Mihos Wrote:
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> Thank you. Would you please elucidate the roles of
> Tuja as it relates to the Harem and the Kap?

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Thuya, as I suspect this is who you mean, was a /Xkrt nsw/, "Ornament of the king" - that is, a lady in waiting, specifically, a mistress of the robes (Maspero in Davise 2000 (1907-08): XVII). Whether she acquired this position after her daughter became queen or before, as lady in waiting to Amenhotep III's father Thutmose IV, is unknown. The assumption from its inclusion on her coffin is that her service was to Amenhotep III.

It is not known, beyond this title, if indeed she was part of the /Xrdw n kAp/ system, though it's possible. Yuya, OTOH, does not possess a /Xrd n kAp/ epithetical title, so he probably was not a member of the /Xrdw n kAp/ system.

> Is it possible that Tiye, Aanen and Aye were
> siblings only by virtue of their symbolic
> relationship to Tuja?

I see no reason to assume the relationships were "symbolic" at all, but actual.

Thuya lists 2 children as her own on her coffin: her most important daughter, Tiye, who was queen of Amenhotep III, as Thiys lists her own relatship to Tiye prominiently: /nsw mwt n Hmt nsw wrt/ "royal mother of the Great Royal Wife." She also lists her relationship to her son, Aanen, as /sA.s Hm-nTr sn.nw n Imn, Aannw, "her son, second prophet of Amun, Aanen" (Maspero in Davis 2000(1907-08): XVIII; Davies 1994: 49).

Interestingly, on Aanen's statue in Turin, he lists his official civil titles as "seal-bearer to the king," "sole friend of the king," and his sacral titles of "Greatest of all Seers in the House of the Noble," "sem-priest of Thebes," as well as his "second prophet of Amun" title (Davies 1994: 48). He does not claim any relationship to Yuya and Thuya on this statue, but more importantly, nor does he claim any specific familial relationship to Queen Tiye or Amenhotep III. He claims only the title of "friend of the king" which is a fairly common, though close, statesmanship title, as well as his official title of "seal-bearer," to Amenhotep III.

Thuya does not list Aye anywhere on her coffins, and so, his relationship to her, and to Tiye as sister, is only speculated, but never proven. There's nothing in his titles which claims relationship to Tiye or to Thuya/Yuya, either.

> Was Sitamun the daughter of
> Thutmose and Iaret? If theoretically IAret or some
> other royal wife predeceased her daughter, would
> she not become the 'daughter' of the reigning
> chief wife?

Doubtful. A chair, found in Thuya's and Yuya's tomb, indicates in relief on the back of the chair a representation of a queen shown with two young women on either side of her. The queen is identified as "The Great Royal Wife,Tiye" while the daughter standing before her is identified as Satamun, "greatly loved daughter of the king." The daughter behind the queen is not identifed, or name has been lost. There's no reason to think, especially from this relief, that Satamun is anything but daughter to Queen Tiye (Newberry in Davis 2000 (1907-08): 43, Fig. 4).

Further, it appears that Satamun's title of /Hmt nsw wrt/ "Great Royal Wife," was probably of a ritual nature, related to the King's Heb Sed jubilee, as both she and Tiye are shown together in several reliefs, in which Satamun serves as Amenhotep III's Great Royal Wife, while Tiye is treated as an avatar for several goddesses. So, in the 3rd Heb Sed of Amenhotep III, not only was Amenhotep III deified, but possibly Tiye as well (Johnson 1993 and 1996).

Reference:

Davies, B. G. 1994. Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty. Fasc. V. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, Ltd.

Davis, T. M. 2000 (1907-1908). The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou, with the Funeral Papyrus of Iouiya. Duckworth Egyptology. N. Reeves. London: Duckworth.

Johnson, W. R. 1993. The Deified Amenhotep III as the Living Re-Horakhty: Stylistic and Iconographic Considerations. In Atti, Ed., VI Congresso Internationale di Egittologia, II: 231-236. Turin: International Association of Egyptologists.

_____________. 1996. Amenhotep III at Amarna: Some New Considerations. JEA 82: 63-82.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom