#1 Meritaten disappears from the scene towards the end of the Amarna reign. No tomb was ever found for her.

#2 Meketaten Died during the reign of AKhenaten. Buried in Amarna tomb 26 (The royal tomb)

#3 Ankhes-en-paaten. Married Tut, changed her name to Ankhesenamen. Ruled as Queen. Not known where she's buried or when she died.

#4 Neferneferuaten-Tasherit. Disappears from the scene. No tomb known.

#5 Neferneferure. Likely buried in tomb number 29 in Amarna. the fact that she was not buried in tomb 26 (the royal tomb) may indicate that she died after her father had been buried there.

#6 Setepenre. Disappears from the scene. No tomb known.

It appears that only #2 Meketaten was buried in the royal tomb at Amarna. This may mean that the other girls survived their father at least.

I hope you'll like these... not sure, it's a very old file... correct me, if I said something wrong.

AKHENATEN'S RULE ^^

1. year

2. year: Meritaten borns
Smenkhare is 2

3. year: Meketaten borns
Meritaten is 1
Smenkhare is 3

4. year

5. year: Anheszenamun borns
Meritaten is 3
Meketaten is 2
Smenkhare is 5

6. year

7. year: Neferneferuaten borns
Meritaton is 5
Meketaten is 4
Anhesenamun is 2
Smenkhare is 7

8. year Nefernefura borns
Tutankhamen borns
Smenkhare is 8
Meritaten is 6
Meketaten is 5
Anhesenamun is 3
Neferneferuaten is 1

9. year Setepenre borns
Meritaten is 7
Meketaten is 6
Anhsenamun is 4
Smenkhare is 9
Neferneferuaten is 2
Neferneferura is 1

Sorry if it's not very on topic,...,, well at least Akhenaten's children. And their life, not death, but..., sorry.

Isn't this all based on the assumption that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were married right as Akhenaten took the throne?
Isn't it possible that they married when Akhenaten was still a prince?

I was looking at the boundary stelas (In Reeves' book) and in year 5 Akhenaten and Nefertiti are shown with their two eldest daughters (Meritaten and Meketaten). The girls are shaking sistra and look like they are past the stage of being toddlers. But it's hard to say how old the children were at this point. But would a 3 and a 2 year old really be involved in these ceremonies? Would they be walking along with the parents and shaking a sistrum?
LOL All of the 2 and 3 year olds I know would not be capable of performing such ceremonies. They would be all over the place, distracting people and making a mess

Ankhesenpaaten was not shown in year 5. But was that because she wasn't born yet, or because she was too small to participate in any ceremonies?

The ages given above are interesting and could be correct, but how would we know? I could see them being older, and I could also see arguments to say they might be younger.

Ankhenaton used his children to boost his image. How can you hate a family man? And even babies can shake rattles so even though they might be fussing,who is going to discipline a royal toddler?

Whoa, wait a second!!! ...Who said anyone hated Akhenaten for being a family man?! ...Though, nowadays, they (The media) tend to use him as an evil heretic pharaoh, without realizing that he was non-violent and believed all humans were equal under Aten. Like in SOME nasty books, which I will not mention here--it's already been ranted on in the coffee lounge--they use him as an evil ghost or something like that. And he's widely misunderstood because of it, sadly. I'd like to see the positive image of him, not the nasty kind...

I meant that it's hard to hate people with children. He does seem like an egotistical person. I mean every shrine in his city had a picture or statue of him and his family.

LOL

You've just described about every pharaoh who ever ruled in ancient Egypt. As far as that goes, Ramesses II put Akhenaten to shame--no pharaoh was better at self-promotion than Ramesses II. Amunhotep III was certainly no amateur at it, either.

But you're right, of course. To accomplish what he did and to believe of himself as he did, Akhenaten had to have been something of a megalomaniac. It's also quite certain that he was a tyrant, to close vast temple complexes, shut away the rest of his own nation, and decimate his own people's economy. This is why the royals and courtiers who followed Akhenaten referred to him as "the traitor."

And you know what, in my opinion it in no way diminishes how fascinating and distinctive Akhenaten was. From him we have one of the most intriguing and mysterious periods in ancient Egypt. History wouldn't have been the same without him.

Oh, yes. Give the point to kmt_sesh! Every pharaoh liked to appear all of his temples and other creations and the biggest in this was of course Rameses II. He stole other's statues and renamed them.

