144: Maia, Menat

One who nourished the god. Tut’ankhamun never refers to his birth mother. And until 1996, historians had little idea of the person who raised this young pharaoh. That changed with the discovery of Maia, the royal menat (wet-nurse and teacher). The opening of her tomb, at Saqqara, dramatically expanded our understanding of Tut’ankhamun’s early life. Today, we dive deep into Maia’s career and place in society...

• Date: c. 1353 – 1340 BCE.
• Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com.
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• Music and "Maia" vocal performance by Ancient Lyric.
• Special music by Luke Chaos.
• Music by Keith Zizza.
• Music by Music by Jeffrey Goodman.
• See other shows from the Agora Podcast Network.
• Read Prof. Alain Zivie’s discussion of Maia and the princess Meritaten at Academia.edu.
• Logo and Banner images from Zivie, La Tombe de Maïa, 2009 (edited for clarity).

Select Bibliography:

•  A. Dodson, Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation (2nd edn, Cairo, 2017).
• M. Eaton-Krauss, The Unknown Tutankhamun (London, 2016).
• E. El-Kilany and H. Mahran, ‘What Lies Under the Chair! A Study in Ancient Egyptian Private Tomb Scenes, Part I: Animals’, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 51 (2015), 243–64.
• M. Gabolde, Toutankhamon (Paris, 2015).
• Z. Hawass, Discovering Tutankhamun: From Howard Carter to DNA (Cairo, 2013).
• N. Kawai, ‘Studies in the Reign of Tutankhamun’, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Johns Hopkins University (2005).
• A. Schnell, ‘Breastfeeding Without Giving Birth’, La Leche League International (2020).
• B. Wilson-Clay, ‘Induced Lactation’, Surrogacy.com (2010).
• S. Wittig and D. Spatz, ‘Induced Lactation’, MCN, The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing 33 (2008), 76–81.
• A. Zivie, ‘From Maia to Meritaten’, Saqqara Newsletter 17 (2019), 47–60.
• A. Zivie et al., La tombe de Maïa, mère nourricière du roi Toutânkhamon et grande du harem (Bub. I. 20) (Toulouse, 2009).

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