Changes

A bust of [[Nefertiti]] now in the Berlin Ägyptisches Museum in Berlin has made Akhenaten's beautiful primary wife one of the best-known Egyptian queens. In Akhenaten's declining years, she served as "effective for her husband" (regent) with the reign name Nerferneferuatan. In a few late inscriptions, she is described as "Akhenaten-less." This implies that she continued to rule after Akhenaten's death, at least for a brief period.<ref name=Allen>Allen, James, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120301142642/http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/murnane/Allen.pdf The Amarna Succession], ''Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane,'' University of Memphis, 2007.</ref> Nerferneferuatan's reign was followed by that of Smenkhkare, a brother of Akhenaten. Within a year of Akhenaten's death, both Nerferneferuatan and Smenkhkare disappeared from the records. [[Tutankhamun]], a boy of 10 or 11 at this time, ascended to the throne.<ref name="Allen" /> Real power in this period may have been held by Ay, a vizier appointed by Akhenaten. Tut reversed many of Akenaten's policies. Egypt reverted to [[polytheism]] and the priests of Amun regained power.