Tey [61741]

  General Notes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tey


Tey was the wife of Kheperkheprure Ay (occasionally "Aya"), who was the penultimate pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty . She was also the wetnurse of Queen Nefertiti .[1]

Her husband, Ay filled an important role in the courts of several pharaohs \endash Amenhotep III , Akhenaten and Tutankhamen \endash , before ascending the throne himself, as the male line of the royal family became extinct. He is believed to be connected to the royal family; he was likely a brother of Queen Tiye (wife of Amenhotep III), the father of Nefertiti (wife of Akhenaten) and a grandfather of Ankhesenamen (wife of Tutankhamen).

On inscriptions from the Amarna period Tey is called "nurse of the Great Royal Wife". This indicates that even if Ay was Nefertiti's father, as he is usually believed to be, Tey was not her mother; according to this theory she was possibly the second wife of Ay after Nefertiti's mother died.[2] It is likely that Mutnedjmet , who married Horemheb , Ay's successor on the throne, was their daughter, since on Amarna inscriptions she is called "sister of the Great Royal Wife".[3] It is also possible that Ay's intended successor, Nakhtmin , was his son, possibly by Tey.[4] Tey had a sister called Mutemnub.[5]

She is depicted in her husband's unused Amarna tomb and later in his tomb in the Valley of Kings , also, in a rock chapel dedicated to Min in Akhmim [1]

Sources

1. ^ ^{a b} Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004) ISBN 0-500-05128-3 , p.157
2. ^ Dodson & Hilton, pp.36,147
3. ^ Dodson & Hilton, pp.153, 155-156
4. ^ Dodson & Hilton, pp.151-153
5. ^ Dodson & Hilton, p.155

Tey married Ay [61737] [MRIN: 551617778], son of Yuya [61735] and Tjuyu [61736]. (Ay [61737] died between 1319 and 1323 B.C. and was buried in WV23.)