(2) (Kheperkheprure) (d. 1319 B.C.E.) Ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty
He reigned from 1323 B.C.E. until his death. Aya ascended the throne upon the death of TUT’ANKHAMUN and apparently married ANKHESENAMON, the boy king’s widow. She does not appear after the initial succession of Aya, however. The queen who is shown in all surviving texts is TEY, a commoner who had served as a nurse to NEFERTITI and had married Aya before his accession to the throne.
Aya, also a commoner, had been the “Master of the Horse” and Fan Bearer and then vizier and chancellor for AKHENATEN (r. 1353–1335 B.C.E.) at ’AMARNA, but he followed the process of reorganizing the government and the aggrandizement of the god AMUN during his brief reign. His portraits depict a man with a narrow, bony face and a long, slender nose. Aya erected KARNAK’s colonnade and a rock-cut shrine at AKHMIN. He built a mortuary temple at MEDINET HABU in western Thebes but did not provide himself with a tomb there. In the VALLEY OF THE KINGS a tomb was decorated for him and for Tey, but his remains have never been found. His tomb is long and straight in design, with four corridors. An elaborate passage leads to a burial chamber, which was decorated with the text of the AM DUAT. Aya’s burial site included a red granite sarcophagus. He also had an unfinished tomb in ’Amarna. Aya designated NAKHTMIN (1), possibly a relative and a military commander, as his heir, but HOREMHAB put him aside and became the last pharaoh of the dynasty.
