Tiye


Tiye was the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III, mother of pharaoh Akhenaten and grandmother of pharaoh Tutankhamun; her parents were Yuya and Thuya. In 2010, DNA analysis confirmed her as the mummy known as "The Elder Lady" found in the tomb of Amenhotep II in 1898.

Family and early life

Tiye's father, Yuya, was a non-royal, wealthy landowner from the Upper Egyptian town of Akhmim, where he served as a priest and superintendent of oxen or commander of the chariotry. Tiye's mother, Thuya, was involved in many religious cults, as her different titles attested. Sometimes it is believed that Thuya is likely to be of royal descent.
Egyptologists have suggested that Tiye's father, Yuya, was of foreign origin due to the features of his mummy and the many different spellings of his name, which might imply it was a non-Egyptian name in origin. Some suggest that the queen's strong political and unconventional religious views might have been due not just to a strong character, but to foreign descent. However, a growing number of scholars—especially more recent ones—argue that Tiye and her parents were of indigenous Egyptian origin, originating from Akhmin, and maintain that Yuya’s name shows no phonological features characteristic of a foreign language.
Recent studies indicate that Tiye, Amenhotep III, and their descendants shared certain medical conditions. Tiye, Amenhotep III, Semenkhkara, Tutankhamun, and KV35YL all suffered from scoliosis and overbite. Additionally, Amenhotep III and his father-in-law Yuya share one third of their genetic genes, suggesting that Yuya was likely Amenhotep III's uncle. However, the possibility that Yuya was a brother of Thutmose IV is almost inconceivable. Furthermore, through DNA comparison, KV21A has been identified as a sister of Yuya and is believed to possibly be Mutemwiya, though this remains uncertain.
Tiye also had a brother, Anen, who was Second Prophet of Amun. Ay, a successor of Tutankhamun as pharaoh after the latter's death, is believed to be yet another brother of Tiye, despite no clear date or monument confirming a link between the two. Egyptologists presume this connection from Ay's origins, because he is known to have built a chapel dedicated to the local god Min there, and because he inherited most of the titles that Tiye's father, Yuya, held at the court of Amenhotep III during his lifetime.
Tiye was married to Amenhotep III by the second year of his reign. In the past, it was believed that the ancient Egyptian kingship was transmitted through the female line, and that a pharaoh established his legitimacy by marrying a royal heiress. This theory has now been abandoned, and it is no longer considered unusual for a king’s chief queen to be of non-royal origin. However, the very young age at which Amenhotep III married makes it more likely that his marriage was closely connected with his mother, Mutemwiya, who probably acted as regent during the early years of his reign. Moreover, DNA evidence indicates that through her Amenhotep III was linked by close blood ties to his father-in-law. Their marriage was celebrated by the issue of commemorative scarabs, announcing Tiye as Great Royal Wife and giving the names of her parents. He appears to have been crowned while still a child, perhaps between the ages of six and twelve. The couple had at least seven, and possibly more, children.

Issue

Tiye and her husband had six confirmed children:
  1. Sitamun – The eldest daughter, who was elevated to the position of Great Royal Wife around year 30 of her father's reign.
  2. Isis – Also elevated to the position of Great Royal Wife.
  3. Henuttaneb – Not known to have been elevated to queenship, though her name does appear in a cartouche at least once.
  4. Nebetah – Sometimes thought to have been renamed Baketaten during her brother's reign.
  5. Crown Prince Thutmose – Crown Prince and High Priest of Ptah, pre-deceasing his father.
  6. Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten – Succeeded his father as pharaoh, husband of Queen Nefertiti, father of Ankhesenamun, who married Tutankhamun.
Additionally, there are speculations about three additional offspring:
  • Smenkhkare – has been speculated to be a son to Tiye but in fact primary sources that list her other children make this unlikely. Traditionally seen as one of Akhenaten's immediate successors, today some Egyptologists such as Aidan Dodson believe he was the immediate predecessor of Neferneferuaten and a junior co-regent of Akhenaten who did not have an independent reign. Sometimes identified with the mummy from KV55, and therefore Tutankhamun's father.
  • Anonymous mummy from KV35, called "the Younger Lady" – according to genetic testing in 2010, she is a daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye, mother of Tutankhamun and sister-wife of KV55. However, there are concerns that due to poor condition of DNA and inbreeding within royal family, results should be interpret differently; one of the alternative readings of tests suggests that the Younger Lady is Amenhotep III's and Tiye's granddaughter, Meritaten, rather than their daughter.
  • Beketaten – Sometimes thought to be Queen Tiye's daughter, usually based on reliefs of Baketaten seated next to Tiye at dinner with Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Probably Nebetah who likely changed her name when her brother Akhenaten changed the religion.

    Monuments

Her husband devoted a number of shrines to her and constructed a temple dedicated to her in Sedeinga in Nubia where she was worshipped as a form of the goddess Hathor-Tefnut. He also had an artificial lake built for her in his Year 12. On the colossal statue now in the Egyptian Museum she is of equal height with her husband. As the American Egyptologists David O'Connor and Eric Cline note:

Influence at court

Tiye wielded a great deal of power during both her husband's and son's reigns. Amenhotep III became a fine sportsman, a lover of outdoor life, and a great statesman. He often had to consider claims for Egypt's gold and requests for his royal daughters in marriage from foreign kings such as Tushratta of Mitanni and Kadashman-Enlil I of Babylon. The royal lineage was carried by the women of Ancient Egypt and marriage to one would have been a path to the throne for their progeny. Tiye became her husband's trusted adviser and confidant. Known for her intelligence and strong personality, she was able to gain the respect of foreign dignitaries. Foreign leaders were willing to deal directly with her. She continued to play an active role in foreign relations and was the first Egyptian queen to have her name recorded on official acts.
Tiye may have continued to advise her son, Akhenaten, when he took the throne. Her son’s correspondence with Tushratta, the king of Mitanni, speaks highly of the political influence she wielded at court. In Amarna letter EA 26, Tushratta, corresponded directly with Tiye to reminisce about the good relations he enjoyed with her then deceased husband and extended his wish to continue on friendly terms with her son, Akhenaten.
Amenhotep III died in Year 38 or Year 39 of his reign and was buried in the Valley of the Kings in WV22; however, Tiye is known to have outlived him by as many as twelve years. Tiye continued to be mentioned in the Amarna letters and in inscriptions as queen and beloved of the king. Amarna letter EA 26, which is addressed to Tiye, dates to the reign of Akhenaten. She is known to have had a house at Akhetaten, Akhenaten's new capital and is shown on the walls of the tomb of Huya – a "steward in the house of the king's mother, the great royal wife Tiyi" – depicted at a dinner table with Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their family and then being escorted by the king to her sunshade. In an inscription approximately dated to November 21 of Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign, both she and her granddaughter Meketaten are mentioned for the last time. They are thought to have died shortly after that date. This information is corroborated by the fact that the shrine which Akhenaten created for her—which was later found transported from Amarna to tomb KV55 in Thebes—bore the later form of the Aten's name which was only used after Akhenaten's Year 9.
If Tiye died soon after Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign, this would place her birth around 1398 BC, her marriage to Amenhotep III at the age of eleven or twelve, and her becoming a widow at the age of forty-eight to forty-nine. Suggestions of a co-regency between Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaten lasting for up to twelve years continue, but most scholars today either accept a brief co-regency lasting no more than one year or no co-regency at all.

Burial and mummy

Tiye is believed to have been originally buried in the Royal Tomb at Amarna alongside her son Akhenaten and granddaughter, Meketaten. Evidence shows the two northern pillars of the incomplete pillared hall were removed to accommodate a sarcophagus plinth and pieces of her smashed sarcophagus were found in and around the burial chamber. Analysis of the badly damaged decoration on the left wall beyond the plinth also indicates that Tiye was buried there. In a depiction that closely resembles the mourning of Meketaten in chamber γ, a figure stands beneath a floral canopy while the royal family grieves. The figure wears a queenly sash but cannot be Nefertiti because she is shown with the mourners. Therefore, the figure in the canopy is most likely to be Tiye. Tiye's sarcophagus was likely contained within multiple nested shrines, like those of her grandson Tutankhamun. The inscription on a portion of such a shrine found in KV55 indicates that Akhenaten had the shrines made for his mother.
Following the move of the capital back to Thebes, Tiye, along with others buried in the royal tomb, were transferred to the Valley of the Kings. The presence of pieces of one of her gilded burial shrines in KV55 indicate she was likely interred there for a time. Provisions had been made during the reign of her husband Amenhotep III for her burial within his tomb, WV22. Shabti figures belonging to her were found in this tomb.
In 1898, three sets of mummified remains were found in a side chamber of the tomb of Amenhotep II in KV35 by Victor Loret. One was an older woman and the other two were a young boy who died at around the age of ten, thought to be Webensenu or Prince Thutmose, and a younger, unknown woman. The three were found lying naked side-by-side and unidentified, having been unwrapped in antiquity by tomb robbers. The mummy of the older woman, who would later be identified as Tiye, was referred to by Egyptologists as the 'Elder Lady' while the other woman was 'The Younger Lady'. Several researchers argued that the Elder Lady was Queen Tiye. There were other scholars who were skeptical of this theory, such as British scholars Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton, who once stated that "it seems very unlikely that her mummy could be the so-called 'Elder Lady' in the tomb of Amenhotep II."
A nest of four miniature coffins inscribed with her name and containing a lock of hair was found in the tomb of her grandson Tutankhamun – perhaps a memento from a beloved grandmother. In 1976, microprobe analysis conducted on hair samples from the Elder Lady and the lock from the inscribed coffins found the two were a near perfect match, thereby identifying the Elder Lady as Tiye.
University of Michigan Professor, James Harris and team x-rayed the mummies of Yuya and Thuya who were known to have been the parents to Tiye. When uploading the scans to a computer it was discovered that the profiles matched that of the Elder Lady. Based on the position of the Elder Lady's left arm, Egyptologist Edward Frank Wente suspected it was a woman of royalty. Her hand was closed in a fist and positioned over her chest as if she had been holding a scepter. In 1976, Wente and Harris were given three hairs from the casket and used microprobe analysis comparing the hair found in the casket with the hair on the head of the mummy, they were found to be identical.
File:Mummy of Queen Tiye of Egypt.jpg|thumb|The Mummy of Queen Tiye, now at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo
By 2010, DNA analysis, sponsored by the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, was able to formally identify the Elder Lady as Queen Tiye. She was found to be about 40–50 years old at the time of her death, and tall. DNA results published in 2020 revealed that Tiye had the mtDNA haplogroup K. Tiye's father Yuya was found to have the Y-DNA haplogroup G2a and mtDNA haplogroup K.
Her mummy has the inventory number CG 61070. In April 2021 her mummy was moved from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of three other queens and 18 kings in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.