Maia (nurse)
Maia ( also Matia written ) was the nurse of the ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamen. She is known primarily from their rocky grave at Saqqara.
About the person
The grave ( I.20 ) of Maia is in the field of Bubasteion and was discovered in 1996. Little is known to the person of Maia. Her parents are not mentioned in the grave. In the grave a ruler of the magazines Rahotep is still called, which is but probably is an employee of Maia. Three other people are called by the name of the high priest of Thoth ... emkaef ( the beginning of the name is not preserved), the writer of the Superintendent of the economic system Tetinefer and the clerk of the sacrificial table Ahmose. Also with them is likely to subordinates. Maia bears the title of the king and nurse educator of God's body. Both games come in variations. On the fragment of a Kanopengefäßes it is referred to as the Great of the harem. In the grave there is the representation of Tutankhamun with Maia in her lap, making it saved as a nurse this ruler. Another very ruined scene shows them before the Lord.
The grave
The grave is one of the largest plants among the grave sites of Bubasteions. It is beaten into a rocky slope. A small, semi-open atrium leads into a first space of the ritual site. He was originally 4.1 m × 2.2 m tall. The illustrations on the walls are devoted to the life of Maia especially. On the east wall you can find here a relief showing Tutankhamun on the lap of Maia. She sits on a chair, under which a dog is shown. Behind her are various unnamed dignitaries or servant. The wall is obtained only partially. The right half is completely destroyed. From the diagram on the opposite wall there is only four blocks. Here Tutankhamun was apparently sitting, Maia presented before him and dignitaries behind him. The North Face takes the door to the second room. The wall shows Maia and Osiris. On the Türrahmung you see Maia before Anubis as a jackal. The second room ( 4.47 m × 2, 57 m ) is dedicated to the cult of the dead. On the east wall is seen in a first scene Maia in front of a table of offerings and sacrifices bearers of. In a second scene we see the mummy of Maia, like the mouth ritual is performed on her. On the wall opposite the Osiris Maia sacrifices. Behind the god are the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. The north wall is again occupied by a door whose Framing Maia shows before Anubis and Osiris, and Anubis as jackal Maia before. At the doorway there is a picture of a certain Rahotep. His connection to Maia is uncertain. Room 3 is the largest of the system ( 7.92 m × 8.2 m). It is supported by four pillars. Only the pillars and parts of the north wall are decorated. The pillars show the standing Maia. Wall at the rear (north ) you will find the pictures of the standing Maia, two deities and in the middle of a rock-cut stela shows in the upper field before Osiris Maia. In the lower part you can see a priest before Maia and how it is cleaned.
All presentations are in the first room in the sunken, worked in the second room on the land and in the third turn in sunken relief. The reliefs were once painted, but the colors are better preserved only on the blocks, which were detached from the wall in the rubble of the tomb.
From Room 3, a staircase leads to the three grave chambers, which have been found greatly deprived. Some of them are decorated with a simple coat of paint. The plant has been heavily remodeled in the Greek- Roman times, this part of the decoration have been destroyed.