Ay

For other uses, see AY (disambiguation).

Ay was the penultimate Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's
18th dynasty. He held the throne of Egypt for a
brief four-year period (probably 13231319 BC[1] or
13271323 BC, depending on which chronology is followed), although he was a close advisor to two and
perhaps three of the pharaohs who ruled before him
and was said to be the power behind the throne during
Tutankhamun's reign. Ays prenomen or royal name
Kheperkheperuremeans Everlasting are the Manifestations of Ra while his birth name Ay it-netjer reads as
'Ay, Father of the God.'[2] Records and monuments that
can be clearly attributed to Ay are rare, not only due to
his short length of reign, but also because his successor,
Horemheb, instigated a campaign of damnatio memoriae
against him and other pharaohs associated with the unpopular Amarna Period.

A stone block shows Ay receiving the 'Gold of Honor' award in

his Amarna tomb from Akhenaten.

rank of General.[6] Prior to this promotion he appears to

have been rst a Troop Commander and then a regular Overseer of Horses, titles which were found on a box
thought to have been part of the original furnishings for
his tomb.[7] Other titles listed in this tomb include Fanbearer on the Right Side of the King, Acting Scribe of the
King, beloved by him, and Gods Father. The 'Fan-bearer
on the Right Side of the King' was a very important position, and is viewed as showing that the bearer had the
'ear' of the ruler. The nal Gods Father title is the one
most associated with Ay, and was later incorporated into
his royal name when he became pharaoh.[7]

Origins

Ay is usually believed to be a native Egyptian from

Akhmim. During his short reign, he built a rock cut
chapel in Akhmim and dedicated it to the local deity there: Min. He may have been the son of Yuya,
who served as a member of the priesthood of Min at
Akhmin as well as superintendent of herds in this city,
and wife Tjuyu.[3] If so, Ay could have been of partial
non-Egyptian, perhaps Syrian blood since the name Yuya
was uncommon in Egypt and is suggestive of a foreign
background.[4] Yuya was an inuential nobleman at the
royal court of Amenhotep III who was given the rare privilege of having a tomb built for his use in the royal Valley of the Kings presumably because he was the father
of Tiye, Amenhoteps chief Queen. There are also noted
similarities in the physical likenesses of monuments attributed to Ay and those of the mummy of Yuya, and
both held similar names and titles.[5]

This title could mean that he was the father-in-law of

the pharaoh, suggesting that he was the son of Yuya
and Tjuyu, thus being a brother or half-brother of Tiye,
brother-in-law to Amenhotep III and the maternal uncle
of Akhenaten. If Ay was the son of Yuya, who was a senior military ocer during the reign of Amenhotep III,
then he likely followed in his fathers footsteps, nally inheriting his fathers military functions upon his death. Alternatively, it could also mean that he may have had a
daughter that married the pharaoh Akhenaten, possibly
being the father of Akhenatens chief wife Nefertiti. Ultimately there is no evidence to denitively prove either
hypothesis.[8] The two theories are not mutually exclusive, but either relationship would explain the exalted status to which Ay rose during Akhenatens Amarna interlude, when the royal family turned their backs on Egypts
traditional gods and experimented, for a dozen years or
so, with monotheism; an experiment that, whether out of
conviction or convenience, Ay appears to have followed
under the reign of Akhenaten.

Amarna Period

All that is known for certain was that by the time he

was permitted to build a tomb for himself (Southern
Tomb 25) at Amarna during the reign of Akhenaten, he
had achieved the title of Overseer of All the Horses
of His Majesty, the highest rank in the elite charioteering division of the army, which was just below the The Great Hymn to the Aten is also found in his Amarna
1

4 RULE AS THE PHARAOH

tomb which was built during his service under Akhenaten. It is likely that this was required by Akhenaten,
though not evidence that Ay agreed with Akhenatens decision to promote the Aten above all other gods. It suggests that he did believe in Akhenatens religious revolution. His wife Tey was born a commoner but was given
the title Nurse of the Pharaohs Great Wife.[8] If she were
the mother of Nefertiti she would be expected to have the
royal title Mother of the Pharaohs Great Wife instead, had
Ay been the father of Nefertiti, then Tey would have been
her stepmother.[8] In several Amarna tomb chapels there
is a woman whose name begins with Mut who had the
title Sister of the Pharaohs Great Wife. This could also
be a daughter of Ays by his wife Tey, and it is known that
his successor Horemheb married a woman with the name
Mutnodjimet.[9]

Tutankhamun

Ay performing the opening of the mouth ceremony for Tutankhamun, scene from Tutankhamuns tomb.

