Little info on Queen Nefertiti and her early life is known. There is some speculation as to her parentage. When Nefertiti married a pharaoh, Akhenaton, she became Queen Nefertiti Akhenaton. Although her husband also had several other wives, it is apparent from the autobiography of Queen Nefertiti found in ancient depictions that the pharaoh was completely enamored of her. It is not hard to imagine why, when even in modern times, Nefertiti is celebrated for her incomparable beauty. The couple is known to have had six daughters, although none of the daughters inherited the throne of Egypt. That role was reserved for a son born to the Pharaoh by a minor wife.
It is widely believed that Nefertiti was influential in her husband's attempts to convert the nation of Egypt from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion, dedicated to the worship of the deity Aten. The number of reliefs and artwork that were eventually found bearing the likeness and info on Queen Nefertiti indicate that she was much beloved by the people of Egypt.
When a small bust of Queen Nefertiti, absent the now infamous and modern Nefertiti costume, was finally discovered in almost perfect condition the world rejoiced. The queen had long been celebrated for her beauty and now lovers of Egyptian history would be able to personally view the features of the queen up close. The statue was placed on display in Berlin and quickly became one of the most easily recognized and famous pieces of Egyptian art. For several decades the bust was enjoyed by visitors from around the world; however it would eventually become the subject of much outrage and controversy, when a Nefertiti costume was added to the bust.
The almost perfectly preserved bust reveals an extremely beautiful woman wearing a tall headdress and ornate jewelry. There is no clothing of Nefertiti traditionally included on the bust and it actually ends with the jewelry. The Egyptian public became outraged when the bust was lowered onto a supposed Nefertiti costume that consisted of little more than low cut sheer fabric. The new Nefertiti costume was considered to be vulgar by most Egyptians, who are quite conservative, and dangerous to the antique bust by many historians who were concerned for the safety of the precious artifact. There was so much controversy over the Nefertiti costume that the bust was almost immediately removed. Today the Nefertiti costume that is most remembered is the regal headdress that adorned the most beautiful woman in the world.

The queens of Egypt, for the most part, have been relegated to less fame behind their regal husbands, however, many have quite interesting histories in their own right.
The queens of Egypt include a woman who dressed as a man, another who is still famed today for her beauty and many who stand out in the history of Egypt for their unique contributions.
Cleopatre, the most famous queen of Egypt, has become a legend. Queen Cleopatra of Egypt is well regarded as holding the title of the last pharaoh of Egypt, before the land fell into the hands of the aggressive Roman Empire. Like some of the other queens of Egypt, she inherited the throne at the death of her father, when she was only 18 years old, along with her brother, younger than the new queen by six years. Like many other queens of Egypt, Cleopatra married her brother, however it is believed this marriage was only a salute to Egyptian tradition. Cleopatra immediately took hold of the throne and proceeded to lead the nation on her own. One of the more interesting facts about Cleopatra is that she was the first ruler of her dynasty, consisting of the Ptolemy family, to actually be able to speak the Egyptian language, along with eight others. She was known to be extremely intelligent and cunning. The end for Cleopatra came when supporters of her younger brother and husband decided she was far too independent and exiled her to Syria. It was through her attempts to regain control of the throne that she met both Julius Ceasar and Mark Anthony, both of whom became her lovers.

The 1922 discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamen made "King Tut" an instant celebrity and placed him among the most famous of Egypt's ancient rulers. Tut's tomb was broken into by English archaeologist Howard Carter. One of the best-preserved tombs ever found, it was filled with thousands of artefacts, and the golden death mask which covered his mummy is now a famous relic of the ancient world. Before Carter's discovery, Tutankhamen was practically unknown, and his life still remains something of a mystery; probably he was the 12th ruler in Egypt's 18th Dynasty. Tut most likely was the son of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (also known as Akhenaten), and was married to his probable half-sister Ankhesenamun, the daughter of Akhneten and the famous Queen Nefertiti. Tut died when he was about 18, having ruled for nine years, and so is often called the Boy King. Tut's death is also something of a mystery. X-rays taken in 1968 indicated he may have been killed by a blow to his head, but 21st-century scientific analysis suggested he may have died after a broken leg led to fatal blood poisoning.

