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Ancient Mediterranean + Europe
Course: Ancient Mediterranean + Europe > Unit 4
Lesson 4: New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period- New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, an introduction
- Temple of Amun-Re and the Hypostyle Hall, Karnak
- Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and Large Kneeling Statue, New Kingdom, Egypt
- The tomb-chapel of Nebamun
- Paintings from the Tomb-chapel of Nebamun
- A bottle and a toy: Objects from daily life
- Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
- Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
- Portrait head of Queen Tiye with a crown of two feathers
- Thutmose, Bust of Nefertiti
- Thutmose, Bust of Nefertiti: backstory
- Thutmose Bust of Nefertiti
- Tutankhamun’s tomb (innermost coffin and death mask)
- Head of Tutankhamun from the Amarna Period of Egypt’s New Kingdom
- Last Judgement of Hunefer, from his tomb
- Hunefer, Book of the Dead
- Ancient Egyptian papyrus in the Book of the Dead Exhibition
- Last Judgement of Hunefer
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Portrait head of Queen Tiye with a crown of two feathers
A conversation between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in front of Portrait Head of Queen Tiye with a Crown of Two Feathers, c. 1355 B.C.E., Amarna Period, Dynasty 18, New Kingdom, Egypt, yew wood, lapis lazuli, silver, gold, faience, 22.5 cm high (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection at the Neues Museum, Berlin). Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- This is probably a stupid question, but why would her son make Tiye a goddess when he was the one who changed the religion to monotheism? Maybe I missed something...(12 votes)
- He didn't exactly make her a 'Goddess'.
Akhenaten basically just gave her more importance. He enhanced her social position. Instead of being just 'Queen Mother' he represented her as an important person to the Pharaoh. Not a vizier, but close.(8 votes)
- Would she have worn this headdress during life (ie: daily, only in public, just during Egyptian festivals, etc.)? Does she have a golden earring on her other ear? Maybe someone could x-ray it if it hasn't been x-rayed already to see if she has anything under that headdress.
Why would her have her as being older? I thought most busts were made to keep whomever young and beautiful.(11 votes)- Hi, Jon! Queen Tiye probably would have worn this headdress whenever she was seen by the public or even royal advisors (basically anyone but her family.) I don't know about the other earring. Perhaps her representation as an older woman showed that she was wiser, more intelligent, or more deserving of power.(9 votes)
- Anyone know where i could see the head of Queen Tiye how it would have looked with the blue bead headdress?(6 votes)
- At- "That would've covered the entire headdress and so she would have looked regal and almost celestial, appropriate to a goddess." I meant to ask if anyone knew where i could see a digitally mastered video or photograph that would show me how the headdress would've looked like in all it's splendor with the blue faience beads. 2:10
Thanks for answering though Bonnie. :)(7 votes)
- why does queen Tiye have big feathers on top of her head? How old was she?(5 votes)
- 37 years at death, and the feathers are ceremonial.(5 votes)
- I am also curious about the feathers. Is there a connection of with the feathers and the Horus, the falcon god who was a bridge between worlds (the world of deities and our the physical world)? Could the feathers be a symbol of two worlds?(4 votes)
- According to the video on Hunefer's Book of the Dead, coming up, the ostrich feathers are a symbol of eternal life.(4 votes)
- Was Queen Tiye Nubian?(3 votes)
- She was a black African as were all of the Egyptians, This can be seen in the Sphinx even though Napoleon's army destroyed the noses of most of the statues in Egypt(8 votes)
- Is Queen Tiye African-Egyptian?(1 vote)
- Tiye was Egyptian - Egypt is part of Africa. Her lifetime far predates the intermixing with Romans and the lightening of skin tone that happened with that intermarriage.(5 votes)
- Did anyone notice at @that the sculpture looks like she's looking at you/the camera? Do you think that the Egyptians used this kind of perspective to achieve this effect? 0:35(2 votes)
- Yes, I also noticed how Queen Tiye Sculpture looks if she/s looking at the camera(1 vote)
- What material was the headress. It almost looks like a cloth of some kind(2 votes)
- what do they horns represent ?(1 vote)
Video transcript
[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]