The succeeding queen-consort, Ahmose Nefertari, ‘King’s Daughter’ and ‘King’s Sister’, was the wife and possibly niece of Ahmose, the mother of the succeeding pharaoh Amenhotep I and the granddaughter of Tetisheri; the mummified bodies of both these ladies show that they shared a family tendency towards unfortunately prominent front teeth. After her death she became the patron goddess of the Theban necropolis, an unprecedented honour reflecting her exalted position. She was eventually worshipped as the ‘Mistress of the Sky’ and ‘Lady of the West’.
All the words which I have spoken to your father, your mother knows them. No other person knows them, but you can ask your mother, Tiy, about them.
You know that I lived on friendly terms with your husband, and that your husband lived on friendly terms with me. You know, just as my messenger knows, the words that I have written and spoken to your husband, and the words which he has written back to me. You yourself know best all the words which we have spoken together. No one else knows them.
Letters of condolence written by King Tushrata of Mittani to the new King Akhenaten and the Dowager Queen Tiy on the death of Amenhotep III
Queen Tiy – ‘Like Maat following Re, she is in the following of your Majesty’ – was the wife of Amenhotep III and the mother of his successor Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten. She was not herself of royal blood, but came from a prominent and wealthy Egyptian family who lived at Akhmim on the east bank of the River Nile opposite the modern town of Sohag. Despite the suggestions of some early egyptologists, there is no proof at all that Tiy was not a native Egyptian although it is just possible that her father Yuya was of foreign extraction as his name is unusual and does not have a consistent Egyptian spelling. Yuya bore the prestigious titles of ‘God’s Father’, ‘Prophet of Min’ and ‘Overseer of the Horses’ while Tiy’s brother or half-brother Anen was a Second Prophet of Amen and her mother, Thuyu, was a well-respected lady. Both Yuya and Thuyu were eventually buried in a rock-cut tomb in the Valley of the Kings; a very great honour for a non-royal couple.
Although Amenhotep III maintained a considerable number of women in his harem, including Gilukhepa, Tadukhepa and the daughter of the King of Babylon who were mentioned earlier, Tiy remained a powerful figure throughout her husband’s reign. She had a very high public profile, being the first queen to be regularly depicted with her husband and the first queen whose name was constantly linked with that of her husband on official inscriptions. Her obvious political skills were widely recognized both within and outside Egypt, and Tushrata’s letters of condolence quoted above indicate just how widely the queen’s influence had spread. Throughout her life Tiy collected numerous titles; she was even, uniquely, represented in the tomb of Kheruef as a female sphinx trampling two female enemies (one Nubian and one Asiatic) underfoot. Although the sphinx was not an unusual motif in Egyptian art, this was the first time that a queen-consort had been shown in a typically (male) kingly role, while the depiction of female rather than male enemies is also highly unusual. Tiy, who was always closely identified with Hathor and who was the first queen to adopt the cow horns and sun disc in her headdress, gradually became regarded as the female counterpart of the semi-divine king, until eventually a temple was dedicated to her at Sedeinga in Nubia, the complement to her husband’s temple at nearby Soleb.
Amenhotep III and Tiy had four daughters – Sitamen, Henuttaneb, Isis and Nebetah – whose images are frequently depicted alongside those of their mother and father. Sitamen is even accorded the title of ‘Great King’s Wife’, and it is possible that she eventually became one of her father’s wives. In contrast the two sons of the marriage, Tuthmosis and Amenhotep, were rarely depicted in association with the king. Tuthmosis, the elder son, died young, and it was Amenhotep IV who succeeded his father to the throne.
My husband has died and I have no son. But you, so they say, have many sons. If you would give me one of your sons I would make him my husband. I could never select one of my servants and make him my husband.
Letter written by the widowed Queen Ankhesenamen to King Suppiluliuma of the Hittites
The last of these remarkable 18th Dynasty queen-consorts was Ankhesenamen, wife and possibly half-sister to the boy-king Tutankhamen. Ankhesenamen, who was originally named Ankhesenpaaten, was the third of the six daughters born to King Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, and therefore a granddaughter of the great Queen Tiy. She appears to have enjoyed a very happy if brief married life, and as a typically loyal Egyptian wife she is shown supporting her husband in several conventional scenes, either watching him vanquishing the traditional enemies of Egypt or handing him arrows as he shoots in the marshes. After Tutankhamen’s untimely death, however, the teenage queen was faced with a constitutional crisis. As she had no children and neither she nor her husband had a living brother, there was no obvious and undisputed legal successor to the throne. Ankhesenamen did not attempt to follow the precedent set by Hatchepsut and rule Egypt alone. Instead, she wrote an extraordinary letter to King Suppiluliuma of the Hittites, explaining her predicament and begging for a suitable husband who would automatically become the next pharaoh. Not surprisingly, Suppiluliuma was highly suspicious of this unprecedented request. However, control of Egypt was too rich a prize to dismiss without further inquiry, and so he despatched an ambassador to ascertain whether or not Ankhesenamen was in earnest. A young prince did eventually set out to be married; unfortunately the groom was murdered on the way to his wedding, provoking a small war between the two countries. The husbandless queen eventually married the commoner Ay, a former general and ‘Overseer of all the Horses of His Majesty’ and sank into relative obscurity. Her new husband became the next pharaoh of Egypt.