Kiya was a wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and she is scarcely documented until Akhenaten's first (and Chief) wife Nefertiti disappears from the record.
The name itself is cause for much debate. It appears to be a "pet" form, rather than a full name, and as such could well be a contraction of a foreign name, such as the Mitanni Gilukhipa or Tadukhipa. However there is no evidence to support that she was not of Egyptian origin.
In inscriptions, she is given the titles of "The Favorite", and "the greatly beloved", but never described as "heiress" or "chief wife", which suggests that she herself was not of royal Egyptian blood. Her full titles read, The wife and greatly beloved of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Living in Truth, Lord of the Two Lands, Neferkherperrure Waenre, the Goodly Child of the Living Aten, who shall be living for ever and ever, Kiya.
Several items of Kiya's funerary equipment have been discovered, such as the gilded coffin found in tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings, along with a set of (unfortunately, recarved) canopic jars.
There is considerable evidence to indicate that a temple was built specifically for her in Amarna, the Maru-Aten, also known as the "sun shade temple" (though the temple was later usurped for one of Akhenaten's daughters, Meritaten, who replaced Kiya as queen).
There is speculation that Kiya was the mother of Pharaoh Tutankhamen.
Further reading
- Akhenaten, King of Egypt, by Cyril Aldred, 1988, Thames & Hudson.
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