SOURCES

QUEEN TIYE (1398BC - 1338BC)

SOURCE A

This colossal statue is Amenhotep III, Queen Tiye and their three daughters. One daughter can be seen standing between the couples legs, nearly twice life size. The other daughters on either side are badly damaged. This statue is made of limestone and stands 36 feet high. It was found in several pieces and reconstructed. It now stands in the main hall of the Cairo Museum.

SOURCE B – Commemorative Marriage scarab

Translation:The Living Horus 'Strong BullAppearing in Truth'; He of the TwoGoddesses 'Establishing Laws,Pacifying the Two Lands'; GoldenHorus 'Great of Valour, Smiting theAsiatics'; King of the Upper and LowerEgypt; Neb-Ma'at-Re; Son of Re,Amenhotep Ruler of Thebes, given life;the Great Royal Consort Tiyi, may shelive. The name of her father is Yuia[Yuya], the name of her mother Thuia[Thuya]. She is the wife of a mightyking whose southern boundary is toKaroy, whose northern to Naharina.

SOURCE C - FOREIGN POLICY

Amarna Letters: A Letter from Tushratta to Tiye EA 26

Everything is well with me. May everything be well with you. May everything go well for your house, your son, may everything be perfectly well for your soldiers and for everything belonging to you.

You are the one who knows that I have always felt friendship for Mimmuriya, your husband, and that Mimmuriya, your husband, on his part always felt friendship for me. And the things that I wrote and told Mimmuriya, your husband, and the things that Mimmuriya, your husband, on his part wrote and told me incessantly, were known to you, Keliya and Mane. But it is you who knows better than anybody, the things we have told each other. No one knows them better [...]

You should continue sending joyful embassies, one after another. Do not suppress them.

I shall not forget the friendship with Mimmuriya, your husband. At this moment and more than ever, I have ten times more friendship for your son, Napkhuria.

You are the one who knows the words of Mimmuriya, your husband, but you have not sent me yet the gift of homage which Mimmuriya, your husband, has ordered to be sent to me. I have asked Mimmuriya, your husband, for massive gold statues [...] But your son has gold-plated statues of wood.As the gold is like dust in the country of your son, why have they been the reason for such pain, that your son should not have given them to me? [...] Neither has he given me what his father had been accustomed to give."

NEFERTITI (?BC)SOURCE D

King Akhenaten (left) inscribed with wife, Nefertiti (right), with their three children. Taken from a stela.

SOURCE E

An inscription depicting Akhenaten (right) and Nefertiti (left) worshiping Aten through offerings.

SOURCE F

Nefertiti and Akhenaten rewarding the priest Parennefer. Behind the royal couple we see Princesses Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, their nurses and the Queen's Sister Mutnodjemet.

NEFERTARI (?BC)SOURCE G

Cuneiform tablets from the Hittite city of Hattusas show Nefertari’s prominence at court as it contains her letters from the King Hattusili III and his wife Pudukhepa. She is referred to as ‘Naptera’ and is known to have sent gifts to Pudukhepa.

“The great Queen Naptera of the land of Egypt speaks thus: Speak to my sister Puduhepa, the Great Queen of the Hatti land. I, your sister, (also) be well!! May your country be well. Now, I have learned that you, my sister, have written to me asking after my health. ... You have written to me because of the good friendship and brotherly relationship between your brother, the king of Egypt, The Great and the Storm God will bring about peace, and he will make the brotherly relationship between the Egptian king, the Great King, and his brother, the Hatti King, the Great King, last forever... See, I have sent you a gift, in order to greet you, my sister... for your neck (a necklace) of pure gold, composed of 12 bands and weighing 88 shekels, coloured linen maklalu-material, for one royal dress for the king... A total of 12 linen garments” – (Tyldesley, Joyce. Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2006), (Kitchen, K. A., Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, The King of Egypt, Aris & Phillips. 1983)

SOURCE H

Abu Simbel, Small Temple: this was dedicated to both Nefertari and the goddess Hathor. Dedication text:

“A temple of great and mighty monuments, for the Great Royal Wife Nefertari Meryetmut, for whose sake the (very) sun does shine, given life and beloved” (Kitchen, K.A. 1996, Ramesside Inscriptions, Translated, Annotated, Translations Volume II, Blackwell Publishers)

SOURCE I

The larger temple at Abu Simbel that was solely dedicated to Nefertari.

Outside the temple, there is a stature of Ramesses II and beside him, in a smaller size, Nefertari appears twice. Inside the temple she is shown on one of the pillars in the great pillared hall worshipping Hathor of Ibshek. She is also shown standing behind Ramesses II on the wall of the inner pillared hall which symbolises she was still inferior to him, however, important enough to have a temple dedicated to her. Ramesses and Nefertari are also depictied standing before the barque of Amun and she is shown playing the sistra. Nefertari is shown twice accompanying her husband in triumph scenes as well as before a barque dedicated to a deified Ramesses II. (Tyldesley, Joyce.

Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2006), (Kitchen, K.A. 1996, Ramesside Inscriptions, Translated, Annotated, Translations Volume II, Blackwell Publishers)