Maia of Saqqara Reconsidered: From Royal Wet Nurse to Neferneferuaten – Female Power and the Politics of Succession in the Post-Amarna Period

The tomb of Maia at Saqqara (Bubasteion Sector I, Tomb 20) is one of the most remarkable elite female monuments associated with the reign of Tutankhamun. Although she is traditionally identified as the king’s wet nurse through her principal title “Nurse of the King’s Body” (mnʿt nswt), the scale, sophistication, and symbolic content of her burial suggest that this role, while possibly accurate early in her career, does not reflect the full extent of her ultimate status and influence. This article proposes the first identification of the royal wet nurse Maia, known from her tomb at Saqqara, with the female pharaoh Neferneferuaten. This article re-evaluates Maia within the context of Amarna succession instability, female royal authority, and the reconfiguration of royal identities during the post-Amarna restoration. It proposes that Maia may represent the historical individual behind the throne name Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten. She appears to have begun as a trusted wet nurse and palace insider, only to be elevated by Akhenaten after Nefertiti’s death. Later, she likely assumed interim rule as Neferneferuaten before entering a strategic co-regency or alliance with Smenkhkare. The systematic reuse of female royal funerary equipment in KV62 lends material support to this interpretation of a transitional female reign.