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Photo: Queen Nefertiti

Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s chief archaeologist, said that if Germany does not return the bust of Queen Nefertiti, there will be a war between Egypt and Germany.

The following is an excerpt of the news report published in The New Zealand Herald:

More than 3000 years after her reign as queen to a mysterious pharaoh, Nefertiti has sparked a row between Egypt, which wants her bust returned for an exhibition, and Germany, which is refusing to let it leave Berlin, where it is the city’s greatest treasure.

The painted limestone sculpture of the great queen is one of the most famous depictions of beauty and female power, showing a woman with exquisite features in the prime of life.

After lying in sand on the banks of the Nile for more than three millennia, the life-size bust was brought back into daylight in 1912 by a German archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt

“I really want it back,” Egyptian chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass told the Egyptian Parliament last week.

“If Germany refuses the loan request, we will never again organise exhibitions of antiquities in Germany … it will be a scientific war.”

Read the news report here.

Nefertiti ruled Egypt with her husband in the 14th century BC. Nefertiti was the wife of Amenhotep IV, Pharaoh of Egypt. Amenhotep changed his name Akhenaten in honor of the god Aten during his religious reform which established the worship of the sun god as the only official religion in Egypt. This religious reform occurred in a historical period called the Amarna Age.

Nefertiti was stepmother of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut. Her name means “The Beautiful One Has Arrived.” The bust was discovered at the ruins of Amarna in Egypt, by a German archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt, in December 1912.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Archaeology, King Tut, Nefertiti