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Rai
D21
D36
i
rꜥỉ
Rai

Rai's coffin (CG 61022) which originally belonged to a Servant in the Place of Truth named Paheripedjet.

Dynasty 18th Dynasty
Pharaoh(s) Ahmose IAhmose II
Titles Royal Wet Nurse
Burial TT320 (reburial)

Rai (transliteration: rꜥỉ) was an ancient Egyptian noble woman of the late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth Dynasty during the transition from the Second Intermediate Period to the New Kingdom.

Rai served as the nursemaid to Queen Ahmose-Nefertari.

Burial[]

Rai's mummified remains were discovered in the royal cache at Deir el-Bahari in 1881.

Mummy[]

Rai Mummy

Mummyhead of Rai (Smith 1912).

Rai is estimated to have been about 30-40 years old when she died around 1530 BC. The mummy was unwrapped by Grafton Elliot Smith in 1909. He distinguished her mummy as "the most perfect example of embalming that has come down to us from the time of the early 18th Dynasty, or perhaps even of any period". He further characterized her as "the least unlovely" of the existing female mummies, and described as a "slim, gracefully-built woman," measuring 1.510 metres (4 ft 11.4 in) in height, with small "childlike" hands.[1]

In 2009, a CAT scan by a medical team revealed Lady Rai had a diseased aortic arch and is thus the oldest known mummy with evidence of atherosclerosis.[2]

The mummy of Ahmose-Inhapi, a princess and queen of the late 17th dynasty, who was aunt to Ahmose-Nefertari, was found in the outer coffin of Rai.

References[]

  1. Smith 1912.
  2. Allam et al. 2009.

Bibliography[]

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