Rai (wet nurse)

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Side view of the Mummy Rais Egyptian Museum Cairo , (CG 61054)

Rai , also Dame Rai (English Lady Rai ), was the wet nurse of the ancient Egyptian king's daughter Ahmose Nefertari , who later became the great royal wife of Pharaoh Ahmose I , the founder of the 18th dynasty.

Find situation

Her mummy was found in the "mummy hiding place", the cachette of Deir el-Bahari (DB320) in the necropolis of Deir el-Bahari together with over 40 other mummies. The grave was completely cleared in 1881 by the Department of Antiquities, today's Supreme Council of Antiquities , after it had previously served the Abd el-Rassul family as a "source of income" for 10 years. Rais' mummy was found in the reworked coffin (CG 61022) of a necropolis worker named Paheripedjet. She was identified by the inscriptions on the mummy ribbons. Her own coffin (CG 61004) had been used for the mummy of Ahmose Inhapi , a co-consort of Seqenenre .

Investigations of the mummy

The Rais mummy was examined in 1909 by Grafton Elliot Smith , who found that the mummy was "one of the most perfect examples of embalming". Due to the good and undamaged state of preservation, Smith did not undertake any further anatomical examination and could therefore not determine the age. According to him, however, it was a young woman whose teeth show only slight signs of wear. Rai was about 1.51 m tall and slender in stature. Later research estimated Rai's age to be 30 to 40 years and revealed that she had suffered from arteriosclerosis , as has been demonstrated in other mummies.

Rais mummy is now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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personal data
SURNAME Rai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lady rai; Lady Rai
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Egyptian nurse of the king's daughter Ahmose Nefertari
DATE OF BIRTH 16th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 16th century BC Chr.