3 May 2008

Queen Nefertiti - Egypt




This stamp issued in 1964 to commemorate Mother's Day depicts Queen Nefertiti with her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten and three of their 6 daughters, seated under the beneficial rays of the Aten. The original bas-relief was found in Tutankhamun's tomb (he was Akhenaten's son with his other principal wife, Kiya).




Pharaoh Akhenaten was considered a heretic as he tried to stop the ancient polytheist religion and replace it with the worship of a single God, the Aten. He ruled from around 1353 BC to 1336 BC and in that time, constructed a brand new capital city, Akhetaten, on a site now known as el-Amarna. He ordered the defacement of existing temples, particularly those of the chief God, Amun-Ra.

Aknenaten was not, by any measure, a great Pharaoh. During his reign, Egypt was greatly weakened, subject to regular incursions from her old enemies as Pharaoh refused assistance to her old allies.

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