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Primary sourceSculptureAmarna period

Relief of Nefertiti Holding an Offering to the Aten

Amarna period

A limestone relief from the Amarna period showing Nefertiti, crowned and in profile, making an offering to the sun-disk of the Aten.

This relief shows Nefertiti personally performing an offering ritual usually reserved for kings.

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Limestone relief from the Amarna period. On the left, a woman in a tall flat-topped crown with a cobra, profile facing right, holds an offering object toward a sun disk with hands. Hieroglyphs run across the top.
Amarna-period relief, Nefertiti holding an offering to the Aten. Brooklyn Museum.

About this source

What it is

This limestone relief from the Amarna period shows a woman wearing a tall, flat-topped crown with a cobra, shown in profile and holding an offering toward a sun-disk, with hieroglyphs carved above. It is identified as Nefertiti and is held at the Brooklyn Museum.

Why it matters

Making offerings to a god was normally a king's duty in ancient Egypt. Showing Nefertiti performing this act herself suggests she held an unusually high religious status alongside Akhenaten during the Amarna period's new worship of the Aten.

Look closer

  • What does the crown and cobra symbol tell you about the woman's rank?
  • Why might the artist have placed hieroglyphs above the scene?
  • What does it mean that a queen is shown doing a job usually reserved for kings?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Queen Nefereti on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Bust of Queen Nefertiti

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Figure of Nefertiti

Close-up detail of an Amarna limestone relief. A seated woman wearing a tall flat-topped crown is at right, with a sun disc and rays above. At left, a smaller figure with a child's head is seated near her, and carved hieroglyphs fill the background.Sculpture

Primary source

Akhenaten and His Family

c. 1352 BC

Photo of a curved, blue glazed ceramic fragment with white body edge, covered in raised concentric ring motifs with dots. Two holes pierce the piece near its center, with a scale bar along the bottom.Sculpture

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Relief Fragment Showing the Blue Crown of Nefertiti

Black-and-white line drawing of columns of Egyptian hieroglyphic text arranged in vertical lines, with cartouches visible, copied from a wall inscription. This is a facsimile of the Great Hymn to the Aten.Document

Primary source

Great Hymn to the Aten

Akhenaten · c. 1350 BC

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