Ay: A Vizier to?Tutankhamun?Becomes Egypt's Pharaoh

Following up on Ahmes: Ancient Egyptian?scribe of the Ahmes Papyrus , this week we’ll take a look at Pharaoh Ay, who reigned for a four-year period in the late 14th century B.C.

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The 18th Egyptian Dynasty started when Pharaoh Ahmose defeated the Canaanites (Hyksos) that had ruled part of ancient Egypt for more than a century, marking the the beginning of the?New Kingdom in a long-forgotten violent Canaanite resistance to Egyptian rule over the seaside city thousands of years ago.

After the Canaanites were expelled from Egypt (Exodus, c. 1445 B.C.) they wandered the desert before establishing the city of Jerusalem. All the accounts of ancient historians present the Hyksos as the ancestors of the Hebrews, led to Canaan by Moses.

Pharaoh Ay was the next-to-last pharaoh of Egypt's 18th dynasty (which lasted c.?1550 B.C.–1292 B.C.). He had been the vizier of both?Akhenaten,?Tutankhamun?and possibly also of?Smenkhare.?

Founded by?Ahmose I, Egypt's 18th Dynasty included?Tutankhamun, Hatshepsut, the longest-reigning woman pharaoh, and?Akhenaten.

Within that time, the empire conquered all of Lower?Nubia?under?Thutmose I.

By the reign of?Thutmose III, the Egyptians directly controlled Nubia to the Nile river, 4th cataract, with Egyptian influence/tributaries extending beyond this point.

Ay's?Great Royal Wife?was?Tey, known to be the wet-nurse to?Nefertiti. His reign was preceded by that of?Tutankhamun, who ascended to the throne at the age of eight or nine, at a time of great tension between the new monotheism and the old polytheism.

King Tut died at age 18 or 19 around 1324 B.C, but there are many theories surrounding how he died. There is a small bone fragment on the inside of his skull that intially led some historians to believe that he was murdered by a blow to the back of his head. It is frequently suggested that Ay may have arranged the murder of?Tutankhamen?in order to gain the throne.

Pharaoh Ay subsequently inherited the thrown by marrying Tutankhamun's widow, Ankhesenamun…. the third of six known daughters of Akhenaten.

A blue glass ring obtained in 1931 depicts the?names?of?Ay?and Ankhesenamun enclosed in?cartouches. This indicates that Ankhesenamun married Ay shortly before she disappeared from history, although no monuments show her as great royal wife to him.

A document was found in the ancient Hittite capital of?Hattusa?dating back to the Amarna period in which an Egyptian queen (thought by many to be?Ankhesenamun) requests that the Hittite king send her a son to marry so that she is not forced to marry her “subject.”

"My husband has died and I have no son. They say about you that you have many sons. You might give me one of your sons to become my husband. I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband... I am afraid."

The Hittite king, Suppiluliuma I, agreed to send Zannanza, the second-youngest of his five sons, to Egypt.

This could have led to efforts to make Egypt part of the Hittite Empire. Zannanza never made it past the Egyptian border, what became of him and how he died is unknown.

His father, Suppiluliuma I, accused the Egyptians of murdering him. Pharaoh?Ay, denied the murder, but acknowledged the death.?

Suppiluliumas never doubted that Egypt was to blame. The section of the text that records details about Zannanza’s death is damaged and reveals no more.

Angry letters were passed between the two nations, but the matter ended inconclusively. Hittite forces subsequently attacked Egyptian settlements in Syria.?Sick prisoners of war brought back to the Hittite Empire after these attacks caused a deadly?epidemic?that spread rapidly throughout the empire. As a result, Suppiluliuma I himself died from the epidemic.

The events prompted King Mursilis II to create what is known as the?Plague Prayers, a lament to the gods to have mercy on the Hittites in their distress.

The suspicious death of the Hittite prince resulted in hostilities between Egypt and the Hittites, which did not come to an end until Ramesses II signed a treaty with the Hittites following the?Battle of Kadesh in 1274 B.C.?

Kadesh was the chief site of encampment for the Israelites during their wandering in the?Zin Desert?(Deuteronomy?1:46), as well as the place from which the Israelite?spies?were sent to?Canaan?(Numbers?13:1–26).

After Ay became pharaoh, Ankhesenamun disappears and nothing further is heard about her.

The end of Ay's reign was also controversial. His unrelated successor, Horemheb, may have taken the throne away from Ay in a coup d'état. Although Nakhtmin, a royal scribe and army general and possibly the son of Ay, was named Crown Prince, he seems to have died, leaving the opportunity for Horemheb to claim the throne next.?

Horemheb ruled for at least 14 years as the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He succeeded Ay on the throne, and had Ay's tomb desecrated, erasing the names and images of Ay and his wife, Tey.

Our knowledge of the succession of Egyptian kings is based on kinglists kept by the ancient Egyptians themselves. The most famous are the Palermo Stone, the Abydos Kinglist, and the Turin Canon, a papyrus that covers the period from the earliest dynasties to the reign of Ramesses II.

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About the Author: Lawrence Jean-Louis is the founder of eBrand Me, a digital marketing agency offering marketing & consultative services to CPAs and tax professionals. She aspires to start a money management firm by 2030.