Thuya

King's mother-in-law reign of Amenophis III, 1417-1379 BC.

    Thuya was the wife of *Yuya and the mother of Queen *Tiye. In the inscriptions on the commemorative scarabs issued in the reign of her son-in-law *Amenophis III, she is entitled 'Chief Lady of Amun's harem'.

    The tomb of *Yuya and Thuya was discovered in AD 1905, in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes; perhaps because the tomb-robbers were disturbed, the two mummies and many of the funerary possessions survived intact and can now be seen in the Cairo Museum. Thuya's mummy suggests that she was of Egyptian origin, although it has been speculated that her husband may have had foreign ancestry.

    The marked similarity between the names of *Yuya and Thuya, their daughter *Tiye, and *Ay and his wife Tey has prompted the suggestion that they may all have been closely related.

BIBL. Quibell, J.E. The Tomb of Yuaa and Thuii. Cairo: 1908; Aldred, C. Akhenaten, King of Egypt. London: 1968; Davis, T.M., Maspero, G. and Newberry, P.E. The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou. London: 1907.

Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Rosalie and Antony E. David