16 Facts About Thuya

Thuya was an Egyptian noblewoman and the mother of queen Tiye, and the wife of Yuya.

Thuya is the grandmother of Akhenaten, and great grandmother of Tutankhamun.

Thuya is believed to be a descendant of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, and she held many official roles in the interwoven religion and government of ancient Egypt.

Thuya was involved in many religious cults; her titles included 'Singer of Hathor' and 'Chief of the Entertainers' of both Amun and Min.

Thuya held the influential offices of Superintendent of the Harem of the god Min of Akhmin and of Amun of Thebes.

Thuya married Yuya, a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Thuya is believed to have died in around 1375 BC in her early to mid 50s.

Yuya and Thuya had a daughter named Tiye, who became the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

Yuya and Thuya had a son named Anen, who carried the titles Chancellor of Lower Egypt, Second Prophet of Amun, sm-priest of Heliopolis and Divine Father.

Thuya was interred in tomb KV46 in the Valley of the Kings, together with her husband Yuya, where their largely intact burial was found in 1905.

Thuya's large gilded and black-painted wooden sarcophagus was placed against the south wall of the tomb.

Thuya's outer gilded anthropoid coffin had been removed, its lid placed atop the beds, and the trough put into the far corner of the tomb; the lid of her second coffin, gilded, had been removed and placed to one side although the trough and her mummy remained inside the sarcophagus.

Thuya found her to be an elderly woman of small stature, 1.495 metres in height, with white hair.

Thuya's arms are straight at her sides with her hands against the outside of her thighs.

Thuya's brain was removed, though no embalming material was inserted, and both nostrils were stuffed with linen.

Thuya's teeth were in poor condition at the time of her death, with missing molars.