La grande sposa Nefertiti

by Christian Jacq

Nefertiti non fu solo la più bella, ma anche la più misteriosa tra le regine egiziane. A fianco di Akhenaton (il faraone "eretico" presentato spesso come l'inventore di un monoteismo cui si sarebbe ispirato lo stesso Mosè) la "sposa del Sole" è protagonista di una straordinaria avventura umana e spirituale a metà del secolo XIV a.C. Sebbene molti siano gli enigmi che li circondano,Christian Jacq intende chiarire il loro progetto religioso, ricostruire la suggestiva vita quotidiana della "città del Sole", evocando i momenti cruciali del loro regno e gettando luce sui misteri degli ultimi anni.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Egypt

226 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Also writes under the names Célestin Valois, J.B. Livingstone, and Christopher Carter.

Christian Jacq is a French author and Egyptologist. He has written several novels about ancient Egypt, notably a five book suite about pharaoh Ramses II, a character whom Jacq admires greatly.

Jacq's interest in Egyptology began when he was thirteen, and read History of Ancient Egyptian Civilization by Jacques Pirenne. This inspired him to write his first novel. He first visited Egypt when he was seventeen, went on to study Egyptology and archaeology at the Sorbonne, and is now one of the world's leading Egyptologists.

By the time he was eighteen, he had written eight books. His first commercially successful book was Champollion the Egyptian, published in 1987. As of 2004 he has written over fifty books, including several non-fiction books on the subject of Egyptology.

He and his wife later founded the Ramses Institute, which is dedicated to creating a photographic description of Egypt for the preservation of endangered archaeological sites.

Between 1995-1997, he published his best selling five book suite Ramsès, which is today published in over twenty-five countries. Each volume encompasses one aspect of Ramesses' known historical life, woven into a fictional tapestry of the ancient world for an epic tale of love, life and deceit.

Jacq's series describes a vision of the life of the pharaoh: he has two vile power-hungry siblings, Shanaar, his decadent older brother, and Dolora, his corrupted older sister who married his teacher. In his marital life, he first has Isetnofret (Iset) as a mistress (second Great Wife), meets his true love Nefertari (first Great Wife) and after their death, gets married to Maetnefrure in his old age. Jacq gives Ramesses only three biological children: Kha'emweset, Meritamen (she being the only child of Nefertari, the two others being from Iset) and Merneptah. The other "children" are only young officials trained for government and who are nicknamed "sons of the pharaoh".

Reviews

[Julie Rylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing just for the fact that it's more like a documentation and less like a romance.

I took some notes of stuff I finally figured out or that I found worth it:

- Tié was a strong woman connected to the state and the reign of Egypt;
-Akhenaton reigned with his father Amenhotep III for 12 years;
- They say Nefertiti was most likely Egypt but it's not possible to be certain. Her name means "the beauty arrived". She was very important and had an active role in the countries affairs. Akhenaton was supposed to marry another woman and ended up marrying her so they say maybe they really loved each other, there are prove that they were a very happy couple;
- El Amarna was called Akhetaton - The city for the cult of Aton;
- The rumor that the clergy was against Akhenaton is bullshit. The Egyptian religion knew no dogmas so any cult to any Egyptian God would be acceptable. The fact that we call the Egyptian clergy people priests is a very bad term for what these specialists of the sacred where. They constituted a big part of the state and not some group of believers obliged to defend this or that dogma;
- First there was the cult of Ra, Horus, Chu all in Aton. Then Aton, Ra and Chu and finally only Ra in Aton;
- There was no more oration from the Book of the Dead in the mummification rites but a prayer to Aton. Osiris was not considered because Aton was only joyful, light and represents the day;
- being religious was not believing in something but experiencing and comprehending;
- Monotheism was a simplistic way of explaining the cult because Aton was all Gods and all Gods were in him;
- At the same time Aton's cult was the main religious cult in Akhetaton, people were allowed to be devoted to other Gods. Statues or Isis and Ptah were found in Akhetaton. They give the example of Tutmes III that conquered other countries and never suppressed their religion. They accepted even foreign religions in Egypt. Being missionaries and converting other people to their cults was something unknown for the Egyptians;
- For the first time were found pallets with intimacy illustrations (the Pharaoh with his wife and daughters or displays of affection between the family);
- Supposedly Akhenaton was monogamous. There are no prove that he had secondary wives and when Nefertiti died there was no substitute (which normally happen... the Pharaoh would choose another one of his wives to replace the main one);
- Akhenaton picked poor men to be direct figures of his government but other Pharaohs also did it before;
- Regarding Art they tried Naturalism and the Pharaoh was represented simultaneously has man and woman like Aton (father and mother)so he is portrayed with big hips and proeminent breasts, also there are imagery where he doesn't have a sexual organ.

[Recensioni in tre parole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evocativo. Scorrevole. Intrigante.

[Asaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm, kolejny autor, który stawia bardziej na teorię i hipotezy, ale czytało mi się ją nieco lepiej. W sumie Jacq propaguje ciekawą tezę - Echnaton nie dokonał rewolucji i nie zerwał całkowicie z tradycją, tylko działał w jej obrębie. Przedstawił go jako władcę o nieco mniejszym wyczuciu w polityce zagranicznej.

Niemniej, dalej szukam jakiegoś aktualnego opracowania okresu amarnańskiego.

[Javier Franco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muy buena factura del libro y no me refiero a lo físico pues el libro lo obtuve en digital sino a la estructura como se presenta, contrastando diferentes fuentes guiado por el autor hacía el camino según su lógica. Extenso y detallado en lo posible. Puede ser aburrido por el estilo pero abundante en versiones.

[Abel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta obra narra muchos datos interesantes sobre esta pareja real y la forma de vida , gobierno y culto propias de la época, creo que es una de las mejores formas de aprender sobre el tema y se lo recomiendo a los entusiastas de la cultura egipcia

[Cecile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une histoire très romancée, mais c’est aussi pour cela que l’on prend plaisir à lire Christian Jacq.
Un livre qui se lit rapidement et assez agréable.

[1week 1photo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Il libro non scende in grandi dettagli ma è una buona base per ripassare/ riscoprire il regno di Akhenaton. Peccato che Nefertiti non sia poi così presente nel libro.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante, ma Nefertiti c'è pocco o niente nel libro, solo per questo 4 stelle.

[Laia Gonzalo Ayza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunque antiguo y con referencias desmentidas con el paso de los años, te permite tener una visión general de la experiencia atoniana

[Raquel Santos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Livro de não ficção pelo conhecido Egiptólogo Francês sobre o fascinante faraó herético e sua famosa esposa. Extremamente interessante e agradará aos egiptomaníacos.

[Varvara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many assumptions..Nevertheless it was quite interesting

[Kadi Erlessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author writes about what he thinks might've happened like it actually would have been so. The fact is that we'll never know and his wild fantasies will probably not help much.

[Galder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un punto de vista diferente sobre Akhenaton y su entorno. Detalles y datos que son importantes para comprender un periodo de tantos cambios como la segunda mitad de la XVIII Dinastía.