A 12-foot colossus (statue) of Queen Tiye of Egypt was recently uncovered. The figure, made of quartzite, was attached to the leg of a 50-foot statue of her husband, Amenhotep III, who was depicted in a sitting position.

Tiye, Great Wife of Amenhotep III, probably lived about 1398 BCE to 1338 BCE. Tiye's father, Yuya, was a priest. Tiye's mother, Thuya, also involved in religious functions, may have been a descendent of Ahmose-Nefertari, queen of the founder of the 18th dynasty. It has been thought by some that Tiye was of Nubian descent, but this is a controversial claim. Her father's depiction looks more Asiatic than her mother's does, and many have found the depictions of Tiye herself to lend credence to Nubian descent. DNA tests on a mummy of an "Elder Lady" found with the mummy Amenhotep III show, however, full Egyptian descent; if this is indeed the mummy of Tiye then Tiye was not Nubian.

The most famous of the children of Tiye and Amenhotep III was the pharaoh who took the name Akhenaten, and who initiated a kind of monotheistic religion, displacing the worship of the traditional Egyptian gods and goddesses with the worship of the sun disk, Aten.

Amenhotep III honored Tiye with statues in many tombs and temples. Usually (as in this new discovery) she is depicted as much smaller than her husband, as is common in Egyptian royal statuary, but occasionally Tiye is depicted equal in size to her husband.

Surviving records show that Tiye served as her husband's advisor, and continued this role into the reign of her son, Akhenaten, who is known not only for his religious reforms, but also for treating his wife, Nefertiti, more as an equal and perhaps even as a co-ruler.

More about the 2008 discovery of this statue of Tiye: Intact Colossus of Egypt's Queen Tiye Found