Tea at Trianon: Queen Nefertiti’s Tomb

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Queen Nefertiti’s Tomb

From Artnet:

For years, archaeologists have fruitlessly searched for the tomb of ancient Egyptian queen Neferneferuaten Nefertiti. Now, the renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass believes he’s finally made the coveted discovery. Hawass is part of an Egyptian-led mission that announced in December that antiquities discovered around Luxor resembled amulets known to belong to King Tut. It also unearthed the mummy in question that month in the west bank of Luxor.
“We already have DNA from the 18th dynasty mummies, from Akhenaten to Amenhotep II or III and there are two unnamed mummies labeled KV21a and b,” he told Newsweek. “In October we will be able to announce the discovery of the mummy of Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun’s wife, and her mother, Nefertiti.”

“There is also in tomb KV35 the mummy of a 10-year-old boy,” he continued. “If that child is the brother of Tutankhamun and the son of Akhenaten, the problem posed by Nefertiti will be solved.” Nefertiti lived between 1370 and 1330 BCE. She was step-mother to King Tut and wife to Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled over a prosperous period. According to National Geographic, Akhenaten converted the country to a monotheistic state worshiping the solar disk Aten, even moving the capital to a new city called Akhetaten, meaning “horizon of the god Aten.”
“His successors tried to erase his name and legacy,” National Geographic said. “His capital was abandoned, and artworks featuring his likeness and name—and that of his family, including Nefertiti—were defaced. Their legacy would stay buried for millennia.” Nefertiti’s role as ruler is still up for debate. “I am still looking for two things: [Nefertiti’s] grave and her body,” Hawass said, via Newsweek. “I really believe that Nefertiti ruled Egypt for three years after Akhenaten’s death under the name of Smenkhkare.” (Read more.)