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Historical person

Nefertiti

c. 1370–c. 1330 BCE

Nefertiti was the principal wife of Akhenaten and a major figure of the Amarna Period. Art shows her participating unusually closely in royal ritual and government, though her later life and possible role after Akhenaten remain debated.

Nefertiti also held the offices or ranks of Great Royal Wife and pharaoh. Nefertiti belonged to the Eighteenth Dynasty and operated within Ancient Egypt. Nefertiti was born in Thebes, Ancient Egypt and died in Amarna, Ancient Egypt.

Michelle Moran’s Nefertiti makes the queen one of its central figures, following her marriage to Amenhotep IV, embrace of the Aten cult and effort to build authority beside the pharaoh who becomes Akhenaten. Mika Waltari’s The Egyptian presents Nefertiti through Sinuhe’s proximity to the Amarna court, where religious revolution and dynastic instability reshape Egypt. Pauline Gedge’s The Twelfth Transforming places her within the royal family seen by Queen Tiye as Akhenaten’s programme isolates the court from older institutions. Elizabeth Peters’ The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog makes the search for evidence about Nefertiti’s burial part of Amelia Peabody’s Amarna excavation, while The Painted Queen turns the famous painted bust of Nefertiti into the object around which murder, forgery and archaeological rivalry revolve.

Periods

Periods linked to Nefertiti

Amarna Periodc. 1353–1336 BCE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Nefertiti (2 series)

Amelia Peabody in Order

by Elizabeth Peters 20 books 4.4(45,607)

The Amelia Peabody mysteries follow an independent Victorian traveller who becomes an Egyptologist, detective and member of a formidable archaeological family. Beginning in 1884 and continuing through the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, the novels combine excavation, antiquities crime, murder and imperial politics with the changing relationships…

All books in this series

1. Crocodile on the Sandbank

First published 1975 · 4.2(7,043)

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2. The Curse of the Pharaohs

First published 1981 · 4.3(4,006)

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3. The Mummy Case

First published 1985 · 4.3(2,609)

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4. Lion in the Valley

First published 1986 · 4.4(2,212)

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5. The Deeds of the Disturber

First published 1988 · 4.4(3,150)

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6. The Last Camel Died at Noon

First published 1991 · 4.5(2,210)

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The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog cover

7. The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog

First published 1992 · 4.5(2,049)

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8. The Hippopotamus Pool

First published 1996 · 4.6(1,884)

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9. Seeing a Large Cat

First published 1997 · 4.6(1,750)

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10. The Ape Who Guards the Balance

First published 1998 · 4.6(1,370)

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11. Guardian of the Horizon

First published 2004 · 4.5(1,262)

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12. A River in the Sky

First published 2010 · 4.4(1,699)

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13. The Falcon at the Portal

First published 1999 · 4.6(1,607)

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14. The Painted Queen

First published 2017 · 3.9(2,946)

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15. He Shall Thunder in the Sky

First published 2000 · 4.6(2,156)

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16. Lord of the Silent

First published 2001 · 4.5(1,691)

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17. The Golden One

First published 2002 · 4.6(1,314)

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18. Children of the Storm

First published 2003 · 4.6(1,574)

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19. The Serpent on the Crown

First published 2005 · 4.5(1,472)

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20. Tomb of the Golden Bird

First published 2006 · 4.5(1,603)

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Egyptian Royals Collection in Order

by Michelle Moran 3 books 4.2(108,483)

Michelle Moran’s Egyptian Royals Collection follows three royal women whose lives are reshaped by dynastic rupture and imperial power. Nefertiti rises beside Akhenaten during the Amarna religious revolution; Nefertari struggles to overcome that discredited legacy at the court of Ramesses II; and Cleopatra Selene is carried to Rome…