TIYE (Part 2/2)
Tiye assumed the title of King’s Mother upon the
ascent to the throne of her son Amenhotep IV. Initially, he ruled from Malkata
and continued his father’s policies but, in the fifth year of his reign, he
abolished the old religion of Egypt, closed the temples, and proclaimed a new
order based on the worship of the one true god Aten. He changed his name to
Akhenaten and built a new city, with an even grander palace, on virgin land in
the middle of Egypt, which he called Akhetaten (horizon of Aten). Even though
there is no indication that Tiye had ever entertained anything like
monotheistic leanings, she seems to have supported her son’s radical departure
from the religious policies of the past. The priests of Amun had gradually been
growing in wealth and power throughout the 18th dynasty until, by Amenhotep
III’s reign, their influence was on par with the royal house. Whatever Tiye may
have thought of her son’s monotheism privately, she would have approved of a
measure to increase the power of the throne at the expense of the clergy.
During Akhenaten’s reign, Tiye is depicted in
the role of a grandmother sitting with the royal children of her son and his
wife, Nefertiti, but she continued to play an important role in the political
life of Egypt. The king of Mitanni, Tushratta, carried on a correspondence
directly with Tiye and even mentioned matters having nothing to do with state
issues such as the pleasant times they had passed together in visits. Akhenaten
is routinely depicted with his mother in domestic scenes or official visits to
Akhetaten, and he was clearly very fond of her. Even her servants held her in
high regard. She is depicted with her family enjoying a banquet on the wall of
the tomb of her steward Huya, where she is bathed in the light of the god Aten
and is surrounded by her grandchildren. Bunson writes that depictions of Tiye
at this time “show a forceful woman with a sharp chin, deep-set eyes, and a
firm mouth”, and she continues to be depicted as a figure of prominence and
royal stature. Her example is thought to have served as a model for her
daughter-in-law, as Nefertiti enjoyed much the same status as Tiye, served the
court in the same capacity, and, most importantly, took care of the affairs of
state when her husband was otherwise occupied or distracted from his duties.
Tiye’s Death & Legacy
It is not known when Tiye died, but it was most
probably around the twelfth year of Akhenaten’s reign in the year 1338 BCE. The
painting and inscription on Huya’s tomb is the last known mention made of her
and is dated to that year. Her death is seen by some as coinciding with
Akhenaten’s seeming loss of interest in foreign affairs, and perhaps his grief
over the loss of his mother influenced his withdrawal. It has also been
suggested, however, that he may have had no interest all along and simply left
affairs of state to his mother and Nefertiti. Either way, his reign suffers a
marked decline after Tiye’s death, and he largely neglected foreign policy,
preferring to remain in his palace at Akhetaten and attend to his new religion.
This preoccupation with Aten led to a decrease in Egypt’s prestige and the loss
of a number of territories long held by the crown, notably Byblos, as well as
the rise in strength of the Hittites to the north since there was no longer a
significant Egyptian foreign policy to check their expansion. These
circumstances have led scholars to speculate that, had she lived longer or
perhaps exerted more direct influence on her son’s religious interest, the
Amarna Period would have been remembered more favorably by future generations
of Egyptians. As it came to be, however, Akhenaten would come to be considered
`the heretic king’ and his reign wiped from memory.
Following Akhenaten’s death, his son Tutankhamun
took the throne, repealed his father’s religious reforms, and re-instituted the
old religion of Egypt. Akhenaten’s monotheism was so hated by the people of
Egypt that measures were taken by his successors, Tutankhamun first and then Ay
following him, to bury the legacy of the `heretic king', put his reign
behind them, and build Egypt back to its former height. The last king of the
18th dynasty, Horemheb, took these measures further and, claiming the gods had
chosen him to restore Egypt to its former glory, tried to erase Akhenaten from
history. He ordered the temples to Aten, the stele, and even the city of
Akhetaten destroyed. The only way scholars in the modern day know anything
about the Amarna Period is because Horemheb used the ruins from Akhenaten’s
reign as fill in constructing new temples to the ancient gods of Egypt and,
from these ruins, the reign of the heretic king has been pieced together. It is
for this reason, also, that Tiye’s death date, and even her initial place of
burial, is a matter of debate.
Tiye appears to have first been buried in the
tomb of Akhenaten and then re-buried in the tomb of her husband Amenhotep III.
There is no clear agreement on this, however, because the argument for burial
in Amenhotep III’s tomb is based on the discovery of her Shabti dolls there but
nothing else. Further, her actual mummy was discovered (by the archaeologist
Victor Loret in 1898 CE) in the tomb of Amenhotep II. The claim that she was
first buried in her son’s tomb is supported by inscriptions but, as these
writings are not clear and often incomplete, they are open to interpretation.
Her mummy was first identified only as “The Elder Lady” and it was only later,
when more information came to light on the reign of Akhenaten, that she was
positively identified by name. At this time it became clear that, centuries
before the reign of Cleopatra, well known from Greek and Roman accounts, there
existed a queen of Egypt who ruled with the same authority as a man and
exercised her power in equal measure with the great kings of the ancient world.
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