Why do you think Akhenaten was more egotistical then the other pharaohs? I mean, he said he is the son of Aten, but the others said they're the sons of Ra. What's the difference?

And he was a family man, too, but not as big as Rameses II. I mean Rameses had REALLY more children than him - but, as you can see in steles and paintings, Akhenaten liked to appear with his children - kissing them, playing with them. And he also liked to appear with his wife, Nefertiti.

Anyway, he is my favourite pharaoh - because of his appearance, his changes, his rule - he was brave, strange, and... well, beautiful
So I mean I'm a bit biassed against him, lol

That's a great portrait of Akhenaten you have in your signature Lostris!
I love it.

Thank you, Merytre-Hatshepsut! A Russian artist drew it, and it's Akhenaten, of course! I choose this because it's totally how I imagined him in real life. Let's try http://home.perm.ru/potapov I downloaded it from there! Beautiful artworks

Thanks for the link Lostris. That was definitely worth looking at.
The scene of Akhenaten and Nefertiti worshipping with their daughters is beautiful too.

You're right about the "son of Re." That title goes back to Djedefre of Dynasty 4, 1200 years before Akhenaten ascended to the throne. And Akhenaten wasn't even the first Aten worshiper; his father, Amunhotep III, made it a sort of personal religion and was probably responsible, if unintentionally, for the absolute obsession Akhenaten developed for this hitherto minor deity.

But Akhenaten had the sheer force of will to turn Atenism into the state religion and at the same time abandon and bury so many of the important gods and goddesses that the Egyptians had been worshiping for thousands of years. That alone bears out the kind of robust and perhaps even neurotic ego he possessed.

And it wasn't so simple a matter as mere religious worship. In closing down many important temple complexes and sealing himself and his government off in the new capital he created at Amarna, Akhenaten inflicted unquestionable and serious economic damage on his country and allowed the vassals and foreign concerns of Egypt to break away from Pharaoh's grip. We have cuneiform letters from that time written by Caananite rulers begging Akhenaten to intervene in disturbances taking place in ancient Palastine, and by all accounts Akhenaten seemed to dismiss and ignore them completely.

Akhenanten was no saint. He certainly wasn't the greatest pharaoh ancient Egypt had. But none of that takes away from the fact that this man and his reign constitute one of the most fascinating and intriguing periods of ancient Egypt.

There's no surprise he's your favorite pharaoh. He's many people's favorite pharaoh!

...Well....Him and Tut, for me...would actually be tied for 1st on my list of favorite Pharaohs!!

If Akhenaten was never made pharaoh--or never even existed--then, true, history would be pretty boring. And Tut wouldn't be here, and no famous boy-king...can you even imagine history without them? It almost makes me shudder....I can never even THINK it, let alone imagine it. I bet history would be A LOT different today if not for the impact of Akhenaten and his introduction to monotheism.

No, quite frankly, I can't. Nor can anyone interested in ancient Egypt, I wager. I always get a kick out of how famous Tutankhamun is today, considering how minor a ruler he was. It's likely Tut was never much more than a puppet to powerful and ambitious men like Ay and Horemheb. Later rulers who compiled kings lists, namely Seti I and his son Ramesses II, would be utterly shocked to find how well known Akhenaten and his probable son Tut are today. After all, they went to lengths to erase all evidence of what we call the Amarna Period, and Akhenaten and Tutankhamun are two names you won't find on their kings list because of the stain on their nation (as they saw it) that Akhenaten left. I'm pretty certain even Ay is on neither list, as tied into the reign of Akhenaten as he had been.

So it's no surprise when I ask people on my tours at the Field who the most famous ancient Egyptian king is and they call out in unison: "Tut!" But it is cause for a chuckle or two for those of us who understand what was happening then and later in the Two Lands.

Yay, Kmt!!

Well, naturally, the first thing people think of when it comes to Egypt would most likely be Tut, or at least the first thing that comes to mind when you ask about a pharaoh--as you did, kmt--and I'm curious to see that Akhenaten's fame is increasing, and he could easily catch up to his son's rank of fame in no time, if he hasn't already!!

And I agree--Ramses II and Seti I would be rolling in thier graves, that is, if they weren't in a glass case in the Cairo museum. (I know Ramses II is there...Seti I is there also, am I correct? I'm REALLY afraid to be wrong and look like a complete idiot on here... ).