Thuya (sometimes transliterated as Touiyou,
Thuiu,
Tuya,
Tjuyu or Thuyu) was an Egyptian noblewoman and the mother of queen
Tiye
Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. I ...
, and the wife of
Yuya
Yuya (sometimes Iouiya, or Yuaa, also known as Yaa, Ya, Yiya, Yayi, Yu, Yuyu, Yaya, Yiay, Yia, and Yuy) was a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC). He was married to Thuya, an Egyptian noble ...
. She is the grandmother of
Akhenaten
Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...
, and great grandmother of
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
.
Biography
Thuya is believed to be a descendant of Queen
Ahmose-Nefertari
Ahmose-Nefertari (Ancient Egyptian: '' Jꜥḥ ms Nfr trj'') was the first Great Royal Wife of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She was a daughter of Seqenenre Tao and Ahhotep I, and royal sister and wife to Ahmose I. Her son Amenhotep I b ...
, and she held many official roles in the interwoven religion and government of
ancient Egypt. She was involved in many religious cults; her titles included 'Singer of
Hathor
Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...
' and 'Chief of the Entertainers' of both
Amun
Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
and
Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Am ...
. She also held the influential offices of ''Superintendent of the
Harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
'' of the god
Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Am ...
of
Akhmin
Akhmim ( ar, أخميم, ; Akhmimic , ; Sahidic/Bohairic cop, ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Khemmis or Chemmis ( grc, Χέμμις) and Panopolis ( grc, Πανὸς πόλις and Π ...
and of Amun of
Thebes. She married
Yuya
Yuya (sometimes Iouiya, or Yuaa, also known as Yaa, Ya, Yiya, Yayi, Yu, Yuyu, Yaya, Yiay, Yia, and Yuy) was a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC). He was married to Thuya, an Egyptian noble ...
, a powerful
ancient Egyptian courtier of the
Eighteenth Dynasty. She is believed to have died in around 1375 BC in her early to mid 50s.
Children
Yuya and Thuya had a daughter named
Tiye
Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. I ...
, who became the
Great Royal Wife
Great Royal Wife, or alternatively, Chief King's Wife ( Ancient Egyptian: ''ḥmt nswt wrt'', cop, Ⲟⲩⲏⲣ Ⲟⲩⲣϣ), is the title that was used to refer to the principal wife of the pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, who served many official ...
of Pharaoh
Amenhotep III
Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...
. The great royal wife was the highest Egyptian religious position, serving alongside of the pharaoh in official ceremonies and rituals.
Yuya and Thuya also had a son named
Anen
Anen or Aanen was an ancient Egyptian official during the late 18th Dynasty of Egypt.
Biography
He was the son of Yuya and Thuya and the brother of Queen Tiye, the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Under the rule of his brother-in-law, Anen beca ...
, who carried the titles Chancellor of Lower Egypt, Second Prophet of Amun, sm-priest of Heliopolis and Divine Father.
They also may have been the parents of
Ay, an Egyptian courtier active during the reign of pharaoh
Akhenaten
Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...
who became pharaoh after the death of Tutankhamun. However, there is no conclusive evidence regarding the kinship of Yuya and Ay, although certainly, both men came from
Akhmim
Akhmim ( ar, أخميم, ; Akhmimic , ; Sahidic/Bohairic cop, ) is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Khemmis or Chemmis ( grc, Χέμμις) and Panopolis ( grc, Πανὸς πόλις and Π ...
.
[David, Anthony, E. and Rosalie David. A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. London: Seaby, 1992. p.167]
Tomb
![Mummy of Tjuyu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Mummy_of_Tjuyu.jpg)
Thuya was interred in tomb
KV46
Tomb KV46 in the Valley of the Kings is the tomb of the ancient Egyptian noble Yuya and his wife Thuya, the parents of Queen Tiye and Anen. It was discovered in February 1905 by Chief Inspector of Antiquities James E. Quibell, excavating under th ...
in the
Valley of the Kings
The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...
, together with her husband Yuya, where their largely intact burial was found in 1905. It was the best-preserved tomb discovered in the Valley before that of
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
, Thuya's great-grandson.
The tomb was discovered by a team of workmen led by archaeologist
James Quibell
James Edward Quibell (11 November 1867 – 5 June 1935) was a British Egyptologist.
Life
Quibbell was born in Newport, Shropshire. He married the Scottish artist and archaeologist Annie Abernethie Pirie in 1900.Bierbrier, M. L. 2012. ''Who Was ...
on behalf of the American millionaire
Theodore M. Davis.
Though the tomb had been robbed in antiquity, much of its contents were still present, including beds, boxes, chests, a chariot, and the sarcophagi, coffins, and mummies of the two occupants.
Thuya's large gilded and black-painted wooden sarcophagus was placed against the south wall of the tomb.
It is rectangular, with a lid shaped like the sloping roof of the ''per-wer'' shrine of Upper Egypt, and sits on ornamental sledge runners, their non-functionality underscored by the three battens attached below them.
Ancient robbers had partially dismantled it to access her coffins and mummy, placing its lid and one long side on a bed on the other side of the tomb; the other long side had been leaned against the south wall. Her outer gilded anthropoid coffin had been removed, its lid placed atop the beds, and the trough put into the far corner of the tomb; the lid of her second (innermost) coffin, also gilded, had been removed and placed to one side although the trough and her mummy remained inside the sarcophagus. Quibell suggests this is due to the robbers having some difficulty in removing the lid of this coffin.
Mummy
Thuya's mummified body was found covered with a large sheet of linen, knotted at the back and secured by four bandages. These bands were covered with resin and opposite each band were her gilded titles cut from gold foil. The resin coating on the lower layers of bandages preserved the impression of a large
broad collar.
The mummy bands that had once covered her wrapped mummy were recovered above the storage jars on the far side of the room.
The first examination of her body was conducted by Australian anatomist
Grafton Elliot Smith
Sir Grafton Elliot Smith (15 August 1871 – 1 January 1937) was an Australian-British anatomist, Egyptologist and a proponent of the hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory. He believed in the idea that cultural innovations occur only once and ...
. He found her to be an elderly woman of small stature, in height, with white hair. Both of her earlobes had two piercings. Her arms are straight at her sides with her hands against the outside of her thighs. Her embalming incision is stitched with thread, to which a
carnelian
Carnelian (also spelled cornelian) is a brownish-red mineral commonly used as a semi-precious gemstone. Similar to carnelian is sard, which is generally harder and darker (the difference is not rigidly defined, and the two names are often use ...
barrel bead is attached at the lower end; her body cavity is stuffed with resin-soaked linen. When Dr. Douglas Derry, (who later conducted the first examination of Tutankhamun's mummy) assisting Smith in his examination, exposed Thuya's feet to get an accurate measurement of her height, he found her to be wearing gold foil sandals. Smith estimated her age at more than 50 years based on her outward appearance alone.
Recent CT scanning has estimated her age at death to be 50–60 years old. Her brain was removed, though no embalming material was inserted, and both nostrils were stuffed with linen. Embalming packs had been placed into her eye sockets, and subcutaneous filling had been placed into her mid and lower face to restore a lifelike appearance;
embalming material had also been placed into her mouth and throat. Her teeth were in poor condition at the time of her death, with missing molars.
Heavy wear and abscesses had been noted in earlier x-rays.
The scan revealed that she had severe
scoliosis
Scoliosis is a condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve. The curve is usually "S"- or "C"-shaped over three dimensions. In some, the degree of curve is stable, while in others, it increases over time. Mild scoliosis does not t ...
with a
Cobb angle
The Cobb angle is a measurement of bending disorders of the vertebral column such as scoliosis and traumatic deformities.
Definition and method
It is defined as the greatest angle at a particular region of the vertebral column, when measured from ...
of 25 degrees. No cause of death could be determined.
Her mummy has the inventory number CG 51191.
Archaeological items pertaining to Thuya
File:Tjuyu's third coffin (KV46).jpg, Inner coffin of Thuya
File:Thuya.jpg, Statue of Thuya, now in the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
References
External links
KV 46 (Yuya and Thuyu) - Theban Mapping Project{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080927041306/http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_860.html , date=2008-09-27
15th-century BC births
1370s BC deaths
15th-century BC women
14th-century BC Egyptian women
Officials of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
14th-century BC Egyptian people
Ancient Egyptian mummies
Egyptian Museum
Ancient Egyptian priestesses