Egyptologists are mystified by the lives of Akhenaton, Smenkhkare, and Nefernefruaten, as well they might be. Their interpretation of the few facts suggest something strange to modern conceptions! However, for those who have followed the stories, myths, and histories on The Metro'on web site, the answer to the mystery almost leaps at you with the force of a charging bull.
Let us return to the early years of Egypt and explore ...
Amenhotep III, his Queen, Tyi, and their family are represented by the largest statue
in the Cairo Museum! To the best of our knowledge Amenhotep III and Tyi had four daughters
and two sons. One son, Tutmose became priest of Memphis! Amenhotep IV (later changing his
name to Akhenaton) seems to have been ignored by the rest of the family. He never appeared at
family events, no portraits were made of him, no honors were bestowed on him. His name wasn't
even mentioned on monuments!
However, Akhenaton appears to have been immensely important to Queen Tyi, the most powerful person in Egypt outside of Amenhotep III. When Amenhotep III died, Tyi made her teenage son Pharaoh of Egypt.
Immediately, the young Pharaoh instructed a temple be built at Karnac, the religious center of Thebes. Amenhotep IV moved away from the traditional and largely fictionalized display of strong, handsome, muscular Pharaohs, and had himself portrayed with more realistic features. Those features were, in fact, so realistically portrayed that, in later centuries, Egyptologists would recognize what was most probably Marfan's syndrome. His toes, fingers, and facial features were elongated, and his hips were wide and, one more anomaly, he had breasts and feminine features. Some archeologists have difficulty believing a Pharaoh had such a feminine appearance and theorize that, because Aton the Sun God was androgynous, Amenhotep IV was made to appear androgynous. However, it seems strange that they accept the elongated face, fingers, and hands, and attempt a medical diagnosis, only to deny the rest of the images. Does it not occur to them that this is why he was kept hidden, that he not be taunted by other children? Does it not occur to them that this might be the very reason Amenhotep IV changed tradition to create realistic statues, so as to openly display his similarity to his god?
Yes, the young Pharaoh to be, was secreted away, hardly spoken about, not immortalized with statues, nor honors, not until he ascended to the throne of Egypt. Furthermore, it is probably, as with most believer's, he selected his god in his own image, an androgynous god, both man and woman, the god Aton (also known as. Amen-Ra, and immortalized in "mummy" movies.) The new Pharaoh took the name Akhenaton(Akhen-aton - meaning simply "one useful to Aton.) He also declared, for the first time in Egyptian history, that there was only one god. Images of other gods were quickly replaced by the solar disc representing Aton.
Statues and representations of Smenkhkare and Nefertiti show the same elongated faces, toes, fingers, and wide hips of Akhenaton! Marfan's is readily inherited and the similarity of features indicates a close family relationship. In 1973, J.R. Harris published the first of two pioneering articles proposing that Nefertiti, Akhenaton's Queen, was also his coregent Smenkhkare. He suggested Smenkhkare wasn't real. Thus, my interpretation of the facts is not entirely out of step with respected authority.
Smenkhkare was real! His representation is on reliefs, on a tomb painting, on hundreds of ring bezels with his name, on a wall painting featuring him and Akhenaton, and finally, a male skeleton was found in a tomb constructed for Nefertiti! Smenkhkare became Pharaoh and died a couple years later. His body had been laid out in the custom for the burial of royal females. What is the explanation for these oddities? Can we just dismiss them cavalierly? I think not!!!
Almost surely Akhenaton inherited the genetic syndrome we call Marfan's. It seems likely he also had physical features that gave him a feminine appearance. Akhenaton's family seem to all have had Marfan's Syndrome and presumably his other physical and sexual anomalies as well. Smenkhkare is shown with the same features. Some Egyptologists think he may have been Akhenaton's son. The timing seems wrong for that to be true, but he may have been Akhkenaton's brother, or half-brother, a late child from Amenhotep III. Smenkhkare, at birth, was given the name Nefernefruaten (roughly meaning, "the most beautiful person has come!") Nefertiti is a shortened version of the same name! Would two "different" people in the same family be given the same name?
The god Aten gives the breath of immortal life to Akhenaton and Nefertiti (with the only exceptions being Amenhotep III and Queen Tyi.) Why then did the artist of the Meryre II relief dare to break this imperative theological tenet in favor of Smenkhkare while Akhenaton was still alive and senior regent? Why was Smenkhkare buried in the tomb meant for Nefertiti? What are we to make of the suggestion that Smenkhkare and Akhenaton were lovers? What can put these facts together?
Could it be that Nefertiti was not Smenkhkare, as some archeologists still think, but that Smenkhkare was, instead, Nefertiti? Nefertiti as Smenkhkare leaves a number of puzzling questions unanswered, in fact it leaves them unanswerable. Why was Smenkhkare buried in the tomb of Nefertiti? Why has no tomb been discovered with the body of Nefertiti? Why did Nefertiti disappear from the face of the earth when Smenkhkare took over as Pharaoh upon the death of Akhenaton? Why did Nefertiti not object to Smenkhkare and Akhenaton being lovers? Why the identical name for Smenkhkare and Nefernefruaten? Why the similarity of appearance in their statues? Why is there no wall painting, no relief, no statuary that display the two of them together? (Like Clark Kent and Superman, they are never together at the same time, or the same function!)
Smenkhkare as Nefertiti answers the many questions! Sometimes he would present as Smenkhkare and other times as Nefertiti! This conjecture explains all the facts creating only one questionable fact. Akhenaton had a number of children. They were said to be the children of Nefertiti! But Akhenaton also had a concubine and his children could just as readily been from the concubine. In honor to his lover, wife, and nephew, Smenkhkare, they were claimed as the children of Nefertiti! Then, when Smenkhkare died, he was buried with the full honors due a royal female.
Of course, no one, no matter how learned, has the answer to the riddles and mysteries surrounding these, the most powerful and influential rulers of Egypt. I only propose another theory, a possible explanation drawn from the few facts we know. What is curious, especially in light of the fact that researchers have been willing to propose Nefertiti, a female, assuming the role of a man, is their reluctance to examine the other possibility, Smenkhkare, a male, assuming the role of Nefertiti! But then, knowing the prejudices and preconceptions in the prudish 19th century, perhaps it's not so curious after all!