 Text by Ankhie, dedicated to her dear friend Kiyanefere. :) the secondary wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. My origins are shrouded in mystery, but many believe I was a Mitannian Princess sent to Egypt to wed the aging Amenhotep III as my aunt, Gilukhipa, had done years before. Back then, I was known as Princess Tadukhipa, and the daughter Gilukhipa's brother, the King of Mitanni, Tushratta. I came to Egypt and married Amenhotep III. But our marriage did not last long; my new husband soon died, and his son, Amenhotep IV, became the Lord of the Two Lands. I dutifully married the young pharaoh (who soon changed his name to Akhenaten), and ranked second only to his Chief Wife, Queen Nefertiti. I was the "Greatly Beloved Wife of the King", the "Beautiful Child of the Living Aten, Living Forever Eternally, Kiya." My estate was called "The House of the Favorite" and I featured rather prominantly on many reliefs at Amarna. Why was I so favored? I may have been the mother of pharaoh's sons. It is known for certain that I gave Akhenaten at least one daughter, (her name has been lost in history) and I may have been the mother of the Amarna Princes; the mysterious Smenkhkhare and the famous Tutankhaten, later Tutankhamen. It's it not certain when I died. Some poeple believe that I died giving birth to little Tutankhaten, and it is this which is depicted, along with the similar death of poor Meketaten, in the royal tomb at Amarna. Mid-way to late in my husbands 17 year reign, I cease to be mentioned, and my name is replaced with those of my (possible) future daughter-in-laws' Meritaten and Ankhesenpaaten. However, a shipment of wine to the "House of the Favorite" in year 16 raises the tantalizing question if I really did die at Tutankhaten's birth.
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