Ays reign was preceded by that of King Tutankhamun,

who ascended to the throne at the age of eight or nine,
at a time of great tension between the new monotheism
and the old polytheism. He was assisted in his kingly
duties by his predecessors two closest advisors: Grand
Vizier Ay and General of the Armies Horemheb. Tutankhamuns nine-year reign, largely under Ays direction, saw the gradual return of the old gods and, with
that, the restoration of the power of the Amun priesthood,
who had lost their inuence over Egypt under Akhenaten.
Egyptologist Bob Brier suggested that Ay murdered Tutankhamun in order to usurp the throne, a claim which
was based on X-ray examinations of the body done in
1968. He also alleged that Ankhesenamun and the Hittite Prince she was about to marry were also murdered at

his orders.[10] This murder theory was not accepted by all

scholars, and more detailed CT-scans of the mummy undertaken by National Geographic (published in late 2005)
suggested that Tutankhamun did not die from a blow to
his head as Brier had theorized. The National Geographic
forensic researchers instead presented a new theory that
Tutankhamun died from an infection caused by a badly
broken leg since he is often portrayed as walking with
a cane due to spina bida, a hereditary trait in his family on his fathers side.[11] The bone fragments found in
Tutankhamuns skull were most likely the result of postmortem damage caused by Howard Carters initial examination of the boy king "because they show no evidence
of being inundated with the embalming uid used to preserve the pharaoh for the afterlife.[12] However, Brier has
stated that the bone fragment in the skull is not relevant
to the issue of whether Tutankhamun was murdered, acknowledging that it was likely caused by the embalmers.
The evidence Brier presents for the murder is a dark spot
on the base of the skull, indicating a blow to the head.
Dr. Gerald Irwin agrees with Brier on this point. (The
Murder of Tutankhamen (March, 1999) ISBN 0-42516689-9)
When the results of the CT-Scan examination had been
published, many scientists accepted its ndings, but some
still believe the mystery of Tutankhamuns death is far
from solved and continue to support the older murder theory. There are books that have subsequently
been published that adhere to the original murder theory and dispute the conclusions reached by the CT scan
team, though also citing other means of murder, such as
poisoning.[13][14] In 2010, a team led by Zahi Hawass
reported that he had died from complications caused
by malaria and Kohlers disease but another team from
the Bernhard Noct Institute for Tropical Medicine in
Hamburg believes his death was caused by sickle-cell
disease.[15] Tutankhamun could very well have died from
this, combined with the infection in his knee. Ay was also
buried in the tomb intended for Tutankhamun in the West
Valley of the Kings (KV 23), and Tutankhamun in Ays
intended tomb in the East Valley of the Kings (KV 62).

4 Rule as the Pharaoh

Tutankhamuns death at the age of 18 or 19, together with
his failure to produce an heir, left a power vacuum that
his Grand Vizier Ay was quick to ll: Ay is depicted
conducting the funerary rites for the deceased monarch
and assuming the role of heir. The grounds on which Ay
based his successful claim to power are not entirely clear.
The Commander of the Army, Horemheb, had actually
been designated as the idnw or Deputy of the Lord of
the Two Lands under Tutankhamun and was presumed
to be the boy kings heir apparent and successor.[16] It appears that Horemheb was outmaneuvered to the throne
by Ay who married Ankhesenamun, the widow of Tu-

3
for only four years. During this period, he consolidated
the return to the old religious ways that he had initiated
as senior advisor and constructed a mortuary temple at
Medinet Habu for his own use. A stela of Nakhtmin
(Berlin 2074), a military ocer under Tutankhamun and
Aywho was Ays chosen successoris dated to Year
4, IV Akhet day 1 of Ays reign.[17] Manetho's Epitome assigns a reign length of 4 years and 1 month to
Horemheb and this was usually assigned to Ay based on
this Year 4 dated stela; however, it is now believed that
gure should be raised by a decade to [1]4 years and 1
month and attributed to Horemheb instead as Manetho intended. Hence, Ays precise reign length is unknown and
he could have ruled for as long as 7 to 9 years since most
of his monuments and his funerary temple at Medinet
Habu were either destroyed or usurped by his successor,
Horemheb.

5 Royal succession
Prior to his death, Ay designated Nakhtmin to succeed
him as pharaoh. However, Ays plan for his succesFaience plate with the complete royal titulary of Ay, Egyptian sion went awry since Horemheb became the last king of
Egypts 18th Dynasty instead of Nakhtmin. The fact that
Museum.
Nakhtmin was Ays intended heir is strongly implied by
an inscription carved on a dyad funerary statue of Nakhtmin and his spouse which was presumably made during Ays reign. Nakhtmin is clearly given the titles rpat
(Crown Prince) and zA nzw (Kings Son).[18] The only
conclusion which can be drawn here is that Nakhtmin was
either a son or an adopted son of Ay and that Ay was
grooming Nakhtmin for the royal succession instead of
Horemheb. The Egyptologists Aidan Dodson and Dyan
Hilton observe that the aforementioned statue:

Fragment of a cartouche of Ay in the Petrie Museum.

tankhamun, in order to legitimise his claim to the throne.

Ay was certainly a powerful gure: he was close to the
centre of political power at the royal palace for some 25
years under both Tutankhamun and Akhenaten. But this
was probably still not enough, however, to legitimize his
claims to the throne in the highly hierarchical society of
Ancient Egypt, if he was of non-royal birth especially at
a time of domestic upheaval without his marriage to Tutankhamuns widow. Since he was already advanced in
age upon his accession, Ay ruled Egypt in his own right

is broken after the signs for 'Kings Son of',

and there has been considerable debate as to
whether it continued to say 'Kush', making
Nakhtmin a Viceroy of Nubia, or 'of his body',
making him an actual royal son. Since there is
no other evidence for Nakhtmin as a Viceroy-with another man [Paser I] attested in oce at
this period as well--the latter suggestion seems
the most likely. As Nakhtmin donated items to
the burial of Tutankhamun without such a title, it follows that he only became a Kings Son
subsequently, presumably under Ay. This theory is supported by the evidence of intentional
damage to Nakhtmins statue, since Ay was
amongst the Amarna pharaohs whose memories were execrated under later rulers.[19]

10

REFERENCES

to Queen Nefertiti.
Ay is believed to be the father of Queen Nefertiti,
wife of Akhenaten, and Mutbenret or Mutnodjmet depending on how the name is read, Mutnodjmet being the wife of Horemheb. Their mother is plausibly the Adoratrix of Min, Songstress of Isis" Iuy,
who is known to be the mother of Nakhtmin, Ays
chosen successor, and presumed son. Therefore, he
is believed to be the grandfather of Queen Meritaten,
Meketaten, Queen Ankhesenamun, Neferneferuaten
Tasherit, Neferneferure and Setepenre.

The burial chamber of Ays tomb in the Valley of the Kings

Aftermath

It appears that one of Horemhebs undertakings as

Pharaoh was to eliminate all references to the monotheistic experiment, a process that included expunging the
name of his immediate predecessors, especially Ay, from
the historical record. Horemheb desecrated Ays burial
and had most of Ays royal cartouches in his WV23 Tomb
Wall paintings erased while his sarcophagus was smashed
into numerous fragments.[20] However, the sarcophagus
lid was discovered in 1972 by Otto Schaden, the US
Egyptologist who opened Tomb KV63 in the Valley of
the Kings in 2006. It still preserved Ays cartouche. The
sarcophagus had been buried under debris in this kings
tomb.[21] Horemheb also usurped Ays mortuary temple
at Medinet Habu for his own use. Uvo Hlscher (1878
1963) who excavated the temple in the early 1930s provides these interesting details concerning the state of AyHoremhebs mortuary temple:
'Wherever a cartouche has been preserved, the
name of Eye [ie: Ay] has been erased and replaced by that of his successor Harmhab. In
all but a single instance had it been overlooked
and no change made. Thus the temple, which
Eye had begun and nished, at least in the rear
rooms with their ne paintings, was usurped by
his successor and was thenceforth known as the
temple of Harmhab. Seals on stoppers of wine
jars from the temple magazines read: Wine
from the temple of Harmhab."'[22]

Family

Ay is believed to be the son of Yuya and Thuya, and therefore a brother of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III,
and the Prophet of Amun, Anen. Hence, he would be
the uncle of pharoaohs Akhenaten and Smenkhkare. His
assumed wife was Iuy, mother of Nakhtmin, chosen successor of Ay. His Great Royal Wife was Tey, Wet Nurse

8 In ction
Ay appears as a major character in P. C. Doherty's trilogy
of Ancient Egyptian novels, An Evil Spirit Out of the West,
The Season of the Hyaena and The Year of the Cobra.
He is also a character in Mika Waltaris historical novel
The Egyptian and Wolfgang Hohlbein's Die Prophezeihung (The Prophecy). He is also a major character in
Michelle Moran's bestselling novel Nefertiti. Ay is the
villain of Lucile Morrison's 1937 young adult novel The
Lost Queen of Egypt. He also appears as a villain in the
Lucien de Gieters Papyrus comic book series (the seventeenth book in the series: Tutankhamun, the assassinated
pharaoh). Kerry Greenwoods novel, Out of the Black
Land features him as a greedy villain whose sole goal
was accruing wealth.

9 See also
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree

10 References
[1] Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors), Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill: 2006, p. 493
[2] Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames &
Hudson Ltd, 1994. p136
[3] Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten
[4] Yuyas name was analysed by G. Maspero in The Tomb
of Iouiya and Austin by Theodore M. Davis, Archibald
Constable and Co. Ltd, 1907, pp. xiiixiv
[5] Hindley, Marshall. Featured Pharaoh: The Gods Father
Ay, Ancient Egypt, April/May 2006. p. 26
[6] Hindley, Marshall. Featured Pharaoh: The Gods Father
Ay, Ancient Egypt, April/May 2006. p. 2728.
[7] Dodson, Aidan.
Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian CounterReformation. p. 95 The American University in Cairo
Press. 2009, ISBN 978-977-416-304-3

[8] Dodson, Aidan.

Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian CounterReformation. p96 The American University in Cairo
Press. 2009, ISBN 978-977-416-304-3
[9] Dodson, Aidan.Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun,
Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation.
p. 98 The American University in Cairo Press. 2009,
ISBN 978-977-416-304-3
[10] Hawass, Zahi. Scanning Tutankhamun, KMT. Volume
16, Number 2. p. 33. Summer 2005.
[11] Hawass, Zahi. Scanning Tutankhamun, KMT. Volume
16, Number 2. p. 34. Summer 2005.
[12]

King Tut Not Murdered Violently, CT Scans Show, National Geographic, March 8, 2005.

[13] Haywood, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient

Civilizations p. 56. Penguin. 2005. ISBN 0-14-101448-2
[14] King, Michael R., Cooper, Gregory M. Who Killed King
Tut?: Using Modern Forensics to Solve a 3300-Year-Old
Mystery (with New Data on the Egyptian CT Scan), New
Ed. 2006. ISBN 1-59102-401-3
[15] King Tuts Chariot travels to New York.
[16] Peter J. Brand, The Monuments of Seti I: Epigraphic, Historical and Art Historical Analysis, Brill, NV Leiden,
(2000), p. 311
[17] Urk IV: 2110
[18] Wolfgang Helck, Urkunden der 18. Dynastie: Texte der
Hefte 20-21 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1984), pp. 1908
1910
[19] Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson, (2004), p. 151
[20] Bertha Porter, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient
Egyptian Hieroglyph Texts, Vol 1, Part 2, Oxford Clarendon Press, (1960), Tomb 23, pp. 550551
[21] Otto Schaden, Clearance of the Tomb of King Ay (WV
23), JARCE 21(1984) pp.3964
[22] Uvo Hlscher, Excavations at Ancient Thebes 1930/31,
pp. 5051

11

Further reading

Jrgen von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen gypten, MS 46 (Philip von Zabern, Mainz:
1997), pp. 201

12

External links

The Tomb of Ay

13

13
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