Talatat Blocks Depiction
Two adjoining talatat blocks depicting a partial river scene with two ceremonial royal barges. They originated from Amarna, although they were recovered from Hermopolis on the opposite (west) bank of the Nile. Following the death of King Akhenaten, who reigned circa 1353-1336 BCE, his successors determinedly dismantled his capital Amarna, and re-used tens of thousands of these building bricks in new constructions in Hermopolis and Thebes. These two painted limestone blocks (63.260 and 64.521) are now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA. Photo: Museum of Fine Arts. (Click the photo for a larger view).
The barge on the right can be associated with Queen Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s Great Royal Wife. This is indicated by the top ends of the two long steering oars that show her portrait with her distinctive tall, flat-topped crown, surmounted by a solar disc and long ostrich feathers.
On the side of the cabin at the stern of her royal barge, Nefertiti is shown stripped to the waist but wearing a royal kilt and her trademark headdress. She is striding forward and holding what appears to be a scimitar in her raised right hand. With her other hand she grips the hair of a female kneeling in submission at her feet, while the disc of the Aten extends its rays over the queen. This is the millennia-old ‘smiting scene’ that had been reserved for Egyptian kings, showing them as triumphant warriors subduing representatives (always males) of the enemies of Egypt. For a queen to be depicted in such a pose is without precedent in Egyptian art.
On the adjoining talatat block, another smiting scene is partially preserved. The smiter is almost certainly Akhenaten and the smitten is a male. It is useful to remember that this king never led troops into battle. Yet he chose to be shown in this aggressive pose, and may well have been called upon to execute a token enemy as a message of sacrifice by a person of authority. In her book Nefertiti: Egypt’s Sun Queen, Egyptologist Dr. Joyce Tyldesley argues that “these smiting scenes may well be representations of a disturbing ritual – we should not assume that they are merely symbolic.”
But could the beautiful Nefertiti have taken part in this ritual? The evidence says yes. Her depiction in this smiting scene must be read as an indication that she did. So, it seems that with all what we think we know about Nefertiti, we still know little!
