Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Jacquelyn Williamson, George Mason University
The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti
The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti reviews the history of the Amarna Period and the lives of King Akhenaten and his Queen Nefertiti. This talk reviews the evidence from the site called 'Kom el-Nana' at Tell el-Amarna, which demonstrates the area was Nefertiti's sun temple. The talk also reviews the function and purpose of the temple, and how they reveal the role of the queen in her husband's iconoclastic religion.
Dr. Jacquelyn Williamson is an Egyptologist, with a special focus on gender and religious power. Her book, Nefertiti’s Sun Temple: A New Cult Complex at Tell el-Amarna, part of Brill’s Harvard Egyptology Series, was published in September 2016. She is involved in the ongoing investigation of Kom el-Nana at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, the site of a sun temple associated with Queen Nefertiti, which is the subject of her first book. She has been a member of several archaeological missions in Egypt and has worked in many museums including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Harvard Semitic Museum, and has held teaching and research positions at UC Berkeley, Harvard University, and Brandeis University. Dr. Williamson teaches classes on the art and archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean World.
Jacquelyn Williamson, George Mason University
The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti
The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti reviews the history of the Amarna Period and the lives of King Akhenaten and his Queen Nefertiti. This talk reviews the evidence from the site called 'Kom el-Nana' at Tell el-Amarna, which demonstrates the area was Nefertiti's sun temple. The talk also reviews the function and purpose of the temple, and how they reveal the role of the queen in her husband's iconoclastic religion.
Dr. Jacquelyn Williamson is an Egyptologist, with a special focus on gender and religious power. Her book, Nefertiti’s Sun Temple: A New Cult Complex at Tell el-Amarna, part of Brill’s Harvard Egyptology Series, was published in September 2016. She is involved in the ongoing investigation of Kom el-Nana at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, the site of a sun temple associated with Queen Nefertiti, which is the subject of her first book. She has been a member of several archaeological missions in Egypt and has worked in many museums including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Harvard Semitic Museum, and has held teaching and research positions at UC Berkeley, Harvard University, and Brandeis University. Dr. Williamson teaches classes on the art and archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean World.
