Tuya (queen)

Tuya
Queen consort of ancient Egypt
Great Royal Wife

King's Mother Tuya
Born Thebes?
Died ca. 1257 BC
Thebes
Burial QV80, Valley of the Queens, Thebes
Spouse Pharaoh Seti I
Issue Tia
Ramesses II
Henutmire (possibly)
Full name
Tuya or Mut-Tuya
Egyptian name
t w i A B7
Dynasty 19th of Egypt
Father Raia
Mother [R]uia
Religion Ancient Egyptian religion

Tuya (also called Tuy or Mut-Tuya[1]) was the wife of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and mother of Tia, Ramesses II, and perhaps Henutmire.

She was the daughter of Raia who was a military officer based on his title of Lieutenant of the chariotry.[2] Tuya's daughter, Princess Tia, was married to a high-ranking civil servant who was also called Tia.[2]

As the mother of Ramesses II, she enjoyed a privileged existence of a respected king's mother and was allowed the opportunity to correspond with the Hittite royal court after the Year 21 peace treaty between Egypt and Hatti put in place by Ramesses II.

Monuments and Inscriptions

Canopic jar lid of Queen Tuya from the Luxor Museum
Statue of Tuya from the Vatican.

Death and Burial

Tuya likely died soon after Year 22 of Ramesses' reign and was buried in an impressive tomb in the Valley of the Queens (QV80).[3] In her tomb, Tuya "was stripped of the first part of her name to become plain Tuya for eternity; the loss of the prefix Mut- suggests that her death had ended in an almost divine earthly status."[3]

In popular culture

Queen Tuya has been first portrayed by actress Irene Martin in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, as one of Bithiah's maidservants famous for quoting "Bithiah could charm tears from a crocodile".

She also appears in The Prince of Egypt as the adoptive mother of Moses, voiced by Helen Mirren. She is portrayed by Sigourney Weaver in the 2014 Ridley Scott film Exodus: Gods and Kings; In 2015, the Brazilian television series, Os Dez Mandamentos , the Queen Tuya is played by actress Angelina Muniz.

References

  1. Joyce Tyldesley, Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs, Penguin Books, 2000. p.116
  2. 1 2 Tyldesley, p.116
  3. 1 2 3 Tyldesley, p.122
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kitchen, K.A., Rammeside Inscriptions, Translated & Annotated, Translations, Volume II, Blackwell Publishers, 1996
  5. C. Desroche Noblecourt, "Abou Simbel, Ramses, et les dames de la couronne" in E. Bleiberg & R. Freed (eds) Fragments of a Shattered Visage: the Proceedings of the International Symposium of Ramesses the Great, 1991. Memphis: p.129
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