Fascinating Fate of Queen Nefertiti and Egyptian Grave Robbers

CR 214

Billy:
Then I have a question in reference to Queen Nofretete, who was the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, who was also known as Akhenaten and who, to my knowledge, reigned in the 14th Century B.C., from 1364 to 1347. Where was Nofretete actually buried? Her real name, so I think, was Nefertiti, right?

Quetzal:
64. That is correct.
65. Nevertheless, a tomb of Nefertiti does not exist but rather only one of her double, who was the concubine of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten, but this was kept secret and, thus, also wasn’t handed down in any records.
66. The name of Nefertiti’s double was Chepris, which meant “the powerful one,” while Nefertiti’s name meant “the beautiful one has come.”
67. Nefertiti and Chepris were neither twin sisters nor in any way connected to each other in kinship, yet they were hardly able to be distinguished by those who were initiated.
68. Thus, both of them alternately appeared before the people, who remained unaware of the fact that these were two different women who, moreover, hated one another until death.
69. In consequence of this, then, it came to the murder of Chepris, who was killed by Nefertiti with snake venom.
70. Both were boundlessly jealous of each other, even though Amenhotep IV, respectively Akhenaten, treated both of them equally.
71. After the murder, Nefertiti naturally feared the revenge and punishment of Akhenaten, so she disguised herself and fled from the palace undetected, in order to board a ship with accomplices, which should have taken them to foreign lands.
72. After several hours on the Mediterranean Sea, however, they were surprised by a heavy storm, by which the small ship was shattered and sank, together with Nefertiti and the whole crew, into the wild waters.
73. That was the actual end of Nefertiti.
74. After the murder of Chepris, Akhenaten let her be secretly buried and took as his wife her twin sister, who resembled her to the hair, and this was the one who henceforth lived at the side of Amenhotep IV as Nefertiti and as an Egyptian queen and who entered into history.

Billy:
And the model bust made of painted limestone, which was found in Amarna during excavations, now represents the real Nefertiti?

Quetzal:
75. In addition to the bust mentioned by you, several unfinished ones still exist.
76. But all of them do not represent Nefertiti but represent Chepris’ identical twin sister, Nephthe, as her name was.

Billy:
Pretty obscure, this history. But it fits well with that time period. And since we’re in Egypt: how is it that so many archaeologists and grave robbers met sudden deaths while excavating or robbing the ancient Pharaohs’ tombs or else died within hours, days, or a few weeks?

Quetzal:
77. There are several reasons for that, but the two most important ones are the following:
78. To protect the tombs against grave robbery, one method was that spines, which were thinner than hair and which were of the fruit of the Indian cactus, were soaked with deadly poisons, were dried, and were then painted onto bandages, with which the dead were wrapped.
79. The deadly poisons of the kind that was used are extremely stable and are still effective even after thousands of years.
80. Now, if grave robbers and archaeologists, etc. touched the bandages of the mummified bodies, then the poisonous spines penetrated into their hands, without this being noticed, because the spines of the cactus figs are much thinner than human hair.
81. In addition, the insidious poison was of a different kind, so it was also different in the temporal effect, which could occur in either hours or days or only after two or three weeks.
82. Another very popular and lethal means was the use of fungal spores that were cultivated specifically for the purpose of the quick killing of the grave robbers, so the bandages of the deceased as well as the Sarcophagi and the tomb walls, etc. were infected with these.
83. Now, when grave robbers – or later archaeologists – entered the tombs, as a result of their entering and also by the work taken up, they whirled up dust that was loaded with deadly fungal spores.
84. The extremely toxic dust was inhaled by the grave robbers and archaeologists, and this quickly led to death, which came about very quickly or over days or over several weeks.
85. These are the two main ways, by which the tombs and the treasures of the Pharaohs were protected against grave robbers.

see also:

Fascinating Fate of King Tutankhamun