Wonder Woman of the Week: Queen Nefertiti

Nefertiti emerges from the sands of ancient Egypt as both a historical figure and an enduring enigma, her image preserved in limestone and pigment with a clarity that defies its 3,300-year age. She lived during the 14th century BCE, at the height of the Amarna Period, when Egypt underwent one of its most radical cultural transformations. As the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, Nefertiti stood at the center of a religious revolution that elevated the sun disk Aten above the traditional pantheon. Reliefs from the period depict her not as a passive consort but as an active participant in state rituals—sometimes shown striking enemies or wearing the pharaoh’s crown—visual cues that hint at extraordinary political authority in a rigidly hierarchical world.