporting the double plume headdress mentioned in the stela dedication, is the petite figure placed behind her larger scale husband. The composition mirrors early artistic representations of the royal couple. To emphasize the strength and power of the pharaoh, Egyptian iconographical tradition required the female figure to be smaller in scale than the male (Aldred 1998). The Mysterious Disappearance of Nefertiti Around Year Fifteen of Akhenaton’s reign, Nefertiti mysteriously disappeared from view. Perhaps she died, but no indication of this can be found. Some scholars think that she was banished for some reason, and lived the rest of her years in the northern palace, raising Tutankhamun (Spoore 2000). Setepenre the youngest daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti was born some time before Year Ten, and Nefertiti’s last recorded appearance is at the funeral of Meketaten, some four or five years later. Just as Nefertiti’s influence increased with the birth of the first three daughters, it could be said that her influence could have started to decline as it be...
