There is a great French site dedicated to the tomb of Ay at Amarna. It doesn't matter if you don't speak French because it doesn't have a great deal of text - just lots, and lots of photographs.
http://ancienegypte.fr/cadre_ay.htm
The Adopted
2 months ago
9 comments:
Thanks Kate, good link; that is a great set of photos. The detail of the figures is wonderful, and those pillars are quite outstanding.
Here's a good place to go for the Amarna tomb of Ay
http://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/amarna/ay_amarna/e_ay_amarna.htm
and for many other tombs both royal and commoner. The site is in both French and English and hugely informative
So those inscriptions show 3 princesses. Is it still thought that one of them, I would guess the oldest, is Nefertiti? My brain has trouble working out the ages if that is true...
Ken
MT
The three princesses refer to the three oldest daughters of Akhnaten and Neferiti (Meritaten, Maketaten and Anchesenpaäten).
Ay possibly had two daughters Nefertiti and Mutbenret. He may also have had a son Nakhtmin who he appointed as his successor, however the prince died during Ay's short reign and Ay was succeeded by Tutanchamun's intended successor Horemheb. What i do find intriguing is that Horemheb's queen Mutnodjmet has the same name as Nakhtmin's wife. Maybe the widow of the crownprince married the new heir. She died in year 13 of Horemheb's reign and was in her mid forties and pregnant. Some suggest she was Mutbenret sister of Queen Nefertiti.
Just curious--what is the source of the name of Nakhtmin's wife?
Wikipedia has a notation that there is a statue of Nakhtmin and his wife Mutnodjmet in the Cairo Museum.
Yes, there is certainly the dyad in the Cairo Egyptian Museum, but this is the first I've heard about anyone knowing the name of Mrs. Nakhtmin.
MT
If Ay's daughter Mutbenret and Mutnodjmet are the same than the elevation of her husband Nakhtmin to crownprince isn't strange and neither is the succession of her later spouse Horemheb.
There is the reputed link between Ay and Ramesses II's favorite Great Royal Wife Nefertari (his name was found in her tomb). She could very well have been a descendant of Mutnodjmet/Mutbenret and Nakhtmin. She would need to have been a granddaughter of the couple as a daughter would have been several years older than Ramesses who was born during Horemheb's reign and Mutnodjmet had married Horemheb before the start of his reign.
The question still is--where is there an attestation of Nakhtmin being married to someone named Mutnodjmet? I don't think it says so on the dyad in Cairo.
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