Yuya

They may also have been the parents of Ay, an Egyptian courtier active during the reign of Akhenaten, who eventually became pharaoh as Kheperkheprure Ay. There is no conclusive evidence, however, regarding the kinship of Yuya and Ay, although certainly both men came from the town of Akhmim.

The tomb of Yuya and Thuya was, until the discovery of Tutankhamun's, one of the most spectacular ever found in the Valley of the Kings despite Yuya not being a pharaoh. Although the burial site was robbed in antiquity and all the jewels in the jewellry box furniture had been stolen by tomb robbers, many objects not considered worth plundering by the robbers remained. Both the mummies were in a state of excellent preservation. Their faces in particular were relatively undistorted by the process of mummification.

Origins

Yuya came from the Upper Egyptian town of Akhmim, where he probably owned an estate and was a wealthy member of the town's local nobility. His origins remain unclear. In his study of Yuya's mummy the anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith noted that although his features are not classically Egyptian, he considers that there was much migration from neighbouring countries throughout Egyptian history and "it would be rash to offer a final opinion on the subject of Yuaa's nationality." Quibell likewise addressed the "old suggestion" that Yuya was foreign, noting that the only piece of evidence in favour of this was the multiple spellings of his name. No trace of a foreign origin was found in the furniture from the tomb either, all being typically Egyptian.

Taking into account his unusual name and features, some Egyptologists believe that Yuya was of foreign origin (usually Syrian), although this is far from certain. The name Yuya may be spelled in a number of different ways, as Gaston Maspero noted in Theodore Davis's 1907 book—The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou. These include "iAy", "ywiA", yw [reed-leaf with walking feet] A, ywiw" and, in orthography—normally a sign of something foreign—"y [man with hand to mouth] iA".

The Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Egypt gives credence to the foreign origin hypothesis: "It is conceivable that he had some Mitannian ancestry, since it is known that knowledge of horses and chariotry was introduced into Egypt from the northern lands and Yuya was the king's 'Master of the Horse'." It also discusses the possibility that Yuya was the brother of queen Mutemwiya, who was the mother of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and may have had Mitannian royal origins. However, this hypothesis can not be substantiated, since nothing is known of Mutemwiya's background. While Yuya lived in Upper Egypt, an area that was predominantly native Egyptian, he could have been an assimilated descendant of Asiatic immigrants or slaves who rose to become a member of the local nobility at Akhmim. On the other hand, if he was not a foreigner, then Yuya would have been the native Egyptian whose daughter was married to Amenhotep III.

Recent studies show that Amenhotep III and his father-in-law Yuya share one third of their genetic genes, suggesting that Yuya was likely Amenhotep III's uncle. However, the possibility that Yuya was a brother of Thutmose IV is almost inconceivable, making it more likely instead that that Yuya was the brother of Mutemwiya. Yuya is believed to have died in his mid fifties, in around 1374 BC.