Who Was Nefertiti?

With the help of her enemies, apparently. And if there's one thing Egyptologists agree on when it comes to Nefertiti, it's that she had plenty of enemies.

The wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten and perhaps a ruler in her own right after his death, Nefertiti was little more than a historical whisper when, in 1912, an exquisite limestone sculpture of her now-famous face was unearthed at the royal retreat of Amarna. It was more than 3,200 years old, dating from 1345 B.C.

But from the moment it went on display at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin in 1924, the enigmatic bust with the swanlike neck assumed a place as one of the world's most famous icons.

Little was known about the woman whose beauty it celebrated. And while Nefertiti's origins — as well as her demise — remain shrouded in mystery, Egyptologists are beginning to piece together more about her life.

We know what we know about Nefertiti mainly from the tomb scenes and inscriptions of the officials who served at the Amarna court; from the Aten temple scenes at Karnak, which have been studied since the 1960s; and from ongoing excavations at Amarna itself — currently by the British Egypt Exploration Society.

Her name, meaning "the beautiful (or perfect) woman has come," prompts some scholars to think that Nefertiti traveled to Egypt from a foreign land. Others theorize she was an Egyptian royal by birth. Still others think it unlikely that she was of royal blood, but that her father was a high government official, a man named Ay, who went on to become pharaoh after Tutankhamen (and, incidentally, may have had a hand in the boy king's death!).