Nefertari: Hieroglyphs and Monuments

Hieroglyphs

The hieroglyphics in Queen Nefertari’s Tomb mostly compose of excerpts from the Book of the Dead, the Egyptian book of spells and rituals for the afterlife, as well as snippets explaining her life and her importance.  Her entire tomb is known as “House of Eternity”, eternity is important as it highlights her importance and her status in both life and death (McDonald, 1996: 8).  The hieroglyphs are in the tomb for both the visitor to the tomb, as well as to be a beacon for Queen Nefertari in the afterlife (McDonald, 1996: 6).  The hieroglyphs are created out of being lightly carved into plaster and when dried they were primed with gypsum; in her tomb there is 520-square meters of hieroglyphs (McDonald, 1996: 6). 

Though there are at least eight different chapters from the Book of the Dead written in Queen Nefertari’s tomb, chapter 17 is one of the more widely showcased texts within the tomb (McDonald, 1996: 57).  One important section of the hieroglyphs deals with Egyptian mythology pertaining to the Queen and both her past and future.  There is a part that explains the stories of the nine main Gods and Goddesses of Egypt.  The deities listed are Atum (finisher of worlds), Shu (personification of air), Tefnut (goddess of moisture, air and rain), Geb (personification of earth), Nut (personification of sky), Isis (goddess of motherhood, magic, and fertility), Osiris (God of the underworld and the afterlife), Nephthys (Goddess of night and lamentation), and Seth (Storms, Desert, and Chaos) all figure prominently into her tomb, the first generation listed is associated with the earth, while the second generation is associated with humans (McDonald, 1996:48-52).  The Queen herself was associated closely with the Goddess Mut, mother goddess who can be depicted as both a woman and a white vulture, who was an associated that she had since her birth, and later she became also associated with Hathor, also a mother goddess, possibly depicted as a cow, both powerful, beautiful, and domestic Goddesses of the Egyptian pantheon.  Throughout the tomb Nefertari is referenced to as “Osiris” which is both a great honor, putting her almost par with the Kings for status, and also means that she has completed the crucial step towards her quest for immortality (McDonald, 1996: 51).  

   

Figure 1: First Generation of deities-Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut

 

Figure 2: Second Generation of deities-Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, and Seth

  Figure 3: Mut and Hathor

  The writing in the Book of the Dead was created only using a male pronoun, so when there was a female that was chosen to have the same text written in her tomb as any King, some difficulties arose. 

 “Beginning of the praises and recitations to come forth and go down into the Necropolis, to be spiritualized in the Beautiful West, the coming forth by day in order to assume the forms amoung any he [sic] wishes, playing senet and sitting in the booth, coming forth as a living ba by the Osiris, the king’s great wife, mistress of the two lands,  Nefertari, beloved of Mut, justified after he [sic] died.  It is effective t do this on earth, so that it happens entirely according to instructions (Book of the Dead Chapter 17 [McDonald, 1996: 59]).”

The above quote is from the Book of the Dead, as translated in House of Eternity: Tomb of Nefertari.  The book suggests that the slip of pronoun my have been because of loss of concentration; it could be attributed to many different things (McDonald, 1996: 59).  The main point though of showcasing this quote is to exhibit, that Queen Nefertari was in fact granted almost equal rights to those of a man in ancient Egypt. 

Monuments

Queen Nefertari is special, in regards that she is one of the only Queens’ who gained a similar monumental legacy that, which the Kings of Ancient Egypt received.  Queen Nefertari has two monuments in devotion to her, which are listed in the texts and associated with her life and burial.    The first is her colossus, a huge statue of high status, in Luxor.  The second monument to her greatness is two 33 feet high colossus in the temple of Abu-Simbel.  This second monument is especially unique for a woman as it associates her with both the Goddess Mut and the Goddess Hathor (Lesko, 1991: 10).  Within the monuments of the time the women were portrayed as voluptuous and eternally youthful to stress immortality.  This association is a reflection of her involvement in religious ritual and state affairs in Egyptian life.  These also exhibit the fact that Queen Nefertari’s own legacy spans far further then just her tomb (McDonald, 1996: 16+17). 

Figure 4: Nefertari Colossus at Luxor  (above)              Figure 5: Nefertari Colossus at Abu-Simbel (bellow)