ABSTRACT
The features of the king and queen are only slightly elongated and are not so exaggerated as in other depictions on the talatat, which presumably, therefore, were carved at a later date. All these factors contribute to the theory that the first Sed-festival of Amenhotep IV was celebrated early in his reign, before the Amarna style and the Aten cult had fully developed. Excavations have endorsed the theory that the Sed-festival scenes may have been on opposite walls - the Upper Egyptian scenes on the south wall of a court and the Lower Egyptian scenes on the north wall. In the Sed-festival scenes, however, the only indication of her importance is the fact that in the procession scenes, she is carried in a palanquin of her own, whereas in other Sed-festival depictions the queen is shown walking behind the palanquin of the king.
