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A plaster study of a young woman wearing large earings, generally identified as Kiya. Currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Kiya was a wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Little is known about her, and she is scarcely poorly documented in the historical record in contrast to Akhenaten's first (and chief) wife, Nefertiti. Even her existence was not known until 1959, when her name and titles were noted on a small cosmetic container held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It had been bought almost 30 years previously without provenance from Egytologist Howard Carter.^[1]

The name Kiya itself is cause for much debate. It has been suggested that it is 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" daughter of Tushratta. However no evidence currently exists to support the idea that she was not of native Egyptian origin. Also, Gilukhipa married Amenhotep III 28 years before his death, thus she was at least a generation older than Akhenaten, which makes it unlikely that they married.

In inscriptions, she is given the titles of "The Favorite", and "The Greatly Beloved", but never described as "Heiress" or "Great Royal 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, Neferkheperrure 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, erased and recarved) canopic jars. However, Kiya's name may be faintly discerned on a jar at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as traces on a set of canopic jars depicting her likeness.

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's name with her own).

The British Egyptologists Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton wrote in a recent book on Egypt's royal families that:

Kiya is named and depicted on various blocks originating at Amarna, on vases in London and New York, four fragmentary kohl-tubes in Berlin and London, and a wine-jar docket. She may also be depicted by three uninscribed sculptor's studies. Her coffin and canopic jars were taken over for the burial of a king (probably Smenkhkare), which was ultimately discovered in tomb KV55 in the Valley of the Kings. Almost all of Kiya's monuments were usurped for daughters of Akhenaten, making it fairly certain that she was disgraced some time after Year 11 [of the king]. ^[2]

There is some evidence that Kiya was the mother of Pharaoh Tutankhamun and/or Smenkhkare such as her title 'Greatly Beloved Wife' and that next to her death bed is a fanbearer and a wet nurse thought to be holding a baby boy. There is no hard evidence that the deathbed scene indeed depicts Kiya so it is just speculation that she died giving birth to Tutankhamun.

Unguent jar depicting the name of Kiya, on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Talatat with the picture of Kiya and a child.

Close-up of an Egyptian alabaster canopic Jar thought to depict a likeness of Kiya, from tomb KV55. On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

An Amarna relief depicting a woman undergoing a purification ritual. While the figure has been partially re-carved, the large earrings and style of wig are thought to be representative of Queen Kiya. On display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Aldred, Cyril Akhenaten, King of Egypt (1991) ISBN 0-500-27621-8

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Kiya

• Egypt, 2000-1000 B.C. - Canopic Jar Lid, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, late reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1340–1336 B.C. Egyptian; From KV55, Valley of the Kings, western Thebes. Egyptian alabaster with glass and stone inlays; H. 20 1/2 in. (52.1 cm); Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915 (30.8.54) | Object P.
• Kiya The Favorite - Includes a few photos of reliefs which may depict her.
• Voices from Ancient Egypt - Shows the stopper from one of the canopic jars.
• The Coffin - Shows the coffin which was found in KV55.