| − | Tiyi was the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. She was the mother of Akhenaton, and grandmother of the famous King Tut. Her father was Yuya, a priest from Akhmin, and her mother, Tjuya, was a royal servant. However, other sources claim her father worked in the royal stables and her mother was the priestess. Either way, Tiyi was exposed to life at court, and although it is disputed, it is possible that she had a brother, Ay, who eventually came to rule Egypt after King Tut. Tiyi most likely married Amenhotep when she was very young, around 11 or 12, and when he inherited the throne, she ascended as well. Tiyi was a powerful queen, and was involved alongside her husband in political and foreign affairs. She was the first queen of Egypt to have her name on official acts, and her name is even written in a cartouche, like that of a king or pharaoh. Under Amenhotep III and Tiyi, Egypt prospered and grew and became the wealthiest and most powerful nation in their region, possible even the world. Tiyi bore her husband six children, two sons and four daughters. One of the sons, Thutmosis, died early in life and so the other, Amenhotep IV, remembered as Akhenaton, succeeded the throne after the death of his father. We are not sure when Tiyi died, but it seems to be around the twelfth year of the reign of her son, Akhenaton. She appears to have first been buried with Akhenaton, then reburied alongside her husband Amenhotep III. Tiyi was also worshiped as a goddess while she was still alive. For a queen, Tiyi held considerable power at court during the ancient times when men ruled the world, and she exercised the same authority and power as the great kings of the ancient world.
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