Powerful but vanished.

Following the death of Akhenaten, several prominent women disappear from history. Meritaten, the King’s Eldest Daughter; Kiya, one of his wives; and two mysterious daughters, the “Tasherits” present unresolved questions. What happened to them? We explore this question…

Date: c.1344 BCE

Music by Keith Zizza

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Bibliography

  • Nile Magazine: “The Maia-Meritaten Mystery,” Online.
  • Allen, James P. “The Amarna Succession,” in P. Brand and L. Cooper (eds) Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane (2009): 9–20.
  • Dodson, Aidan. Amarna Sunrise: Egypt From Golden Age to Age of Heresy (2014).
  • Dodson, Aidan. Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation. 2nd Edition (2017).
  • Gabolde, Marc. “Under a Deep Blue Starry Sky,” in P. Brand and L. Cooper (eds) Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane (2009): 109–120.
  • Murnane, William J. Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (1995).
  • Redford, Donald B. “Studies on Akhenaten at Thebes, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt12 (1975): 11. JSTOR.
  • Zivie, Alain P. “From Maia to Meritaten,” Saqqara Newsletter 17 (2019). edu
  • Zivie, Alain P. La tombe de Maïa, mère nourricière du roi Toutânkhamon et grande du harem (Bub. I 20). Les tombes du Bubasteion à Saqqara 1 (2009).
Show 4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Ryan Heldorfer

    Great episode! Is there any notion as to what “retired” ladies of a kingdom typically did when kingship changed hands? Certainly Akhenaten had several sisters, most of which don’t factor into his reign in any discernible way. Do we know if it was at all common for these type of royal ladies to manage estates elsewhere in Egypt after their political duties were over? Some choice spot in the Fayum perhaps?

    • DominicPerry

      Hi Ryan, we don’t have much information on that. The exceptional cases (like Khentykaus I in Dynasty 4, Sobekhotep in Dynasty 13 or Ahhotep in Dynasty 17) are the most notable. Queen Tiye is also an example, which I covered in episode 120 “Reverend Mother” 🙂

  2. Amenemhat

    Hi Dominic,
    I obviously do not know if wet nurse Maia was Meritaten (I had retired from the court by then :)), but one thing I can say following up on the hieroglyphic factor you mention.
    It is not only about actual pronunciation as hypothetically recorded in foreign scripts. The R => J / R => JR shift is well attested. Just think of Pi (Per) Ramses.
    Regards.

    • DominicPerry

      A valid point 🙂

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