The succession of kings at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt is a matter of great debate and confusion. There are very few contemporary records that can be relied upon, due to the nature of the

Amarna Period The Amarna Period was an era of History of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian history during the later half of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty when the royal residence of the pharaoh and his queen was shifted to Akhetaten ('Horizon of the ...

and the reign of

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

and his successors and possible co-regents. It is known that Akhenaten reigned for seventeen years, and it was previously believed that in the last 3 or 4 years, he had two co-regents:

Smenkhkare Smenkhkare (alternatively romanized ''Smenkhare'', ''Smenkare,'' or ''Smenkhkara''; meaning "'Vigorous is the Soul of Re") was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of unknown background who lived and ruled during the Amarna Period of the 18th Dynasty. S ...

, who was possibly his brother or son, and

Neferneferuaten Ankhkheperure-Merit-Neferkheperure/Waenre/Aten Neferneferuaten ( egy, nfr-nfrw-jtn) was a name used to refer to a female pharaoh who reigned toward the end of the Amarna Period during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Her sex is confirmed by feminine ...

, who was either one of his daughters or his Great Royal Wife

Nefertiti Neferneferuaten Nefertiti () ( – c. 1330 BC) was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a radical change in national religious policy, in whic ...

. It is unknown in which order they followed each other, and neither of their reigns lasted long, for Tutankhamun succeeded not long after Akhenaten's death. The last dated appearance of Akhenaten and the Amarna family is in the tomb of Meryre II, and dates from second month, year 12 of his reign. After this the historical record is unclear, and only with the succession of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

is it somewhat clarified. However, the coregency theory has now been slightly discredited by the December 2012 announcement of the discovery of a Year 16 III Akhet day 15 inscription dated explicitly to Akhenaten's reign which mentions, in the same breath, the presence of Queen Nefertiti--or the "''Great Royal Wife, His Beloved, Lady of the Two Lands, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti''"--in its third line. The badly legible five line text, found in a limestone quarry at

Deir el-Bersha Deir El Bersha ( ar, دير البرشا; also written as Dayr al-Barsha, Deir el-Bersheh) is a Coptic village in Middle Egypt, in the Minya Governorate. It is located on the east bank of the Nile to the south of Antinoöpolis and almost opposite ...

"mentions a building project in Amarna"--Egypt's political capital under Akhenaten and was deciphered and interpreted by Athena Van der Perre. This means that Nefertiti was still Akhenaten's living wife late in this pharaoh's 16th year (and second last year); thus, the Amarna pharaohs Smenkhkare and Neferneferuaten could only have succeeded to the throne in Akhenaten's 16th year in a brief 9 month coregency or have had an independent reign of their own over Egypt which lasted for around two full years after this king's death. The royal line of the dynasty died out with Tutankhamun, for two foetuses found buried in his

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

may have been his twin daughters, according to a 2008 investigation.

Sources

The

Coregency Stela The Coregency Stela is an ancient Egyptian stela dating from the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. It consists of seven limestone fragments, which were found in a tomb at Amarna. The tablet shows the figures of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Meritaten ...

, found in a tomb in

Amarna Amarna (; ar, العمارنة, al-ʿamārnah) is an extensive Egyptian archaeological site containing the remains of what was the capital city of the late Eighteenth Dynasty. The city was established in 1346 BC, built at the direction of the Ph ...

possibly shows his queen

as his coregent, ruling alongside him.

References

{{Amarna Period Navigator Amarna Period