Tey

Tey
Queen consort of Egypt, Great Royal Wife
Queen Tey as depicted at the chapel at Akhmim (From Lepsius, Denkmäler)
Spouse	Pharaoh Ay
Full name Tey
Egyptian name
Dynasty	18th of Egypt
Religion	Ancient Egyptian religion

Tey was the wife of Kheperkheprure Ay (occasionally "Aya"), who was the penultimate pharaoh of Ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty. She was also the wet nurse of Queen Nefertiti.

Her husband, Ay filled an important role in the courts of several pharaohs – Amenhotep III, Akhenaten and Tutankhamen – before ascending the throne himself, as the male line of the royal family became extinct. He is believed to be connected to the royal family; he was probably a brother of Queen Tiye (wife of Amenhotep III).

On inscriptions from the Amarna period, Tey is called “nurse of the Great Royal Wife”. This indicates that even if Ay was Nefertiti's father, Tey was not her mother; according to this theory, she was possibly the second wife of Ay after Nefertiti's mother died. However, Ay and his wife Tey are never called the father and mother of Nefertiti and Tey's only connection with Nefertiti was that she was the 'nurse of the great queen' Nefertiti which must mean that Ay was not Nefertiti's father. It has been proposed that Mutbenret was Ay and Tey's daughter who later married Horemheb, Ay's successor on the throne. However the name Mutbenret and Mutnedjmet, Horemheb's queen are not identical which implies that these 2 different women. It is also possible that Ay's intended successor, Nakhtmin, was his son, possibly by Tey.

Tey may have had a sister called Mutemnub. A dignitary named Ay is called second priest of Amun, high priest of Mut and Steward of Queen Tey on a statue now in the Brooklyn Museum. This man's parents are recorded on the statue as Mutemnub and Nakhtmin. Mutemnub is said to be a sister of Queen Tey, and the inscription is usually interpreted to mean that she was the sister of Tey, wife of Ay.

Tey is depicted in her husband's unused Amarna tomb. On the North Wall, East Side a reward scene is depicted. Aye and Tey are shown before the window of appearances. Akhenaten is shown in a Khepresh crown and Nefertiti in her well-known blue crown (in this case decorated with three uraei). Meritaten, Meketaten and Ankhesenpaaten are shown in the window of appearances as well. The eldest two seem to be throwing rewards to Aye and Tey, while Ankhesenpaaten stands on the pillow before Nefertiti and is caressing her chin.