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Kiya
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Kiya was a wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and her actions and roles are poorly documented in the historical record in contrast to Akhenaten's first (and chief) royal wife, Nefertiti.
Name and titles
The name Kiya itself is cause for much debate. It has been suggested that it is a "pet" form, rather than a full name, and as such could well be a contraction of a foreign name, such as the Mitanni "Gilukhipa" or "Tadukhipa" daughter of Tushratta.
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Encyclopedia
Kiya was a wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and her actions and roles are poorly documented in the historical record in contrast to Akhenaten's first (and chief) royal wife, Nefertiti.
Name and titles
The name Kiya itself is cause for much debate. It has been suggested that it is a "pet" form, rather than a full name, and as such could well be a contraction of a foreign name, such as the Mitanni "Gilukhipa" or "Tadukhipa" daughter of Tushratta. However, no evidence currently exists to support the idea that she was not of native Egyptian origin. In addition, Gilukhipa married Amenhotep III twenty-eight years before his death, thus she was at least a generation older than Akhenaten, which makes it unlikely that Gilukhipa and Akhenaten married.
In inscriptions, Kiya is given the titles of "The Favorite" and "The Greatly Beloved", but never of "Heiress" or "Great Royal Wife", which suggests that she was not of royal Egyptian blood. Her full titles read, "The wife and greatly beloved of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Living in Truth, Lord of the Two Lands, Neferkheperrure Waenre, the Goodly Child of the Living Aten, who shall be living for ever and ever, Kiya." The use of Aten in her name strongly suggests an association with Akhenaten, rather than any other pharaoh.
Discovery
Her existence was unknown until 1959, when her name and titles were noted on a small cosmetic container held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It had been bought almost thirty years previously, without provenance, from Egyptologist Howard Carter.
Several items of Kiya's funerary artifacts have been discovered, such as the gilded coffin found in tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings, along with a set of (unfortunately, erased and recarved) canopic jars. However, Kiya's name may be discerned, faintly appearing on a jar at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as traces on a set of canopic jars depicting her likeness.
There is considerable evidence to indicate that a temple was built specifically for her in Amarna, the Maru-Aten, also known as the "sun shade temple" (although the temple was later usurped for one of Akhenaten's daughters, Meritaten, who replaced Kiya's name with her own).
The British Egyptologists Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton wrote that:
- "Kiya is named and depicted on various blocks originating at Amarna, on vases in London and New York, four fragmentary kohl-tubes in Berlin and London, and a wine-jar docket. She may also be depicted by three uninscribed sculptor's studies. Her coffin and canopic jars were taken over for the burial of a king (probably Smenkhkare), which was ultimately discovered in tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings. Almost all of Kiya's monuments were usurped for daughters of Akhenaten, making it fairly certain that she was disgraced some time after Year 11 [of Akhenaten]."
Disgrace or death?
There is clear evidence that Kiya fell from grace at Akhenaten's court. The last datable occurrence of Kiya's name occurs on a wine docket from Amarna which mentions Akhenaten's Year 11. The exact date of her disappearance is unknown, but must have occurred sometime after this date. As Jacobus van Dijk notes:
- One of the Amarna blocks from Hermopolis (438/VIIA) throws new light on this question: the original inscription which originally mention Kyia" had "been replaced with a text mentioning Ankhesenpaaten in conjunction with the prenomen of Akhenaten."
This text was compounded with an epithet associated with Akhenaten's Year 12 Nubian campaign which suggests that her presumed downfall and the subsequent erasure of her name occurred around this time.
There is some evidence that Kiya was the mother of Pharaoh Tutankhamun and/or Smenkhkare, namly, her title 'Greatly Beloved Wife' and that in one depiction, next to her death bed is a fan-bearer and a wet nurse thought to be holding a baby boy. There is some evidence to suggest that the woman is indeed Kiya but her identification remains a mystery. If it is, it could mean a death resulting from childbirth as well.
Mummy
In recent research the mummy of Kiya has been identified as the Younger Lady in KV35. According to Joann Fletcher, who however, did not identify the mummy with Kiya, a Nubian-style wig was found near the mummy, a style of wig associated with Kiya.
Gallery of images
External links
- - Canopic Jar Lid, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, late reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1340–1336 B.C. Egyptian; From KV55, Valley of the Kings, western Thebes. Egyptian alabaster with glass and stone inlays; H. 20 1/2 in. (52.1 cm); Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915 (30.8.54) | Object P.
- - Includes a few photos of reliefs which may depict her.
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