Catharine H. Roehrig

Men and women entrusted with the upbringing of the royal children were highly honored members of Egyptian society in Dynasty 18. Although there were probably nurses and tutors in earlier times, specific titles identifying people as "royal nurse" (mn't nswt) or "royal tutor" (mn' nswt), only seem to occur during Dynasty 18. These individuals are known from a variety of sources, including tombs, funerary equipment, and statuary. A few are well known figures in Egyptian history; others are almost completely undocumented. The types of monuments that have been preserved are revealing. Most intriguing are the representations that depict a nurse or tutor holding one or more of the royal children. This kind of representation, showing a non-royal person in close physical contact with a member of the royal family, is unprecedented in Egyptian art. Even more unusual are the examples that show a nurse or tutor holding the nursling as a miniature ruler. Affectionate gestures of the figures towards one another clearly indicate that the artist was attempting to represent the very close bond that existed between them. The existence of the title "one who nurtured the God" (v sd/sdt ntr) shows that this relationship was given special honor if the nursling became king. Evidence suggests that tutors were a combination of guardian and teacher, chosen because of their experience and ability. Nurses seem to have acted as wet-nurses, and some of their children shared a milk-bond with their mother's nursling, reflected in the rare title "foster brother/sister" (sn/snt n mn'). It is unclear how nurses were chosen, but it is possible that they had blood ties with the royal family. The husband of a nurse had no official function with regard to his wife's nursling but the fact that a man's wife had suckled a child probably would have bound him to that child as well. This may account for the unusually large number of nurses who are connected with Amenhotep II as a child. Tuthmosis III may have feared that his son would inherit while still a minor and may have been binding a group of strong and trusted courtiers to the prince.

The Eighteenth Dynasty Titles Royal Nurse (mnʼt Nswt), Royal Tutor (mnʼnswt), and Foster Brother/Sister of the Lord of the Two Lands (sn/snt Mnʼn Nb T3wy)

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