The Tomb of Tia and Tia at Saqqara: The Royal Sister of Ramesses II

Tomb of Tia and Tia: The Professional Partnership

The two Tias worked as a team. The husband managed the silver, while the wife managed the social influence.

Interaction with Ramesses II

The husband Tia met with the King regularly. He provided reports on the cost of the King’s wars. He also funded the construction of the Ramesseum. Because he married into the family, the King trusted him deeply. This trust gave the couple immense power in the royal court.

The Household Administration

Even their private household was a business. They owned large estates and many servants. Tia the husband applied his treasury skills to his own land. He ensured his family remained the wealthiest in Saqqara.

The Religious Duty

Daily life was deeply religious. The couple spent hours each day in prayer. They prepared for the afterlife long before they died.

Building the Tomb

Construction on their Saqqara tomb lasted for years. Tia visited the site often. He inspected the progress of the stonemasons. He chose the specific scenes for the walls. This project was his final duty to his wife and himself.

Festive Celebrations

They participated in the “Beautiful Feast of the Valley.” They joined grand processions across the Nile. These events were both religious and social. They allowed the couple to show their loyalty to the gods and the Pharaoh.

The 1982 Rediscovery: Rising from the Dust

The story of the Tomb of Tia and Tia took a dramatic turn in the late 20th century. For centuries, the desert sands of Saqqara kept the monument hidden. It sat just meters away from the tomb of the famous General Horemheb.

The Anglo-Dutch Mission

In 1982, an international team arrived at the site. This was a joint mission between the Egypt Exploration Society and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. The mission was led by the renowned archaeologist Dr. Geoffrey Martin. They were originally clearing the area around Horemheb’s monument. They did not expect to find a royal sister’s tomb so close by.

The Moment of Discovery

As the team removed the heavy drifts of sand, they struck mudbrick walls. Then, they found the limestone pylon. The quality of the carvings immediately signaled a royal connection. When they read the names “Tia” and “Tia” on the doorjambs, they knew they had found something extraordinary.

A Puzzle of Broken Stone

The excavation was not easy. The tomb had suffered greatly over time. Ancient tomb robbers had broken into the burial shafts. Later, people used the site as a quarry for building stone.

Finding the Pyramidion

During the dig, the team found a significant piece of stone. It was the pyramidion that once capped the tomb’s small pyramid. This discovery was a breakthrough. It confirmed that the tomb featured a pyramid, a privilege usually kept for the highest elite. The stone showed Tia praying to the gods, a classic scene of the Ramesside era.

Reassembling the Reliefs

Many of the wall reliefs were in fragments. The archaeologists spent months piecing them back together. They found scenes of the couple’s family. Most importantly, they found the rare depictions of Queen Tuya. These fragments helped historians reconstruct the 19th Dynasty family tree.