Not just Nefertiti – there are plenty of influential women in history. If you look for them… | Bettany Hughes

Only a handful of powerful female figures come swiftly to mind. But that's because the research is lacking

Nefertiti's tomb may have been found behind that of her son, Tutankhamun. Or it may not. Yet the possibility has spawned excitable headlines across the globe.

The story here is not simply the hypothesis, advanced by a British Egyptologist from the University of Arizona, Dr Nicholas Reeves, whose digital study of Tutankhamun's burial chamber has, perhaps, revealed two unopened side doors. It's more that this bronze age queen has such pulling power. Nefertiti is an exception that proves a rather worrying rule - only a handful of women, living or dead, have the power to command such attention.

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