The Treasurer and the King's Sister

Within the kingdom of Ramses II lived a man named Tia who moved within the King's shadow as a servant of his senses. He was the master of the royal treasuries, tasked with guarding the gold and the hushed secrets of the court. He stood as a favorite of the Horus, a seal-bearer of high rank, and he bore the noble title of hereditary prince.

He was never solitary in his journey through life or his passage into death, for he was joined by a woman who also bore the name Tia. This woman was the sister of the King himself. Together they moved through halls of authority, captured in stone as they stood before Queen Tuya, the King's mother, in scenes that have endured despite the long rot of time.

Their final dwelling was raised in the desert at Saqqara, nestled between the tomb of a general and the tomb of another treasurer named Maya. This labyrinth of limestone was built to endure forever, featuring a first courtyard, a second courtyard with columns, and small chapels with a small pyramid at the back. In the outer courtyard, smaller chapels stood for others, such as Iurudef. Inside, Tia lay within a triple casing of wood and granite, his body mummiform, while a limestone stela and fragments of a black granite sarcophagus remained in the silence.

Many pieces of their history were scattered far and wide before the tomb was revealed. A pyramidion, the capstone of a pyramid, journeyed from Alexandria to England in 1722, showing Tia in worship with his titles carved in stone. Other fragments rest in museums in Florence, Paris, and Copenhagen, depicting him in adoration and naming his associates. Even a stamped brick from Thebes bears his name, a tiny scrap of proof that a man who watched the secrets of a kingdom eventually surrendered to the sand.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons