[MUSIC PLAYING] DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: One of
the most interesting women in all of Egyptian
history began her life as the daughter of a
bureaucrat but would marry the pharaoh of Egypt. She would then be
demoted upon his death and would simply be
the queen mother. But her son would then elevate
her status substantially, making her divine,
making her a goddess. DR. BETH HARRIS: So
much of that history can be seen in this tiny
sculpture of Queen Tiye. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: There's a
clear sense of her nobility. Even though she began in
a relatively modest way as a commoner, although
with fairly high status, she looks out and past
us here, and there's no doubt she's a queen. She's completely unapproachable. DR. BETH HARRIS: And we may
also be getting a sense here of what she looked like. There seem to be some
individual characteristics. She seems to be a
little bit older, we can see lines
extending below her nose on either side of her cheeks. And there are some distinctive
facial characteristics. So perhaps we have a
little bit of a window into what she
really looked like. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
The face and neck are made out of yew wood,
this beautiful dark wood. The eyes are made out
of ebony and alabaster. And then there's
some other materials as well, gold and some of
the semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli, is visible just
under that headdress that seems to have been chipped away. DR. BETH HARRIS: That's right. What we're seeing
are in fact evidence of these changes in Tiye's life. Underneath the headdress
that we see her in now would have been a
gold headdress that signified her
status as the queen, as the wife of the pharaoh. And we can also see that
in the two gold clips that we see on
the forehead, that are evidence of where that
crown would have been worn. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: There would
have been a cobra placed there, the insignia of royalty. That was presumably removed
when her husband died, and she actually fell in
status to that of queen mother. DR. BETH HARRIS: But she was
so important and so smart, and her son depended
on her so much that in order to have her be
able to actively participate in politics, in the
affairs of the royal court, he elevated her status
to one of a goddess. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
And that's when this headdress
would've been added. This would have been spectacular
when it was first made. Now it simply looks
a little bulbous, but if you look a little bit
to the back right of the skull, you can just make out some
brilliant blue faience beads that catch the
light and really shimmer. That would've covered
the entire headdress. And so she would have looked
regal and almost celestial, appropriate to a goddess. DR. BETH HARRIS: Her
headdress extends upward where we see horns, a solar
disk, and two feathers. Now that solar disk may
refer to the religion founded by her son, Akhenaten. Akhenaten got rid of Egypt's
traditional polytheistic religion and established a
monotheistic religion centered around Aten, who is
symbolized by the sun. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER:
This sculpture really does give us a sense
of her importance, her power, her son's
respect for her, and gives us just a little
glimpse into the complexity of Egyptian life at
this high station. [MUSIC PLAYING]