159: Everytime Ay Died

A tale in two parts. The elderly pharaoh, Kheper-kheperu-Ra Ay, probably died in his fourth or fifth year of power (c. 1331 / 1330 BCE). Officially, his reign was short. But in the big picture, Ay's influence lasted decades. As a courtier, under Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, Ay participated in government and royal affairs for many years. This means we have abundant records for the man and his career, and Ay contributed to Egyptian history in some noteworthy ways.

Chapter 1: The Death and Legacy of King Ay.

Chapter 2: The Erasure of Ay and his memory.

To see high-quality photos of Ay’s tomb (WV23) by Kairoinfo4u on Flickr.com and Curtis Ryan Woodside on YouTube.

Date: c.1331 / 1330 BCE.

Kings: Kheper-kheperu-Ra Ay, “Doer of Ma’at” and “True Ruler.”

Music: “Memories of Thebes,” by Keith Zizza www.keithzizza.net. Used with permission.

Music: “Funeral,” by Bettina Joy de Guzman http://www.bettinajoydeguzman.com. Used with permission.

Additional music interludes by Luke Chaos https://twitter.com/Luke_Chaos.

References:

B. G. Davies, Egyptian Historical Records of the Later Eighteenth Dynasty, VI (Warminster, 1995).

A. Dodson, Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (2nd edn, 2017).

M. Gabolde, Toutankhamon (2015). PYGMALION Press.

W. J. Murnane, Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt (Atlanta, 1995).

O. Schaden, ‘The God’s Father Ay’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, University of Minnesota (1977).

O. J. Schaden, ‘Clearance of the Tomb of King Ay (WV-23)’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 21 (1984), 39–64.

R. H. Wilkinson, ‘Controlled Damage: The Mechanics and Micro-History of the Damnatio Memoriae Carried Out in KV-23, the Tomb of Ay’, Journal of Egyptian History 4 (2011), 129–47.

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