Eje II.

Name of Eje II.
Eje performs the mouth opening ceremony on Tutankhamun , representation in Tutankhamun's tomb
Horus name	Ka-nechet tschechen-cheperu K3-nḫt ṯḥn-ḫprw Strong bull, with shiny features
Sideline	Sechem-pechti der-setschet Sḫm-pḥtj dr-sṯt With mighty strength that defeats the Asians
Gold name	Heka-maat Secheper-taui Ḥq3-m3ˁt sḫpr-t3wj Who owns the Maat , who gives rise to the two countries
Throne name	Cheper-cheperu-Re iri-maat Ḫpr-ḫprw-Rˁ jrj-m3ˁt embodiment of the appearances of the Re who realizes the Maat
Proper name	Itnetjerai (It netjer Ai) Jt nṯr Jy Father of God / Father of God, Ai
Greek for Manetho	Acherres

Eje (also Aja or Aya ) was an ancient Egyptian king ( pharaoh ) of the 18th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ), who lived from around 1323 to 1319 BC. (Helck: 1309–1305, Krauss: 1323–1319 BC) ruled. His origin and the beginning of his career are unknown. Under Akhenaten he was a high court official. After his death he was perhaps the vizier of the child pharaoh Tutankhamun and later, after his early death, as an elderly dignitary, he became his successor and thus an Egyptian pharaoh.

origin

Eje perhaps came from Akhmim , and his wife Tij was nurse of Nefertiti (which against the theory says Nefertiti was a princess from Mitanni been).

Teje , the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III, came from Achmim like her parents Yuja and Tuja . This fact naturally led to the controversial theory that Eje was the brother of Teje and father of Nefertiti. Opponents of this thesis argue that while Anen (second priest of Amun ) is named on Tuja's coffin as a son, Eje is not. Proponents counter that on a box in the Egyptian Museum Berlin (inventory number 17555), which is said to have been bought in Achmim and come from Tuna el-Gebel , Eje is named and Teje is referred to as his sister, although it is overlooked that this is otherwise also good occupied wife of Eje is meant by almost identical name. This evidence is therefore without any evidential value.

Ascent under Akhenaten

Relief from Eje's grave in Amarna; Eje and his wife receive the honor gold from Akhenaten

Head from Amarna, which is attributed to Eje

Whether Eje at a young age - that is, during the reign of Amenhotep III. - acted as a high official and advisor to the Pharaoh cannot be proven by contemporary sources . His career under Amenhotep's successor Akhenaten, on the other hand, is well documented. He also paid homage to the new god Aton in public and was appointed " Chief of the Horses " ( general of the chariot troops ). The honor gold awarded by the Pharaoh to Eje is depicted in his structurally incomplete tomb, which he wanted to build in the southern section of the new necropolis of Amarna . From this time or shortly thereafter, some parts of a grave equipment produced for him also date, including the aforementioned chest and several ushabti .

The most cited variant of Akhenaten's sun song can be found in his rock grave. Eje also bore the title of God the Father , which he later bound as king in his cartouche. The meaning of this title is controversial, especially since it seems that its meaning has changed over time. Sometimes the thesis is put forward that this title ostensibly belonged to the father-in-law of the ruling king during the 18th dynasty. For this reason the possibility was considered that Nefertiti was Eje's daughter from a first marriage.

Educator and advisor to Tutankhamun

Eje coped with the change to Tutankhamun without any problems and perhaps even became educator of the child pharaoh and “the king's true scribe”. He thus (probably together with Haremhab ) led the affairs of government for the young Pharaoh.

When his predecessor died, Eje was at the center of power. He arranged the burial for Tutankhamun, and in the burial chamber he designated, which was laid out with its paintings and inscriptions during the lifetime of the still very young Pharaoh, he is already represented as his successor at the mouth opening ceremony (see: Depiction in Tutankhamun's tomb (North wall) ).

As a ruler

In the four years of his rule he consistently continued the renunciation of the Aton cult that had begun under Tutankhamun, built in Abydos , Karnak and Luxor and built a rock chapel for Min in Achmim. He appoints the local high priest Nacht-Min and a Naj as "hereditary princes " ( Iripat ). Perhaps Eje had tried to legitimize his rule by marrying Akhenaten's daughter and Tutankhamun's sister, former wife and now widow Ankhesenamun. A signet ring with the cartouches of both people was found, but she is not named as a wife in his Theban tomb, only Tij.

Eje died after a reign of about four years. His royal grave WV23 is located in a side valley (western valley) of the Valley of the Kings . Eje's mortuary temple near Medinet Habu was later usurped by the Haremhab.

The time after

After the king's death, Haremhab was able to assert himself as heir to the throne. The later ostracism (destruction of his grave, his name and also the names of Ankhesenamun and Nachtmin ) may have already occurred under Haremhab . Ejes mummy was not found unless one follows Wente and Harris , who found the badly damaged mummy of Amenhotep III. for those of Eje.

literature

• Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Egyptian Pharaohs, Volume I: Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty (3300-1069 BC). Bannerstone Press, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9 , pp. 62-65.
• Erik Hornung : The New Kingdom. In: Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, David A. Warburton (eds.): Ancient Egyptian Chronology (= Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One. The Near and Middle East. Volume 83). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-11385-5 , pp. 197-217 ( online ).
• Nicholas Reeves : A State Chariot from the Tomb of Ay? In: Göttinger Miszellen (GM). 46, 1981, pp. 11-20.
• Gay Robins: The Proportions of Figures in the Decoration of the Tombs of Tutankhamun (KV62) and Ay (KV23). In: Göttinger Miscellen. 72, 1984, pp. 27-32.
• Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 , pp. 48-49.

Remarks

1. ↑ the hieroglyph is a determinative for " father " without a sound value

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Carola Wedel : Nefertiti and the secret of Amarna. von Zabern, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3544-X , p. 39.
2. ^ Günther Roeder : Egyptian inscriptions from the Royal Museums in Berlin. Volume 2: Inscriptions of the New Kingdom. Indexes to Volumes 1 and 2. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1924, pp. 267–268.

predecessor	Office	successor
Tutankhamun	Pharaoh of Egypt 18th Dynasty	Haremhab