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W1160r

W1160r

A ring bezel of an Amarna king which reads ‘Ankhkheperure-mery-Waenre’, which is the prenomen of Nefernefruaten. It means ‘Living are the forms of Re, who is beloved of the Sole one of Re’ (Ankhkheperure=Living are the Forms of Re; mery= beloved of; Waenre=Sole One of Re). 

The identity of this person has long been disputed. That this is a female king is suggested by the fact that sometimes the name is written to show it is a female form and at other times the name is accompaied by the epithet ‘effective for her husband’. Neferneferuaten has been variously identified as Smenkhare, Meritaten and Nefertiti, or even another wife of Akhenaten. The epithet ‘beloved of Waenre’ associated the person with Akhenaten as Akhenaten also had the title Waenre. More recent scholarship suggests that Nefertiti is the most likely contender. Whoever she was, she was perhaps a coregent of Akhenaten and later Tutankhamun. 

The names of kings were written on items such as rings to give kingly protection to the wearer. 

The bezel was donated to the Egypt Centre in the 1970s from the British Museum.

Further Reading

Allen, J.P. 2006. ‘The Amarna Succession’ In Causing His Name to Live. Sudies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane. Edited P Brand.

Dodson, A. 2009. Amarna Sunset Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation. The American University in Cairo Press. pp 30-38, 45, 170.

Gabolde M. 2008 ‘Under a Deep’ Blue Starry Sky In Causing His Name to Live. Sudies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane.

 

Other items from Amarna in the Egypt Centre

 

 

 

 

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