Object Stories - Episode 6: The Canopic Jar of Kiya - Egyptian Object Stories

Welcome back to Ancient Egyptian Object Stories. In this episode, we will look at the Canopic Jar belonging to Queen Khea, one of the wives of the controversial king Akhenaten, and my personal favorite of the Amarna period royal women. This episode brings us back to the New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt in the 18th Dynasty, and more specifically, the so-called Amarna period. This time period mostly focuses on the reign of King Akhenaten, but three other kings are often included. These kings are Smenkh Khare, Tutankhamun, and Ai. The general Horemheb closed the 18th Dynasty, and the rule of Ancient Egypt was passed to the remnant kings of the 19th and 20th Dynasties. One snapshot, albeit not completely understood of the Amarna period, is well represented by the Canopic Jars of Queen Khea. This particular jar is found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and was gifted to the museum in 1915 by the American archaeologist Theodore Davis, who received it from the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1907 during the division of material excavated from the tomb where it was found. The other three jars are housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The jar is made of calcite, or Egyptian alabaster, which is a white translucent stone that was used for a lot of prestigious objects and architecture. More information about this type of stone can be found in Episode 2 of Ancient Egyptian Object Stories, linked in the card above. This type of jar is called a Canopic Jar, and was a very important set of vessels that were used during the mummification process, and then set within a chest and placed in the tomb. The set contained four jars, each serving as a receptacle for certain human organs. The lids for jars were either all in the shape of human heads, or the heads of the sons of the god Horus. Each of Horus' sons protected a specific organ as follows. Imseti protected the liver, Hapi protected the lungs, Duamutef protected the intestines, and Kebesenuef protected the stomach. These sons of Horus are also featured in coffins from around the New Kingdom onwards, and in the Book of the Dead vignettes. The Canopic Jar in this object story, and its three companions, all have human heads meant to represent Kia. Her face is delicately rendered with large almond-shaped obsidian eyes, and arched lapis lazuli eyebrows, a straight nose, and full pursed lips. Her face is framed by a voluminous wig referred to as a Nubian hairstyle, with layers of textured hair. Individual curls are indicated stylistically, with carved strokes on the locks. Who was Kia? She was a high-ranking queen, a wife of the pharaoh Akhenaten. Akhenaten is known for introducing many innovations into Egyptian culture, namely a new religion that centered around the sun-disk called Aten, and he founded a brand new capital in central Egypt, which he called Akhetaten, or the horizon of the sun-disk, which is now called Tell el-Amarna, or more simply, Amarna. At Amarna, at its southernmost reaches, Akhenaten built for Kia a maru, or viewing place, which he named Maruaten, viewing place of the Aten. This was a large complex that was filled with a luxurious garden and high-quality paintings of flora and fauna. Also built here was Kia's sunshade. These particular buildings appear to be religious in nature, and thus far have only been associated with royal women. Their purpose is not entirely clear, but they were often set within another building, such as a temple or ceremonial palace. Based on archaeological and textual evidence, Kia was a highly favored queen, given the title the Great Beloved Wife, and was one of only three known wives of Akhenaten. His other wives were of course his chief wife Nefertiti, and also his Metanian wife Taduhepa. The latest dateable archaeological material shows that Kia lived at least through the 11th year of Akhenaten's reign, but beyond this it is unclear what happened to her. Presumably she died perhaps around the same time as Akhenaten's second-born daughter Meketaten. Monuments built for Kia at Amarna were repurposed for Akhenaten's eldest daughter Meretaten. As a result, Kia's name and images were erased and overwritten with the name and images of Meretaten. This has led some scholars to suggest that Kia had somehow been disgraced and memory of her was destroyed, but it is far more likely that she died and the monuments were bequeathed to the eldest princess. Kia is also believed to be the mother of the famous King Tutankhamun. Decades of research and analysis of archaeological finds, along with the DNA testing of royal human remains, have helped scholars to build this theory. Due to the nature of its complexity, examination of it will not feature in this object story, but you may find more information in the suggested sources in the description box below. The canopic jars were found in a rather enigmatic tomb in the Valley of the Kings, now called KV 55. It was discovered in 1907 by American archaeologist Theodore Davis, who believed it was made for Queen Ti, Akhenaten's mother and wife of Amenhotep III, because numerous objects were inscribed with her name. This theory has since been rejected. Among other objects found in this tomb was a coffin, now on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, as well as the mummified remains of a male individual, whose identity is yet to be confirmed. It has been suggested to be Akhenaten or his ephemeral successor, Smenkhkare. Both the coffin and the canopic jars appear to have been meant originally for Kia, but then seem to have been repurposed for a king. The coffin received a divine beard and uraeus, and all four jars received a uraeus on the brow, which in our jar does not survive. The jars were also once inscribed, but the inscriptions have since been erased. Nevertheless, scholars have been able to painstakingly reconstruct what the inscription had been. Great Beloved Royal Wife, Living on Truth of Neferkeperura Waenra Akhenaten, who is the perfect child of the Living Aten, who lives forever and ever, Kia. The king for whom Kia's funerary equipment was used was most likely Akhenaten. Scholars have analyzed these surviving texts on the coffin and determined the latest inscriptions were for Akhenaten. Therefore, the identity of the human remains as those of Akhenaten is quite plausible. Moreover, the face of the coffin had been hacked away in antiquity, implying a violent erasure of the king who was laid to rest in this coffin. After Akhenaten's reign, subsequent kings, namely Horemheb and Ramesses, implemented a campaign to erase images and names of Akhenaten from all monuments and objects attributed to him. The destruction of the coffin may have been a casualty of this project. As for Kia, she too was erased from memory most likely because she died and buildings and objects made for her were better served for the living. That her funerary equipment would have been reused for Akhenaten may be due to a need to quickly inter him or reinter him in KV55 rather than his tomb at Amarna. After Tutankhamun abandoned Amarna and reinstated the former state religion, that of the god Amun-Re. What happens to Kia's body? Some believe she is the woman now known as Younger Lady, whose mummified remains were found in a cache of other royals including Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. Thank you for watching and I hope you will join me again for my next ancient Egyptian object story. For further reading, please see the description box below. Bye for now.