He said, she said.
Around 1334 BCE (give or take), the King of Hatti received a curious message. While on campaign, King Suppiluliuma got word that Egypt’s pharaoh (someone called “Nib-ḫuru-riya”) had died. He had no son, and Egypt’s ruling lady (daḫamunzu, or tA-ḥmt-nsw, the “King’s Great Wife”) needed assistance. The Queen sent a message: would Suppiluliuma help her, and Egypt? Strange events were about to unfold…
- Date: c. 1334 BCE (debated).
- King: Neb-kheperu-Ra Tut-ankh-Amun (debated) deceased
- King: Suppiluliuma, Great King of the Land of Hatti
- Music: Keith Zizza
- Music: Michael Levy
- Sound interludes by Luke Chaos.
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Bibliography
- T. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites (New Edition edn, New York, 2005).
- T. Bryce, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire (London, 2009).
- T. R. Bryce, ‘The Death of Niphururiya and Its Aftermath’, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 76 (1990), 97–105.
- T. R. Bryce, Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History (Oxford, 2014).
- A. Dodson, Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (2nd edn, Cairo, 2017).
- M. Gabolde, D’Akhenaton à Toutânkhamon (Paris, 1998).
- M. Gabolde, Toutankhamon (Paris, 2015).
- H. Güterbock, ‘The Deeds of Suppiluliuma as Told by His Son, Mursili II’, Journal of Cuneiform Studies 10 (1956), 41–68, 75–98, 107–30.
- H. A. Hoffner Jr., ‘Deeds of Šuppiluliuma (1.74)’, in W. W. Hallo and K. L. Younger (eds.), The Context of Scripture (Leiden, 2003), 185—192.
- N. Kawai, ‘Studies in the Reign of Tutankhamun’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Johns Hopkins University (2005).
- J. L. Miller, ‘Amarna Age Chronology and the Identity of Nibxururiya in the Light of a Newly Reconstructed Hittite Text’, Altorientalische Forschungen 34 (2007), 252–93.
- M. Sadowska, ‘Semenkhkare and Zananza’, Göttinger Miszellen 175 (2000), 73—77.
- O. Schaden, ‘The God’s Father Ay’, PhD Thesis, University of Minnesota (1977).
- M. Van de Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC (West Sussex, 2016).
So what if it was that Ankhesenamun didn’t want to marry “a subject” Wasn’t Ay a “subject”? Maybe she saw what was in the cards and what we are not getting is an ancient version of a letter written using ancient translation apps. And this a generation after the original event had taken place. You know how confused that can be. “I don’t want to marry a subject” could have very well ended with, and I will have to marry this guy who is, like, a million years old, “I’m afraid” if you don’t send me someone…” However those sentences might have played out in the mind of the writer (probably little Queen A) all that Suppiluliuma registered was what impacted him or made sense to him, and I will go out on a limb here and guess that he had never been a teenaged Queen whose marriage was seen as a ticket to glory by everyone around.
Reply to Stephanie:
Like you mentioned, whatever Ays role was within the royal family ( her grandfather/ Oncle..) he certainly was a man of age and would most probably not be able to father a future king. Plus also bear in mind that Ankhesenamun herself was about 10 years older than Tutankhamun herself. She was not a teenage girl. Also she most probably had 1 or 2 miscarriages already. We do not know about the personal alliances or rivalities of the protagonists within the royal court in detail. But we can be certain that the fears for not just her powers but als for her life were obviously pretty real.
I’m going with Nefertiti, she might have thought Tutankhamen was not fit to rule, plus he might not have been her son. She may have thought a foreigner would be easy to control.
It may also have been a ruse to start a war with the hittites or a story made up by the hittites.
Is it possible that Ankhesenamun wrote this not after the death of Tutankhamun but 3 to 4 years later after the death of Ay. There is the tantalizing ring with the double cartouche with her name and Ay’s.
It may not mean they married but they ruled together. Now with Ay dead, the Queen was very vulnerable. She was fearful of her position. It was a bold move but she came from a line of very strong, powerful women who sat at the apex of power in Egypt; her mother Nefertiti and grandmother Tiye. We have to rely on her own words, “I am afraid”. It begs the question – afraid of what or better yet, who?
Was It royal snobbiness that made her say she would never make a subject her husband or someone that had the potential of doing her mortal harm?
Horemheb succeeded Ay as the next king and we hear nothing else from Queen Ankhesenamun.
Possible, but unlikely. Beyond the ring, Ay never appears with Ankhesenamun. In all (surviving) art his Queen is Tey/Tiy. Granted, representations of Ankhesenamun may have “disappeared.” But from the evidence we have, Tey seems to be the main wife. Additionally, the chronology of these events (how they line up with Suppiluliuma’s reign etc) seems to favour a slightly earlier date (Tut or Akh). But that point is far more uncertain. So, yes, it’s possible, but the available evidencd seems to favour the earlier reign(s)
This probably doesn’t reflect historical reality at all, if either Meritaten or Nefertiti were Dahamunzu, the idea that Zannanza was taken out because of a hit placed by a young Tutankhamun is rather funny to me.