Tiye. A yewwood sculpture in the Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin

Fragmentary funerary mask of Queen Tiye. Also part of the Ägyptisches Museum collection in Berlin

Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tiy and Teje) was the chief Queen of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III and matriarch of the Amarna family. By all accounts, she was a very beautiful woman. Tjuyu, Tiye’s mother, was the wife of Yuya, who was probably a native Egyptian nobleman from the Upper Egyptian town of Min where he served as a Priest and chief of Oxen there. Some scholars maintain he was of Asiatic descent, this is unproven. According to some accounts, Tiye married Amenhotep III while he was still yet a royal prince. Others place the marriage during Year 2 of his reign (1385 BC). They had at least six children, one of whom, Akhenaten, went on to become pharaoh. Teje, Ägyptisches Museum Berlin 2003, photographer: falkue File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Teje, Ägyptisches Museum Berlin 2003, photographer: falkue File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Bust of Nefertiti, Ägyptisches Museum The Egyptian Museum of Berlin (German: Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung) is home to one of the worlds most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artefacts. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1148x1740, 2627 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Tiye ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1148x1740, 2627 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Tiye ... Bust of Nefertiti, Ägyptisches Museum The Egyptian Museum of Berlin (German: Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung) is home to one of the worlds most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artefacts. ... (Redirected from 1398 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1440s BC 1430s BC 1420s BC 1410s BC 1400s BC - 1390s BC - 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC Events and Trends 1397 BC - Pandion, legendary King of Athens dies after a... (Redirected from 1338 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC - 1330s BC - 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1338 BC - Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen... Pharaoh is a title used to refer to any ruler, usually male, of the Egyptian kingdom in the pre-Christian, pre-Islamic period. ... nomen or birth name Nebmaatre Amenhotep III (called Nibmu(`w)areya in the Amarna letters) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. ... ... Amarna The site of Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna or incorrectly as Tel el-Amarna; see below) (Arabic: العمارنة al-‘amārnä) is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of al-Minya, some 58 km (38 miles) south of the city of... Tjuyu (sometimes transliterated as Thuyu) was an Egyptian noblewoman and descedant of Ahmose-Nefertari. ... Yuya (left), suspected of being foreign, compared with his Egyptian wife Tuya (right). ... Map of Upper and Lower Egypt Ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper and Lower Egypt. ... (Redirected from 1385 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1430s BC 1420s BC 1410s BC 1400s BC 1390s BC - 1380s BC - 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC 1330s BC Events and Trends Pharaoh Amenhotep II connects the Nile and the Red Sea... For other uses, see Akhenaten (disambiguation). ...

Amenhotep III lavished a good deal of attention on his charming wife. He devoted a number of shrines to her, and built her a palace, and even an artificial lake. During his reign, Akhenaton built his mother a sumptuous shrine.

Tiye enjoyed a good deal of power during both her husband’s and son’s reigns. Amenhotep III, although a fine sportsman, a lover of outdoor life, and a man of great wealth, was no statesman. Tiye, on the other hand, appears to have been the power behind the throne. She was her husband’s trusted advisor and confidant, played an active role in foreign relations, and was the first Egyptian queen to have her name recorded on official acts. She continued to advise Akhenaten when he took the throne. Her son’s correspondence with Tushratta, the king of Mitanni, speaks of Tiye’s political influence, which she wielded, in part, because royal and noble bloodlines passed through the family’s female members at that time. In Amarna letter 26, king Tushratta to Mitanni personally corresponded to Tiye herself to reminisce about the good relations which he enjoyed with her now deceased husband and his wish to continue on friendly terms with her son, Akhenaten.^[1] ... Tushratta was a king of the Mitanni at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten -- approximately the late 14th century BC. He was the son of Shuttarna II, and his daughter Tadukhipa was married to Akhenaten. ... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Mesopotamia (in what is today Syria) from ca. ... Mitanni or Mittani (in Assyrian sources Hanilgalbat, Khanigalbat) was a Hurrian kingdom in northern Mesopotamia (in what is today Syria) from ca. ...

