During the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, a young prince named Thutmose, the eldest son of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, held great promise as the heir to the Egyptian throne. Tragically, fate had other plans for him, as he met an untimely death in the 30th year of his father’s reign.
Following Thutmose’s demise, his younger brother, Amenhotep IV or Akhenaten, was chosen to succeed their father as the next ruler. Queen Tiye and King Amenhotep III shared a loving bond and had a total of six children together, two sons and four daughters.
An intriguing artifact sheds light on the life and role of Crown Prince Thutmose. A small statuette portrays him resting on a lion bier, with goddesses Isis and Nephthys depicted at the head and raised foot end.
Inscriptions on the bier reveal his names and titles: “King’s son, Sem Priest, Thutmose, the justified.” His significance goes beyond being a Sem priest; he also held the esteemed position of the high priest of Ptah, the Chief God of Memphis. The statuette’s round wig, with a falling strand of hair or sidelock of youth on the right side, further confirms this.
Another captivating discovery is the mummy of a young prince, possibly the son of Tiye and Amenhotep, found in Tomb KV35 alongside the mummies of Queen Tiye and The Younger Lady.
This adolescent boy exhibits a hairstyle commonly associated with youth, referred to as the ‘side-lock of youth’ by Egyptologists. He has a bald head, with long plaited hair solely growing from the crown of his head, showcasing the distinct way ancient Egyptians styled children and adolescents.
This traditional haircut can be observed in numerous reliefs and statuettes across different periods of Egyptian history.