Extra credit: His name is also rendered Tut-Ankh-amun... Comedian Steve Martin had a hit with the novelty tune King Tut, from his 1978 album A Wild and Crazy Guy.

Tut appears with Cyrano de Bergerac in the loop Bopped on the Head... Other Egyptian rulers include Cleopatra, Khufu and Xerxes.

Cleopatra (actually Cleopatra VII) was the last of the Ptolemies, the Macedonian-descended pharaohs who ruled Egypt beginning in 304 B.C. Cleopatra has come down through history less for her administrative skills than for her beguiling ways, which she used in an attempt to keep Egypt free from Roman domination. Among those whom she charmed was Julius Caesar, with whom she had a son, Caesarion. After Caesar's death, Cleopatra joined forces with Caesar's colleague Marc Antony; they became lovers and political allies against Antony's rival Octavian. Octavian's forces finally defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Actium in 31 B.C. The two lovers fled to Alexandria and, faced with defeat by Octavian, committed suicide. Legend has it that Cleopatra died by the self-inflicted bite of a poisonous snake called an asp, though no firm evidence exists to support that claim.

Extra credit: Cleopatra was immortalized by Shakespeare in his play Antony and Cleopatra and played by Elizabeth Taylor in a big-budget 1963 movie.... Philosopher Blaise Pascal made the famous remark that "Cleopatra's nose, had it been shorter, the whole face of the world would have been changed."

Cleopatra joins Cyrano de Bergerac in our loop on Big Noses. She also contributes to the hubbub in the loop Caesar Confusion.

Anwar al-Sadat met Gamal Abdel Nasser while in a British military school in colonial Egypt in the late 1930s. He joined Nasser for the revolution that fought colonialism and overthrew the monarchy in 1952, eventually succeeding Nasser as president in 1970. In an effort to regain control of losses from the 1967 Six Day War, in 1973 Sadat ordered an attack on Israeli forces and was successful enough to make both sides think about peace. Plagued by domestic economic problems, Sadat made overt gestures of peace to Israel and wooed U.S. president Jimmy Carter into assisting with negotiations. The resulting peace agreement, the Camp David Accords, earned Sadat the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace (he shared it with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin). He was assassinated in 1981 by Islamic fundamentalists who opposed the peace treaty with Israel, and succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.

Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has been the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt since 14 October 1981, succeeding to that office following the assassination of Anwar Sadat. Mubarak was trained as a pilot and rose in the ranks of Egypt's air force during the 1960s and '70s. President Sadat named Mubarak Vice President in 1975, and in 1978 Mubarak became the vice chairman of the National Democratic Party (NDP), the governing political party in Egypt. When Mubarak succeeded Sadat, he also became the chairman of the NDP. With control of the government and uncontested in subsequent elections, Mubarak won the presidency in national referenda in 1987, 1993 and 1999. During his presidency he focused on economic growth and inched toward political reform, but economic gains in the 1990s were off-set by criticisms that Egypt was a near-dictatorship (Mubarak never lifted the state of emergency imposed after Sadat's assassination). In February of 2005 Mubarak announced plans for a September 2005 election that would be Egypt's first-ever multi-candidate contest for the presidency. On 7 September 2005 he handily won his fifth consecutive term, but it was a victory clouded by low voter turnout, reports of fraud and the imprisonment of his political rival, Ayman Nour. Since then his presidency has been dominated by pressures for political reform and his love/hate relationship with the United States. Mubarak has been rebuked by President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for his lack of "commitment" to democracy, but he is an important ally in keeping Egypt as a base of U.S. operations in Iraq.