Amenhotep III died in Year 38 of his reign (1353 BC/1350 BC) and was buried in the Valley of the Kings in WV22. But twelve years after his death, Tiye was still mentioned in the Amarna letters and in inscriptions as queen and beloved of the king. In an inscription dated approximately to November 21 of Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign (1338 BC), both she and her granddaughter Meketaten are mentioned for the last time. They are thought to have died shortly after that date. (Redirected from 1353 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC - 1350s BC - 1340s BC 1330s BC 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1350 BC - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV Akhenaton rises to... (Redirected from 1350 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1400s BC 1390s BC 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC - 1350s BC - 1340s BC 1330s BC 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1350 BC - Pharaoh Amenhotep IV Akhenaton rises to... View over the East Valley The Valley of the Kings, or Wadi el-Muluk (وادي الملوك) in Arabic, is a valley in Egypt where tombs were built for the Pharaohs and powerful nobles of the New Kingdom, the Eighteenth through Twentieth Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. ... Tomb WV22 in the Western arm of the Valley of the Kings was used as the resting of the one the greatest rulers of Egypts New Kingdom, Amenhotep III. It was officially discovered by Prosper Jollois and Eduard de Villiers du Terrage, engineers with Napoleons expedition to Egypt in... One of the Amarna letters The designation Amarna letters denotes an archive of correspondence, mostly diplomatic, between the Egyptian administration and its representatives in Canaan and Amurru. ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... (Redirected from 1338 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC - 1330s BC - 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1338 BC - Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen... Meketaten was the second daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. ...

In 1898, Victor Clement Georges Philippe Loret discovered a mummy of a pharaoh that is believed to have been Amenhotep III. Alongside it was the mummy of an "Elder Lady." The identification of the "Elder Lady" as Tiye has found considerable support among scholars but an examination of the mummy is inconclusive in terms of its age. A lock of Tiye's hair was found in a nest of miniature coffins in Tutankhamun's tomb which is explicitly stated as belonging to Tiye. ^[2] 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Victor Clement Georges Philippe Loret (1 September 1859 – 3 February 1946) was a French Egyptologist. ... A mummy is a corpse whose skin and dried flesh have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or airlessness. ... Pharaoh is a title used to refer to any ruler, usually male, of the Egyptian kingdom in the pre-Christian, pre-Islamic period. ...

If Tiye died soon after Year 12 of Akhenaten's reign (1338 BC), 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 years old. Suggestions of a co-regency between Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaten lasting for up to twelve years continue but most scholars today see either a brief coregency lasting 1 year at the most ^[3] or no coregency at all. ^[4] (Redirected from 1338 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC - 1330s BC - 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1338 BC - Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen... (Redirected from 1398 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1440s BC 1430s BC 1420s BC 1410s BC 1400s BC - 1390s BC - 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC Events and Trends 1397 BC - Pandion, legendary King of Athens dies after a...

Burial

Tiye is believed to have been buried in Akhenaten's royal tomb at Amarna alongside her son and granddaughter Meketaten, as a fragment from the tomb was not long ago identified as being from her sarcophagus. Her gilded burial shrine (showing her with Akhenaten) ended up in KV55 while shabtis belonging to her were found in Amenhotep III's WV22 tomb.^[2] Whether or not she was actually buried in either of these tombs is not known. In the tomb KV35, a mummy known as the Elder Lady has been tentatively identified as hers. Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton state, however, that "it seems very unlikely that her mummy could be the so-called 'Elder Lady' in the tomb of Amenhotep II."^[2] Amarna The site of Amarna (commonly known as el-Amarna or incorrectly as Tel el-Amarna; see below) (Arabic: العمارنة al-‘amārnä) is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of al-Minya, some 58 km (38 miles) south of the city of... Meketaten was the second daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. ... Stone sarcophagus of Pharaoh Merenptah Detail of a stone sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archeological Museum showing a hunting scene Anthropoid sarcophagus discovered at Cádiz A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. ... Edward R. Ayrton discovered Tomb KV55 in Egypts Valley of the Kings on January 6, 1907; Ayrtons sponsor, Theodore M. Davis, published an account of the dig (The Tomb of Queen Tîyi) in 1910. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with ushabti. ... nomen or birth name Nebmaatre Amenhotep III (called Nibmu(`w)areya in the Amarna letters) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. ... Tomb WV22 in the Western arm of the Valley of the Kings was used as the resting of the one the greatest rulers of Egypts New Kingdom, Amenhotep III. It was officially discovered by Prosper Jollois and Eduard de Villiers du Terrage, engineers with Napoleons expedition to Egypt in... KV35 in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt) is the tomb of Amenhotep II. It was discovered by Victor Loret in April 1898. ...

References

1. ^ [1] EA 26 - A Letter from Tushratta to Tiye
2. ^ ^{a b c} Dodson & Hilton, The Royal Families of Ancient Egypt p.157
3. ^ Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten: The False Prophet pp.75-78
4. ^ David O'Connor & Eric Cline, Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign