Kiya disappears
Around Year XVI another important figure disappeared from the scene, Akhenaten's second wife, Kiya. In texts, Kiya is given the lengthy title 'the greatly beloved wife of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Neferkheperure-Wa'enre, child of the Aten, who lives now and forever more'. She is never referred to as 'Royal Wife', as this was a title reserved exclusively for Nefertiti. Kiya's abnormally elaborate title, as long as Nefertiti's, may have been given to her to compensate for what was in fact a secondary status.
'...there is strong reason to believe that Kiya was princess Tadukhipa of Mitanni...'
On jar inscriptions, Kiya is mentioned simply as 'the Great Lady (of Naharina)'. As Naharina was also known as Mitanni, there is strong reason to believe that Kiya was princess Tadukhipa of Mitanni, sent to the Egyptian court late in the reign of Akhenaten's father, Amenhotep III, by Tushratta of Mitanni (Naharina). After a few years in the old pharaoh's harem, she was put into that of his son. During the reign of Akhenaten, relations between Egypt and Mitanni soured, as one Amarna Letter tells us (Armana Letter EA 29), and it is likely that Kiya paid the price for these diplomatic upheavals.
Her final destiny is uncertain. In Amarna her official monuments were re-dedicated to two of Akhenaten's daughters - Merytaten and Ankhesenpaaten. Her coffin and canopic jars, discovered in Tomb 55 of the Valley of the Kings, were reused for the burial of Akhenaten. It is possible that Kiya returned to Mittani when her father was assassinated, leaving a daughter in Egypt. Following Kiya's disappearance, her daughter's name (which contained the suffix -aten) was effaced from the monuments to Kiya and replaced by the names of fictional children of Akhenaten's daughters. There are clear indications that this princess, the daughter of Kiya, was in reality the 'royal daughter' Baketaten, depicted in the tomb of the Noble 'Huya' at Amarna.
Published: 2002-09-05
Bookmark with:
What are these?