144: Tutankhamun's Real Mother - Maia, Menat

The History of Egypt Podcast

Dominic Perry

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2021

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One who nourished the god. Tut’ankhamun never refers to his birth mother. And until 1996, historians had little idea of the person who raised this young pharaoh. That changed with the discovery of Maia, the royal menat (wet-nurse and teacher). The opening of her tomb, at Saqqara, dramatically expanded our understanding of Tut’ankhamun’s early life. Today, we dive deep into Maia’s career and place in society... Date: c. 1353 – 1340 BCE. Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments. Music and "Maia" vocal performance by Ancient Lyric. Special music by Luke Chaos. Music by Keith Zizza. Music by Music by Jeffrey Goodman. See other shows from the Agora Podcast Network. Read Prof. Alain Zivie’s discussion of Maia and the princess Meritaten at Academia.edu. Select Bibliography: A. Dodson, Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (2nd edn, Cairo, 2017). M. Eaton-Krauss, The Unknown Tutankhamun (London, 2016). E. El-Kilany and H. Mahran, ‘What Lies Under the Chair! A Study in Ancient Egyptian Private Tomb Scenes, Part I: Animals’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 51 (2015), 243–64. M. Gabolde, Toutankhamon (Paris, 2015). Z. Hawass, Discovering Tutankhamun: From Howard Carter to DNA (Cairo, 2013). N. Kawai, ‘Studies in the Reign of Tutankhamun’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Johns Hopkins University (2005). A. Schnell, ‘Breastfeeding Without Giving Birth’, La Leche League International (2020). B. Wilson-Clay, ‘Induced Lactation’, Surrogacy.com (2010). S. Wittig and D. Spatz, ‘Induced Lactation’, MCN, The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing 33 (2008), 76–81. A. Zivie, ‘From Maia to Meritaten’, Saqqara Newsletter 17 (2019), 47–60. A. Zivie et al., La tombe de Maïa, mère nourricière du roi Toutânkhamon et grande du harem (Bub. I. 20) (Toulouse, 2009). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	With a written under the radar genre or a proper out there podcast, sometimes it's better
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0:29.5	Hello everyone, welcome back to the history of Egypt podcast, episode 144, Maya Menat. Today,
0:55.8	we tell the story of a woman who gained great prestige in the Egyptian court. Maya, the
1:01.4	wet nurse and tutor of Young Tutankhamun, was a major figure in the King's life. She achieved
1:08.6	status beyond many of her contemporaries. Maya's story is fascinating, a tale of care,
1:15.9	honor and divinity on earth. This episode comes to you on behalf of everybody who supports
1:23.0	the show on Patreon. To write this story, I had to buy the official book describing the
1:29.1	tomb of Maya. That was not cheap, and without my generous patrons, I could not have afforded
1:35.8	the purchase. Thank the gods for business expenses, and thank you for your support. For you,
1:43.6	we make offerings to Usir, Osiris, Anpu, Anubis and Asset, ISIS. May these great deities
1:52.3	of the Western horizon protect your souls and give you a blessed eternity. To everyone
1:58.6	listening, thank you for joining me, on with the tale.
2:04.0	The year was 1338 BCE, give or take. The King of Egypt was Neb Kaparu Ra Tutankhamun. The
2:22.1	sun of Ra, the living horse, Tutankhamun was approximately 15 years old. He had survived
2:29.5	childhood, the vulnerable years of infancy and growth. Now, he was becoming a man according
2:37.2	to Egyptian ideals. In 2021, we know a lot more about Tutankhamun's childhood than we did
2:45.5	just a few decades ago. Thanks to some major discoveries and research, we have more information
2:51.8	about his upbringing than ever before. Today, I would like to meet one of the people responsible
	...

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