All hail this Great Royal wife, the woman with the flowing hair

BY DAVE RANKIN

Queen Tiye (sometimes pronounced Tee or Tee-yay) was born to parents Tuya and Yuya in Nubia. Both parents held prominent positions in Kemetian society. Her father Yuya served as an adviser to Amenhotep the 3^rd, and held several titles such as “King’s Lieutenant” and “Master of the House.” Her mother Tuya, is rumored to be a descendant of The Royal Wife and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. Tuya also held several titles such as “Singer of Hathor” and “Chief of the Entertainers” of the deities Amun and Min. Queen Tiye’s parents are said to have lived at least till their fifties and were buried in the Valley of the Kings located under tomb KV46.

While there is very little written about Queen Tiye’s childhood, we know that she married Amenhotep the 3^rd during the second year of his reign. They were both children at the time of their union but spent their whole lives together. As written in my previous article, Amenhotep the 3^rd was 12 years old. I can only assume that Tiye was in the same age range as well at the time of their marriage.

Amenhotep the 3^rd  commemorated their marriage with a series of ‘khepra’ or scarab statues that were scattered throughout Kemet. These statues also announced Tiye’s position as the “Great Royal Wife” or the “King’s Great Wife.” This placed her in the highest of regard with respect to royal matters. Her name was now to be etched on royal documents such as the Nesew or King’s announcement of marriage to a foreign princess. This is where I urge my readers to revisit my two part series on Amenhotep the 3^rd, where we have described some of the marriages to numerous foreign princesses.

A little-known fact that I came across from the British scholar Robin Walker’s seminal work “When We Ruled,” was that Queen Tiye had made the arrangements for these ‘diplomatic marriages’ in order to secure alliances. This would make perfect sense since every scholar I came across has stated that Queen Tiye played such an important role when it came to Kemet’s foreign policy. Foreign dignitaries loved to deal directly with Queen Tiye due to her excellent communication and wisdom she displayed. Proof of this can be seen in the Armana letter EA26. Although the letter is dated during the reign of her son Akhenaten, it is addressed to her and it is written by the king of the Mitanni Tushratta.

She grew to be her husband’s greatest confidant, and he showered her with the admiration that a man who loves his wife should. Amenhotep excavated a lake approximately 6,400 feet in length and 1,200 in width located not too far from the West Bank of Thebes. There were also several temples erected in her name like the temple in Sedeinga, Nubia present day Sudan. There is a quote from Amenhotep the 3^rd where he again expresses his love for his wife with the following: “The most praised, the lady of grace, sweet in her love, who fills the palace with her beauty, the Regent of the North and South, the Great Wife of the King, the lady of both lands…”

Queen Tiye and Amenhotep the 3^rd had approximately seven children together. Their four daughters: Sitamum (who was also elevated to the position of The Great Royal Wife by her father), Isis, Henuttaneb, Nebetah, and their three sons: Crown Prince Tuthmose, Smenkhare, and the most famous of them all Amenhotep the 4^th (better known to the world as Akhenaten). Queen Tiye had also played an important role in the early years of Akhenaten’s reign.

Queen Tiye outlived her husband by about twelve years, passing around the age of sixty. She was also buried in the Valley of the Kings, specifically tomb KV35. Her tomb was originally found around 1898 by French Egyptologist Victor Loret. She was found alongside two other mummies: a young boy and girl. If you ever get a chance to search for the mummy of Queen Tiye, which now lies in the Egyptian Museum, you will notice the flowing hair she had at the time of her death.

Long live this magnificent woman. All hail this Great Royal Wife.