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A review by shannasbooksnhooks
Egypt's Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth by Colleen Darnell, John Darnell
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Art treasure the bust of Nefertiti certainly is, but key to unlocking Nefertiti's secrets, even a mirror of her actual appearance, it is not.
This was a fun biography of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, rulers of ancient Egypt who lived 3,000 years ago. And the title really speaks to what their rule was: "gods on earth." John Darnell and Colleen Manassa Darnell, an Egyptologist power couple, really do a good job breaking down the rule of Akhenaten with Nefertiti at his side. Akhenaten is often heralded as the first ruler to set up a monotheistic religion in a traditionally polytheistic kingdom, but thanks to the Darnells' look at Akhenaten's life and reign, we also get an in-depth look at where Akhenaten's "monotheism" stemmed from and if it could truly be labeled as a "monotheistic" religion. And by the end of the book, we get the end of Akhenaten's reign, the transition to the reign of his son, Tutankhamun (originally Tutankhaten), and the end of Akhenaten's "cult" of Aten, the sun disk. It did feel like it had a few unnecessarily lengthy parts, but I did overall enjoy this book. (Maybe I need the physical copy now given I have the audiobook and ebook...)
This was a fun biography of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, rulers of ancient Egypt who lived 3,000 years ago. And the title really speaks to what their rule was: "gods on earth." John Darnell and Colleen Manassa Darnell, an Egyptologist power couple, really do a good job breaking down the rule of Akhenaten with Nefertiti at his side. Akhenaten is often heralded as the first ruler to set up a monotheistic religion in a traditionally polytheistic kingdom, but thanks to the Darnells' look at Akhenaten's life and reign, we also get an in-depth look at where Akhenaten's "monotheism" stemmed from and if it could truly be labeled as a "monotheistic" religion. And by the end of the book, we get the end of Akhenaten's reign, the transition to the reign of his son, Tutankhamun (originally Tutankhaten), and the end of Akhenaten's "cult" of Aten, the sun disk. It did feel like it had a few unnecessarily lengthy parts, but I did overall enjoy this book. (Maybe I need the physical copy now given I have the audiobook and ebook...)