Pharaoh Ay – A Man With A Hidden Agenda Or A Victim Of Unfortunate Circumstances?

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - Piecing together what really happened in the life of Pharaoh Ay is not easy for historians. Pharaoh Ay was not as famous as Khufu, Ramses II, Akhenaten, Hatshepsut just to mention a few, but he was certainly an interesting individual.

He ruled for only a brief period and he didn’t accomplish much during his time as pharaoh, but he was a key figure in an ancient historical drama.

Until this day, historians and Egyptologists are still trying to determine whether Pharaoh Ay was a liar and man with a hidden agenda or simply a victim of unfortunate circumstances.

A stone block shows Ay receiving the "Gold of Honor" award in his Amarna tomb from Akhenaten. Credit: Public Domain

Pharaoh Ay claimed he was innocent and never murdered anyone to ascend the throne, but many feel his words contradict documented historical events.

Who Was Pharaoh Ay?

The fact that Pharaoh Ay built a rock chapel dedicated to God Min in the city of Akhmim, located on the east bank of the Nile, is one reason why historians assume Ay was a native Egyptian.  However, his father’s name, Yuya, was uncommon in Egypt, and this has led to speculations that Ay may have been of Syrian origin to some extent.

“Ay held the titles 'superintendent of the royal horses' and 'god's father; it has therefore been argued that he may well have been Tiy's brother, Akhenaten uncle and perhaps uncle or great-uncle of Tutankhamun. It has even been suggested that the unusual office of 'god's father' could be held only by the king's father-in-law, which might have made Ay the father of Nefertiti,” Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson write in their book Dictionary of Ancient Egypt.

Pharaoh Ay performing the Opening of the Mouth ceremony on Tutankamun. Ay is wearing the Leopard skin worn by Egyptian High Priests and a Khepresh, a blue crown worn by Pharaohs. Credit: Public Domain

Before ascending the throne, Ay was first a member of the court of pharaoh Akhenaten. He held the highest military rank, just below the general and he had a close relationship with the royal family.

Ay’s wife, Tey, served as the nurse of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s queen. Ay was allowed to build his own large tomb in Tell el-Amarna where the unorthodox lived with his family and prominent and trustworthy citizens.

Pharaoh Tutankhamun Under The Guidance Of Vizier Ay

The life of Ay was good, but things became more complicated after the death of pharaoh Akhenaten when his young son Tutankhamun ascended the throne at the age of eight, possibly nine.

Pharaoh Tutankhamun was much too young to rule independently, so he was surrounded by influential advisers. One of them was General Horemheb, and the other one was Ay. Both performed their duties as viziers. Next after the Pharaoh, the most powerful person in ancient Egypt was the vizier. As the highest state official, the vizier was the immediate subordinate of the king and responsible for legal matters, and thus feared by criminals.

The viziers advised pharaoh Tutankhamun to restore Egypt to its former glory and reverse several changes made during his father's reign. Pharaoh Akhenaten had previously caused controversy in Egypt by introducing the worship of only one god, Aten, and limiting the priests’ role and power. Pharaoh Tutankhamun agreed and restored the power of the Amun priesthood, and the country saw a return of the old gods.

Tutankhamun married his half-sister Ankhesenamun, whose life was a real tragedy, as earlier discussed on Ancient Pages.

Incest was common and not considered wrong in ancient Egypt. Egyptians believed that by marrying a sister or daughter, it was possible to preserve the royal bloodline. It is believed that Ankhesenamun was first married to her father Akhenaten.

Left: Queen Ankhesenamun presents lotus flowers to Tutankhamen. From an ivory box from Tutankhamen's tomb. Right: Statues of Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamun

Pharaoh Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun did not have any children that survived. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of two miscarried daughters in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

If these daughters had lived, they would eventually have taken the place of Queen Ankhesenamun, continued the Amarna bloodline and changed the history of ancient Egypt.

Queen Ankhesenamun found herself in great difficulties when Pharaoh Tutankhamun died. She felt there was a need to continue the Amarna bloodline and she wrote a desperate letter to Suppiluliumas I, the King of the Hittites. This was the beginning of the controversial Zannanza affair.

Was Pharaoh Ay Involved In Two Murders?

As previously discussed on Ancient Pages, historians suggest Ankhesenamun wrote to the Hittite king using the name Dakhamunzu when she signed the letter. She asked the Hittite king to send someone who could marry her.

King Suppiluliumas I was reluctant for a start. Still, after sending an envoy to verify her claim and confirming the letter was genuine, he eventually decided to send his son Zannanza to Egypt to marry late Tutankhamun’s wife. It seems like a wise decision at the time. Zannanza would become a new pharaoh, and Egypt could become part of the Hittite empire.

But this plan failed because Zannanza never even reached the Egyptian border before he was murdered. It remains unknown how he died and who killed him.

Queen Ankhesenamun was forced to marry Ay despite her strong objections to the union. Ay ascended the throne and became pharaoh, but his successful claim to power is not entirely clear.

King Suppiluliumas I accused Ay of murdering his son Zannanza in order to claim rule over Egypt. Ay denied the accusations and said he was innocent.

Pharaoh Ay also came in conflict with general Horemheb, who felt that he had been outmaneuvered to the throne by Ay.

What is even most perplexing in this ancient historical drama is the mysterious death of Queen Ankhesenamun who vanished from history shortly after her marriage to Pharaoh Ay. Equally puzzling is that archaeologists found the name Tey, the wife of Ay and the wet nurse of Queen Nefertiti on the walls of Pharaoh Ay's tomb.

Queen Ankhesenamun’s name is not mentioned at all. It was as if she had been erased from history.

Many historians have suggested Pharaoh Ay was responsible for the murder of prince Zannanza to prevent him from becoming pharaoh and killing Queen Ankhesenamun whom he no longer needed because he had already ascended the throne.

Whether Pharaoh Ay was a man with a hidden agenda or simply a poor victim of miserable circumstances remains unclear.

Pharaoh Ay reigned for four years only, (1323BC-1319BC), and there are not many records or monuments attributed to him. His successor Horemheb, the last pharaoh of the 18^th dynasty, made sure that the name of Ay was eliminated from historical records. This was part of his Damnatio memoriae campaign (a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory")  that meant a person is from official accounts. Pharaoh Horemheb also desecrated Ay’s burial and smashed his sarcophagus into pieces.

Fortunately, Pharaoh Horemheb failed to erase Pharaoh Ay entirely from history. In the Valley of the Kings, located on the Nile's west bank near Luxor modern archaeologists unearthed a sarcophagus that still preserved Pharaoh Ay's cartouche.

As Shaw and Nicholson write, “one unique feature of this tomb is the presence of a scene of hunting in the marshes, which was usually found in nobles' tombs rather than the burial place of a pharaoh.” Still, most interesting is that the scenes in the tomb portray Ay with his first wife Tey rather than Queen Ankhesenamun.

We may never know the whole truth about the actions of Pharaoh Ay, and some part of his life story remains an ancient mystery. Whatever secrets Pharaoh Ay had, he took them to the grave with him, and unless we can uncover more evidence, we are still left with many unanswered questions.

Written by Ellen Lloyd – AncientPages.com

Updated on September 17, 2021

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