Tabiry was a

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

n queen dated to the

Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs, or the Napatans, after their capital Napata, was the last dynasty of t ...

.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt.'' Thames & Hudson, 2004, , p.234-240

Biography

Tabiry was the daughter of

Alara of Nubia Alara was a Kingdom of Kush, King of Kush, who is generally regarded as the founder of the Napatan royal dynasty by his 25th Dynasty Kushite successors and was the first recorded prince of Kush. He unified all of Upper Nubia from Meroë to the Thir ...

and his wife Kasaqa and the wife of King

Piye Piye (also interpreted as Pankhy or Piankhi; was an ancient Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled Egypt from 744–714 BC. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, modern-day Sudan. Name Piye ...

. She held some interesting titles: Main King's Wife, first of her majesty (''hmt niswt 'at tpit n hm.f'') (the only other queen to hold the Main King's Wife title was

Nefertiti Nefertiti () () was a queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the Great Royal Wife, great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious poli ...

) and “The Great One of the Foreign Country” (''ta-aat-khesut''). She also holds the more standard titles of King's Wife (''hmt niswt''), King's Daughter (''s3t niswt''), and King's Sister (''snt niswt'').Grajetski, ''Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary'', Golden House Publications. p.88 Tabiry was buried in a pyramid at

El-Kurru El-Kurru was the first of the three royal cemeteries used by the Kingdom of Kush, Kushite royals of Napata, also referred to as Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Egypt's 25th Dynasty, and is home to some of the royal Nubian pyramids, Nubian Pyramid ...

(K.53). A carved granite funerary stela found in her tomb mentions she is the daughter of Alara of Nubia and the wife of Piye. The stela is now in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

. The stela gives Tabiry further titles. Reisner had initially translated one of her titles as 'the great chieftainess of the Temehu' (southern Libyans), and concluded that the royal house of

Kush KUSH 1600 AM is a radio station licensed to Cushing, Oklahoma. The station broadcasts a Full service format, consisting of local and national talk, sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, tha ...

was somehow related to the Libyans. Others have since shown that her title should be read as "Great One (or 'Chieftainess') of the Desert-dwellers", showing her title connects her to the Nubians. A blue faience ''

ushabti The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) was a funerary figurine used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The Egyptological term is derived from , which replaced earlier , perhaps the nisba of " ...

'' of Tabiry is now in the

Petrie Museum The Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology in London is part of University College London Museums and Collections. The museum contains over 80,000 objects, making it one of the world's largest collections of Egyptian and Sudanese ma ...

in London (UC13220).Shabti UC13220 on the Petrie Museum website
/ref>

References

8th-century BC women Queens consort of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt 8th-century BC Egyptian people {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub