A widow's life was lonely. Tiye, who had played Hathor only twice after Amenhotep III's death, had to give that role to her son's new queen. After all, she was Amenhotep IV's biological mother, even if he had taken over the other "catlike" concubines in his father's harem.
Without so many ceremonies and women of every sort, Tiye should have found her life much quieter. Life was not always like the subject philosophers discussed, requiring one to discover the meaning of being alive. It was about solving one problem after another.
While the civil and military officials and the harem were busy dealing with the transition between the old and new pharaohs, Tiye took over the diplomatic correspondence. Amenhotep IV did not concern himself with affairs in Asia, so the "Queen Mother" had to handle them. She wrote to the king of Mitanni to reassure him, asking him to preserve his friendship with Egypt, not forget his devotion to the former pharaoh, and show the same devotion to the new one. He must also continue sending friendly delegations.
The other matter was arranging the former pharaoh's funeral. Although the Egyptian people believed that the dead would be resurrected, death was still death. A body without a soul would soon rot, and the pharaoh had to be made into a mummy as quickly as possible.
Since Amenhotep III had become the incarnation of the sun god, his mummy naturally had to be extraordinary. After the organs were removed from the king's body, the corpse was coated in a layer of golden resin gathered from throughout the vast empire and even beyond its borders. Then the body was placed in a natron solution. The solution was made from Nile River water and natural soda from the northern Natron Valley and southern Kabu,